IT’S MADNESS! (l-r) John Stones, Victor Wanyama and Saido Berahino have handed in transfer requests to try force through lucrative moves
A £1m-a-week footballer isn’t far away, insists Tony Cascarino
TONY CASCARINO will take a seat in the Sky Sports studio on Tuesday for the endgame to the midsummer transfers and shake his head at the ‘madness’ of it all, the inflated fees, hefty wages, juicy length of contracts.
As an ex-pro, it’s the salaries which players command these days which staggers Cascarino, even though he saw the gravy train hurtling down the tracks before most.
It’s almost 20 years since the former Irish international predicted footballers would be paid £100,000 a week by the turn of the Millennium.
No one believed him, but he was on the money.
As pay scales continue to shoot through the roof, Cascarino is convinced there will be a £1m-a-week footballer before 2025.
‘We’re already up to £300,000 a week in Britain with (Wayne) Rooney and it’s only going one way, higher. The game is awash with money, specifically the top end.’
Always a keen student of figures, Cascarino has come up with a staggering comparison of wages from his playing days to now.
His observation highlights the widening gap between the Premier League clubs who have financial clout and those below who have not.
‘When I was at Gillingham and Glenn Hoddle was at Spurs, I was on £275 a week and he was on £1,600, about six times more. That gap seemed big, but it’s tiny compared to now,’ said Cascarino.
‘At Stevenage, a club I know, (his friend Teddy Sheringham is manager), you might have a player on £1,000 a week, but top players at Man Utd, Man City and Chelsea would be on 200 to 230 times that amount.’
The disparity in club turnover is also vast. At Stevenage, for example, Sheringham has a playing budget of around £1.4m, which, as Cascarino points, wouldn’t cover the salary of a squad player at a half decent Premier League club.
The Bosman rule, which permits players freedom of movement when their contract is up, has made multimillionaires of top footballers, but lower league pros still have to scratch out a living.
Cascarino was a million-pound player who knocked out a fair wage but for him playing mattered more.
‘Kevin Moran always told us all to play for as long as you could because when it was over, that was it.
‘As a player, I always wanted to play. I took a 50 per cent cut in wages to sign for Nancy when I left Marseilles, simply because I wanted to keep on playing.’
As the transfer deadline looms, some players will be content to stay put, while others will be agitating for a move, according to Cascarino.
‘If you feel like you’re part of something at a club you’re not so eager to go but if you’re at Southampton, West Brom or even Everton, you can be unsettled if you’re linked to a bigger named club.
‘We see it (Victor) Wanyama, (Saido) Berahino, (John) Stones, handing in written transfer requests which gives the perception they want out.
‘They know if they leave they can double their money and maybe play in the Champions League.’
‘I look at Southampton, everyone is leaving and if I’m a player I’m thinking “these are my pals and they’re going, why am I still here?”
‘I wonder what Shane Long is thinking? He was signed for big money, since then all he’s seen is the club’s top players sold off, with others asking to go.’
Outside the Premier League, Championship clubs are getting ‘desperate’ as they try to buy their way in in time for the mega TV deal which kicks in next season.
‘Bristol City, who aren’t that big, offered £7m for Andre Gray, Burnley have gone to almost £9m to get him.
‘You see Blackburn turning down £13m for Jordan Rhodes from Middlesbrough. Jordan Rhodes isn’t that good but he might score a team goals to get them promotion, hence his inflated value.
‘Charlie Austin is valued at £15m by QPR. Why not keep him? If he gets them back up, he’ll have earned the club a lot more,’ said Cascarino, who turns 53 on Tuesday.
As agents bend the ears of players, and put pens in their hands to script transfer requests, Cascarino offers caution to those who feel the ‘grass is greener’ should they move.
‘I would always say to any young player, “play first and good things will happen, if you’re good enough; you’ll get the crown jewels, a shed load of money.”
‘Some players move because they feel the grass is greener on the other side, but that’s not always the case, and they rot away in the reserves on a pile of money.
‘I know players who sign one-year contract extensions, not because they are going to play, but because it will cover their kids’ school fees.’
‘I’ve known players who’ve done that, and still do, but for me it’s about playing, all about playing.
‘Once you’re doing that, and doing it well, the financial rewards will take care of itself.’
Against this backdrop, Cascarino feels sympathy for club managers who’ve had to plough ahead despite the transfer window distractions.
‘It can be very difficult for managers under the current system where the season has started and there is still buying and selling to be done.
‘At every press conference there are questions about players who might be on their way, or on their way out.
‘There is little talk about the actually games which is driving managers like (Jose) Mourinho, (Arsene) Wenger, (Tony) Pulis and (Ronald) Koeman mad.’
Come Tuesday teatime, when the transfer deadline passes, things will revert to normal, or whatever passes for normality in the mad, mad, world of today’s Premier League.