Why do we pay high wages?

[Lentwood]

Citys is actually higher than ours.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...l-in-premier-league-history-at-355m-g2hplj3tj
Chelsea and Liverpool is around the same.

I don't really understand this because every single website you check has our wage bill way out in-front?

I can't read the article because it's behind a paywall, but is it basically saying City's is heavily based on performance-related bonuses?

 

[Matt007a]

Once you've got 1 or 2 players on high wages, anyone else coming in or renewing wants the same. This is especially the case when those players on the megabucks don't perform.

If I was McFred for example I'd be asking why Pogba is getting so much more money than me when he doesn't put in half the effort and he doesn't perform much better. Talent alone doesn't justify the wage difference unless he's tearing it up every week.

We also want to sign elite players, yet can't guarantee trophies or even CL football every season. That means you've got to compensate them with insane wages.

 

[World Game]

The board, previous manager(s), scouts and even the fans are bad at correctly rating and judging the true ability of players. We give big contracts to hyped up players thinking that they will maintain their level and even improve for us. The truth is factors such as coming to a more difficult league, playing in a different system, less motivation from signing a big contract means that the players we sign will mostly be WORSE than what we see. As time goes on players we will see worse players than them on higher wages and demand new contracts before turning shite and continuing the cycle.

Bruno is fairly paid 180k per week so we will use this as a benchmark for the other players.

Sancho
- Looks a promising young talent at Dortmund
- Coming to a more difficult league with less space and time on the ball
- Coming to a completely different system with worse coaching and management (Ole)
- All signs that the Sancho we sign will be worse than one we see at Dortmund
- Yet we pay him 350k/wk meaning we rate him so much he is almost twice the player Bruno is.
- The club rated him as a world class player who would be suddenly be even better at United instead of correctly judging him to just be a very good player in a system/league suited to his style.

Rashford(200k), Martial(250k)
- Both signed their contracts at a time when Mo Salah was/is earning 200k per week.
- This means we value them at a level at least equal to or better than Mo Salah's level.
- Clearly they weren't at Mo Salah's level meaning we expect them to rapidly improve in the future.
- Instead the big contracts give them less motivation to work hard and their level stagnates/declines.
- The club rated them as world class talents instead of correctly judging them as decent players in good form.

Cavani(250k)
- With this we valued a 33yr old striker who hadn't played in months to be a more important player than Bruno.

Varane(340k)
- Similar to Sancho's wage this means we think he is almost twice the player Bruno is.

Ronaldo(510k)
- As good as he and his marketing value is, with this wage we're saying the 36yo version of him is almost triple the value of what Bruno is.

 

[Gordon Godot]

The board, previous manager(s), scouts and even the fans are bad at correctly rating and judging the true ability of players. We give big contracts to hyped up players thinking that they will maintain their level and even improve for us. The truth is factors such as coming to a more difficult league, playing in a different system, less motivation from signing a big contract means that the players we sign will mostly be WORSE than what we see. As time goes on players we will see worse players than them on higher wages and demand new contracts before turning shite and continuing the cycle.

Bruno is fairly paid 180k per week so we will use this as a benchmark for the other players.

Sancho
- Looks a promising young talent at Dortmund
- Coming to a more difficult league with less space and time on the ball
- Coming to a completely different system with worse coaching and management (Ole)
- All signs that the Sancho we sign will be worse than one we see at Dortmund
- Yet we pay him 350k/wk meaning we rate him so much he is almost twice the player Bruno is.
- The club rated him as a world class player who would be suddenly be even better at United instead of correctly judging him to just be a very good player in a system/league suited to his style.

Rashford(200k), Martial(250k)
- Both signed their contracts at a time when Mo Salah was/is earning 200k per week.
- This means we value them at a level at least equal to or better than Mo Salah's level.
- Clearly they weren't at Mo Salah's level meaning we expect them to rapidly improve in the future.
- Instead the big contracts give them less motivation to work hard and their level stagnates/declines.
- The club rated them as world class talents instead of correctly judging them as decent players in good form.

