Arsenal Chairman Peter Hill-Wood says wages paid to players are ‘out of hand’ and that the club will not bend to demands from Theo Walcott as he stalls over a new contract.
Arsenal have offered Walcott £75,000 per week (plus bonuses, incentives, image rights and more which would substantially increase his package … fnarr) but that offer was deemed ‘unacceptable’ according to PHW.
Speaking to the Daily Star the Chairman said, “We have made an offer which he didn’t think was acceptable and that is the end of it. We think it is a very reasonable offer. We have got our general overall wage structure and we are not prepared to break it for anybody.
“For the moment his people are still talking to us and we hope it will be resolved. But don’t ask me when, because I haven’t a clue.”
And after a 12 month period during which Walcott’s people have walked away from talks more than once, Hill-Wood said he remained hopeful that the England international would stay but hinted that the player’s advisers are leading him astray.
“I hope that he will eventually come round and sign. It will be a pity if he does not, but the whole issue of pay for footballers has got totally out of hand and they don’t get terribly well advised a lot of the time.”
It’s clear there was some brinksmanship going on this summer with Walcott’s agents trying to use the fact he was approaching the final year of his deal to squeeze more money out of Arsenal, but with no concrete offers from anywhere else, even in those circumstances, stalemate was reached.
Weekend reports suggested there would be further discussions between the club and Walcott’s representatives with the player ‘ready’ to sign a new deal, but as long as Arsenal’s financial offer remains ‘unacceptable’ and with a Bosman looming we wouldn’t be holding our breath.
I’m proud to support a club that doesn’t bend over to player power.
Me too.
I have always liked Walcott. He gets a lot of stick, some of it deserved, but he seems like a nice lad. Thick, but a nice lad.
Throughout this saga with his contract, I have always hoped it wasn’t about money, but with PHW saying things like this it’s quite obvious it is. Or at least an agent twisting things.
Agents should all be burned in hell. I think I read somewhere that we don’t have any one left at the club with a connection to Darren Dien.. is that true?
Didn’t we bend to player power when we sold Fabregas to Barcelona and to no one else when we could have milked them for a lot more than what those c*nts at Catalonia gave us? Didn’t we bend to player power again with van Persie who apparently wanted Manchester United for 6 months?
Right.
But let’s assume player power has to have a definition.
If selling Fabregas/RVP was bending to player power, what would you have called offering them three trillion pennies a day to stay?
I read a comment on a previous article about, well , the comments section .
Immature name calling isn’t a proper reply. He was just voicing his opinion.
Seriously though , what has this place come to.
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You didn’t have to swing to the other extreme. I wasn’t for keeping RvP, sure we should have sold him but not to a rival. Sure we should have sold Fabregas when clearly the comments coming from Barcelona had unsettled him. But Barcelona were not willing to go beyond their ridiculous evaluation of Fabregas and we bent to let Fabregas have his dream move, when we could have sold him for a high price elsewhere. PS: Barcelona even had the temerity to say they got Fabregas for 25 million pounds cheaper than his actual evaluation. @Jai Jawan: Right back at… Read more »
Alright. This is personal opinion – I don’t class Fabregas in the same gilded boat as RVP/Nasri are in. He only wanted to go to one other club. While my admiration for him deteriorated with his departure, I still think he put in a good contribution here. It would have been disrespectful to spank him off to the highest bidder when imo, the only clubs he’s wanted to be at are AFC and Barca. It also leaves open the door for a return if he wanted one and we wanted to accept that. Your RVP argument shows double standards. First… Read more »
Cesc was a special situation, he would have rejected any offers from any other club. I believe any club in the world would have been forced to sell a homesick player who only had one club on his mind.
And RvP’s departure was about money, no two ways about it. He wanted a bigger contract from us, we didn’t give in. He left. Same as we did with Nasri and Adebayor.
Fair enough. As with football transfers there’s still a lot of gray area as to whether Manchester United were the only club to have bid for van Persie, as there were gray areas with some of the points I had mentioned too. What do you think about the Song situation though? He asked for a move and we gave it (not that we’re missing him (yet)). Also the Spurs-Modric situation, I doubt Modric would look back at Tottenham very fondly after the way they handled the whole thing. But the Spurs fans were pretty proud of how their club did… Read more »
Again, I’m for respect though I don’t know what place that has in football financial dealings. I think Modric put in a good stint at Spurs, was refused a sale the last season but rolled with it and performed well for the club. There are some comments below saying how players should give their all for the club. When they do that, I think the Club is obliged to treat the players the same way. Granted Spurs got their top dollar for him as you say and they certainly don’t mind. That’s the fine line between money and respect I… Read more »
So what would you suggest?
I should add that I see what you’re saying Ganesh.
Suppose we’d sold Song and Arteta had not been so well-suited to the ‘DM’ position? (*shudders to speak ill of Mikel*)
We might perhaps have been in a pickle waiting for Coqpong to fully blood in/not get injured. And the media would be chopping down trees to print the usual selling-club in demise et cetera.
