Bogarde a role model for overpaid stars determined to be forever blowing bubbles
February 12th, 2010 by Emmet MaloneI never tire of hearing about the financial lunacy that pervades most, but particularly the higher, echelons of professional football so David Sullivan’s observations on the various outgoings at West Ham cheered me up no end. Likeable as they seem to be, Gianfranco Zola and Steve Clarke do seem to have done rather well for themselves in landing contracts worth a combined £3.1 million annually from the former owners although clearly not nearly so well as the far less agreeable Kieron Dyer who gets a few quid more than that all to himself primarily, it seems, for spending all his time on a treatment table.
Still, I can’t help thinking that amid all the talk of voluntary wage cuts being taken by players, the guy who gets mentioned as being on a staggering 50 grand a year for driving players about and serving what is broadly described as a “liaison” role with them is a little more likely to get it in the neck from Mr Sullivan.
The club’s new joint owner had a great deal to say about the scale of its wage bill and debt but players at that level are a resilient bunch when it comes to sitting tight and seeing out contracts rather than taking a cut in their money. Just look what has happened over the years at clubs like Chelsea, Leeds and Sunderland (the list is actually endless) where large scale and rapid recruitment has resulted in unwanted players pretty much chaining themselves to the railings rather than agreeing to move on for less money.
Winston Bogarde at Chelsea was a particularly ridiculous case with the Dutch international arriving just as the then manager was sacked (never a good start) and playing just a handful of games for the Londoners before everybody realised that, having broken his ankle while at Barcelona, he was no longer quite good enough.
The defender, though, was on a three year contract at around £40,000 a week and, considering the entire total to be his from the outset, refused to budge. They tried to sell him then give him away then actually to pay somebody to take him off their hands before eventually trying to provoke a reaction by relegating him to the youth team in the hope of prompting a walk out
This, as it happens, is a widely tried tactic with Caleb Folan a current target of it at Hull City but Winston took it in his stride. With fairly light training duties and no need to be around for games he was ineligible to play in, he simply moved back to Holland and started commuting to work.
“This world is about money,” he is subsequently reported to have observed, “so when you are offered those millions you take them. Few people will ever earn so many. I am one of the few fortunates who do. I may be one of the worst buys in the history of the Premiership, but I don’t care.”
When his contract ran out, nobody else would sign him and some time later I remember being a little taken aback to read that he had announced his retirement, primarily because the news was so completely academic.
Dyer, to be fair has been injured a lot, and Sullivan, having made his money in soft porn, can hardly begrudge someone a few quid for lying on the flat of their back. So, the safest bet this week if you can get anyone to quote you odds, is that the players at West Ham will be just fine, but that driver’s likely to be behind the wheel of a taxi this time next year.
Bets
€25 double on Man City (-1) to beat Stoke and West Brom (0) to beat Reading away @ 3.34.
€25 double on Fulham (-1) to beat Notts County and Spurs (0/-0.5) to beat Bolton away @ 3.42.
€20 double on Newcastle (0) to beat Swansea away and Forest (0/-0.5) to beat Doncaster away @ 4.12,
€5 accumulator on Newcastle and Forest as above plus Coventry (0/-0.5) to beat QPR, Leicester (-0.5/-1) to beat Scunthorpe and Middlesborough (-.5/-1) to beat Peterborough @ 25.6.
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Categories: Soccer
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