Cavani(250k)
- With this we valued a 33yr old striker who hadn't played in months to be a more important player than Bruno.

Varane(340k)
- Similar to Sancho's wage this means we think he is almost twice the player Bruno is.

Ronaldo(510k)
- As good as he and his marketing value is, with this wage we're saying the 36yo version of him is almost triple the value of what Bruno is.

THis is what happens when the rest of the football world can see that our club is a joke and that Woodward and Matt Judge are clowns. We pay simply ludicrous wages, renew players that are poor and seem to insist on giving them the same money. City are the perfect template for how to build a football structure, its really not that hard. You also dont leave negotiations to bankers with zero football knowledge or competence. Cavani overall has done OK but could we not have better ivnested the money in a couple of young prospects. Look at the combined salary we are paying to two forward players with a combined age of almost 70. So much for the cultural reset. Madness. Then people wonder why we have a toxic dressign room. Lets start by only buying players who want to play for the club.

 

[Bestietom]

We need to get the wage structure right as we pay these robots more than they deserve. We need to bring in players that want to play for the badge and not rob the club like some of these overpaid fakes.
Rangnick knows the players he wants and he is one of the best at spotting talent. Why doesn't the club trust him and allow him bring in some players. We cannot go on the way we do, paying out high fees and high wages for Shit.
Maguire = 80 million
Sancho = 74 Million
AWB = 50 million
VdB = 45 Million
Pallestri =
Amad =
We could have got several players for this money and the board won't trust Rangnick to bring in one or two for buttons compared to this lot.

 

[antohan]

Imagine Rashford and Greenwood’s levels of selfishness if their pay was purely based on goals scored.

I agree that, in theory, it should be the way. However, in practice it creates more problems than it solves.

Just put more weight on wins, trophies and assists. A system purely based on goals scored would indeed be as useless as one purely based on... ummm, err, being alive, posting social media shit and participating in photo shoots?

 

[Red_toad]

Haaland is 21. 5 years younger than Martial......

Martial is on £250k and Rashford £200k rising to almost £300k with bonuses. Not overestimating at all. No one was blaming them for their ridiculous wages either, obviously it's the club's fault for having so many decision makers who are utterly incompetent. The blame on the pair of them is that despite getting paid that much they've both essentially given up on ever making it at the highest level of football.

https://salarysport.com/football/player/anthony-martial/

Depends on the source, but what I found doesn’t back up your statement on his confidential earnings.
Why not moan about Sancho who earns more than either of them and hasn’t done anything of note all season…
Not sure where you get they‘ve given up on making it at the highest level? Where does that even come from, not like they’re at the pub every night having a pie n a pint.

 

[antohan]

The board, previous manager(s), scouts and even the fans are bad at correctly rating and judging the true ability of players. We give big contracts to hyped up players thinking that they will maintain their level and even improve for us. The truth is factors such as coming to a more difficult league, playing in a different system, less motivation from signing a big contract means that the players we sign will mostly be WORSE than what we see. As time goes on players we will see worse players than them on higher wages and demand new contracts before turning shite and continuing the cycle.

Bruno is fairly paid 180k per week so we will use this as a benchmark for the other players.

Sancho
- Looks a promising young talent at Dortmund
- Coming to a more difficult league with less space and time on the ball
- Coming to a completely different system with worse coaching and management (Ole)
- All signs that the Sancho we sign will be worse than one we see at Dortmund
- Yet we pay him 350k/wk meaning we rate him so much he is almost twice the player Bruno is.
- The club rated him as a world class player who would be suddenly be even better at United instead of correctly judging him to just be a very good player in a system/league suited to his style.

Rashford(200k), Martial(250k)
- Both signed their contracts at a time when Mo Salah was/is earning 200k per week.
- This means we value them at a level at least equal to or better than Mo Salah's level.
- Clearly they weren't at Mo Salah's level meaning we expect them to rapidly improve in the future.
- Instead the big contracts give them less motivation to work hard and their level stagnates/declines.
- The club rated them as world class talents instead of correctly judging them as decent players in good form.

