How much money are the Glazers now saving through wages of our offloaded players?

Denis' cuff

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The OP did a great spin job on this one. Amazing how so many people want most of these guys gone but once they are it's turned into "more money for the Glazers". I guess the OP would rather we kept those players and paid their wages to sit on the bench just so it wouldn't mean more money in the greedy hands of our owners....sigh

How about there be some balance in replacing those sold with quality replacements? Never mind using our position of being the most profitable club on the planet.... (or were, until the decline) to improve, and keep us right at the top with the Spanish clubs and Bayern. We’ve even been left behind by Juventus, who were on their arses not long ago. As long as “fans” support these leeches we’ll continue to decline and you’ll eventually wonder where it all went wrong.

Sigh. The naivety on here is astounding at times. Stadium and playing staff in absolute decline whilst the owners’ personal profit escalates. Anyone who thinks there’ll be additions to the squad or substantial recruitment in the summer has not been paying attention the past near-decade and a half.
 

JPRouve

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You're one of my favourite posters in here and the one I trust the most on French talent, however, I tend to rely on the fan's opinion about their club more then anyone else especially considering how we are being managed. Also note that its not uncommon for administrations to start very well and then go to the shitters later on. Berlusconi's AC Milan is a classic example of that.
I'll be honest on that subject I don't care about what you think about me. The Bucs only success has been under the Glazers, their record has been better under the Glazers and they are in the toughest division in the NFL. If you want to parrot nonsense go ahead but it's easy to see that it's wrong and I'm not pretending that they are particularly good NFL owners, they are simply average.
Also the NFL is generally a bad example because at the exception of a handful of teams that have a great head coach and a great QB the rest of the league is over several seasons around 8-8. Success in the NFL has a lot to do with being lucky enough to be bad when great QB propects enter the draft which doesn't happen often.
 

Bilbo

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I find it hard to follow that logic. Since when does selling players mean you can't sign new ones? If anything it's the literal opposite.

So why has the club actually decreased spending despite freeing up significant money on the wage front? Trying to answer that question leads to threads like this and "negativity".
Perhaps the players we wanted were unattainable this summer. Perhaps the clubs financial position means that we need to get the wage bill under control before we can reinvest. Who knows?

I find it hard to accept that we are willing to risk a season being hampered by squad depth simply because we are unwilling to invest - unless perhaps the Glazers are readying the club for a sale - which ironically could also be looked upon as a positive
 

devilish

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The squad was bloated and full of mercenaries. It feels like we are solving that problem. We have a different problem right now - the squad is light. It might cost us this season. If that is the cost of cleaning house and starting a new chapter then I can live with that.

Rather than call it 'gross incompetence' why not look at it as Woodward starting to learn from past mistakes and see it is a new dawn? I'll tell you why - because you'd rather see the negative at all times and tell everyone at every opportunity. IMHO that makes you a toxic supporter at the moment.

I fully agree that the squad is bloated and filled with deadwood although I don't think you'll add Smalling to that list. Having said that I have two points on that. First of all its the club's fault that we're in this situation. It was this current admin who dished long term contracts to the likes of Rojo, Jones and co after all. Secondly you can get rid of the deadwood while concurrently buying players that WE NEED. That's what well run clubs usually do. Starting the season with such a weak midfield and forward line is yet another confirmation of how incompetent this admin is.

Also this is fecking Manchester United we're talking about. You don't learn things here. Take Marotta for example. Prior of him becoming the CEO of Juventus, the guy has made his bones with Varese, Monza, Como, Ravenna and Sampdoria. Our CEO has absolutely no idea about football apart from making money on their behalf, which speaks volumes what the Glazers care about.
 
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devilish

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I'll be honest on that subject I don't care about what you think about me. The Bucs only success has been under the Glazers, their record has been better under the Glazers and they are in the toughest division in the NFL. If you want to parrot nonsense go ahead but it's easy to see that it's wrong and I'm not pretending that they are particularly good NFL owners, they are simply average.
Also the NFL is generally a bad example because at the exception of a handful of teams that have a great head coach and a great QB the rest of the league is over several seasons around 8-8. Success in the NFL has a lot to do with being lucky enough to be bad when great QB propects enter the draft which doesn't happen often.
What about the EPL is it a good example? We're started the season with a ridiculous CM, no quality RW and no cover for Rashford. Not to forget that Ole is our 4th manager in 7 years. Is that enough to judge this admin as incompetent?
 

