Matthew Judge - Manchester United contract negotiator

Gopher Brown

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I think the club hierarchy have read the first chapter of Soccernomics, where it says the biggest indicator of success is the wages payed to the players, and so have just inflated everyone’s salary.

Missing the point entirely that better players are supposed to be paid more. Bumping an average player up to a massive salary doesn’t make him better.
 

Red00012

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A thread on why the catering company inside Carrington are to blame to appear on this within a month.
 

Bestietom

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For any of you that haven’t heard of him. He is Ed Woodward’s right hand man that deals with contract negotiations of players.

He ‘negotiated’ the Sanchez transfer which led to the player signing the most ridiculous contract in footballing history. Sanchez’s very expensive contract has spiralled into one of the biggest problems at the club.

Matthew Judge has negotiated £200k a week contracts with Shaw and Martial which more than doubled their previous salaries. What had either of these players done to get such a pay rise? If you look at how Daniel Levy does contract negotiations at Tottenham, their players get small regular pay rises provided they sign a year extension on their contracts. This in turn has kept their wage budget down whilst retaining player value as they are all on long term contracts.

This man has negotiated contracts for Jones, Smalling and Young this season. Before that he let Fellaini bully him into a 2 year extension, something we had never done for a player over 30. This in turn has meant other players wanted the same terms.

And finally he has been unable to get Herrera to sign a new contract. There is no news on Mata or De Gea extending their contracts either.

So what qualifies him for such a job at Manchester United? That’s right he was an investment banker and best friend with Woodward at university.

For anything to change at Manchester United he has to be one of the first people to leave.
This is why the whole structure of this club needs to be revamped.
 

JPRouve

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I won't debate the subject but if I'm not mistaken, unlike many other clubs, United wages include image rights.
 

Chesterlestreet

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Was that not his old salary before the new deal? I thought so.
I distinctly remember him being on 110k on the list posted in the other thread - but how up to date that actually is, I don't know.

The context was the recent FL material, though - the details concerning how much certain players lose from not qualifying for the CL.

Would Young take a 50k (ish) paycut, btw? No idea, tbh. Perhaps he would.
 

Wumminator

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I distinctly remember him being on 110k on the list posted in the other thread - but how up to date that actually is, I don't know.

The context was the recent FL material, though - the details concerning how much certain players lose from not qualifying for the CL.

Would Young take a 50k (ish) paycut, btw? No idea, tbh. Perhaps he would.
The list you are seeing is this one:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/man-utd-player-wages-revealed-14168132

However, it is just the Mirror reporting on what they THINK United players are on.

Quick maths shows that if you compare that with our actual physically reported wage bill of all our staff, we probably aren't paying those wages.
 

Chesterlestreet

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The list you are seeing is this one:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/man-utd-player-wages-revealed-14168132

However, it is just the Mirror reporting on what they THINK United players are on.

Quick maths shows that if you compare that with our actual physically reported wage bill of all our staff, we probably aren't paying those wages.
Yeah, should probably take all that with a pinch - sure.

Browsing around a bit, I see a couple of supposed FL lists from last year with Phil Jones on 50k. And he's on 120k now according to the list you linked to. Both those figures can't be right.
 

JPRouve

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Yeah, should probably take all that with a pinch - sure.

Browsing around a bit, I see a couple of supposed FL lists from last year with Phil Jones on 50k. And he's on 120k now according to the list you linked to. Both those figures can't be right.
I more and more suspect that the figures aren't necessarily invented but incomplete. Basically the difference between base salary and salary plus full bonuses. It would be nice to have the same type of breakdowns than the ones we see in american sports where everything is labelled.
 

Wumminator

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Yeah, should probably take all that with a pinch - sure.

Browsing around a bit, I see a couple of supposed FL lists from last year with Phil Jones on 50k. And he's on 120k now according to the list you linked to. Both those figures can't be right.
It's a fact that so many people don't seem to understand. Jones and Young have been given a new contract, Herrera hasn't.

That does not mean that United value Jones and Young more. It just means they have accepted a contract that the club think reflects their value.
 

