Posted July 18, 201113 yr I might be wrong,(usually are),but I think it would be good for football if player contracts could only be for a maximium of 2 years for players over, say,21 years of age. If you limit contract length to only a short time,would that stop inflated transfer fee's?,would it free up the market?.........for example...... Spuds need funds to strengthen,Modric wants to leave & we want to sign him,the problem is the fee,which because of the contract length,strengthens spuds position,causing a long & protracted period of bullsh*t between clubs,players,agents etc.Would that be the case if he only had months left on his contract?. Also if a player fails to live up to expectations,if he's on a good wedge with a 3-4 year deal,you're stuck with the guy, unless there's a pay off or another club is willing to step in,what can a club do?,remember Winston Bogarde?. There is also the unfortunate few who pick up serious injury,while the club needs to support the player concerned,would it help both parties if a decsion wasn't just resting on the problem but also the chances of recovery,not hampered at all by a long contract?. I know that sounds harsh,what with Essiens problems, but to see the other side, at the spammers,a good young player,(Jack Coulison)was stalling on signing a new deal after spending a year out through injury,that's not excatly grattitude for you is it.He was just checking his options,(nothing wrong with that),but why shouldn't clubs also have that option if a short contract allows it?. To many clubs have players sitting on fat deals who won't leave & who the clubs can't unload,the players have to much power I feel, but if they knew that if they didn't perform on a regular basis because of a short term contract,would that improve those players performance?. If I'm talking a load of cobblers,feel free to say so!!.
July 18, 201113 yr Wouldn't this give the players too much power and clubs too little? Why spend £15m on a player when one bad move will see him leave for nothing in 2 years. In terms of transfer fees (a very basic outlook I know, but...) if a Russian, an Arab, or an American billionaire wants to spend £50m on a player in England, i.e brining money into our economy...I have no problems with that!
July 18, 201113 yr Player power is certainly a problem. I think it's indisputable that players wages are the biggest drain on the game. Wages are a far bigger problem than transfer fees. But what can you do? Wage caps are going to be extremely difficult to implement. The way of the world/nature of the beast is that the best players go to the clubs that pay the most. I can see where you're coming from with your two year contract, except that as things stand, it would mean that the player goes on a free at the end of the contract. As a solution, maybe it would be possible to introduce some kind of End of Contract sign-on fee, the amount of which would depend on a variety of performance related variables.
July 18, 201113 yr Author Player power is certainly a problem. I think it's indisputable that players wages are the biggest drain on the game. Wages are a far bigger problem than transfer fees. But what can you do? Wage caps are going to be extremely difficult to implement. The way of the world/nature of the beast is that the best players go to the clubs that pay the most. I can see where you're coming from with your two year contract, except that as things stand, it would mean that the player goes on a free at the end of the contract. As a solution, maybe it would be possible to introduce some kind of End of Contract sign-on fee, the amount of which would depend on a variety of performance related variables. Yes,you make a good point,but what if ALL clubs/leagues were in the same position?. I'm not sure ,but maybe that might mean a shift away from player/agent power?.
July 18, 201113 yr Yes,you make a good point,but what if ALL clubs/leagues were in the same position?. I'm not sure ,but maybe that might mean a shift away from player/agent power?. The biggest problem I see is a player would have one good season, then the 2nd season would be spent with his agent looking for another deal. Players rarely have a good season while hunting for a move elsewhere, and agents would be more involved as they would be hawking their player to every club at the level of the player.
July 18, 201113 yr Not strictly on topic, but I thought this might be a good place to an interesting take on player wages: http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2011/7/11/2269306/football-would-be-better-if-players-made-more-money