Of course if there might have been blushes, Arteta has saved us them.
You do realise that the Song transfer was also about severing links with Dein jnr?
We wouldn’t miss him as we have Frimpong and the almighty Coq in line behind Arteta – who I feel they both would learn more from mentaly and technically.
RvP was sold to the highest bidder, with the possible exception of Citeh.
If Juve, Barca, Madrid or anyone else offered £20m+, I’m sure that would be where he’d have ended up, but it would have been ridiculous to sell him to Italy for 8-10 million, when United offered 25, or whatever it was.
barcelona profited twice for cesc’s stupidity. because of his public announcement of barca as his only choice. not only that reduced his price, he himself had to take a pay cut.
Why do so many people go on about who we would or should have sold RVP to? If we had accepted a deal from, say, PSG for 60 million but RVP had his sghts set on Man United then what say would we have had? None at all. He would have said, “No, I do not wish to play in France at this stage of my career” and we would have had to accept the United bid anyway (Remember, we were faced with sell him or lose him for nothing, so we couldn’t win whatever we decided to do). The… Read more »
Wow, Let me get this right blogs, we have a 23yr old England international who’s contract runs out in the summer, we cant force him to leave in January so in all likelihood we’ll lose him for free on a bosman in the summer! Yet you dont think we should offer him what he wants?!? Even if you don’t rate Theo’s ability as a footballer, this just makes no business sense whatsoever, and in all honesty it explains a lot. We are better off, offering him a contract of for instance £100k a week and selling him in the summer… Read more »
I’m not that invested in what players earn either, but giving a player what he wants simply because you’re being railroaded into it is no way to run a club. All that would do is show other players they can do the same.
Personally, I think the offer for Theo is more than fair but if he doesn’t like it, that’s up to him.
I understand and accept that but we’ll be losing him on a free, & considering he’s worth, it makes no business sense considering the amount we’ve invested in developing him. Any club could basically sign him for free and sell him a year on and would have made a profit! That club should be Arsenal. Imagine Theo was a free agent in the summer and wanted £100k a week, wouldnt you be tempted? He knows what he can get in the market and unfortunately we have no other choice. How does Theo leaving on a free benefit Arsenal?? I dont… Read more »
@glory hunter : “offering him a contract of for instance £100k a week and selling him in the summer for £10M” . Is that possible ? Surely a players contract cannot be terminated just like that. Even if it were possible, wouldn’t Theo’s agents/ advisers make sure there are no such loopholes, considering that he stands to lose from not opting for a bosman.
@ goonorhea
We sold Henry a season after he extended his contract.
Cesc was on a long term deal and we sold him.
Song has 3 years left on his deal and he was sold.
As long as all party’s are happy, you can sell a contracted player whenever you want.
I’m not going to claim to have a deep understanding of these things but you do know the only reason anyone else is going to offer Theo £100k a week is because they’d get him on a Bosman? If we offer him that, who’s going to buy him when you want to sell him for £10m come Summer? While all we all care about is that Arsenal players give their all for the team, it’s still a fantasy world to pay them whatever they want for that. Ultimately, that’s going to come out of the season ticket. I like Theo.… Read more »
Glory Hunter – I understand where you’re coming from, but it just doesn’t work that way in the real world. If Theo was offered 100k per week at Arsenal, we’d have to sell him to a club that would AT LEAST match that offer, which actually isn’t many – and even less when you consider that Theo is not as talented as many of the wingers on those clubs’ books. Otherwise he’d just stay at Arsenal, not playing. We can’t just sell someone if they don’t want to go – it’s actually impossible. Plus, consider that the other clubs would… Read more »
Well said Rad Carrot:
I understand the clubs stance, i just think letting Theo leave on a free makes no sense.
We could easily get between £10M – £20M for him.
I hate using Cashley as an example but, in all honestly(& hindsight) who can genuinely say the club made the right decision in letting him leave instead of offering him the extra 5k a week he wanted.
I really would be pissed if that happened with Theo and i’ll be on this blog reminding you all for eternity. lol
Regarding Blogs comment, I wouldn’t be too bothered what players earn either if their wages were being paid by a billionaire owner, but I am concerned if it means my ticket price goes up again. I wanted to take my boy to the north London derby for his first game, but the ticket price alone was going to be £120 for me and a 6yr old. I had to decide if it’s justifiable in the scheme of ‘household budgeting’ to spend that amount. It then makes it all the more frustrating that part of that money goes toward Arshavin, Squillachi,… Read more »
No player is bigger than any club. I care what our players get paid, as I contribute to that by going to matches and buying merchandise.
Although it might be silly to loose an English poster boy/speed demon for free, I would be satisfied if in its efficacy, every current and future player understood quite clearly that Arsenal do not bend over for ANYONE.
