Salford’s big five are making waves
FORMER Manchester United player Danny Webber’s move to non-League Salford City has led to more claims and counter-claims about the way the fabled Class of 92 are running the club.
Rival teams, reportedly envious Evo- Stik Division One North side Salford are now owned by the multi-millionaire set of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Gary and Phil Neville, believe the famous five will be buying success.
The latest unsubstantiated allegation is that league leaders Salford, who have maximum points from four games, are paying Webber £800 a week — an extraordinary amount for a player performing in the Northern Premier League.
However, the Class of 92 are fed up with rumours since they took over about the inflated spending, insisting it is far from the truth and having a destabilising effect on both fans and a largely volunteer workforce.
The owners claim Webber, who wants to play part-time as he has set up his own business, is being paid around half the amount alleged and that Salford is being run to a strict budget that is less than rivals Darlington 1883 and Warrington Town are operating on this season. THE biggest winner of the summer transfer window — even before Monday’s deadline — is Portuguese super agent Jorge Mendes, who will take his transfer turnover to well over £200m when he negotiates Radamel Falcao’s move from Monaco. Mendes’s other mega-deals were Diego Costa to Chelsea, Angel di Maria to Manchester United and James Rodriguez to Real Madrid. The only British agent on Mendes’s level this year is Stellar’s David Manasseh, who is recovering from a recent heart attack in Spain. His £150m worth of transfer business includes Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana and Steven Caulker.
THE least surprising announcement of the week was FIFA president Sepp Blatter (right) withdrawing from a keynote appearance at the upcoming Soccerex Conference in Manchester. Ever since Blatter agreed to attend as a favour for organiser Duncan Revie, FIFA advisors have pointed out the no-win dangers of facing a hostile English press at a sensitive time when there is no credible challenger standing against him for the FIFA presidency. A Zurich spokesman said Blatter had ‘diary clashes’.
IT seemed odd considering madcap Italian striker Mario Balotelli is an accident waiting to happen that Liverpool would not make clear whether there were special behavioural clauses in his three-year contact. Now it has emerged the club do have contractual escape routes if Balotelli’s conduct is such that it damages Anfield’s reputation. However, the wording does not cover your run-of-the-mill Mario scrapes.