Cavani(250k)
- With this we valued a 33yr old striker who hadn't played in months to be a more important player than Bruno.

Varane(340k)
- Similar to Sancho's wage this means we think he is almost twice the player Bruno is.

Ronaldo(510k)
- As good as he and his marketing value is, with this wage we're saying the 36yo version of him is almost triple the value of what Bruno is.

The last three were free transfers (or thereabouts) and are on short contracts, the whole two Brunos and three Brunos stuff doesn't apply there.

Mind, it does send a message that the closer Bruno gets to a free transfer the more likely it is he can extract double or triple Bruno money. Usually the downside is injuries+form+being replaced by X weakening your bargaining position, but Exhibit A Phil Jones, Exhibit B Juan Mata, and so on.

 

[Karel Podolsky]

Exactly. Apparently all our players are highest paid players in the league but when it comes to total wages reported by the clubs, all are almost same. It doesn't make sense.

Total wages reported (players and staff). The article says City 1% increase wage bill from last year because of additional 31 staffs.

 

[Karel Podolsky]

https://salarysport.com/football/player/anthony-martial/

Depends on the source, but what I found doesn’t back up your statement on his confidential earnings.
Why not moan about Sancho who earns more than either of them and hasn’t done anything of note all season…
Not sure where you get they‘ve given up on making it at the highest level? Where does that even come from, not like they’re at the pub every night having a pie n a pint.

I just checked the site. It says KdB salary is £250k/w compared to Martial 180k/w.

Other sources (Sportac?), KdB on 400k/w, Martial 250k/w.

 

[Born2Lose]

The board, previous manager(s), scouts and even the fans are bad at correctly rating and judging the true ability of players. We give big contracts to hyped up players thinking that they will maintain their level and even improve for us. The truth is factors such as coming to a more difficult league, playing in a different system, less motivation from signing a big contract means that the players we sign will mostly be WORSE than what we see. As time goes on players we will see worse players than them on higher wages and demand new contracts before turning shite and continuing the cycle.

Bruno is fairly paid 180k per week so we will use this as a benchmark for the other players.

Sancho
- Looks a promising young talent at Dortmund
- Coming to a more difficult league with less space and time on the ball
- Coming to a completely different system with worse coaching and management (Ole)
- All signs that the Sancho we sign will be worse than one we see at Dortmund
- Yet we pay him 350k/wk meaning we rate him so much he is almost twice the player Bruno is.
- The club rated him as a world class player who would be suddenly be even better at United instead of correctly judging him to just be a very good player in a system/league suited to his style.

Rashford(200k), Martial(250k)
- Both signed their contracts at a time when Mo Salah was/is earning 200k per week.
- This means we value them at a level at least equal to or better than Mo Salah's level.
- Clearly they weren't at Mo Salah's level meaning we expect them to rapidly improve in the future.
- Instead the big contracts give them less motivation to work hard and their level stagnates/declines.
- The club rated them as world class talents instead of correctly judging them as decent players in good form.

Cavani(250k)
- With this we valued a 33yr old striker who hadn't played in months to be a more important player than Bruno.

Varane(340k)
- Similar to Sancho's wage this means we think he is almost twice the player Bruno is.

Ronaldo(510k)
- As good as he and his marketing value is, with this wage we're saying the 36yo version of him is almost triple the value of what Bruno is.

It's on a couple of the United fan youtube channels today that Bruno's rejected an offer of £250k a week but there's an offer of £400k still on the table for Pogba. What a joke of a club we've become.

 

[roonster09]

Total wages reported (players and staff). The article says City 1% increase wage bill from last year because of additional 31 staffs.

Staff wages are negligible except manager's. Also every club has staff, so it's not a difference maker.

 

[Red_toad]

I just checked the site. It says KdB salary is £250k/w compared to Martial 180k/w.