I think Walcott will leave on a Bosman in June. If you take off the Arsenal blinkers and look at the player as others look at him you will see that he is a bit of a gamble as he is potentially only one broken leg away from being essentially useless. If he broke a leg and came back a yard slower what skills does he possess that will keep him at the top as a player? He can shoot a bit, but he relies on his speed to get him into shooting positions. He has no trickery or strength… Read more »
This is a bit sad. I find Theo to be much improved this year and his eye for goal is great too at the moment. He’s only 23 to boot. Hopefully this gets resolved.
I’d like to see him start though and see if the game passes him by as it has previously. Great impact player at the moment.
Come on Theo, sign the damn contact and the football and big time recognition will come!
I don’t want to see him starting until he signs. There is no point selecting him over players that are committed to the club at the moment only to watch him leave on a free at the end of the season.
It’s better we don’t know what impact he could have made than giving him the shot which he will use as an opportunity to get more suitors like van Persie did.
I think there needs to be a balance between sending a message to the players and picking the best team to win a game. If Theo starting will win us the game, then play him. I think Arsene is doing well in this regard at the moment. Personally I think Theo is much more effective coming off the bench in the final third of a game. His pace is his obviously the main weapon, and on the break against tired legs he is unstoppable. If he starts, then full backs get used to his tactics and the pace of the… Read more »
If he signs by the start of January then all good. Lovely fella. Go Theo!!!!
…but if we reach February and he has not signed or moved on for a fee then we stop playing him in any capacity and tell him to train at home by himself. Let his agents and whatever fucking team he has already done a deal with on the sly get him back to match fitness after a 4 month layoff. It might even save us a few pounds on bonuses and incentives.
city and psg can bend over for walcott if he wants.I’m proud of my club Arsenal.
This is not the real Fatgooner. Please stop impersonating me.
Are you sure? He sounds like you and has the same name….
he’s FATTER too
Hey fatgooner( the real fatgooner). Just start posting under the name @@AAllenSport. I’ll post under the name arseblog. That outta put a stop to this crap. Your boy, frog.
Correction, post as @Aallensport.
Well most sane Arsenal fans would be holding their breadth because of the impact he could make that no one else in the squad could, like at West Ham last week, the Spurs & Chelsea games last seasons.
Its amazing how some so called “sensible & influential ” Arsenal fans could have such short memory.
Very true. If you ask me if Theo is worth 100000 pounds a week, i would say yes.
Exactly… he’s very influential… as a sub… in patches. And he’s not OK with that. Only time — and him signing the contract — will tell if he can be Arsenal’s starting striker, but he isn’t convincing anyone of that at the moment with these contract antics alone. (Good work this season so far, though.)
Arsenal made Walcott
nah, his mom and dad did..
Despite what Theo said, no one was fooled. I mean Arsene has repeatedly said he will try him up front, what more assurances can a player need? It’s up to him to take the chance when he gets it like Henry and van Persie did. Ironically what’s preventing him from getting the chance is his refusal to sign. He is only 23 years old surely he can survive on 75K/wk now then when he is getting nearer to the end of his career he can look for massive deals.. I might be wrong but when I see him playing and… Read more »
I listened to his post match interview on ESPN on Saturday, and to this Gooner, Theo sounded very positive about staying. Presumably on our terms. And I hope he signs. That was a really nice goal he scored on Saturday, and having contract negotiations limiting his contribution to our club (and they are limiting his appearances, and I’m glad they are) is a pity. 75k is fair for Theo’s current ability. He may well improve in the course of the new contract, and I’m sure if that’s the case the club will take that into consideration next time around. But,… Read more »
Dear Theo,
Keep sounding very positive about staying while we keep calling off your contract talks. Before you know it it will be June and you can move to that big club we’ve been talking to.
Love,
Your Agents
P.S. Don’t tell anyone about talking to the big club. It’s our little secret, remember? There’s a good lad.
We still have the ox and gervinho, wonder what is walcott’s bargaining chip.
Also, don’t keep your hopes high. When Hill-Wood speaks about a player rumoured to leave, he leaves more often than not. It started with the Vieira transfer too and even the player lambasted Hill-Wood as the dark force within the Arsenal board. Maybe that’s why (and the few million pounds more per year) he didn’t join Arsenal as an MD?
With the manager on £140k a week I’d imagine the agents see that as a benchmark at AFC and try and use it as leverage when working on deals.
Why on earth would the manager be a benchmark for player salaries?
Coz its the players who do all the running and defending and scoring
Strictly speaking it might not be a benchmark but, along with the Gazidis salary hike, it sure is an indication to agents that there’s money sloshing around inside the club and they’re going to try their damndest to get a hold of some of that.
Because he’s an employee of the club on the footballing side? It seems there is some sort of correlation between player’s and manager’s wages at most clubs, they are not viewed as completely separate entities.
For the record, I don’t think Walcott should be paid any more than he’s been offered, I was simply trying to imagine how agents may look at the situation at AFC.
But the players don’t get criticised or face the sack for doing badly. If I took as much flack as Wenger does with no protection from the board, then I’d want as much money as possible.
As soon as players are held accountable at the same level by the club/media/fans then you can start claiming they should all be paid the same.
