Cardiff City have the advantage and pay the highest wages

World Soccer


Mon 18th Aug 2014

Cardiff's shrewd summer
by Tony Williams

' TRANSFERS IN '

Guido Burgstaller (Rapid Wien)

Javi Guerra (Real Valladolid)

Adam Le Fondre (Reading)

Federico Macheda (Manchester United)

Kagisho Dikgacoi (Crystal Palace)

Charlie Horton (Peterborough)

Tom Adeyemi (Birmingham)

Danny Johnson (Guisborough)

Anthony Pilkington (Norwich City)

Sean Morisson (Reading)

' WAGES '

Cardiff City are paying the highest wages outside the Premier League with the average player on over £25,000 a week.

' CARDIFF CITY HAVE A FINANCIAL ADVANTAGE OVER THE REST OF THEIR FELLOW CHAMPIONSHIP RIVALS '

In pure monetary terms, Cardiff start with an advantage over most Championship clubs.
In addition to the £20m Solskjaer's transfers have generated this summer, there is the substantial parachute payment given to relegated Premier League clubs.

In previous years that figure was £48m, but this year for Cardiff, Fulham and Norwich it is £60m.

And the Bluebirds collected over £60m in revenue just for finishing bottom of the table last season, more than Manchester United banked in 2012/13 for winning the title.

Some may argue this makes the playing uneven, but those are the rules, and it makes good reading for the club. Should they need new recruits in January or fund an emergency loan mid season, then the money is there.


' OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER '

He may have spent most of his playing career in the Premier League, but manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is under no illusions about the challenge that awaits him.
"This league is tough and I've actually listened to radio and read the papers and there's five or six of us who can say we're candidates to go up," he said.

We have also seen quite a few high earners leave, notably; Bellamy, Smith, Mutch, Campbell, Medal & Caulker. Not sure if Cowie & Taylor were on the same high wages, but with KTC, Berget, McNaughton & Mason, along with one of two other players going out on loan, I would say that our wage bill has been significantly decreased,,,I don't know???

How does this fella know average wages are £25k per week?? As the previous poster says, many high earners are gone.

Perhaps he writes for the Echo in his spare time...

CTID

How does this fella know average wages are £25k per week?? As the previous poster says, many high earners are gone.

Perhaps he writes for the Echo in his spare time...

CTID

Ive been told that we have at least 8 players now currently on £30,000 plus a week?
Thats a lot for the Championship, we have to go straight back up in my opinion,we cant afford to miss out.
I have to admit our squad is the best Ive ever seen,Quality in numbers

Getting that one promotion, when we got it, has completly changed our position in the football food chain.

Ole's effieciency this summer, in not just recruiting well, but moving out many players has given our long term future a healthy outlook.

When you look at and compare us to how bad and slow off the mark Wolves, Birmingham and Blackburn adapted to relegation, it makes you realise there are smart people at our club who know what they are doing.

How does this fella know average wages are £25k per week?? As the previous poster says, many high earners are gone.

Perhaps he writes for the Echo in his spare time...

CTID

Ive been told that we have at least 8 players now currently on £30,000 plus a week?
Thats a lot for the Championship, we have to go straight back up in my opinion,we cant afford to miss out.
I have to admit our squad is the best Ive ever seen,Quality in numbers

totally agree Annis.

Big question is how do you keep a squad as big as ours happy - everyone signed to play on a regular basis - unless he plays a tuesday and saturday team - he does love the rotation but team need to gel as well with regular squad .

How does this fella know average wages are £25k per week?? As the previous poster says, many high earners are gone.

Perhaps he writes for the Echo in his spare time...

CTID

Ive been told that we have at least 8 players now currently on £30,000 plus a week?
Thats a lot for the Championship, we have to go straight back up in my opinion,we cant afford to miss out.
I have to admit our squad is the best Ive ever seen,Quality in numbers

totally agree Annis.

Big question is how do you keep a squad as big as ours happy - everyone signed to play on a regular basis - unless he plays a tuesday and saturday team - he does love the rotation but team need to gel as well with regular squad .

competition for places is healthy it keeps the starting 11 on their toes if they don't perform they know they have someone waiting to take their place in the next starting 11

How does this fella know average wages are £25k per week?? As the previous poster says, many high earners are gone.

Perhaps he writes for the Echo in his spare time...

