Seriously, are any of our players not money-grabbing twits? When you've got a bank account of millions, is a few extra thousand (or couple of million in Ben-Haim's case) really that important? Not only that but chances are they can find another club easily (well, maybe not Kanu and adittedly Mokoena is apparently not getting paid at his new club but he can afford that) so it's not like they need the money. Can't one or two players just say to themselves "Okay, I know I'm entitled to this money but the club can't afford it and I don't need it so I will just drop my claim". Presumably Ward must have been owed money in deferred salary payments but seeing as he left without a problem, he must have dropped his claim, so why can't more players follow suite? So frustrating......
A tad unfair Lapras - the word is that Varney and others are trying to find new clubs for themselves and the administrator wants to get transfer fees for them. If they tear up their contracts there will be no funds for Pompey but no offers have come in from other clubs, who are no doubt waiting to see if the club is liquidated and they can get them for nothing. Ward, Pearce and Henderson all got (smallish) transfer fees. Even if they are owed money it will be covered in the football creditors rule so they won't dip out unless the club is liquidated when everyone loses. If the Trust do buy the club we may find that some of the players will agree to drop their claims, but if Chanrai becomes the owner once again he will be the only one to benefit. Perhaps they are waiting to see what happens next. According to the News it seems that the Trust bid isn't actually a bid yet, just an outline bid subject to due diligence.
That is a valid point, however many of them are not even showing respect to their fans or team-mates when out on the pitch.. (I'm thinking Luke Varney here). I was at a game in early March, around Varney's return from injury. I was in one of the seats behind the goal, when Varney missed an easy opportunity- with many other options around him. After receiving light shouts of criticism from the fans- I stress, nothing serious; he shouts expletives and insults at the supporters. Players with that kind of loyalty do not deserve "loyalty bonuses" e.t.c from the club, if they think that kind of behavior is acceptable and "loyal". As for Ben-Haim, despite the fact he was a decent defender for us last season, I feel he could certainly up his effort levels and commitment. Lastly, Mokoena and Kanu- they should have left the club a long time ago. When was the last time either of these players did anything of any use for us ?? Kanu's done nothing since our F.A Cup glory, and Moko has been anonymous for even longer. The new owners should make it their priority to ship all this "dead-wood" out of the club
I find it amazing how football fans can have such a one-sided view of employment contracts. Pro players have a relatively short career and they sign up for a fixed contract, legally binding. To all those who feel that said players should give up some of the benefits because of altruism, here is a scenario. A player is signed on a deal and although he shows promise, has a bad run of injury problems during the last 18 months of his contract. Should he have his contract extended for emotional reasons or loyalty? "Thanks, but ship him out, too injury prone" would be most fans reaction. There is no loyalty the other way, so knowing this, why should a player walk away from perhaps a third of the value of his contract?
Perhaps but there are two key facts here: 1) None of the players need this money 2) By demanding this money, Portsmouth FC could be liquidated maybe Therefore, putting those two facts together, even though they are entitled to this money, by demanding it the player's are being petty at best.
Not sure I wholeheartedly agree with you here PompeyLapras. Altruism is normally the province of charity, or even public sector selflessness - it's not usually associated with a profit making enterprise such as the business world of football. Yes, the players are on a lot more money than most of us can imagine earning but we can't state as a fact that they don't need their money. That's a bit of an assumption. Although we do know that some of these footballers, eg Mokoena & Kanu have used their money for altruistic purposes as well as their own living expenses. So Pompey could be liquidated, true, but unlikely. At this stage Chanrai is favourite to purchase the club again. We all know that is for one purpose only, to recoup his ill-advised loan. The question is why would anyone make a charitable gesture to someone who is going to bleed the club dry? The man has offered £500k to all the creditors, 2p in the £. Nothing equitable there. We haven't heard from any of the players themselves - but we do know at least 11 of them have pledged £1k each to the Trust, so it is possible that they will make the gesture if the Trust are the purchasers but not if Chanrai is the purchaser. I don't know this, nor does anyone actually, but it is a possible scenario. Trevor Birch is playing with the fans emotions with all this talk. He knows that the players are looking for new clubs themselves while he's whinging on about not being able to shift them out. The only real fact is that there is no loyalty in this "beautiful game", from any side, be it fan, player or owner.
And to add to the above, the one person who really could make an altruistic gesture is Chanrai - he could come to an agreement with the Trust and forgo some of his claimed £18.6m.
That is a good point actually and the players' reaction would be understandable if that is the reason. I'm certainly not a big fan of Chainrai either.
