Alex Pritchard

BBassic said:

The trouble with the Premier League is that it does not differentiate between outstanding and mediocre. Both ends of the spectrum are financially rewarded.

The knock-on is that players and agents don't really have to worry. The most bang average player can have a dire season, get relegated and still get picked up by a team next season. And on and on and on.

When will the day roll around that football as a business is treated like literally every other business on the planet (except maybe banks) wherein poorly performing workers are fired, not given f**king pay-rises.

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Black Rod said:

Alternatively, without parachute payments clubs who get into the Premier League may not bother to compete in it. You wouldn't risk staying in that division by signing Premier League standard players on Premier League wages if there is a chance you will be back in the Championship in a years time and financially crippled by it. As a result, you could end up with all three teams who go up coming straight back down every season. See Burnley and Blackpool, both of whom have taken this approach and couldn't last more than a season in the division.

A similar thing happens in rugby - the team that get promoted into the Premiership every year have no financial assistance to full back on and so rather than bankrupting themselves, they simply stick with a second tier wage model and end up being relegated. In the case with London Welsh a few seasons ago, by losing massively every week.

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Surrey Phil said:

Why not stipulate parachute payments can only be spent on existing players wages not to fund new players and wages? Simples - next problem.

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Nixonator said:

Conceptually, parachute payments are a good idea and serve a purpose in bridging a massive discrepancy in revenue between divisions.

The problem is they are just far too high, and in my opinion, last far too long for what is perceived to be a consolidatory ‎period.

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BrianWade4 said:

Can someone summarise 136 pages for me please?

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Simon Morgan said:

Well happy with the Norwood signing. Providing everyone stays put, our central midfield will be exceptionally strong. A bit miffed if Pritchard goes to Norwich but if he does then so be it. I've always found Norwich to be an utterly tedious football club with delusions of grandeur. This saga hasn't particularly changed my view. There are other players out there and probably for less than £8million.

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North Stand Nutter said:

Oh I agree about Norwich, they are basically a successful Yeovil.

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Captain Sensible said:

Still nothing from the Norwich side....at all....all day.

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RM-Taylor said:

This may still happen, we usually secure the targets we are after but the news being released to the press by the players agent may scupper any deal here. He hasn't signed for anybody yet so still has options.

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Not Andy Naylor said:

Very well put. One of those ends-of-the-earth, back-of-beyond clubs that most people (and certainly most football writers) would rather quietly disappeared.

See also: Swansea, Bournemouth, Middlesbrough, Hull.

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LU7 RED said:

Jesus I thought some Southampton fans were patronising. I'd be interested in that survey of football writers and which teams they want to 'disappear'. My lot AFCB might be 'too small' for the PL, but what have Swansea done wrong?

Norwich are a level above Brighton, and always have been.

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Da Man Clay said:

Not certain the club would even have him now. Doesn't seem to fit with the ethos of the team if he is happy to agree a deal and then disappear overnight. Not for us I imagine.

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