CTID

Ive been told that we have at least 8 players now currently on £30,000 plus a week?
Thats a lot for the Championship, we have to go straight back up in my opinion,we cant afford to miss out.
I have to admit our squad is the best Ive ever seen,Quality in numbers

That's interesting Annis, & as a guess, I would say those eight were probably; Jones, Dikcagoi, Whittingham (new contract) Le Fondre, Macheda, Adeyemi, Pilkington & Morrison. Probably Fabio not far off, nor Brayford, Cala & Guerra.

Don't forget, Velikonja alleged to be on a big wedge as well.

CCFC has always paid well. It means that the players are more likely to sign and to stay (although I know we lost some big names this Summer).

The income last year from sky, PL etc and the parachute money should make us able to sign who we want within reason and OGS has done well IMO. Our players have no excuse for lacking motivation and in fact from what I've seen, the likes of KJ have renewed desire and commitment.

C'mon Bluebirds!

How does this fella know average wages are £25k per week?? As the previous poster says, many high earners are gone.

Perhaps he writes for the Echo in his spare time...

CTID

Ive been told that we have at least 8 players now currently on £30,000 plus a week?
Thats a lot for the Championship, we have to go straight back up in my opinion,we cant afford to miss out.
I have to admit our squad is the best Ive ever seen,Quality in numbers

Sound about right on wages, what else would you expect from a club that banked £60 plus million to be paying? I would say that financially we could support another season in the Championship, however, to not get promoted would cause more issues with Tans ownership and the supporters realtionship that outweigh any financial issues IMO.

How does this fella know average wages are £25k per week?? As the previous poster says, many high earners are gone.

Perhaps he writes for the Echo in his spare time...

CTID

Ive been told that we have at least 8 players now currently on £30,000 plus a week?
Thats a lot for the Championship, we have to go straight back up in my opinion,we cant afford to miss out.
I have to admit our squad is the best Ive ever seen,Quality in numbers

And still making a 20 million profit this summer. Brilliant business.

How does this fella know average wages are £25k per week?? As the previous poster says, many high earners are gone.

Perhaps he writes for the Echo in his spare time...

CTID

Ive been told that we have at least 8 players now currently on £30,000 plus a week?
Thats a lot for the Championship, we have to go straight back up in my opinion,we cant afford to miss out.
I have to admit our squad is the best Ive ever seen,Quality in numbers

And still making a 20 million profit this summer. Brilliant business.

Our 10 signings this summer have cost us less in fees than Fulham paid for McCormack or Blackburn forked out for Rhodes.

Fulham has spent much more in the transfer market. Id be surprised if they aren't also paying decent wages.

I love this squad, i really do, it is class. But please lets not pretend the club can afford it, it is nit sustainable. We have not banked 60 million like someone suggested in this thread at all, nowhere near. Our wage bill alone last year was probably around the 50 million mark. As Annis has rightly said, we NEED to go up first time of asking. Luckily for us i genuinely think we can and will. Our finances are probably worse than they have ever been regardless of increased income.

I love this squad, i really do, it is class. But please lets not pretend the club can afford it, it is nit sustainable. We have not banked 60 million like someone suggested in this thread at all, nowhere near. Our wage bill alone last year was probably around the 50 million mark. As Annis has rightly said, we NEED to go up first time of asking. Luckily for us i genuinely think we can and will. Our finances are probably worse than they have ever been regardless of increased income.

My question is, why are you pretending to be a Cardiff supporter?

How does this fella know average wages are £25k per week?? As the previous poster says, many high earners are gone.

Perhaps he writes for the Echo in his spare time...

CTID

Ive been told that we have at least 8 players now currently on £30,000 plus a week?
Thats a lot for the Championship, we have to go straight back up in my opinion,we cant afford to miss out.
I have to admit our squad is the best Ive ever seen,Quality in numbers

Sound about right on wages, what else would you expect from a club that banked £60 plus million to be paying? I would say that financially we could support another season in the Championship, however, to not get promoted would cause more issues with Tans ownership and the supporters realtionship that outweigh any financial issues IMO.

This shows the problem, that you have to either spend big on transfers or wages or both to go back up, its always a big gamble and thats how many teams get in to trouble. What i am saying is we might not be spending as big this time on transfer fees to go back up, but instead we are spending it on offering players the highest wages in this division.
Not much different than we did 2yrs ago, also a lot of the transfer fees are being kept quite.