Wumminator

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I more and more (suspect that the figures aren't necessarily invented but incomplete. Basically the difference between base salary and salary plus full bonuses. It would be nice to have the same type of breakdowns than the one we see in american sports where everything is labelled.
I added those wages up, (only roughly off the top of my head) and added in those that were missing from last year (Fellaini, Perreira) and that roughly equates to 175 million quid.

Our whole club's wage bill last year had another 100 million.

That would include all bonuses, all staff and all of the Old Trafford team. Mourinho for example had a reported twenty million wage at the club.
 

JPRouve

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I added those wages up, (only roughly off the top of my head) and added in those that were missing from last year (Fellaini, Perreira) and that roughly equates to 175 million quid.

Our whole club's wage bill last year had another 100 million.

That would include all bonuses, all staff and all of the Old Trafford team. Mourinho for example had a reported twenty million wage at the club.
I only really know the french system but doesn't the 100m include the taxes on wage paid by the employer. And we also don't know what are the actual bonuses, individual and collective. In theory you could easily go to 100m.

For example, we don't know how prizes money are supposed to be shared at the end of the season.
 

bludsucker

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Do we actually know how much a player is earning exactly? I mean take a look at Herrera’s wages that were reported when he joined us. It was reported that he will earn 200k per week. Now we come to know that he was on 65k a week. I wouldn’t be surprised to know that martial and shaw will be earning somewhere closer to 125-140k a week rather than the reported wages of 200k.

People need to stop looking for space goats. It might not be as bad as people want to believe it is. I mean the glazers are penny pinchers and the last thing they would do is overpay players. The lesser they pay the players, the more they can put in their pockets.
 

Chesterlestreet

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I more and more suspect that the figures aren't necessarily invented but incomplete. Basically the difference between base salary and salary plus full bonuses. It would be nice to have the same type of breakdowns than the ones we see in american sports where everything is labelled.
Yes, that's certainly possible.

Football Leaks did a seemingly complete breakdown for the Sanchez deal (basic weekly salary + detailed bonuses) supposedly based on actual data they've managed to lift from somewhere. But I've never seen a comprehensive list for all players.
 

Chesterlestreet

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It's a fact that so many people don't seem to understand. Jones and Young have been given a new contract, Herrera hasn't.
That's clear enough. But the discrepancy between Jones' former and current contracts is huge - if you take the numbers at face value (insert joke about Phil's facial expressions) we more than doubled his wages (that is, more than doubled the wages of an already established player many think is a bit of a liability/sick note).

Edit: But, yeah, it obviously makes no sense to look at Herrera's old contract, compare it to Jones' current one - and make assumptions about how highly rated the former is (or was). The reported offer for Herrera (which he ended up turning down) was better than what Jones apparently got.
 
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That's clear enough. But the discrepancy between Jones' former and current contracts is huge - if you take the numbers at face value (insert joke about Phil's facial expressions) we more than doubled his wages (that is, more than doubled the wages of an already established player many think is a bit of a liability/sick note).
There’s simply no chance in hell we have doubled Phil Jones’ wages, everyone loves to slag off the Glazer’s for penny pinching and yet if a player they don’t rate gets a massive new contract, the have no issues believing the club are overpaying a ridiculous amount.
 

Chesterlestreet

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There’s simply no chance in hell we have doubled Phil Jones’ wages, everyone loves to slag off the Glazer’s for penny pinching and yet if a player they don’t rate gets a massive new contract, the have no issues believing the club are overpaying a ridiculous amount.
I agree - to be clear.

My point is - there's something off about the reported numbers, and quite possibly what @JPRouve alludes to, i.e. that some of them include bonuses/image rights (and whatnot), whereas others don't.
 
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If Jose Mourinho says go and pay half a million a week for Sanchez, that's his call and no one elses
I think Jose can say “get him at whatever cost” but the club still then have to agree to that and put a budget on it.

Sanchez contract has been blown out of all proportion anyway, he’s a superstar player that ran down his Arsenal contract so that he could “save” his new club a massive £40m-£50m in transfer fee so that he could reap those financial rewards himself.
Sanchez contract really shouldn’t be compared to regular contract negotiations.
 
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redshaw

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Do we actually know how much a player is earning exactly? I mean take a look at Herrera’s wages that were reported when he joined us. It was reported that he will earn 200k per week. Now we come to know that he was on 65k a week. I wouldn’t be surprised to know that martial and shaw will be earning somewhere closer to 125-140k a week rather than the reported wages of 200k.