JPRouve

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Perhaps the players we wanted were unattainable this summer. Perhaps the clubs financial position means that we need to get the wage bill under control before we can reinvest. Who knows?

I find it hard to accept that we are willing to risk a season being hampered by squad depth simply because we are unwilling to invest - unless perhaps the Glazers are readying the club for a sale - which ironically could also be looked upon as a positive
Personally I think that it's a mix of all of that and bad preparation. Keep in mind that the club was happy to let us know tha they had The meeting about this transfer window in April. That's way too late and I wouldn't be happy to let anyone know about it but apparently this club thinks that it's alright.
 

devilish

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You've misunderstood the term top red for a start @devilish, a true top red is supposed to hate everything about the Glazers.
A top red will toe in line with everything the club does especially if a legend is leading the line. In my opinion, Woodward's best decision was to appoint Ole. After Cardiff, Ole chance of managing a top club were ridiculously low so when he got the job he was too grateful towards Woody to call a spade, a spade. Anyway by doing so Woodward got all the top reds at his side
 

devilish

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Perhaps the players we wanted were unattainable this summer. Perhaps the clubs financial position means that we need to get the wage bill under control before we can reinvest. Who knows?

I find it hard to accept that we are willing to risk a season being hampered by squad depth simply because we are unwilling to invest - unless perhaps the Glazers are readying the club for a sale - which ironically could also be looked upon as a positive
We have poorly invested for the past 2 years. I do believe that the club in on sale and I agree that its something positive if its true. However we've got no definite proof about that
 

do.ob

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Perhaps the players we wanted were unattainable this summer. Perhaps the clubs financial position means that we need to get the wage bill under control before we can reinvest. Who knows?

I find it hard to accept that we are willing to risk a season being hampered by squad depth simply because we are unwilling to invest - unless perhaps the Glazers are readying the club for a sale - which ironically could also be looked upon as a positive
At the very least signing a couple of players for depth should never be impossible. If you want to.
 

Bilbo

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I fully agree that the squad is bloated although I don't think you'll add Smalling to that list. Having said that I have two points on that. First of all its the club's fault that we're in this situation. It was this current admin who dished long term contracts to the likes of Rojo, Jones and co after all. Secondly you can get rid of the deadwood while concurrently buying players that WE NEED. That's what well run clubs usually do. Starting the season with such a weak midfield and forward line is yet another confirmation of how incompetent this admin is.

Also this is fecking Manchester United we're talking about. You don't learn things here. Take Marotta for example. Prior of him becoming the CEO of Juventus, the guy has made his bones with Varese, Monza, Como, Ravenna and Sampdoria. Our CEO has absolutely no idea about football apart from making money on their behalf, which speaks volumes what the Glazers care about.
Yes its the clubs fault - bad decisions have been made. Those bad decisions are certainly impacting the speed at which we will be able to rebuild this squad.

Ultimately its up to you and every individual supporter how you choose to manage this experience. You can wallow in every bad decision made and everything you don't like about the club - basically gain no pleasure from supporting this club (which appears to be where you are at right now) - or you can choose to look at the positives and have hope that lessons have been learned and we are starting a new chapter that will lead to success.

I like Solksjaer, I like this team and I think it is absolutely OBVIOUS that we have learned from past mistakes and want to buy only players that will die for the shirt. If squad depth means that some of our promising youth get some more minutes to show whether they are good enough, then great. Our history and philosophy around young players is probably the thing I love most about United.
 

devilish

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At the very least signing a couple of players for depth should never be impossible. If you want to.
That's something I disagree with. Id rather not sign anyone then sign more squad players. Having said that we had all the time in the world to prepare for summer. We simply did our homework wrong same as we did last summer.
 

Ban

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Take Juventus for example. :lol:

Anyway I think Ed is taking a lot of you for a ride.
 

devilish

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Yes its the clubs fault - bad decisions have been made. Those bad decisions are certainly impacting the speed at which we will be able to rebuild this squad.

Ultimately its up to you and every individual supporter how you choose to manage this experience. You can wallow in every bad decision made and everything you don't like about the club - basically gain no pleasure from supporting this club (which appears to be where you are at right now) - or you can choose to look at the positives and have hope that lessons have been learned and we are starting a new chapter that will lead to success.