You can’t have one rule for one and a different one for another.
Ridiculous statement. Their only benchmark is the wages paid at City , Chelsea etc.
And how is that ridiculous?
So what happens if Wilshere wants a bigger contract or Santi?
Until we start paying key players better, we’ll continue to lose our stars.
Santi is on apparently £80k a week, whilst Abebayor earned £160k a week at Man City, I accept we cant compete with citys wages but the disparity is ridiculous.
Seriously Santi should be on at least £100k a week, its the market rate for a player of his quality.
“Seriously Santi should be on at least £100k a week, its the market rate for a player of his quality.” Correct and he probably will be when contract renegotiation time comes around. That said, if he was prepared to sign for 80k, why would we say “oh, that’s not enough, have 100”? Anyhow, the real question is: Is Santi worth more than Theo? If the answer to that one is yes (I think it is) and if Santi’s worth 100k (you think he is and I tend to agree) then Theo is not worth 100k and we just justified PHWs… Read more »
Correct and he probably will be when contract renegotiation time comes around. That said, if he was prepared to sign for 80k, why would we say “oh, that’s not enough, have 100″?
Because we are cheap bastards!
What is ridiculous is stating that agents use the manager’s wages as a benchmark when negotiating deals. I was pointing out that they use other players wages in City as benchmark instead.
Totally agree VCC.They have created a market which totally inflates the value of even moderate/poor players.
It’s fair enough to want more money. If I was in a job where I was amongst the best and I found out that all my colleagues who are if anything worse at their job than I am at it were earning much much more than me, I would want to leave if they offered me that job, It doesn’t matter if its my first job or whether I’m respected at my company. Bottom Line: I’m now a t top-earner in MY INDUSTRY. It’s quite simple for arsenal really. Can’t match the salaries- stop making excuses and stop calling us… Read more »
So you’re basically saying that Arsenal aren’t but PSG, Zenit and Anzi Machakala are all top clubs as they pay more than us…. Good grief.
Cheap! There’s nothing about the wages at Arsenal that is cheap. The policy of paying players around the same amount is the main flaw in my opinion. Any club paying Arshavin,Denilson, Squillaci & Chamakh c£250k pw cannot be described as cheap. Daft maybe…..
I wonder if Arsene Wenger was earning that the first three years into his stint at Arsenal.
Do you think perhaps we should wait until Theo has dedicated 16 years of loyalty and performance to AFC before we consider if that comparison can be made?
Thank you, you just saved me typing a long tirade/rant.
I know blogs never intended the thumbs up/down to be used this way, but I just kicked my wife off of her computer to give you an extra thumbs up.
Personally I think his benchmark should be players at the club and at his level, demanding significantly more than someone like Cazorla is absolutely ludicrous. If petro-fueled clubs want him then we won’t (and shouldn’t) compete, but then all his play me up front BS, will be nothing but that as he has shown from most of his goals that he likes cutting in from the wings and will likely be played like that in their teams…. I like him, but I like our wage structure the way it is, money can be used to better the stadium, training fields,… Read more »
For me, Walcott demanding to be paid more than Arteta, Cazorla, Podolski… Heck, even some of our current defenders. And then even Gervinho has been more prolific up top.
I like the way Arteta approached the situation. Accepted a pay cut to come to Arsenal, more than proved his worth, THEN sat down after the season was over to renegotiate.
I seriously doubt even the worst of agents would take Wenger’s wages into consideration when negotiating for their players. FFS, this is a manager who has won two doubles and went unbeaten through a whole season with his team, whether we agree if he is the right manager or not, he deserves every penny he is earning.
If anything PHW’s comments seems way arrogant and out of line. Yes he’s passing across the message but do it in a serene manner. He forgets how much the top dogs are being paid in this club and so it’s better to excersise finesse in dispensing any delusion that walcott might have for wantinf higher pay. Promotional advertisements, Arsenal football posters walcott is there but PHW, Gazidis are not yet if I remember correctly one if these two just got a huge raise recently. Walcotts football is not worth £100k but he does have a case if all those aforementioned… Read more »
You can’t blame the club for trying to set the record straight instead of allowing Theo and his agents to hide behind the ‘I want to play CF’ excuse for not signing.
For me this is the way it should be done. Be honest and say what the actual problem is rather than making up excuses about direction, playing position etc.
I’m more concerned PHW’S comments almost seems like he’s hanging walcott out to dry something I really dont like. This was PHW speaking and I’m sure he’s echoing the clubs sentiments and all but please does he have to be that arrogant?.
And you say excuses eh?. Eg walcotts playing position. Who are you to tell me thats not a genuine concern for walcott?. Yes he might want the extra quid but it doesn’t neccesarily mean he’s using the “play me as striker” as an excuse.
