Merson - Hooked

boroPE said:
One of the best players ive seen in a Boro shirt. Cant believe we doubled what Arsenal where paying him to sign him. I suppose you get what you pay for look at some of the crap weve had last few years.
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He was certainly the major factor in us going straight back up, though one minute he was saying on national TV he wanted to manage the Boro & the next wanting to leave the club because it was a bookies paradise
 
I do feel sorry for him with his addictions, but I still don't trust some of the things he says. He said he doubled his salary going to Boro (I would guess to justify going). He was at a top 8 Premier league club going to a Championship club. I know we paid him at least his Arsenal salary, and he would have got a signing on fee, but you get the feeling he stretches things.
 
Redwurzel said:
I do feel sorry for him with his addictions, but I still don't trust some of the things he says. He said he doubled his salary going to Boro (I would guess to justify going). He was at a top 8 Premier league club going to a Championship club. I know we paid him at least his Arsenal salary, and he would have got a signing on fee, but you get the feeling he stretches things.
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Pretty sure he was on £4K a week at Arsenal, he was getting £12k a week here.
 
I do believe the £12k but I am surprised he stayed at Arsenal so long for £4k a week it must have been the very end of a long contract - we were paying well over £4k in the Premier League - wasn't Rav on £42k and the Brazilians on around £13k/week. Merse was an England international squad player wasn't he?

Our wage bill was probably as big in 1997/8 as it is now!
 
Redwurzel said:
I do believe the £12k but I am surprised he stayed at Arsenal so long for £4k a week it must have been the very end of a long contract - we were paying well over £4k in the Premier League - wasn't Rav on £42k and the Brazilians on around £13k/week. Merse was an England international squad player wasn't he?

Our wage bill was probably as big in 1997/8 as it is now!
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The beauty of Limited Companies is that you can just go easily and look at the accounts.

MFC in the year to July 1998 (Merson's season) the total wage bill for all club employees was £11.4m inc taxes. Turnover was £18.7m. Labour costs therefore 61% of turnover.

In the year to June 30th 2020 (the Woodgate/Warnock season) the equivalent total salary bill was £31.0m in c taxes. Turnover was £19.4m. Labour costs thus 160% of turnover.
On top of this the club charged a further £18.4m to P&L in amortisation for players under contract.

So our wage bill was just over half what it was most recently, but our turnover was virtually the same, in a promotion season that saw another cup final.

The club was worth -£23.8m in 1998 and -£85.8m in 2020.

The salary bill in 2006 (Eindhoven) was £38.3m, on turnover of £48.0m, with a further £10.5m amortisation charge. The value of the company was -£43.7m (so £20m worse in 8 years).
The company is now over £42m more in the mire.

It is clear that we lose most money when outside the PL. It is a financial basket case. We simply can't afford to just tread water in the Championship, especially without equity injections.
 
indeedido said:
MFC in the year to July 1998 (Merson's season) the total wage bill for all club employees was £11.4m inc taxes.
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Wow our 97-98 promotion squad cost the same in wages as James Rodriguez does to warm Evertons bench today. That isn't normal levels of inflation
 
BoroMart said:
I suppose nobody is culpable for any of their decision making then?! He didn't have to give the interviews he did, he didn't have to slate the club that had given him support with his issues, he didn't have to stand on TV saying how he wanted to spend the rest of his career with us and manage us one day, to force a move 2 months later.

Yes he has issues, yes he was an addict, but you can't put the blame for all his poor life choices on that, I mean sometimes people are just bad people who happen to have issues that brings the worst out in them. So many mistakes in his life you can't just blame it all on the drugs, gambling and mental health problems. He has to take some accountability for his choices
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Part of modern society "it's not my fault" culture, if you look at someone like George Best a brilliant footballer but sadly someone who could not handle drink. Yet for all his faults and when drunk he certainly did not cover himself in glory is still thought off by many who knew him personally with fondness. He admitted the faults were his and he did not slag off the many clubs he ended up turning out for.
Merson strikes me as the opposite, and as for Sky employing him through compassion I hope not as surely giving him a good wage makes it easier for him to feed his habits?

Footballers should know its never a good idea to slag off the club you have just left, surely easier to take the higher ground and say nothing or just the bland I wish them all the best. Of course there are times when someone might get bombed out of a club because a manager does not like them, it's part of why they are generally paid so well, and the gloves come off.

I wonder if Ben Gibson will ever tell all about his time at Burnley
 
indeedido said:
The beauty of Limited Companies is that you can just go easily and look at the accounts.

MFC in the year to July 1998 (Merson's season) the total wage bill for all club employees was £11.4m inc taxes. Turnover was £18.7m. Labour costs therefore 61% of turnover.

In the year to June 30th 2020 (the Woodgate/Warnock season) the equivalent total salary bill was £31.0m in c taxes. Turnover was £19.4m. Labour costs thus 160% of turnover.
On top of this the club charged a further £18.4m to P&L in amortisation for players under contract.

So our wage bill was just over half what it was most recently, but our turnover was virtually the same, in a promotion season that saw another cup final.

The club was worth -£23.8m in 1998 and -£85.8m in 2020.

The salary bill in 2006 (Eindhoven) was £38.3m, on turnover of £48.0m, with a further £10.5m amortisation charge. The value of the company was -£43.7m (so £20m worse in 8 years).
The company is now over £42m more in the mire.

It is clear that we lose most money when outside the PL. It is a financial basket case. We simply can't afford to just tread water in the Championship, especially without equity injections.
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And still Gibson gets slagged off for not investing enough in the club, yet the same fans don't turn up for early rounds of league cup, FA cup even with discounted tickets. Easiest way to lose money is buy a football club very few make money at all.
 
