Chappaz,
From an Owner's stand point it's a sensible offer. Nolan has 2 years to run, answer me this, if he's so devoted to Newcastle and would hate to leave, why does he need a new contract now?
He doesn't. I'm not saying that he's declined the contract because he has to wait a year before it comes into effect. I'd imagine that he's declined it due to other terms.
The board have played it right, they don't want to negotiate a new one now because of what's left to run
I know. I agree with that part. I never disagreed.
BUT rather than come across like they don't give a **** they've put something to him. If the club does well, we'll see you right. I see nothing wrong with that. If we signed Nolan to 4 years now at 50k a week and we get relegated, we'll be cursing the high wages we have to pay in the Championship.
So, if you were a manager in a company, you would bring an employee into your office and say "we want to give you a raise, but there's a risk we might go bust one day, so if the market picks up, then you'll get your raise". How do you think your employee would react to that? How do you think he would react if other staff members had already been given raises?
Businesses can do what they feel is the safest option, and what they feel is in their best interests, but it's not necessarily fair on the employee, so a compromise must be reached. If every business went down the safest possible route in-terms of employment, everyone in the UK would refuse to work.
This raise isn't some kind of unexpected bonus for Nolan. He signed to the club on quite a low wage, but he's matured into a key player and our captain who can net 12 goals a season. Players like Tiote have signed new contracts at much better wages when their true talents have came to light, but in the case of Nolan, his raise is dependent on how well the ENTIRE team does. Not just him. How do you expect him to see that?
The incentive is to ensure Nolan continues to act as a fantastic ambassador for the club and be a leader on the pitch. If he does that and maintains his high standard then he'll be rewarded, as, in fairness, all good 'employees' should.
Let's use a hypothetical situation involving employees. You're an employee in an office of 10 other staff members all at their desks. You've been told that you will get a personal raise of £10,000 per year if the entire office reaches a specific goal. Just you. However, if the target is not reached by everyone in the office (including your 10 workmates), YOU will miss out on an extra £10,000 per year.
How is that a fair incentive? What if you work your socks off, but there's a workmate at another desk who is lagging, and his poor workrate scuppers the chance of reaching that goal for the whole office? There's a chance that it may cause some negative feelings and confrontation, is there not?
This sort of incentive would only work for a manager, i.e. someone already given the responsibility for the performance and workrate of the entire team. However, that person is Pardew, not Nolan.
If Ashley wants to give Nolan an incentive, it has to be a personal incentive. That's something which ONLY relies on his workrate and his level of commitment, so if he wants his reward, he can do what's needed to get it. Finishing 7th is nothing like that, because it relies on the workrate of the entire team far more than the workrate of Nolan himself. You would call that a fair incentive? It's actually awful man-management.