Strike? Strike????

28 July 2002

With only a month or so passed since the last one was sorted out, it seems that civil war has broken out yet again at West Bromwich Albion. But this time, for a change, it's not in the Boardroom - it's between the Club and the players. The bonus scheme implemented at the end of last season by outgoing Chairman Paul Thompson has been scrapped by the new regime, with Gary Megson describing it earlier in the week as "unworkable" and Albion spokesman David Bick describing it as "mindlessly stupid" in today's Sunday Mercury.

Reports of the old scheme, if accurate, suggest that the players would receive a bonus of £5,000 each for first team appearances, rising to £7,500 each if the team achieved a draw and a whopping £15,000 each if they managed a win. This was generally reckoned to make up for Albion's tight wage levels, which have already been described as the worst in the Premiership, although it's arguable that it's not an unreasonable situation given the fact that the rest of the Premiership have been enjoying Sky TV income for many years or have huge crowds and/or "sugar daddy" investors on their boards.

The new bonus scheme, however, provides sums for both wins and draws, and adds on a large "squad" bonus which will only be paid if the Club manages to escape relegation. The scheme was described to the players on Tuesday, and went down like a lead balloon if events since then are anything to judge by. For example, Ronnie Wallwork - who took a pay cut to join Albion because he wanted first team football - knew that the original bonus scheme was to be scrapped but was somewhat dismayed when he worked out that he would only receive around a fifth of what he expected. On Friday, the players took the unprecedented step of calling a press conference, and issued a statement signed by the whole squad as follows:

Dear WBA fans

We feel the players have been portrayed as greedy and we want to show the supporters this is not the case, we are all privileged to play for this club and do not want to destroy the special relationship with the fans. However, the players feel that we deserve to share in the success that promotion brought to the club.

For winning promotion an Albion player received an average of £4,000 in bonuses. At our West Midland rivals Birmingham each player received an average of ?35,000 and it's well known Wolves players would have received between £50,000 and £100,000 had we not stopped them getting promoted.

Many of the players who joined this club took pay cuts because they wanted to play football. We came to an understanding that if we succeeded the players would be rewarded, but this has not happened.

It is clear the club is now offering us First Division basic pay with First Division bonuses. This is the attitude of a First Division club.

Everyone of the players is disappointed that things have come to this but we feel that we have to put our side of the argument.

Yours

WBA First Team

Suggestions in the press from the players' agents are that some would be considering asking for transfers, and that there was even a possibility of a strike for the first game of the season. The Club, on the other hand, are refusing to budge on the issue and have described the new bonus scheme as "non-negotiable". The fact that the bonus announcement comes within a few days of Gary Megson signing a new contract, complete with a very large pay rise apparently not linked to performance, has not been lost on either the fans or the players.

Megson himself was not involved in, or aware of, the meeting - and his reaction was that he would find and ship out the ringleaders of this rebellion - which, given that the release was signed by the whole first team, could prove interesting. However, despite the non-negotiable nature of the new scheme, Megson admitted that he hoped some "common ground" could be found. Megson is also angry that the players have issued statements to the media concerning the situation - although this was something he seemed to have no problem doing himself last year when he didn't agree with the Chairman and Board of Directors.

But the thing many fans seem to be finding hard to understand is exactly what was so unworkable about the original system. £15,000 for a win might sound like a lot of money, but it's one hell of an incentive for the players to go out and win enough games to keep us in the Premiership. If we just manage to survive relegation, with perhaps 42 points from fourteen wins, the bonus scheme would have cost the club around £3 million and with at least a £12 million increase in TV revenue from last season, will have been both affordable and good value - it will have secured a further £12 million extra TV income for the following season, not to mention the additional commercial income, ticket sales and so on. Because of the distribution of Sky money based on finishing position, the better the results, the more money the club will receive in order to pay the bonuses.

Whatever the rights and wrongs, the club has created at best, a PR disaster - and at worst, a real footballing disaster that could see our squad incapable of achieving Premiership survival however the bonus scheme ends up being arranged. The whole issue will make it more difficult to bring in the kind of players we need to give us a chance of survival - so this issue needs to be sorted out as soon as possible.

Previous Stories:

25 July 2002: Megson signs new deal

22 July 2002: Megson spotted in Norway

17 July 2002: Lee Marshall fee agreed

Strike? Strike????

28 July 2002

Previous Stories:

Back to the News Index