I like Solksjaer, I like this team and I think it is absolutely OBVIOUS that we have learned from past mistakes and want to buy only players that will die for the shirt. If squad depth means that some of our promising youth get some more minutes to show whether they are good enough, then great. Our history and philosophy around young players is probably the thing I love most about United.
If we truly learnt from mistakes then Woodward would have been out and an experienced CEO + DOF would have been signed. Also apart from us playing entertaining football there's very little to like in this squad. It lacks both quality and depth. Its basically a 4th-7th club.

Hopefully the club is on sale. That's something positive to look forward to.
 

Bilbo

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At the very least signing a couple of players for depth should never be impossible. If you want to.
Why bother if its the wrong players - you just end up with the next generation of deadwood that you've paid £30m per head for.
 

devilish

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Take Juventus for example. :lol:

Anyway I think Ed is taking a lot of you for a ride.

Whom he's taking for a ride the ones who think that he only cares about profits and has no idea about football matters (as LVG/Mou has accused him off) or the ones who think that he finally learnt from his mistakes?
 

Bilbo

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apart from us playing entertaining football there's very little to like in this squad
Aaaand that's me done with this conversation. I'm no longer convinced that you're not on a wind up
 

JPRouve

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What about the EPL is it a good example? We're started the season with a ridiculous CM, no quality RW and no cover for Rashford. Not to forget that Ole is our 4th manager in 7 years. Is that enough to judge this admin as incompetent?
I have called them incompetent a long time ago, so that wasn't the issue. The issue was sharing false information which is something that has been done a lot when it comes to the board or the Glazers. When it comes to United, it seems clear that this football club has no expertise regarding player acquisition and management; like someone else suggested yesterday the presence of SAF when they bought the club is clearly the main cause of the issue. Like many fans did, the owners seemed to think that SAF was operating as a standard manager, that he could be replaced with a single person, for some of us it was a baffling idea and it still is but apparently the Glazers still don't understand and I gladly blame them for that.

Instead of disagreeing with posters I will simply write what I think and then do my best to not participate in these conversations in the future.

I don't think that the Glazers are malicious, I think that they are naive and cowardly, they will avoid everything that may look like a risk which is evident when you look at who they hired as CEOs and who they hired as managers, the CEOs are all from within while the managers have for the first three all been extremely experienced and now we have a former U23 coach coming back into the organization. The Glazers call it loyalty but it's pure cowardice.
Woodward has been a good CFO but truth be told he should be fired, not due to the fact that he still hasn't compensated the loss of football expertise that left with SAF but because there is no reason to justify the operational expenses of United since 2013, if I was a Glazer I would fire him because he let the club waste an incredible amount of money for no results at all. After that we can start talking about what he is actually doing or not doing as a CEO, on the football side of things.
 

devilish

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Aaaand that's me done with this conversation. I'm no longer convinced that you're not on a wind up
I am serious. We got a strong defence but talent is really scarce in midfield and upfront. Also I'll be very surprised if at least 1 between our two best players won't leave next summer (ie DDG and Pogba)
 

Havak

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Lukaku - £200k
Herrera - £75k
Fellaini - £100k
Valencia - £100k
Smalling - £80k
Sanchez - £350k

Assuming these reported figures are correct, £47,060,000 was the yearly sum of these players wages.

Then we have to deduct the following:

Maguire - £190k
Bissaka - £90k
James - £45k

For £16,900,000

Which gives us £30,160,000

This could be way off, it could not be, but most sources reported similar wages for United players (give or take £10k).

However, the likes of Rashford have reportedly moved up from £45k to around £200k, if de Gea has signed this deal then he'll have moved up from £200k to £375k. Phil Jones also reported moved up from £50k to £120k, but I'm not sure I can believe this one as surely the club can't be that stupid even now? But if we take those as gospel...

Then it's another £20,800,000

Which means the current saving is £9,360,000

Although, we are paying £6,000,000 towards Sanchez's loan, so it's really £3,360,000

So, all of our business has lowered our annual wage bill by roughly £3.3m if any of the rumoured figures are to be believed. Darmian could also leave and we've released the likes of Wilson and loaned out Joel Pereira which will shave a bit more off. Signing another player seems like it will only increase our already massive wage bill, so this kind of makes it clearer as to why we didn't buy anyone else I guess.
 

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Whom he's taking for a ride the ones who think that he only cares about profits and has no idea about football matters (as LVG/Mou has accused him off) or the ones who think that he finally learnt from his mistakes?
The latter.
 