Like someone pointed out earlier, if Arsenal say ‘OK Theo you can have 120K/wk’ do you honestly think he will care too much about playing as a striker? The point is, first and foremost his concern is about the wages. Playing position comes a distant second. I said ‘play me as a striker’ is an excuse simply because he said he doesn’t care about money yet his agents are holding the club to ransom over ‘extra quid’ as you put it. All PHW did was tell his side of the story probably because Theo has told his to the media… Read more »
So Gunripper, what’s the haggling about then? Are we to believe that Theo will sign once he has been moved to Centre Forward? If so then how many matches will he expect to play there before he signs? 1?, 2?, 25? Wenger already said he sees no problem with giving Walcott a go in the middle. I didn’t hear Walcott saying “Oh great, that’s what I always wanted. I can’t wait to start”. You, I and Theo all know that Wenger doesn’t like to tell lies, so why hasn’t Walcott signed? Doesn’t he trust him? Or do you think that… Read more »
I dont think in this day and age , £75k pw is a lot for a premiership player and England international. Before anyone jumps on me , its a sign of the times that above average players can command such figuers. I think PHW is simply grasping at the good ole days but conveniently forgets what a money machine AFC has become and the players want a piece of that pie. I’d like to see Theo stay, get his shot upfront where I reckon he can do a good job and become part of winning team which I for one,… Read more »
That’s exactly what i’ve been saying, if Theo can get more money elsewhere, why wouldn’t he be tempted to leave?!?
He’s not the 1st one and he wont be the last and until we can start offering key players better contracts, we’ll continue to lose them to teams offering much better wages. Its not rocket science!
From the responses so far, it appears that most don’t think he’s worth £100k a week, so Theo has no choice but to go to a club that thinks he is worth £100k a week & i wouldn’t hold any grudges.
Because of the bleeding Bosman man. That’s the only reason anyone’s going to pay him £100k/week. And the only club he might get that much at CF is Liverpool if they somehow didn’t buy a striker next summer. Otherwise, any other is going to stick him on the flanks. And suppose he does get played at CF, do you see any top club where Theo is going to be first choice striker? So do we want to pay Theo £100k because he’s certainly not going to displace Giroud. It is my opinion but those wages are enough. Recent news showed… Read more »
No one can have the impact Theo has… I love his game and i’d love to see him up front banging in the goals one day. Sign the damn papers boy!
Nobody? What about the Ox?
I like what the club are doing with Zaha, very publicly sending Pat Rice to watch him play this week. Just a little nudge from Wenger that Theo’s position is far from infallible.
Personally I’d like to keep Theo, but I admire the club for taking a firm stance on his wages. There has to be a wage structure, and if a player is stoutly refusing to respect that then they should be moved on. The club is not an endless fountain of money to make millionaires out of anyone who pulls on the shirt.
All those screaming ‘pay him what he wants’ are the same ones that will moan at how much he earns when he doesn’t show consistency.
Our only stance is that we are prepared to lose him rather than pay him what he wants!!
Our only hope is that no club will offer him more than we did as a free agent in the summer which is almost impossible or he miraculously changes his mind and signs da ting
Then, so be it. The club’s wage bill is rising considerably, as shown by the latest accounts. I hope he signs for 80-85, I think most would be happy with that. I think we can all agree, at this stage, that the club won’t fall apart if he leaves.
Theo’s career might though 😉
What hes saying is,for 100k ill play anywhere and not moan. Sad thing is we’ve started to lose respect for him (like those before)and that’s a long road back.
Someone should say to theo, better players have played this game with us and not got their way.
Funny thing is he’ll play right wing wherever he goes.
LOL… Yeah, what does he think, Man City will shell out $110 million and then send its current strikers (on even higher wages) to the bench so he can start?
Or maybe he’ll get tons of money at Man U to displace RVP? 🙂
once hillwood talks publicly about an arsenal player he is as good as gone. thanks for the memories walcott!!
also, i think there should be a rule that bans players and clubs from talking about contract situations. its really in bad taste. try and resolve the matter behind closed doors and when all else has failed and both club and player have decided to part ways disclose what you want.
Some of you lot dont realise that the average premier league squad player is on about 20-30k a week, some even less. I know Theo is an England international and a hot prospect but 75k seems reasonable. And its pretty obvious the agent is doing more bad than good for Theo’s reputation
He’s been a hot prospect for five years. The going rate for hot prospects is 75,000.
It should be “We’ll pay you 75,000 for playing as a right winger, and you can move inside whenever it seems like the right move to make. We’ll pay you your current wage for playing as a Centre Forward, while you prove yourself, and you can move outside whenever it seems like the right move to make .”
Walcott will accept the 50,000 straight away. Yes?
After the R*P summer defection, I really don’t care if Theo stays or leaves. If he wants to play for Arsenal that’s fine – if he wants to be paid more by someone else, somewhere else – that’s fine too. If this is all about money then the smartest thing he could do is sign a shorter-term contract of say … 2 years and then wait for the new Premier League TV money to start inflating everyone’s wages. Then climb aboard the bandwagon. If this is all about wanting to replicate TH14, then he’s got serious competition in a 4-3-3… Read more »
You see, he can’t be TH14 in this 4-3-3.
