London calling?
Could we be trying to rebuild bridges with Steven Taylor? He remains on the transfer list, but the (ahem) ever-reliable Star is reporting that we've decided to offer him a whopping £40,000 a week to keep him out of 'Appy 'Arry's clutches.
Personally I can't see him staying on Tyneside. Local lad he may be (despite being born in the capital), but our previous obstinacy in contract negotiations and the blanket silence in the wake of the training ground tete-a-tete with Rocky are still likely to leave him feeling his future lies elsewhere. In fact, the figure the Star are bandying about doesn't really ring true - it would involve smashing the wage structure for someone who, as decent a player as he can be, is at the moment only a stand-in for Mike Williamson and Sideshow Bob.
In other news, the Mirror are claiming that a former Toon 'keeper's dream move could be scuppered by one of our current custodians, while Nicky Butt announced his return from retirement with an eventful debut for South China, scoring a free kick but also missing a penalty.
Personally I can't see him staying on Tyneside. Local lad he may be (despite being born in the capital), but our previous obstinacy in contract negotiations and the blanket silence in the wake of the training ground tete-a-tete with Rocky are still likely to leave him feeling his future lies elsewhere. In fact, the figure the Star are bandying about doesn't really ring true - it would involve smashing the wage structure for someone who, as decent a player as he can be, is at the moment only a stand-in for Mike Williamson and Sideshow Bob.
In other news, the Mirror are claiming that a former Toon 'keeper's dream move could be scuppered by one of our current custodians, while Nicky Butt announced his return from retirement with an eventful debut for South China, scoring a free kick but also missing a penalty.
posted by Ben at 8:33 am
2 Comments:
Not sure what you mean by smashing the clubs wages structure, as I've not seen anywhere where it's been stated how much the wage cap is at the club, only what people think it is?? But then, if Ashley is willing to allow it to be smashed, then thats his choice as he's the one paying the wages is he not!!!
Imo I think Saylor is currently on £35k a week & his new contract will be about £40k a week plus bonuses, I personally don't think the club has a wages cap, just a new sensible approach to offering wages within a certain criteria, ie nothing above £35-40k per week!! just my opinion tho.. ;) HWTL
Agreed that our general policy now seems to be prudence, and any wage structure we've got in place must be either flexible rather than rigid or significantly higher than has been rumoured (given the £35,000 a week that we're paying Sol Campbell).
But much as I'd like to see Taylor stay, I'm not sure we should make special allowance for someone whose heart no longer seems to be in the club. If he stays, it should be for reasons other than money. Pay one player £40,000 a week and the next will demand £50,000, and so on. Credit to Ashley for trying to curb the spiralling wage bill - but paying a player whose currently a reserve £40,000 a week might be counterproductive in the grand scheme of things.
On the other hand, of course, we risk missing out on good players if we're too stringent about how much we'll pay in salaries. It's a difficult tightrope to walk, to be sure...
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