ExecutionerWasp001

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We have poorly invested for the past 2 years. I do believe that the club in on sale and I agree that its something positive if its true. However we've got no definite proof about that
There's no real way forward for the Glazers. They tried the Galactico route which has failed. We can go the DOF route but that too isn't nailed on to succeed & big money will still have to be spent on players. We are now in a situation where EL qualification cannot be guaranteed. This can lead to a much higher revenue fall than forecast.

I think this seasons lack of investment makes it look like the Glazers are getting ready to sell. They've started making efforts in getting the high earners off the books. Have been slightly thwarted by Real being unable to afford Pogba at the present time. I think he will go next Summer though. If we fail to qualify for next seasons CL then i think a sale is inevitable. It's easier to find a buyer if we don't have a bloated playing staff & wage bill.
 

do.ob

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Why bother if its the wrong players - you just end up with the next generation of deadwood that you've paid £30m per head for.
The chances that United couldn't identify any reasonable targets in the whole wide world are pretty slim.
 

devilish

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There's no real way forward for the Glazers. They tried the Galactico route which has failed. We can go the DOF route but that too isn't nailed on to succeed & big money will still have to be spent on players. We are now in a situation where EL qualification cannot be guaranteed. This can lead to a much higher revenue fall than forecast.

I think this seasons lack of investment makes it look like the Glazers are getting ready to sell. They've started making efforts in getting the high earners off the books. Have been slightly thwarted by Real being unable to afford Pogba at the present time. I think he will go next Summer though. If we fail to qualify for next seasons CL then i think a sale is inevitable. It's easier to find a buyer if we don't have a bloated playing staff & wage bill.
I agree with most you said however what Galactico route exactly? You mean the pensioners we signed (Valdes, ibra, bastian) or sanchez/Falcao with their one foot in the career's grave? We signed 2 big names in their prime. One was a Galactico reject and of course Pogba. Both ended our main assist men
 

bosnian_red

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It's not only about saving wages. Managers have said time and time again how having a bloated group can be damaging for morale, damaging for quality of training sessions, can be distracting for the squad, and in general isn't a good thing to have. It's not just about having "options" randomly throughout. If the squad is overly bloated with too many shit options, the average quality just goes down, even if they aren't involved loads.

Right now we basically have 2 XI's with a tiny bit extra (and some we still need to sell - 25 people is the max you'd want IMO):

De Gea
Wan Bissaka Maguire Lindelof Shaw
McTominay Pogba
James Lingard Rashford
Martial

Romero
Dalot Jones Tuanzebe Young
Matic Fred
Mata Gomes Chong
Greenwood
Extra to fill squad - Grant, Rojo, Garner, Pereira
Bloated squad - Darmian, Bailly

Yeah, some people might not like us giving so much youth roles in a straight backup 11. Its not a bad thing at all though IMO.

Our defence main 8 I have no problem with. 2 of the extras should go to get a nice balance there anyway, 9 options is all we need between CB's and FB's. Main 4, backup 4, Rojo who can play both in a pinch.

Our midfield 4 is only really lacking a quality DM to bump McTominay down as the backup DM, with Maric then being fine to sell IMO. Numbers it's fine, it's just the quality of a key position probably isnt good enough. Garner as extra backup as youth, with Pereira a floater between this and the attacking group.

Our attack obviously we all would've preferred a quality RW, to have James in the 2nd 11, bumping one of the youth down to the squad fill option (or making Mata irrelevant). That's still probably the goal with us chasing Sancho, but Ole didn't want to buy someone as a stop gap and further bloat the squad if we really think we can get him next summer. Who knows. If we think those youth players can handle the prem though, then it makes sense as a group to give them roles in the backup 11.

It might be purely financial reasons, but theres a lot of valid footballing reasons you can point towards as the reason why we wanted to go in with a slimmer squad.
 

Relfy

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The last thing I wasnt is the owners bleeding more money out of the club, however this is an example of us riding ourselves of players and their salaries for the right reasons. This, to me at least, is being done as a footballing decision.

The players who left have little to no future with us. Out of the ones that did leave Herrera is probably the only one that would have added to our current crop. Sanchez has been a failure, lukaku quite vocally wanted to leave, fellaini was never good enough (despite some good contributions), smalling has been replaced, Valencia was past it. All of them should have left and rightly so. I don't think the owners saw these players salaries and suddenly started to offload them in order to fill their pockets.