In fact, playing wide in the 4-3-3, makes him an outside forward…. FORWARD, not a midfielder. Surely it’s all just talk from Theo to mask the money demands. To say it’s not about money, he must come up with something else.
In fairness, this is much less damaging than talking about winning trophies or supposed bigger clubs like others have done.
P.S. Wenger is playing this very well….
and thumb me down all you want but hillwood’s arrogant stance when dealing with players is NOT good for the club.
not saying walcott is innocent though
Arrogant is this week’s word of choice, it seems. However, arrogant is defined as “making claims or pretensions to superior importance or rights; overbearingly assuming; insolently proud”. I keep hearing the word used in relation to PHW, but it isn’t arrogance to suggest that player wages are getting silly and that no player is going to hold the club to ransom over money.
In my country now, there’s a mass strike by almost every sector of the civil service. A get back to work notice has been issued by the government that all striking workers should return back to work if not risk their wages being stopped. Reason: the government has no money and that everything single penny from the previous budget has already been accounted for. The workers ofcourse sympathized and they resumed normal duty in their respective proffesional. Teachers, doctors lecturers. Yes it was that bad. Though after a recent parliament meeting the governers themselves went ahead and awarded themselves with… Read more »
Love that you know that the board do nothing, not run the business, organise sponsors, etc … Not saying I love them, but you are a bit off the mark … Regarding Theo, “Arsenal have offered Walcott £75,000 per week (plus bonuses, incentives, image rights and more which would substantially increase his package” so I believe he will be getting paid these as well …. 100K is massively over what Cazorla, and indeed anyone else in Arsenal, is getting paid and quite frankly he doesn’t deserve it!!
I also agree he doesn’t deserve it. I clearly outlined it in my post above but with all that nothing he gets from being the clubs poster boy and promotional player he must be thinking that extra £25k should cover for it. Pay hike to Gazidis has to have anyone at the club thinking about one for themselves too.(Sagna walcott). I’d like to see the club pay walcott his poster boy dues, try him afew games as striker (like arsene’s promised) and if he still whines then i’ll know once and for all he’s full of shit and is only… Read more »
But they pay him and as part of his contract and being at the club, they can use his image for whatever they want. They can create a bobble-head doll that keeps saying “play me in the middle boss” and sell it outside the stadium if they wanted. This isn’t Gillette advertising outside the Emirates, this is Arsenal advertising outside their own stadium with their own players.
A lot of things are ‘out of hand’ – not just player wages. Ticket prices, shirt prices etc. Unless someone brings in a global player wages cap, then just like in all other businesses, the sky is the limit for wages – and that includes all the other staff.
Is Walcott worth more money, or can Wenger replace him for less?
That’s all this is about.
PHW was born with a foot in his mouth. Despite having a valid point about player salaries, it doesn’t help matters when he rants off to his hack piece of shit of newspaper mouthpiece.
It’s usually the death knell of an Arsenal player’s career when PHW offers his opinion.
Walcott has always been an excellent sub. He is the definition of a super sub, however when given a starting role he lacks consistency. He is by no means a match winner like Radamel Falcao, or Santi Cazorla, or Didier Drogba, or Lionel Messi. If he wants 100 000 pounds a week, he will have to start decimating opponents single handedly.
Yet again I find Hill-Wood’s comments baffling and unhelpful, particularly as regards timing. There is absolutely nothing inherently wrong with his, albeit futile, message on out of hand pay, but it sits badly alongside the very recent revelations about Gazidis’ massive and unwarranted salary hike. Also, if other very recent reports are to be believed, Walcott has been making distinctly positive noises about his contract intentions. Is Hill-Wood looking to make this negotiation more difficult, or does he just not think very deeply before opening his mouth to his chosen (and a rather a strange choice at that) media outlet?
Spot on. But you’ve got to forgive Hill-Wood – once he has a few Vodka-Martinis his tongue gets very very loose.
I think it is wrong that anyone at Arsenal comments in public on a player other than to compliment the player on his match play. All other aspects of a staff member remain between that member and the club.
PHW is out of order in speaking about Walcott in the way he has done.
Perhaps PHW would care to tell us how much he was paid but the The Star for his article. I bet he will tell us!!!
This would be the case if the players themselves don’t go to the media talking crap about their reasons for not extending their contracts.
I don’t mind PHW talking if the player involved has been talking too. Theo says it’s not about money but now we have learned that he is asking for more money so his plan to deceive the fans like van Persie did has been exposed.
Sorry that should read ‘by the Star.’
It’s only gonna get worse. We can all thank Real Madrid, Chelsea, Man CIty, PSG, Anzi, etc for the insane player transfer fees and wages. Just wait and see how much money Falcao & Neymar go for this summer.
Theo, you’ve been made a very good offer. If you love Arsenal and want to stay sign a new contract. If you’re only about money and want to go elsewhere then I’ll help you pack!