Ex pfc wintergreen said:
I remember his brilliance that promotion season, if one man ever made a team it was him,other than that it's up to him.Anyone over twenty-one who expects anything from the average footballer off the field is delusional.
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I expect certain things from the average man, footballers are no exception in that regard. In fact, they are very well paid at Premier League level and they are idolised by fans, so when it comes to respecting the people paying their wages and idolising them, I think even higher than normal expectations are reasonable.

Professional footballers are entitled to move clubs for more money or silverware prospects.

Addicts deserve sympathy and understanding for their plight.

Merson was excellent on the pitch for us, but shockingly ungrateful off it. He has at times said some good things about the club and I prefer to remember that, but when he is unappreciative and points the finger elsewhere other than at himself he can eff right off, the mealy mouthed c#*t.
 
Cheers Indeedido for the figures - I was wrong about total wages.

£31m is an unbelievable wage bill for 2019/2020 (I suspect around £27m was players salaries and associated costs such as NI, pension contributions)

Players gone (with my guesses of wages on)

Clayton £1.25m
Friend £1.25m
Ayala £1.25m
Shotton £1.2m
Assombalonga £2.5m (according to many on here)
Fletcher £1.8m
Johnson £0.7m
Randolph £1.5m
Saville £1.25m
Gestede £1.8m
Pears £0.4m

Total £14.9m

My guesses for Permanents in (and still here) - we seem to be paying quite a bit less than the past - evidence £0.65m offered to Friend last summer.

Hall £0.8m
Fisher £0.7m
Daniels £0.5m
Peltier £0.7m
Ameobi £0.8m
Payero £0.8m
Samba £0.7m
Crooks £0.8m
Ikpeazu £0.7m
Watmore £1m
Lumley £0.8m
Olusanya £0.15m
Sivi £0.15m

Total £8.6m

Certainly on course to get the total wage bill below £20m. (even when loan wages are included for three players and Howson, McNair, Tav, Fry, Dijksteel, Browne, Bola, Steponavic, Jones wages are included.

What do others think?
 
Redwurzel said:
Cheers Indeedido for the figures - I was wrong about total wages.

£31m is an unbelievable wage bill for 2019/2020 (I suspect around £27m was players salaries and associated costs such as NI, pension contributions)

Players gone (with my guesses of wages on)

Clayton £1.25m
Friend £1.25m
Ayala £1.25m
Shotton £1.2m
Assombalonga £2.5m (according to many on here)
Fletcher £1.8m
Johnson £0.7m
Randolph £1.5m
Saville £1.25m
Gestede £1.8m
Pears £0.4m

Total £14.9m

My guesses for Permanents in (and still here) - we seem to be paying quite a bit less than the past - evidence £0.65m offered to Friend last summer.

Hall £0.8m
Fisher £0.7m
Daniels £0.5m
Peltier £0.7m
Ameobi £0.8m
Payero £0.8m
Samba £0.7m
Crooks £0.8m
Ikpeazu £0.7m
Watmore £1m
Lumley £0.8m
Olusanya £0.15m
Sivi £0.15m

Total £8.6m

Certainly on course to get the total wage bill below £20m. (even when loan wages are included for three players and Howson, McNair, Tav, Fry, Dijksteel, Browne, Bola, Steponavic, Jones wages are included.

What do others think?
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I think you are right. The wage bill will get down to a level much closer to turnover.
To be competitive we need:
1. An incredible academy that produces profit on sales, to justify costs (allowable under FFP).
2. Astute recruitment that generates good players and profit on sales.
3. Investment in equity from Gibson until promotion. (Not guaranteeing losses through Group loans)
 
Some brutal comments on here. Suggesting Merson suffering from addiction and other mental illnesses makes him a weakling, he isn't a 'real man' ... Good grief. Astounding how one-dimensional folk can be from the outside looking in isn't it.


I have a lot of respect for him being as candid as he has been about his condition. His time here was miserable for him personally, he was a sick man but he still managed to find the strength from somewhere and turn up for us.

The amount of strength that requires when in a state like that is unreal. I have no idea how he managed to even step onto the pitch during that time and concentrate on a game. He was brilliant.

(I must admit though. I walk around daily terrified that no one thinks I'm a real man, a tough guy. It really bothers me :ROFLMAO: )
 
Cosmonaut said:
Some brutal comments on here. Suggesting Merson suffering from addiction and other mental illnesses makes him a weakling, he isn't a 'real man' ... Good grief. Astounding how one-dimensional folk can be from the outside looking in isn't it.


I have a lot of respect for him being as candid as he has been about his condition. His time here was miserable for him personally, he was a sick man but he still managed to find the strength from somewhere and turn up for us.

The amount of strength that requires when in a state like that is unreal. I have no idea how he managed to even step onto the pitch during that time and concentrate on a game. He was brilliant.

(I must admit though. I walk around daily terrified that no one thinks I'm a real man, a tough guy. It really bothers me :ROFLMAO: )
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I have very little respect for him.
He's had more fresh starts, support, kindness, compassion, understanding and opportunity than the vast majority of unfortunate people who battle addiction and mental health issues.
My sympathies lie elsewhere and they are sincere.
 
indeedido said:
I have very little respect for him.
He's had more fresh starts, support, kindness, compassion, understanding and opportunity than the vast majority of unfortunate people who battle addiction and mental health issues.
My sympathies lie elsewhere and they are sincere.
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Yeah. I respect your opinion and hear you honestly, talking from knowledge and experience. There are often other comments though when Merse is brought up or similar characters that sound rash, ill-judged .. , that's the only thing.
(y)
 
Merson Gazza and Robson all at the same club........ was never gonna be the temperance society.
I know someone there at the time and it wasn't unusual for Robson, Anderson and McQueen to turn up at the club in DJ's straight from a night out.
Crazy times on and off the pitch.
 
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