Other sources (Sportac?), KdB on 400k/w, Martial 250k/w.

It’s all confidential and just various rumours. People pick whatever suits their narrative. Most players at the highest levels earn too much. I don’t blame them for getting an agent who negotiates it for them though.

 

[Speako]

Even withstanding our player’s base salary, the overall package they get by being a Manchester United player is at the top of the tree. Problem is, any notions we had of keeping a realistic and strategic wage structure was blown out of the water, the second we ripped it all up and brought in Sanchez. Ludicrous.

 

[Red_toad]

Footballers earnings are never confidential. Agents leak their clients' wages all the time to showcase themselves and put pressure on clubs to improve their offers. If every single media outlet reporting Martial's last contract extension said he was getting £250k you can guarantee that's what his agent briefed.

And you'd be forgiven for thinking they'd both taken to having a few pints the morning of every game given their performance levels over the last 2 years.

But not every single outlet is and yes it is confidential, I care not what you believe agents get up to, as you’ve no evidence

 

[Litch]

@Litch @Bondi77 Sure that gets you lot of exposure but with almost 10 years in and out of the CL, let alone the latter rounds and his abysmal record internationally, I think we are overestimating a little bit how popular we make players. It's us who buy marketable players like Pogba and Ronaldo to keep us popular and keep our name afloat among the younger generation. Playing for us alone has hardly been that profitable popularity wise the past few years. Yes, The PL carries a huge caché but it doesn't make legends and ingrain names in popular culture like the WC or in modern days, the CL. It is why Cantona who let's not forget, had a much better career with us and was a bonafide star in every way, enjoyed a significantly lesser profile outside of our bubble compared to other French players at the time for example.

10 years doesn't define us as a club, our history separates us for others who are currently making their own but in a different context. Irrespective of our success, the shirt and the badge is probably the most recognised in the world along with Real and Barca. It's the shirt that creates the popularity not the other way round. Pogs has done little in a utd shirt, yet Adidas pay him millions of pound, and that's not cause he's won the World Cup.

I'd argue both CL and WC are the same profile cause they are cup competitions, aren't seen in the same way as the Prem. We have to wait 4 years and the winners are only relative to that country, club competitions encompass loads of nationalities playing for that side.

You telling me Chelsea's profile has been raised cause they won CL? It's to elite and only 10% of football clubs play in it anyway if that.

You forget the size of the bubble, it's is greater than any country cause it's informed by many countries.
It's impossible to talk about the Cantona and relate to anything, cause today if he was to kick a fan in a stadium, he'd never play professional football again, that's how much things have changed.

We pay high salaries cause we generally buy the best players, others salaries are low cause they buy good players, pay them average wages who potentially turn into go players. You think Liverpool can pay Salah £400k now a week? I expect to see him in a PSG shirt any time soon.

 

[youmeletsfly]

Because as a principle, paying high wages in a competitive environment spurs performance. However, our high earners are not really competitors or top performers, so the club doesn't really have any counter argument when a player uses "well Pogba is on 300K and has done feck all in the last few seasons".

Paying high wages should be alright as long as it brings results and it's applied correctly, but we all know it isn't.

 

[Dante]

Glazernomics

 

[romufc]

Kane and Son are happy at Spurs
Mane and Salah are happy at Pool
All Citeh players are happy
Rice is happy at the Hammers
Tielemans and Ndidi are happy
So many better players that are in the Premier League than what we have at our club and yet we pay the most in wages.

I would have thought the allure of playing for Utd with all its history would have meant we did not have to pay over the top wages for sub standard players.

Kane is not happy at Spurs
City actually pay really well, they also pay off books
RIce is happy for now, he wants to go to a bigger club soon too.
Tielemans is not happy, he will not re-sign a new contract and Ndidi is always injured.

The allure for United is there but when you are going for players like Rice who also have competition from other clubs such as Chelsea, they will pay well so we would have to pay more than them

Salah and Mane are happy because they are challenging for trophies.

