IBRA BONUS CASH IS CRAZY

YOU might assume any centre forward would think a goal bonus is a good idea. I don’t. In fact, I think it is utterly ridiculous that Manchester United are prepared to pay so much money to Zlatan Ibrahimovic for doing the job he is already paid to do. What a player he is. He deserves the big wages, but the bonus system can’t be a good idea. I had them in my career as a striker. not at Celtic, nor Blackburn. If I had one at Chelsea I can’t remember it and it wouldn’t have earned me very much anyway! norwich gave me a goal bonus in the early nineties. It was £500 a goal, but only if we won or drew. I can remember scoring twice in a 5-4 loss at home to Southampton in 1994 but I didn’t get an extra penny. Did it cross my mind when I was through one-on-one with the goalkeeper and I could pass to a team-mate, rather than shoot? I’d be a liar if I said no. and that can’t be good. the fact that I can still remember it now should tell you something. It’s why a goal bonus can’t be healthy, can it? a team bonus based on incentives, winning trophies and performing well, I can understand. We are all in it together. In that contract at norwich we would earn £800 for a win, £1,000 for the next win and £1,200 for the one after that. If we lost, it reverted to £800 for the next win. at Blackburn, when we won the league, it was £1,500 a win and a generous end-of-season bonus. again, it was a team bonus — the same for the right back or the keeper as the centre forward. at least, I think it was! I can understand why the figures revealed about Ibrahimovic provoke such a debate. Hang on, he’s a striker, he’s paid a fortune so why are we paying him again for doing his job? It’s like paying a gardener extra for the number of roses that bloom. Scoring goals is the point of your business. It cannot help with team morale, either, if one player can earn so much money for doing his job. Is there resentment that he takes the penalties or the free kicks? now I think back, is it any wonder he was taking every opportunity to shoot and has played in so many games? the figures here surprise me, even in this day and age when we become used to big money payments to top players. there is talk of the wages paid by the Chinese or Real Madrid and Barcelona, but the bonus details for a Premier league club — even one as big and financially powerful as United — are staggering. I don’t begrudge him a penny — he is a brilliant footballer and he came on a ‘free’ transfer so he held all the cards. He backed himself to score goals and that is what he has done. I guess it shows what a powerful figure he is. Having played for Barcelona, Inter Milan, aC Milan, PSG and United, he is also clearly a very rich man. If he leaves United this summer, wherever he plays next, they will need to have deep pockets.