I know we need to go straight back up, or other wise we will be in trouble. It looks promising and hopefully will pay off

I love this squad, i really do, it is class. But please lets not pretend the club can afford it, it is nit sustainable. We have not banked 60 million like someone suggested in this thread at all, nowhere near. Our wage bill alone last year was probably around the 50 million mark. As Annis has rightly said, we NEED to go up first time of asking. Luckily for us i genuinely think we can and will. Our finances are probably worse than they have ever been regardless of increased income.

My question is, why are you pretending to be a Cardiff supporter?

Chris is a Cardiff fan on FB, with many many Cardiff friends

I love this squad, i really do, it is class. But please lets not pretend the club can afford it, it is nit sustainable. We have not banked 60 million like someone suggested in this thread at all, nowhere near. Our wage bill alone last year was probably around the 50 million mark. As Annis has rightly said, we NEED to go up first time of asking. Luckily for us i genuinely think we can and will. Our finances are probably worse than they have ever been regardless of increased income.

My question is, why are you pretending to be a Cardiff supporter?

This again? So nobody can make a sensible point without being accused of not being a loyal city supporter? Or shall i pretend that we have got 60 million quid in the bank on the back of the prem just to fit in, and completely ignore the fact that our premier league outgoings gazumped that income in one fell swoop. Please lets stop ruining threads with this shit its boring.

How does this fella know average wages are £25k per week?? As the previous poster says, many high earners are gone.

Perhaps he writes for the Echo in his spare time...

CTID

Ive been told that we have at least 8 players now currently on £30,000 plus a week?
Thats a lot for the Championship, we have to go straight back up in my opinion,we cant afford to miss out.
I have to admit our squad is the best Ive ever seen,Quality in numbers

totally agree Annis.

Big question is how do you keep a squad as big as ours happy - everyone signed to play on a regular basis - unless he plays a tuesday and saturday team - he does love the rotation but team need to gel as well with regular squad .

Mike, Ole has a big headache,but a very nice big headache

I love this squad, i really do, it is class. But please lets not pretend the club can afford it, it is nit sustainable. We have not banked 60 million like someone suggested in this thread at all, nowhere near. Our wage bill alone last year was probably around the 50 million mark. As Annis has rightly said, we NEED to go up first time of asking. Luckily for us i genuinely think we can and will. Our finances are probably worse than they have ever been regardless of increased income.

My question is, why are you pretending to be a Cardiff supporter?

Chris is a Cardiff fan on FB, with many many Cardiff friends

I don't really give a flying f*ck how many virtual friends you mate "Chris" has in his virtual world, I don't believe that he is a Cardiff supporter from the tone of his postings on this message board, they are all far too questionable to be those of a real supporter.

Cry me a river troll, if you want to live in a bubble then f**k off to Disney Land coz i wont pussy foot around for the sensitive amongst us. If you want to actually respond to my post then be my honourable guest, although you cant can you?

Cry me a river troll, if you want to live in a bubble then f**k off to Disney Land coz i wont pussy foot around for the sensitive amongst us. If you want to actually respond to my post then be my honourable guest, although you cant can you?

Respond to what exactly?? your post was full of inacuracies and supposition which is pure fantasy. The fact is, is that we have bought and sold extremelly prudently in the summer, well within our budget. The importance of getting straight back to the Premiership is not financial per say, but more to do with our owner losing motivation, as should we not get promoted then the consequence will be a fan base completely dispondent, which will highlight all the negatives regarding the re-brand and the appointment of OGS as manager, who will have failed. So, I'm not concerned with our finances, because we have an owner, who will bankroll the club as long as he feels like it. I don't believe that you are a real supporter, because the tenat of all your 80 posts so far have been towards arguing the opposite or deliberately highlighting a negative aspect of any points made. So, I am happy to stand by my assumption that you not even a Cardiff supporter

Cry me a river troll, if you want to live in a bubble then f**k off to Disney Land coz i wont pussy foot around for the sensitive amongst us. If you want to actually respond to my post then be my honourable guest, although you cant can you?