Theo wants to emulate Thierry Henry. He’s taking it one step at a time. First ask for Thierry Henry’s number. Second, ask for Thierry Henry’s central position. Thirdly demand “Thierry Henry wages”. Fourthly, try to improve as a player and become as good as Thierry Henry.
You’ve got three and four around the wrong way son.
I must say, I find the entire Walcott situation bizarre. Wenger was ruthless – and correct – in getting rid of Van Persie when the Dutchman made it clear that the money we were offering wasn’t enough. Yet he hopelessly dithered when it came to jettisoning an average and under-performing Winger who had been given years to prove his worth. Now instead of getting a decent fee last summer for a mediocre player, it looks like young Theo will walk away for nothing. The club is quite right in sticking to their guns and not being held to ransom by… Read more »
Yep, the strangest thing about this is that neither Theo nor his people seem to realise how good he’s got it at Arsenal. Go somewhere else for £100,000+ a week and there’s an expectation of consistent performance. At Arsenal he’s forgiven/tolerated when he doesn’t play well.
His inconsistency is not tolerated by the manager, who has seen fit to only give Walcott a place on the bench this season.
The bench is not for his performance, Walcott was the third most effective offensive player overall last season, Wenger is benching him because of the contract. It is a good show of strength, we don’t need you Walcott (except at westham away…). I think he should stay, but not at 100k. thing is, Arsenals wages are not much bigger than uniteds. We just pay more average players higher wages. If Arsenal could incorporate a more dynamic wage structure within the same overall wage bill, then I’d have no problem with 100k for all the top players. Also, what Walcott misses… Read more »
all the summer has proven is that the market has determined Walcott is not currently worth £100K + a transfer fee We may have taken £10m but look at what that does to the cost of a 4 yr contract – it increases it by 50%, from £20m (£100K a week for 4 years on a free) to £30m (inc the £10m transfer fee). That’s why offering Theo a £100K a week contract is only worth doing if we think he’s going to deliver over the period of the contract to a standard that’s better than what £5m a year… Read more »
Your assumptions hold if you first assume that Arsenal was a willing seller this summer. I have read nothing indicating that was true.
assumption predicated on previous selling players of ability who won’t sign new contract extensions
or, in other words, evidence based
i could be wrong of course but still, i’d imagine the reason we didn’t sell him is because the offers – if made – would have been well below what was deemed acceptable, rather than down to a determination to make a player see out his contract which would be a radical departure from normal practise
would it not be better to say something along the lines of here’s £80k a week not going any higher but here’s a whopping goal bonus, score 25 goals 15 assists this season and next season we offer you £90k?
and ffs stop letting players get to this stage in contracts
Do you not think the club have done that? For example, his £75000 BASIC wage would be topped up by performance bonuses, appearance bonuses, ‘loyalty’ bonusesm image rights and would have automatic percentage increases built in as the deal goes on.
So £75k this season might be £80k next etc etc. Plus I’m sure they’ll have set targets and rewards built in too.
It’s not as if we’re saying here’s £75000 per week, take it or fuck off.
The connection between Gazidis and Walcott is neither here nor there, we have no idea what goes on behind the scenes and in a closed boardroom, if Gazidis has put several sponsorship deals in place and increased the income for the club by millions of pounds over the next few years then he deserves a pay rise, as for Theo, we can all see his contribution to the club every Saturday afternoon, and imo it doesn’t warrant £100,000 a week, cant blame the lad for trying but unfortunately in doing so he has turned most fans against him, and i… Read more »
We said the same thing about Ashley Cole
If we cant learn from our mistakes then we have no chance!
When you say “learn from our mistakes” what do you mean? pay any player what they demand?? How would that work?
Dont be silly!
If key players ask for payrise when discussing contracts, we should be more flexible.
But if players that dont contribute demand payrises, we laugh in their face.
I accept its not an ideal situation but losing Theo on a bosman is absurd.
That’s not realistic because of the other clubs involved. If Arsenal said to Ashley ‘ we shall offer you 70K/wk’ what do you think will happen if the Chavs return with a better offer of 140K/wk? Back to square one.
This is the reason we couldn’t get Mata or Hazard. It wasn’t about the buying fee but about wages and signing on fees which clubs we are competing with can better irrespective of what we offer.
To VCC:
There’s a big difference between 70k & 140k.
We let Ashley go, cos we apparently wouldn’t give him the extra 5k a week we had promised.
But im speaking in hindsight, at that moment i thought greedy bastard but looking back we made a mistake and i’m man enough to admit it.
He’s career has gone from strength to strength and when you think of Cashley, you dont associate him with Arsenal anymore(that might actually be a good thing) but i would be gutted if Theo turned into a world beater somewhere else.
I think, in hindsight, it was a mistake letting Cashley go in those circumstances, but Cashley was in a different class to Walcott when he left us.
He’s the best left back in the league now. Do you see Walcott becoming close to being the best forward in England?
The fact is none of us know what Theo’s salary will be once you include all the “add ons”, all we can do is trust Arsene to put a offer on the table for what he thinks is as much as we should pay, and if it’s not enough Theo can go and play somewhere else….it’s a bit harsh but we MUST put our trust in Arsene…He’s not done too bad upto now..
