Monday 26 August 2013

Is Sullivan spinning a yarn and taking West Ham fans for mugs?

Well if we are to believe David Sullivan, West Ham can't buy a new striker because of the new Premier League financial relegations. He cites some cobblers about the threat of possible points deductions and a £52m cap on the wage bill with an allowance to only increase wages by a total of £4m...blah, blah, blah.

It all sounds very credible until you look at Tottenham and Chelsea, to cite but two. Tell me, how exactly will Chelsea comply with these supposed regulations if they sign Rooney and Will I Am? Let's put the granny shagger on £120,000 per week and his arrival alone will inflate the Chelsea wage bill by £6.24m. The Brazilian, meanwhile, will be on a minimum of £100k per week, adding another £5.2m. Then there is Mourinho's salary, and the other new arrivals. And what about all the new arrivals at Spurs ahead of the departure of Bale and even Parker. Are Chelsea  and Spurs risking a points deduction?

The answer to that is, of course they're not, because the first test for compliance is not until February 2015 so no penalties can cut in until then, and points are not going to be retrospectively deducted are they? Is Sullivan seriously suggesting that, in the middle of a subsequent season, a club will be penalised with a points deduction for an offence committed the previous season? Cobblers!

And if this was a genuine issue, would we have purchased Downing given all the cover we already had for the flanks? We need a striker, that is obvious, and an extra midfielder was a luxury, not a necessity.

Something doesn't make sense here. I hope Sullivan is simply trying to drive down the price of a player we are trying to sign by pleading poverty. If not, he appears to be taking West Ham fans for mugs.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

It doesn't work like that. Last season, if a club spent under £54m on wages, they can go up to £54m this season. If a club spend more, they can increase their wage bill by £4m. It can also increase more if they get increased sponsorship coming in. Not every club has a £54m limit otherwise the big clubs would lose half their squads.

Anonymous said...

If you read Sullivan's programme notes for the game V Cardiff he explains this very well. To quote the important points:

‘In essence, whatever a club spent on wages last season, they are allowed to do so again, with an allowance for an extra £4m on top. If you spent £48m on wages last year, as was the case with us, you are allowed to go up you a new £52m limit.

The one exception to this is when non-TV revenue –excluding money from the Premier League, ladder payments and live TV games-is taken into account. If Income from other avenues, such as ticketing, sponsorship and retail is boosted, then that increase can be spent on player salaries. However, since we maximised all these areas last year, it’s hard to achieve much growth in them this year.’

Big Clubs earn more money, ergo can spend more on wages as they can prove they can afford them.

For reference Sullivan also explained the wage limit covers: ‘salary, National Insurance, bonus payments, signing on fees and loyalty payments’.

Hammersfan said...

Which is why I talk here about the increase of £4mfor the bigger clubs which Spurs and Chelsea patently do not feel bound by. The point is, compliance tests do not take place until the middle of the 2014-15 season so the whole thing is theoretical at this stage.

Poacher said...

Read the rules - they are quite clear. You might then learn not to defame people and to know what you are writing about.

Anonymous said...

You are joking about Mourinho's salary aren't you? Unless he is named in the playing squad.

Hammersfan said...

You guys can swallow it if you like, but the first compliance test is not until February 2015. That is the key fact. You don't get done for speeding if there isn't a speed gun. If you know there is a speed gun 5 miles up the road, you drive at full speed until 800 yards before the gun and then slow down. There are THREE windows between now and the first compliance test so you can offload in plenty of time and players' contracts will expire over that time too.

Hammersfan said...

1559, he could do a better job than Pogatetz and Chamakh!

Antipodean Hammer. said...

It's based on wages over the season, so Chelsea/Spurs will have to sell players to reduce the wage bill by the same amount (less the £4m permitted increase).
They can also finance the increased wages out of commercial revenue, such as sponsorship, merchandise sales etc. as the restrictions only apply to money from the Premier League (TV money etc).
The 2015 compliance is a separate issue; clubs are only allowed to make losses of £35m per year, averaged over three years, so this can only be measured after 3 seasons (end of 2015-16).

Anonymous said...

@Hammersfan You do realise that's not how it works don't you? The compliance tests will be based on the accounts from the previous year that will start being released at the end of 2014. If the wages for the year have gone over £52 million for the 2013/14 season then you get punished.

Anonymous said...

hammersfan please do some research before you start posting terrible articles like this. You make West ham fans look stupid.