Respond to what exactly?? your post was full of inacuracies and supposition which is pure fantasy. The fact is, is that we have bought and sold extremelly prudently in the summer, well within our budget. The importance of getting straight back to the Premiership is not financial per say, but more to do with our owner losing motivation, as should we not get promoted then the consequence will be a fan base completely dispondent, which will highlight all the negatives regarding the re-brand and the appointment of OGS as manager, who will have failed. So, I'm not concerned with our finances, because we have an owner, who will bankroll the club as long as he feels like it. I don't believe that you are a real supporter, because the tenat of all your 80 posts so far have been towards arguing the opposite or deliberately highlighting a negative aspect of any points made. So, I am happy to stand by my assumption that you not even a Cardiff supporter

What absolute rubbish, none of my posts are negative let alone all of them you cock.

You say my post is crap then agree with it. Ive said we have a great squad didnt i? What I said was, we dont have 60 million quid in the bank on the back of the prem because wages would be almost as high as that alone not to mention the amount malky spunked away. Now is that negative or just honesty? You also said we have an owner who will bankroll the club AS LONG AS HE FEELS LIKE IT. spot the problem. As i said go and live in your bubble and troll someone else mate, theres a good boy.

Cry me a river troll, if you want to live in a bubble then f**k off to Disney Land coz i wont pussy foot around for the sensitive amongst us. If you want to actually respond to my post then be my honourable guest, although you cant can you?

Respond to what exactly?? your post was full of inacuracies and supposition which is pure fantasy. The fact is, is that we have bought and sold extremelly prudently in the summer, well within our budget. The importance of getting straight back to the Premiership is not financial per say, but more to do with our owner losing motivation, as should we not get promoted then the consequence will be a fan base completely dispondent, which will highlight all the negatives regarding the re-brand and the appointment of OGS as manager, who will have failed. So, I'm not concerned with our finances, because we have an owner, who will bankroll the club as long as he feels like it. I don't believe that you are a real supporter, because the tenat of all your 80 posts so far have been towards arguing the opposite or deliberately highlighting a negative aspect of any points made. So, I am happy to stand by my assumption that you not even a Cardiff supporter

What absolute rubbish, none of my posts are negative let alone all of them you cock.

You say my post is crap then agree with it. Ive said we have a great squad didnt i? What I said was, we dont have 60 million quid in the bank on the back of the prem because wages would be almost as high as that alone not to mention the amount malky spunked away. Now is that negative or just honesty? You also said we have an owner who will bankroll the club AS LONG AS HE FEELS LIKE IT. spot the problem. As i said go and live in your bubble and troll someone else mate, theres a good boy.

Most on here, will know who the cock is my old china You're probably one of the usual misguided suspects who occassionally infect this message board, under mutiple user names . Suffice to say this is the last diologue I will be having with you, as it only ever goes one way. Enjoy your time here, whilst it lasts

Thats all well and good pal, but you are still yet to tell me how we have banked 60 million. Or are you too pig headed to apologise for jumping in with both feet and actually agree with me. You cant not really, as im simply stating a fact, we have NOT banked 60 million. The only person infecting this forum is the like of you who are incapable of understanding a simple fact if it is not what you want to hear. Bet you still think we play in blue too do you?

Thats all well and good pal, but you are still yet to tell me how we have banked 60 million. Or are you too pig headed to apologise for jumping in with both feet and actually agree with me. You cant not really, as im simply stating a fact, we have NOT banked 60 million. The only person infecting this forum is the like of you who are incapable of understanding a simple fact if it is not what you want to hear. Bet you still think we play in blue too do you?

£65m is the garaunteed payment from premier common knowledge that info, yes expenderture gone up so whilst we will bank the money its questionable how much we will actually bank as profit! We are not in as bad a situation as you have previously stated as the tax man hasnt banged on door for years now! But if tan goes yes up the proverble but thats ok as the told you so brigade will be happy there right, and the prefer to be in div 9 brigade be happy ad play in blue! Think this arguement is going up blind alley as technically both right . But probably to blind to see it. .

I love this squad, i really do, it is class. But please lets not pretend the club can afford it, it is nit sustainable. We have not banked 60 million like someone suggested in this thread at all, nowhere near. Our wage bill alone last year was probably around the 50 million mark. As Annis has rightly said, we NEED to go up first time of asking. Luckily for us i genuinely think we can and will. Our finances are probably worse than they have ever been regardless of increased income.

My question is, why are you pretending to be a Cardiff supporter?

he's just not got his head in the sand about the finances of CCFC.

you can ignore the facts if you wish, but in this day and age 8 players on £30k+ a week is unsustainable to put it lightly. even the thickest, most financially ignorant fan would be able to see that.