02 Dec 2024 13:31:16
Hi Ed, quick question for you. I've seen you previously state that Richard Hughes isn't in charge of the contracts, that FSG have no say in this either. Is this Julian Ward and by extension, Michael Edward's remit? What is actually going on? This situation can be described as a dereliction of duty and negligent. Whispers that Diaz is also not impressed with an offer to him.
Are we lowballing our playing staff? Who is culpable for the current situation where 3 of our most important players can talk to foreign clubs in less than a month? I want to know who to be upset with.
{Ed001's Note - it is Ward's remit, yes. They are trying to bring down the wage bill because of the new financial sustainability regulations.}
02 Dec 2024 13:55:39
Assuming Liverpool are following the rules, and given the club could well turnover over £700m this season, if Liverpool find themselves unable to re-sign their best players, which other club could conceivably do so?
02 Dec 2024 14:55:46
I am not sure there's much more fat to trim from the wage bill to be honest. Thiago, Matip departures following Hendo, Fabinho, Milly, Naby and Ox is pretty much all we can do. We don't have any expensive players kicking their heels on the bench at the moment - too early to point fingers at Chiesa.
Not being in the Champions League last year was costly (a terrible decision by Klopp to do nothing in the transfer market when the midfield legs fell off), but we're back in it and bagging every euro of prize money available along the way at he moment. The next accounts are expected to show record revenues and there is also an expanded World Club Cup to add more games and income to the coffers.
I don't think we have any real excuses not be able to extend the contract of 3/ 4 of our best players. Of course, if they are asking for crazy wages or unreasonable contract lengths then we have our limits.
02 Dec 2024 15:25:09
Sounds like excuses to me, the wage Bill has been on the way down for the last 3 seasons, hendo, fabinho, mane, thiago, matip, milner etc off the wage bill and replacements paid about half what these guys were on, in some cases a lot less than half as we replaced matip with Quansah etc. etc. etc.
02 Dec 2024 17:13:28
You cannot win anything with a wage bill of AFC Wimbledon. Sorry but how much are Arsenal and UTD paying their players! FSG at their vintage best. Money will be used to buy franchise in Portugal and US.
02 Dec 2024 17:26:33
Can you hear him saying “And this is why we don’t discuss finances”?
02 Dec 2024 18:02:51
No, but i can see you talking down to anyone who dares ask a question or have a sensible answer WWW3. Like above, you must be the blindest person on planet earth if you can't hear and see Salah is DESPERATE to stay at the club.
{Ed001's Note - to be fair Mango has posted a moronic post. We had a much higher wage bill than most and it needed to be trimmed. The problem is that they have decided to spend the money badly, on players who might not ever play first team football for us. A goalkeeper we didn't need and doesn't have a clue how to play our way or the ability to do so. A youngster, we have broken our youth wage structure for, and could be 5 years away from every breaking into the team.
Our first priority should have been to keep winning, and if a youngster needs to be paid then we should avoid him as his attitude is wrong. If we had not spent money on those 2 things, there is plenty of money to sort out new deals for the 3 players. It puts us in a better position long term to have those 3 sorted out.}
02 Dec 2024 18:39:15
@mango LFC is a different entity to any new club or existing team owned by our owners.
No money from LFC goes to any other sports team.
02 Dec 2024 19:03:20
AFC Wimbledon's wage bill is about £2.2m a year. Or about 1/ 9th of Salah's salary.
Can we discuss this without engaging in stupidly ludicrous and obvious hyperbole cos we hate the owners so much?
02 Dec 2024 20:14:15
I was defending Flypelicans post to be honest! But I completely agree about our weird summer deals.
02 Dec 2024 21:17:14
In fairness the same people said in the summer that we couldn’t negotiate contracts because players were on international duty are now the ones saying that it’s the agents that get negotiated with and not the players hence why Salah doesn’t know anything.
No way are FSG or Mo Salah involved in what would be the biggest contract in the club and Mo’s history. The same guy who does the lowest contracts will be dealing with the biggest one.
I wouldn’t be surprised if John Henry and Salah are both lurking on here ready for any updates.
02 Dec 2024 21:25:23
how can we be low balling when we've had some of the highest wage bills and agent fees in the premier league for years now?
Overpaying ageing players was a hallmark of edwards previous reign. I think it is fair for the club to get their ducks in a row before committing millions to older players again.
02 Dec 2024 22:28:41
@Fisk, apologies if it sounded like I was talking down to anyone, it certainly wasn’t my intention.
I’m not anywhere near possessing the financial knowledge or skills to offer a sensible opinion about how the club’s (or anybody else’s) finance work or the ways in which they can be improved. Years of reading / contributing to this forum suggests I’m not the only one who doesn’t have a clue. The reference to Ed02 was far more affection than condescension but I do understand that tone gets lost in text lacking context.
03 Dec 2024 06:05:27
Talking about trimming down the wages. UTD currently pays £350k for Jadon Sancho who doesn’t even play for them while Raheem Sterling who is on loan at Arsenal is being paid some £400k per week at Chelsea. Yea but LFC have huge wage list. Like 5th highest in the league and that needs to be trimmed down.
03 Dec 2024 07:53:06
Why would the club break the youth wage structure for one player who is far from guaranteed of getting into the first team? As a club we do some truly odd things at times that I can’t really fathom. The keeper signing was another one. The fact we have 3 crucial first team players almost out of contract, with no indication that they’ll sign a new contract, seems about par for the course. Perhaps we need to change the people behind the scenes before looking at which players to sign?
03 Dec 2024 08:37:22
Empty vessels make most noise.
04 Dec 2024 13:09:28
West Derby Wanderer3, I definitely can.