Hammersfan said...

First compliance point February 2015, half way through NEXT season. Anybody remember the urgency for the Tevez hearing because any points deduction would have to apply to the season just finishing, as to relegate West Ham subsequently, in the event of a points deduction, would cause chaos? They are not going to relegate a team half way through the next season and promote a club from the Championship in their place! Nor will they penalise a club which shows it has taken action to address the issue subsequently.

Tell me, if a team loses all its keepers to injury just before the window closes (it's just happened to Yeovil), would they play a youth team keeper rather than break the rules? Of course they wouldn't!

And anyway, we have already suffered a points deduction because with a half decent understudy for Carroll, we would have collected three points on Saturday, not one. Maiga can't lead the line and every game he plays in that position inevitably results in a disadvantage.

Anonymous said...

Best owners we have ever had.
Without them we would be another Portsmouth, Coventry etc.
Shit article.

Anonymous said...

Just give it up, you're wrong.. now move on.

Anonymous said...

Hey losers, Fanny has a very good point, the issues here is the FA "can" punish with a fine or points deduction.
There are so many loopholes in the rules and Sullivan is just using this at the moment to take the pressure off having to sign a new striker or using it as a negotiating strategy. Either way, there will be a fair few clubs in the shite this year before us.

Anonymous said...

The club has to supply details of salaries and other payments to players (Form 3).
The first one, for season 2012-2013, has to be submitted by March 2014. This is the basis for comparison. Form 3 for season 2013-14 must be submitted by March 2015. This gives the club up to 10 months to submit forms, so if a club breaks the rules, punishment won't be swift!

Hammersfan said...

At last, some people who grasp the point! No wonder Orwell wrote 1984, the way you lot swallow everything Big Brother pronounces! No doubt, those who have criticised this thread are the very same people who insisted Duxbury was doing a good job and was being open and honest with the West Ham fans. Has everybody since noted that Bellamy didn't want to leave West Ham?

Anonymous said...

Funny how your own fellow fans don't like you aswell! I've noticed you pick the negatives out of everything you can get your gob around! You are a miserable, boring, self loveing, vain loaner!

Anonymous said...

On the whole I think the owners are ok, but I can't believe the way our fans take everything they say as read. Gold has been caught out lying a few ties now, mainly on ticket prices but also has changed his tune about affordable football at the OS. Remember yes they have saved us but have only loaned money to the club and will get every penny back. The way they talk they would have you believe they are losing their own money.

Kean-0 said...

Why so nasty? I've seen others being punched out for less. Digitally anonymous - nice one.

Poacher said...

Put your money in then

Anonymous said...

So fanny thinks Sullivan is taking fans for mugs. What of it? He can say and do what he likes as long he's not breaking the rules. If he's using this particular ruling as a tool to get a better deal for the club, that has to be good. God forbid west ham breaking the rules a-la the Teves incident.

jim said...

good article h f when carrols fit wel have almost the same side as last season so maybe we can finish 9th if the owners want to increase our wage cap cant they sponser the training ground or somthing man city are doing the same on a bigger scale by naming there ground for an over the top price so why cant our owners do the same
respect to both our owners for saving our club we all know they put there own money in but they aint stopped talking about it since
to me they are trying to run things on the cheap look where cheap got us with avram one other thing when we move into the o s we will be sold again to the highest bidder

Hammersfan said...

Ah that great player Teves! He made a real mark, like Soro. Good enough to have been born in Brasil. Played with a real sest. Almost as skilful as Gassa.

essesirons said...

can't believe how thick some people on here really are. Keep going on about the £52m wage limit.... That is OUR wage limit.... Chelski & Spuds etc generate more cash in other ways. Look at how Man City have got rnd it. Stadium name rights... £400m over 10 years, with the same sponsor as shirt.. chelski will do same or the Russian Mafia will sponsor something at the ground.
West Ham get around £2m a year from Alpari, Chelski, man u & c, every other big clubs get 10x that. Even when we go OS we only get % of naming rights. the gap will get bigger between the top 5 or so & reat of league, Prem will be like La Liga. Same teams every year win the lot.

essesirons said...

i guess this must be another West Ham site that you must agree with the author or your views dont count!!!!!

Anonymous said...

19:06 "Orwell wrote 1984" your humour and book references lead me to believe that you are very firmly stuck as a student. It's like they were the best years of your life and you're still stuck - bet you're still in flairs and a tank top yer nan knitted.