Ole said he would trim the fat and he has been a man of his word. The fact he's overseeing this, which is no coincidence, and still taking flak despite a matter of weeks ago taking the shit for not selling any of the deadwood, makes zero sense. The fan base of this club never ceases to amaze and disappoint at exactly the same time.

Don't get me wrong we most certainly should have replaced lukaku as well as having added another midfielder, but at least Ole is leading the charge in getting the players who dont fit the plan out of the door.
 

Mr. MUJAC

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Lukaku - £200k
Herrera - £75k
Fellaini - £100k
Valencia - £100k
Smalling - £80k
Sanchez - £350k

Assuming these reported figures are correct, £47,060,000 was the yearly sum of these players wages.

Then we have to deduct the following:

Maguire - £190k
Bissaka - £90k
James - £45k

For £16,900,000

Which gives us £30,160,000

This could be way off, it could not be, but most sources reported similar wages for United players (give or take £10k).

However, the likes of Rashford have reportedly moved up from £45k to around £200k, if de Gea has signed this deal then he'll have moved up from £200k to £375k. Phil Jones also reported moved up from £50k to £120k, but I'm not sure I can believe this one as surely the club can't be that stupid even now? But if we take those as gospel...

Then it's another £20,800,000

Which means the current saving is £9,360,000

Although, we are paying £6,000,000 towards Sanchez's loan, so it's really £3,360,000

So, all of our business has lowered our annual wage bill by roughly £3.3m if any of the rumoured figures are to be believed. Darmian could also leave and we've released the likes of Wilson and loaned out Joel Pereira which will shave a bit more off. Signing another player seems like it will only increase our already massive wage bill, so this kind of makes it clearer as to why we didn't buy anyone else I guess.
The players all took a significant wage cut when we failed to reach the Champions League.

They are on nothing like the wages you suggest.

So many people think that wages are driving all the decisions. It is one factor.

Players are leaving because the manager doesn't see them as part of his future planning. It's pretty simple.

Getting rid of those players and bringing others in has been a football problem since the game began. Today is no different.
 

Varun1

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The players all took a significant wage cut when we failed to reach the Champions League.

They are on nothing like the wages you suggest.

So many people think that wages are driving all the decisions. It is one factor.

Players are leaving because the manager doesn't see them as part of his future planning. It's pretty simple.

Getting rid of those players and bringing others in has been a football problem since the game began. Today is no different.
Wasn't it a reduced bonus rather than a pay cut?

Other than Smalling's wages, I thought the below sounded about right. No?
Lukaku - £200k
Herrera - £75k
Fellaini - £100k
Valencia - £100k
Smalling - £80k
Sanchez - £350k

Agree with you that they're leaving because Ole doesn't see that as part of his plans.
Reduced earnings from not being in the CL and dropping down the league table, possibly reduced match day revenue due to our lack of success, sponsorship deals are probably linked to our league posision, the impact of Brexit, but also the need for a clear out so that Ole can get his preferred players, all this has a part to play.
 

Havak

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The players all took a significant wage cut when we failed to reach the Champions League.

They are on nothing like the wages you suggest.

So many people think that wages are driving all the decisions. It is one factor.

Players are leaving because the manager doesn't see them as part of his future planning. It's pretty simple.

Getting rid of those players and bringing others in has been a football problem since the game began. Today is no different.
They're not the wages I suggest, just what is seemingly the most consistently reported in the media. I know they are most likely bollocks as I doubt the club publishes exactly what every player earns to those outlets.

Regardless of the supposed No Champion's League wage cut (again, mostly reported by the media and not by our club, so you can't just pick and choose what you regard as bollocks and what isn't) all that does is drop everything reported by a percentage? I believe it was a 25% wage cut, so just lower everything there by 25% for a good estimate of what our wage bill has changed by over the course of a year (which is the point of this thread).
 

Mr. MUJAC

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They're not the wages I suggest, just what is seemingly the most consistently reported in the media. I know they are most likely bollocks as I doubt the club publishes exactly what every player earns to those outlets.

Regardless of the supposed No Champion's League wage cut (again, mostly reported by the media and not by our club, so you can't just pick and choose what you regard as bollocks and what isn't) all that does is drop everything reported by a percentage? I believe it was a 25% wage cut, so just lower everything there by 25% for a good estimate of what our wage bill has changed by over the course of a year (which is the point of this thread).
My understanding is that your point about the total wage bill (regardless of accuracy) is:

"...so this kind of makes it clearer as to why we didn't buy anyone else I guess."

