"persuading the board not to invoke the relegation salary reduction clause" - what ARE you

ON??

20 May 2005
City chief's pledge to Worthington
Norwich City chief executive Neil Doncaster today made manager Nigel Worthington one simple pledge: Everything you earn is yours to spend.

Stressing from the outset that City have absolutely no financial need to offload any of their players following last Sunday's relegation from the Premiership, Doncaster gave a cast-iron guarantee that any money raised through player sales or releases would be ploughed straight back into Worthington's promotion kitty.

?One hundred per cent,? said Doncaster simply.

?And it's worth reiterating that we are under no pressure to sell anyone,? said Doncaster, as years of careful financial planning bears fruit ? in particular the club's insistence on a tiered wage structure that takes account of the likely ?13 million shortfall in income between the Premier League and the Championship that accompanies relegation.

Suddenly, each and every player on the club's books finds himself back on Championship wages ? still very good Championship-standard wages, but not potentially crippling Premiership-style packages.

?For a number of years now we've structured our finances so that we could not only survive but, hopefully, thrive back in the Championship if we did have the misfortune to be relegated from the Premiership,? said City's chief executive, all too well aware of what has befallen others on their way down ? a scenario that could yet find Southampton having to sell players simply to cover their debts. How much Saints boss Harry Redknapp sees of, say, a Peter Crouch transfer fee will do much to determine the strength of Southampton's promotion challenge next year.

?In the past, other clubs have either banked on being in the Premiership and not going down or, if they do, they then rely on selling players,? explained Doncaster, a policy that is fraught with peril with potential buyers either unwilling or unable to pay the long-term, Premiership-style wages enjoyed by, say, a Finidi George or a Pablo Counago ? whose non-tiered contracts helped propel Ipswich Town into administration following their relegation to the Championship in 2002.

?We are not relying on having to sell any of our players,? said Doncaster.

There are, of course, two potential flies in the ointment for Worthington over the summer ? both of which make Doncaster's ?100 per cent? commitment so crucial.

On the one hand, despite in theory being on a long-term contract at Carrow Road, in practice a player himself could seek a move back to the Premiership. On the other hand, someone could yet make an offer that is simply too good to be true ? a silly money move that both manager and board might believe is just too good to ignore.

For example, AGF Aarhus were today reported to be lining up a move for Thomas Helveg. Should Helveg opt for a return to his native Denmark, any transfer fee and the substantial saving in terms of Helveg's salary next season would be ploughed straight back into Worthington's kitty.

?The players who have already left or have been released, their contracts were up this summer anyway so there's no saving to be had there in next year's playing budget,? said Doncaster, after the recent departures of Graham Stuart, Marc Edworthy, Danny Crow and Phil Mulryne. And while the future of on-loan Arsenal star David Bentley has yet to be decided, in budget terms at least he does not figure in Worthington's current 2005-2006 spending plans.

?But everyone else is under contract for next year and budgeted for. So if anybody does decide to leave, then there will be that additional headroom for Nigel to work with,? said Doncaster, with the club already understood to have made a certain amount of money available for rebuilding ? irrespective of any player exits.

?Any transfer fees received, any savings that might be made in wages goes straight back into Nigel's budget ? 100 per cent. And lets be quite categoric about this ? any money raised through transfers this summer goes straight back into Nigel's pot.?

Such certainty is helped enormously by City's hugely-loyal fan base. The fact that the Canaries have effectively hit their 20,200 season-ticket ceiling already for next season is clearly a huge boost to all concerned.

?Cash is king in this business,? said a hugely grateful Doncaster. ?And the wave of support that we've seen at Carrow Road over recent years not only gives this club the fabulous vocal and passionate backing that we saw at Fulham last Sunday, but also gives us a stable cash flow that we can rely on.?

Posted By: Old Git on October 19th 2011 at 16:53:31

Message Thread

Reply to Message

In order to add a post to the WotB Message Board you must be a registered WotB user.

If you are not yet registered then please visit the registration page. You should ensure that their browser is setup to accept cookies.

Log in