People need to stop looking for space goats. It might not be as bad as people want to believe it is. I mean the glazers are penny pinchers and the last thing they would do is overpay players. The lesser they pay the players, the more they can put in their pockets.
I don't remember Herrera's wages being rumoured to be 200k when we signed him. That would be insane at the time.

Here is an article in 2015 showing him to be on 75k.
https://www.soccerladuma.co.za/news...r-united-s-2015-16-season-wages-leaked/219942

One from 2014 just as he signed saying 80k
https://www.tsmplug.com/richlist/manchester-united-players-salaries-list/
 

bludsucker

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I don't remember Herrera's wages being rumoured to be 200k when we signed him. That would be insane at the time.

Here is an article in 2015 showing him to be on 75k.
https://www.soccerladuma.co.za/news...r-united-s-2015-16-season-wages-leaked/219942

One from 2014 just as he signed saying 80k
https://www.tsmplug.com/richlist/manchester-united-players-salaries-list/
I distinctly remember reading reports that his wages were somewhere in the region of 200k per week. Not able to find the reports now. Also remember when shaw signed there were widespread reports of him being on 150k a week and people were losing their shite over it. Sanchez at one point was reportedly earning 600k a week. The point is that when it comes to wages of united players the press seems to add a premium to it.
 

redshaw

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I distinctly remember reading reports that his wages were somewhere in the region of 200k per week. Not able to find the reports now. Also remember when shaw signed there were widespread reports of him being on 150k a week and people were losing their shite over it. Sanchez at one point was reportedly earning 600k a week. The point is that when it comes to wages of united players the press seems to add a premium to it.
Maybe rabid speculation caught your eye before signing. Sanchez was mostly reported to be 400k.

Herrera wasn't anything like Bastian Rooney or RVP in profile. He was never going to be on 200k. Not surprising you can't find any as it's been widely understood he was about 80k and Rooney 300k and Bastian 200k.
 

bludsucker

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Maybe rabid speculation caught your eye before signing. Sanchez was mostly reported to be 400k.

Herrera wasn't anything like Bastian Rooney or RVP in profile. He was never going to be on 200k. Not surprising you can't find any as it's been widely understood he was about 80k and Rooney 300k and Bastian 200k.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tax/news/alexis-sanchez-much-tax-ni-will-man-utds-new-star-pay-600000/
Here is an article which says Sanchez is earning 600k a week. Might be mistaken about Herrera as i was quoting out of memory and could have gotten it confused with someone else’s salary.
 

jderbyshire

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Apparently this is the guy who negotiates with clubs/agents over transfer fees and contracts, etc.

Not Woody.

So from now on, let's say "Get the deal done, Judgy!" Or "Sign him up Matty!"

Don't think Woodward has much to do with getting deals done. I guess he can Veto/approve deals, but doesn't actually do them.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ted-swansea-daniel-james-ole-gunnar-solskjaer

Remember: It's Judgey - not Woody.
 

jem

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And yet you could count on one hand the amount of threads I’ve started - never mind a thread based on pure conjecture. I personally post here to discuss United and what’s actually going on (mostly on the pitch).

You have started a thread about how our fecking contract negotiator is one of the first people who needs to leave. It’s at best a throwaway comment for another thread.
And who are we to Judge? It's all getting a bit Judgey, on something that is essentially a Judgement call.
 

willhse456

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Apparently this is the guy who negotiates with clubs/agents over transfer fees and contracts, etc.

Not Woody.

So from now on, let's say "Get the deal done, Judgy!" Or "Sign him up Matty!"

Don't think Woodward has much to do with getting deals done. I guess he can Veto/approve deals, but doesn't actually do them.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ted-swansea-daniel-james-ole-gunnar-solskjaer

Remember: It's Judgey - not Woody.
I would imagine Woodward gives him a budget for each player.
 

johanovic

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Is there perhaps one thing people are forgetting in this? Have Woodward or Judge signed players on their own? Have not all new signings been made according to what the manager at any given time has wanted? What I´m saying if you look at Van Gaal and Mourinho signings I doubt they were handpicked for them by Woodward and co. I am certain no players have been signed or given contract extensions unless the managers were in agreement about that.