My point is...that whether we sign or don't sign someone has nothing to do with wages, or at least wages alone. We have reduced overall wages by over 30% due to failing to qualify for Champions League and further reduced wages by loaning out Sanchez, Smalling and other reserve players. In addition, high wage earners like Lukaku, Fellaini, Herrera and others have gone. People also forget that Sanchez wages were also offset by Mkhitaryan's wages.

I'm not convinced wages are an issue in deciding whether to buy players at all.
 

Mr. MUJAC

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Wasn't it a reduced bonus rather than a pay cut?

Other than Smalling's wages, I thought the below sounded about right. No?
Lukaku - £200k
Herrera - £75k
Fellaini - £100k
Valencia - £100k
Smalling - £80k
Sanchez - £350k

Agree with you that they're leaving because Ole doesn't see that as part of his plans.
Reduced earnings from not being in the CL and dropping down the league table, possibly reduced match day revenue due to our lack of success, sponsorship deals are probably linked to our league posision, the impact of Brexit, but also the need for a clear out so that Ole can get his preferred players, all this has a part to play.
David Gill introduced a system some years ago whereby the players earnings were made up mostly of bonuses rather than a flat salary. In today's terms (whether it's bonus or flat salary), all the players have taken a 30%+ earnings cut this season based on what they earned last season. It's common practice.
 

Havak

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My understanding is that your point about the total wage bill (regardless of accuracy) is:

"...so this kind of makes it clearer as to why we didn't buy anyone else I guess."

My point is...that whether we sign or don't sign someone has nothing to do with wages, or at least wages alone. We have reduced overall wages by over 30% due to failing to qualify for Champions League and further reduced wages by loaning out Sanchez, Smalling and other reserve players. In addition, high wage earners like Lukaku, Fellaini, Herrera and others have gone. People also forget that Sanchez wages were also offset by Mkhitaryan's wages.

I'm not convinced wages are an issue in deciding whether to buy players at all.
It may well not be, but my point is more that if the amount the wage bill was at prior to this was the maximum, then it must be at least a part reason? I am obviously assuming that we were already operating at a maximum wage level, but that is only an assumption. The club seems very intent on lowering it, especially if Darmian is to leave as well (and we can/will release Young, Grant, and perhaps others in the next window) and these loan deals point towards wanting to save more funds, so I think it is a fair assumption but admit it could be totally wrong.

To me, this saving on wages seems like the ground-work for some future dealings the club will do. I'm not sure why the club would be working on thinning the squad and lowering wage outgoings as much as they are otherwise. It must have a decent degree of impact.
 

Alabaster Codify7

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There's no real way forward for the Glazers. They tried the Galactico route which has failed. We can go the DOF route but that too isn't nailed on to succeed & big money will still have to be spent on players. We are now in a situation where EL qualification cannot be guaranteed. This can lead to a much higher revenue fall than forecast.

I think this seasons lack of investment makes it look like the Glazers are getting ready to sell. They've started making efforts in getting the high earners off the books. Have been slightly thwarted by Real being unable to afford Pogba at the present time. I think he will go next Summer though. If we fail to qualify for next seasons CL then i think a sale is inevitable. It's easier to find a buyer if we don't have a bloated playing staff & wage bill.

Thing is man, I agree to an extent but there is such a thing as a happy medium here.

Their Galactico approach was basically targeting huge 'names' with big marketing potential..... Pogba,Zlatan to an extent, Schweinsteiger to an extent, Di Maria NO ( for me this signing was a complete no brainer on paper it just didn't work out and I don't blame them for that), Sanchez.

To go from that to "we're going to bypass expensive foreign talent and target young, relatively unproven Brits only" is a huge departure.

Ndombele. Rodri. Those are two pretty big money signings that would have MASSIVELY improved us without being 'superstars' with huge egos and wages.

Now, I'm not saying we could have signed either but I'm saying that top,top talent is out there for a good price. However it seems that either our board aren't interested in these players if they can't invoke a social media riot and publicity or they fly below our radar because it might require some proper scouting.
 

The Thinker

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Has this anything to do with the Uefa financial fair play? I guess not because of all the pasta and tractor sponsors out there.
 

