Now, if we do get one, i won't begrudge them a bonus but I'm intrigued taht the rationale for these bonuses - they are professional footballers and are paid to win football games. Do they get docked for losing games? Do they f...k. Furthermore, what's thsi with giving strikers money for scoring? Er, isn't that the express reason they are employed by the club?

-- Anonymous, August 14, 2000

Answers

The same could be said of any performance related bonus, for football players or otherwise. I'm all for performance related pay. As for getting docked pay for bad results - a bit harsh surely. The problem is, if anything, that the base salary is too high and the performance element not high enough. A striker is employed to score goals, just as say a salesman is employed to sell widgets. A salesman with an incetive to sell more widgets will almost always outperform one where it doesn't make any difference.

-- Anonymous, August 14, 2000

If our lot can qualify for the Champions League this year they deserve all the can get. The club will reap in so much money from the Cl they can afford to do this. Not exactly money for nothing is it?

-- Anonymous, August 14, 2000

It's fair, Emloyers offer it's top people options to encourage optimising the value of the company, is this not the same.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2000

I don't think it's the same. Footballers are supposed to cover medals and if the thought of holding the FA Cup aloft isn't as great an incentive as an extra #30K in your pocket, particularly when you're already a millionaire, then you need to take a lonh hard look at yourself, Mr Professional Footballer....

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2000

The amounts and logic don't make sense, IMHO:

For instance IF we sell DF for 3.7m and pay him a further 1m (for his 'loyalty', unlikely?), then NUFC will have lost 4.3m on DF trading, not to mention his salary, all in less than one season (how many games did he actually play?!)

:-(

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2000

I'd rather keep him than pay him that #1m (well I'd rather keep him anyway!). Why lose money? Our board are being pilloried for not making this transfer go through, but why the hell should they bother when they will effectively be getting an up front payment of only #2.75, another f~~king insult.

YBR must have somebody good lined up if we are so desperate for cash.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2000