Ashley Cole already knew what Chelsea were going to pay him each week from his illegal meetings with them. He knew we could never match what they offered him, but he did his level best to try to make Arsenal look like the bad guys. He even wrote a book so that he could tell his side of the story of our cruelty to him. Don’t try to suggest we screwed up that deal. He was going to Chelsea long before we even knew he wanted to leave, the snively little money grubbing, puke during sex, slimeball, philandering cunt-bucket.
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Sorry, comparing Walcott to Cole is silly. Walcott’s nowhere near that level. Also, Walcott trying to say he’s worth more than anyone else there, financially? Ridiculous. This is Arsenal we’re talking about. If you prefer money over playing at Arsenal, then leave. If you just “want a go” at central striker, shut up, keep playing like you played last week and you’ll get your chance.
To austingooner:
Like i said hindsight!
when we sold Cole to Chelsea, most gooners(myself included) were convinced we had a better replacement in Clichy.
Are u telling me that if you could do it all over again, knowing what you now know you wouldn’t have given Ashley the extra 5k??
Instead what did we do, we labelled him Cashley, just like we’re labeling Theo greedy, undeserving etc
But history has shown us we were wrong, im also convinced that will be the case if we let Theo leave on a bosman, but i guess only time will tell!
That’s the first bit of decent sense that Hill-Wood’s uttered in ages. He is particularly correct about players getting crap advice from greedy agents, who see cash and don’t think football.
For once Arsenal are doing the right thing. I’ll be very surprised if Walcott signs and if not, come January, we should sell for what we can get and move on.
I’m sorry, but a 23 year old footballer of Theo’s standard (with no kids) has absolutely no excuse to be asking for more than the £75k a week he is being offered. Footballers wages are getting ridiculous, I agree with PHW. I think we all know it isn’t Theo making these demands, it is his greedy advisers looking to make a healthy commission (which I assume is based on a percentage of the salary).
What’s the relevance of him having no kids?
Could Ashley Cole possibly do anymore to show just what a complete cunt he is?
Tweet that Jimmy Savile was his boyhood hero?
P.S. The Wonga stadium, lol what a bunch of twats…
Actually, it didn’t turn out that way. Those Wonga guys are smart-if-sneaky operators.
What top club is going to play theo up front? Forget about the wages he wants and answer me that.
The only club i can think off is Liverpool, but would he want to go there for an extra £25 grand a week?
The Liverpool offer might hinge on what type of shellsuit merchandising deal is included.
He has wannabe-Liverpool DNA. he supports them, don’t you know? If he moves there you can be sure the first thing out of his mouth will be “It was always my dream…blah, blah, blah….”
If he does go there Liverpool’s shots on target ratio will not really improve any as they don’t have any decent wingers to feed the ball to him in the centre.
Its silly to pay him 100,000 pw when our top performers like cazorla, arteta are earning less. Yes walcott is a good player and i like him as long as he’s gunner. But if he doesnt understand/respect the clubs wage structure he should assess his other options.
Be sure his agents already have, and they are manouvreing him into a Bosman so that his chosen club can have him for nothing and pay him a higher wage.
What ever will be – will be. Let the situation play out. He stays, he stays. He leaves, we get somebody else. Carzola who last season? Now he’s everyone’s favorite player. AW will find the talent no matter what. Pointless looking back at the cashleys/cescs/RVP’s. Look forward, look at the talent we’ve got and can get that’s out there. The squad we have now is dripping with talent, maybe 1 or 2 players away from a title winning squad.
CARZOLA who THIS season !!!!!
Do you mean Cazorla ? Pronounced Cathorla with Barcelona waiter’s accent.
I’d happily pay a sniper 75 grand to take out agents, at a rate of one per week, until those that remain shut their fucking mouths in fear of their lives and go back to selling insurance.
Ha. Those incentives and bonuses will soon add up!!!
You’re right GD….and it would be worth every penny / cent / euro just to see the look on Kia Kardashian’s face as the telescopic light beam settles on his forehead.
What PHW would have said if he had thought, and then having thought it, would never have said it: “People’s willingness to pay to see premier league football live and on TV is out of hand.”
Can someone explain to me how it’s okay we sold Fab to Barca for a low fee because it’s the only club he wanted, but Ronaldo was sold to the only club he wanted for an astronomical one?
Don’t ask awkward questions, you trouble maker !
Did you notice that afterwards Real Madrid treated United with respect, whereas Fuckalone-a took the piss out of us? We owe the lot of those bastards a Frimponging.
I don’t think that Theo will find a better club than Arsenal or a better manager then Wenger. I also think that it would be a shame if he left, although I’d support the club for 100 % in this case.
It’s a shame that it’s all about money. 75k a week, 80k, 100k … who cares? If you earn that much money it doesn’t make a difference anymore
Btw really like PHW’s comments. Nice to hear a honest opinion that also makes sense