Bilbo

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My understanding is that your point about the total wage bill (regardless of accuracy) is:

"...so this kind of makes it clearer as to why we didn't buy anyone else I guess."

My point is...that whether we sign or don't sign someone has nothing to do with wages, or at least wages alone. We have reduced overall wages by over 30% due to failing to qualify for Champions League and further reduced wages by loaning out Sanchez, Smalling and other reserve players. In addition, high wage earners like Lukaku, Fellaini, Herrera and others have gone. People also forget that Sanchez wages were also offset by Mkhitaryan's wages.

I'm not convinced wages are an issue in deciding whether to buy players at all.
No I agree - I think it is more likely to be our exposure on staggered transfer fees from our signings over the last few seasons.
 

SadlerMUFC

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How about there be some balance in replacing those sold with quality replacements? Never mind using our position of being the most profitable club on the planet.... (or were, until the decline) to improve, and keep us right at the top with the Spanish clubs and Bayern. We’ve even been left behind by Juventus, who were on their arses not long ago. As long as “fans” support these leeches we’ll continue to decline and you’ll eventually wonder where it all went wrong.

Sigh. The naivety on here is astounding at times. Stadium and playing staff in absolute decline whilst the owners’ personal profit escalates. Anyone who thinks there’ll be additions to the squad or substantial recruitment in the summer has not been paying attention the past near-decade and a half.
So what you're saying is that we should go out and buy more big name players like we've been doing the past 6-7 years and that should work? Never mind giving youth a chance and replacing Lukaku with Greenwood, Sanchez with Chong, and Fellaini with Gomes. We should go out and buy more "super stars" because yeah, that's worked really well in the past...pfft

I like what's happening now. My only regret this transfer window is that we didn't sign a centre midfielder. But hey, maybe Garner can get a chance too...
 

sammsky1

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Whether the Glazers are ‘sweating the asset’ or ‘getting rid of deadwood’, our current circumstances requires the financial and player culling.

At best we will get 4th and perhaps a Europa Cup win: such a squad depth require the level of overhead and personnel the squad had last season.

I hope this is the start of a fresh new beginning, laying foundations to capitalise when Pep leave City, which I suspect will be when he wins Champions League or end of next season (whichever is first).

But such an approach desperately requires us to secure Champions League football next season, to attract new players who can be funded in part by the increased revenues.

If we can do that, I foresee a team like last seasons Ajax emerging.

Else this is one of the last phases of Glazer ownership, stripping to asset to squeeze out the last profits before they sell to the Saudis or Chinese.

Either way, it’s a good thing for the club on the medium term. As for fans: some will switch clubs, some will lesson interest whilst the loyal 1 club fans will either suffer or somehow enjoy the mediocre and inconsistent performances of this season.
 

Offsideagain

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Not much being saved as it seems we are subverting Sanchez and paying his loan fee. Let’s hope the dosh they do save is spent wisely in January.
 

stubie

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Maybe the Glazers are trying to free up as much money as possible..........before selling up!

You just never know
 

ROFLUTION

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Lukaku - £200k
Herrera - £75k
Fellaini - £100k
Valencia - £100k
Smalling - £80k
Sanchez - £350k

Assuming these reported figures are correct, £47,060,000 was the yearly sum of these players wages.

Then we have to deduct the following:

Maguire - £190k
Bissaka - £90k
James - £45k

For £16,900,000

Which gives us £30,160,000

This could be way off, it could not be, but most sources reported similar wages for United players (give or take £10k).

However, the likes of Rashford have reportedly moved up from £45k to around £200k, if de Gea has signed this deal then he'll have moved up from £200k to £375k. Phil Jones also reported moved up from £50k to £120k, but I'm not sure I can believe this one as surely the club can't be that stupid even now? But if we take those as gospel...

Then it's another £20,800,000

Which means the current saving is £9,360,000

Although, we are paying £6,000,000 towards Sanchez's loan, so it's really £3,360,000

So, all of our business has lowered our annual wage bill by roughly £3.3m if any of the rumoured figures are to be believed. Darmian could also leave and we've released the likes of Wilson and loaned out Joel Pereira which will shave a bit more off. Signing another player seems like it will only increase our already massive wage bill, so this kind of makes it clearer as to why we didn't buy anyone else I guess.
Nice post. Thanks for taking the time. Sounds like a fair evaluation.