 

[Litch]

That's basically saying he should get paid higher just because playing for us makes him higher profile, which is a dumb as feck reason to overpay players.

Might be but when we signed DJ from Swansea, he is the same player but his wages probably trebled if not more. It's also why do players sign for a bigger club, then generally get called up for England. Weren't they the same ability at the lower club?

 

[alexthelion]

Kane and Son are happy at Spurs
Mane and Salah are happy at Pool
All Citeh players are happy
Rice is happy at the Hammers
Tielemans and Ndidi are happy
So many better players that are in the Premier League than what we have at our club and yet we pay the most in wages.

I would have thought the allure of playing for Utd with all its history would have meant we did not have to pay over the top wages for sub standard players.

Incompetance, plain and simple.

 

[JebelSherif]

I was actually wondering about that a few weeks ago. Bonuses for starting, bench, wins, goals, assists, clean sheets, trophies...

The sort of shite I hated pointlessly tweaking on Championship Manager but looks very much like what the lion's share of our players' pay should be about.

Yes, something occurred to me the other day - I was listening to a Utd. game and it popped up on the game thread that Cavani can 'only play for 60 minutes'.

I quite like that player by-the-way, this is not an attack on him - I just use him as an example. If this is indeed true (and don't the players have chips in their boots and stuff to monitor their efforts around the pitch) surely he should be getting 2/3s of his pay, not the full salary.

 

[JPRouve]

Why do we pay high wages? Because we targeted coveted players, that would earn similar wages elsewhere. The only question here is why hasn't it worked out, why players that are coveted invariably fail at United and lose value?
Before someone suggests that we shouldn't sign coveted players and focus on hungry young players, we also fail with them and outside of money our recent past shouldn't convince them to join us. It's a bit of a catch 22.

So in essence it's simple, ambitious Football clubs give big wages to coveted players and they create a structure that maximizes that investment, they don't follow the boneheaded logic of "I paid big, so now be successful!". Ambitious and successful clubs keep their players happy because they give big wages AND are successful. And finally, ambitious, well structured and successful clubs attract the best young and cheaper talents which often allows to balance the books.

PS: Spurs trapped their players, they gave them good contracts when they looked like a top club and now some of them are stuck.

 

[LilyWhiteSpur]

Why do we pay high wages? Because we targeted coveted players, that would earn similar wages elsewhere. The only question here is why hasn't it worked out, why players that are coveted invariably fail at United and lose value?
Before someone suggests that we shouldn't sign coveted players and focus on hungry young players, we also fail with them and outside of money our recent past shouldn't convince them to join us. It's a bit of a catch 22.

So in essence it's simple, ambitious Football clubs give big wages to coveted players and they create a structure that maximizes that investment, they don't follow the boneheaded logic of "I paid big, so now be successful!". Ambitious and successful clubs keep their players happy because they give big wages AND are successful. And finally, ambitious, well structured and successful clubs attract the best young and cheaper talents which often allows to balance the books.

PS: Spurs trapped their players, they gave them good contracts when they looked like a top club and now some of them are stuck.

You pay top wages because United have the money to pay for them, it’s that simple, every agent knows what’s available and will want the best for themselves and their clients.

What? We trapped our players? Son only signed his new contract 6 months ago, Kane wanted to leave but his beloved City didn’t want him badly enough to pay for him and now it appears he could sign a new contract. Lets not go down the “poor enslaved footballer” line it’s simply bollocks.

 

[JPRouve]

You pay top wages because United have the money to pay for them, it’s that simple, every agent knows what’s available and will want the best for themselves and their clients.

What? We trapped our players? Son only signed his new contract 6 months ago, Kane wanted to leave but his beloved City didn’t want him badly enough to pay for him and now it appears he could sign a new contract. Lets not go down the “poor enslaved footballer” line it’s simply bollocks.

It's not that simple, you essentially said nothing. And "trapped" was hyperbolic, the point was that these players signed extensions when Spurs were clearly on the up.