Jermain Defoe and ‘those’ wages….

15
Jermain Defoe and ‘those’ wages….


Over the past few days there’s been more and more media discussion about something which, at this stage, remains only reported and speculated without being properly verified, but which does seem fairly accurate in truth. Realistically speaking.

According to various sources, Jermain Defoe’s £65,000 Bournemouth wages are now being paid in the majority by Rangers, who are said to be shelling out £35,000 for the front-man’s services.

No one other than three parties knows the truth behind this – the player’s agent, the club’s representative/certain board members and of course Defoe himself, but we have to say it sets alarm bells ringing big time.

At this stage of our club’s recovery, we are not yet fiscally reliable enough to commit to wages of that level – and even back in the days of Dick Advocaat’s lavish spending we rarely remember numbers that high either.

So if it is true that we are breaking the bank to fund Jermain Defoe’s wages, in part, it’s not something we can endorse here at the site.

Would we be more accepting if it was a 25-year old 20+ goalscorer who was at the peak of his powers? Maybe – but even then we just aren’t in that market.

So to shell out £35,000 a week to fund a 36-year old on loan who hasn’t scored since last spring is… ill-guided in our opinion.

It’s clearly Gerrard’s decision, and we have to go with it, but it amounts to around £2M a year and even if he works out, it’s a LOT of cash for what we’ve been given.

Gerrard’s record with strikers has been absolutely abysmal so far – Kyle Lafferty and Umar Sadiq are his work in that market to this point, and he better hope Defoe turns out to be a bargain for the kind of money we’re allegedly paying for him.

Rangers come first. The health of our club is paramount. And if it really is true that we’re paying well over £30K then it’s shaky territory and not something we’re comfortable with.

At all.

survey solution

No posts to display

15 COMMENTS

  1. Let's see what JD brings to the board before we all start jumping on the bandwagon, as you said, nobody knows what we are paying,except his agent, Gerrard and Bournemouth, just because Steve Clarke presumes, does that make him right?

  2. The contract gets reviewed every six months. Therefore at £35kpw = £840k per six months. Seems a good deal to me for a deadly striker. If it doesn't work he's on his way no cost. Sin we couldn't do that with Herrera and Pena

    • BlueGer – Good post from IB. It was reported that we pay JD £35,000 pw – since nobody has denied it, the report may be accurate. Bear has appoint about getting rid of him after 5 months but with 4 out of the next 5 games away, we need to win all of them to compete with Celtic. Time is not on JD’s side and with him not being match fit, he has to hit the ground running, if not it will be money wasted that we cannot afford. But let us hope he bangs them in from today on and if the game is off, then the fans are told at least 4 hours before KO.

      -Stuart Frederick

  3. As you said no one knows. Could it be better spent? Maybe, but you'd have to find another striker who would be free or be willing to spend Millions then the wages again.

    Defoe might not work (we've seen plenty of players fail). But he was brought in because of his experience and track record of scoring.

    If he averages 25 goals a season it's money well spent.

    We could spend millions on a striker with potential, then wages on top and hope it works out well and sell for a profit. But we have one of them in the team just now.

    Let's face it, Defoe signing is to stop 10 and get 55.

    And by all accounts it's directors funding the on going costs. So technically no debt building up

  4. It's not the money I am concerned about with Defoe, it's his fitness. Watching him in the friendly, I though he could lose a pound or two. I hope I am wrong, but I think he may struggle with the pace and physicality of our game. Morelos is strong and is great at holding the ball and can stand up to the challenge, but I feel Defoe may be a lightweight,, time will tell and will give him a chance to settle.
    As for the wages gate, if it's true what has been said, then we are throwing our money away at a 36 year old when we could have had 2 players for the price of one.
    I wish Defoe well and he will get my support, but I am not overly excited about our transfer window at all. Just hope we get a consistent run.

  5. Agreed… nowhere near the wages being banded about. Mark Allen’s not daft and knows the budget he is working to

  6. Is Club 1872 actually holding the board to account, on finances? To ensure we NEVER, ever, get into such a financial mess like we did, again. I don't know, but I seriously hope somebody is. I find it worrying, that nobody seems too concerned about this. Big purchases, should come with an explanation of how they can and will be, afforded. We just can't take our eyes off the ball (excuse the pun), when it comes to our financial security.

  7. Have my reservations about Defoe we play a formation which has Morelos as the spearhead on Sunday it was 2 up didnt work first half also tomorrow we are back to playing a team who play like so many who sit back we have struggled to cope with this all season I would not start him at Killie

  8. Couple of points
    1) There are actually 4 parties that will know the truth – the player, his agent, Bournemouth and Rangers
    2)If he stays 6 months and scores 4 goals, he will have cost us less per goal than Herrera. Perhaps someone could do the maths on a comparison with Pena

    If he brings us the league, we will consider it money well spent. If he is a failure, then I would want to know is it only Bournemouth that can call an end to the loan every 6 months, or can we also end it? If we can't, our exposure triples.

    I also have a little concern about our style. Giving up a winger to play another forward doubles the men in the box for a cross while halving the number of those who can provide the cross. I hope he is not going to try and jam all his big names in at the expense of the team.

    • I'm not averse to losing a winger to get Defoe in the box beside Morelos. Kent or Middleton can play wide and change wings. They can also wander infield to support the front two more centrally. That gives defenders something to think about regarding who and when they pick up. Tavernier and Barasic are more than capable of providing the width we need with Jack dropping back to support our 2 centre backs when they go forward. I think that gives a much more fluid and less predictable formation.

    • My issue with Defoe is that he might need a fairly high run of games to get up to speed and I'm not sure that he will get the game time or the fans will have the patience. It's something we might need to suck up for 6-8 games to reap the benefits at the business end of the season.

  9. I heard he's on £117,000 a week at Bournemouth. The club had to get him off the Books as first time players were wanting the same as the highest paid player at the club who was a branch warmer. No club down south wanted him because of the wages.
    To get him away they agreed that he could go to rangers with rangers picking up 15% of his wagea

  10. Robrob, fair points, happy to try it, happy to trust in SG

    Bigbaws, if those numbers are right, he is costing us same as Pena, except no transfer fee and we can cut loose every 6 months. So happ with that deal

Comments are closed.