So Jim O'Brien has turned us down according to Radio Sheffield this morning.

Calm darn Bob tha gunna explode like a bottle of shaken up cola.

Helping the hopeless.

 

Plenty of normal workers been taking pay cuts over the last few years. Footballers are sumert else, they really are.

 

Willing Ponty ar said.

Loads have had it foisted upon em.

 

100% effort, 100% mediocrity. He was always worth his place in the team during the fixture-congested Winter months when everyone else was knackered and he was still running about like a bairn.

Maybe he's is the sort of player that we need in L1 but I'd rather risk bringing in someone else.

 

Fair. Still a set of greedy twohats though.

 

No man or woman on here would accept a paycut if they could get the same wage or more (or even a smaller cut) somewhere else.

 

That depends on a multitude of things. Let's not forget we won't be offering minimum wage to him, it'll still be a salary of 50k+. Pittance my eye. And let's be honest, if it was performance related he wouldn't be worth that.

 

That's probably why we got relegated then if he was one of our best players

 

People do that all time. Similar jobs may be available elsewhere for more money, but that involves selling your house and uprooting your family or working away and a lot of people don't want to do that. Money is a factor in every decision of that nature, but it's not the only factor and it's not necessarily the most important factor. Quite often it's not.

Over last few decades everyone working in the construction industry could have gone out to middle east and earned a fortune. And other places. It's stopped now, but in the past they could. Some did and earned **** loads of money. Many didn't, many turned it down, because they just didn't want to go, the extra money wasn't the most important thing for them.

Footballers could do that now. They could play for a team in Qatar and earn a fortune. Most don't because they don't want to. Footballers don't always go to the club that offers the very top contract. There are other factors in the decision. Obviously if one club offers you £25,000 per week and the other offers you £2,000 there's no choice at all. But 5 'n' half grand at a club in a town at the other end of the country or 4 'n' half grand at a club where you're enjoying playing, where you like the manager, staying in the home you like, where your family are happy and settled. Is the money the most important thing then?

People weigh up these things all the time. Some go with the money, some don't. Some go with the money sometimes but not others.

"It's all about the money." No it isn't. Maybe for a small percentage of people, but not for most of us. And that includes footballers. It's just another part of the equation.

 

There are some valid points there. But even at modest championship clubs, players are getting a huge amount. Let's not say £4k a week (a random figure picked out of thin air). Let's instead say £208,000 basic. Remember there are appearance bonuses and goal/ clean sheet bonuses for many too. Even a paltry terribly low £2k a week is £104,000 pa basic... takes a lot of season tickets to pay for that doesn't it? For a part time job, that has a months holiday in the summer where a typical day sees them clock off at midday.

I could be wrong, but don't they also get a very healthy pension through the PFA that kicks in early too?

So where the average UK Joe Bloggs is earning the average £20k (and the Barnsley average will be less than that), an average to lower end player in the championship is earning 10 times that plus add ones. Plus a signing on fee here and there and a golden hello or two and other things i probably can't think of.

I understand the arguments, i even agree with many of them. But the problem is very average players being paid astronomical salaries in relation to what they do and the imbalance of hours and graft put in by those who choose to go and watch them.

The club has suffered a rough 40% drop in its revenue. I don't think it's unfair at all for players who contributed to that cut to have something about them and take a bit of a hit. But it's all too easy to go somewhere else for another payday and wash their hands of the failure of their colleagues and fans and management and board.

And no it's not Jim's fault necessarily, as mentioned before, I think he's ok and does try hard, but he is a footballer and the one of the fundamental issues in football is the unsustainable (and still escalating in the top 2 tiers) level of players wages.

 

Firstly I totally echo this post.

I suspect that (rightly in my opinion) he will have been offered way below what he was on before. After all we were relegated last season & we are on a lower budget. I think we all recognise 4 players we either want to keep or get a decent fee for. The Mellis, Cwyka, JOB players we may or may not be able to replace from the youth ranks or from out of contract players elsewhere.

JOB has been a good servant in my opinion & deserves a bit more respect on here. If he wants to move on fair play, but thanks Jim. Your guitar playing is a bit **** though...

 

I'm not sure if Sambora's post about what Jimbo said has anything to do with the negativity towards him ....."From the horses mouth - was willing to take a pay cut but what was offered wasn't just a pay cut it was a pittance"
Unless we were offering the min wage on zero hours contract it probably was not a pittance, if that is what he actually said. A dramatic drop in wages maybe.
Perhaps we can't offer any more whilst the four Galacticos are still on the wage bill?

 

Footballers wages are way over the top. Obscene even. But do I blame them for taking the money? No. It's probably the biggest sport in the world, football. It generates massive revenue. Footballers are seen as heroes, God's etc. It's a short career. I don't feel sympathy for them, especially those who piss it all away but I don't blame them either for getting paid well.
Of course, there are far too many bang average footballers getting paid silly money. We've had our fair share here. And yes, as a supporter of BFC it does sting a little that players who contributed to an appalling season ending in relegation are now rejecting our offers to stay. But they're not rejecting you or I. They probably couldn't care less about you or I. They've rejected BFC. Whatever reasons they have, that's what they've done. And I know very well just how 'loyal' BFC are to footballers. Not very. So I don't get caught up in this nonsense. It's much better not to get too attached to footballers who wear our shirt. If you do, then at least accept they're likely to leave at some point and possibly in a way that might not sit well.


However, what does bother me is the mindset of some of our supporters, and particularly the players they choose to target when situations such as this arise. When Bobby Hassell was cast off a month or so ago, in between the well wishes and messages of gratitude were no end of sly digs and snipery from folk I deem cretins. Threads on here for example ruined by folk unable to be decent. Again, today, we see numerous folk suggesting Jim O'Brien was ****, he's greedy, good riddance etc etc. Just two examples there of the bizarre treatment of players that have always given their very best efforts to the BFC cause. Not journeymen, mercenaries, foreign cowboys or hyped up arseholes.

It's all so very strange in my opinion. The likes of Vaz Te, Butterfield and most recently John Stones departed for bigger/better things. The latter was unique. He was 'frum tarn' so he escaped most of the usual vitriol. He's done better than most imagined in double quick time too, and he's well thought of. 'One of our own' as they say. Butterfield wasn't afforded that. And no matter how many times I or others have explained the reasons he left and what not, there are still folk who choose to grief him. Even on the day we went down, the bitterness in the stands was bizarre. Abuse fired at a lad who did nothing but give his all in a BFC shirt and who backed himself to be a success somewhere else. He'd even given me an hour of his time for a WSB interview where he was nothing but positive about us. A week later and he's given dogs abuse. But I'll leave that, I'm biased and it's boring.
Then you've Ricardo. Was here 10 minutes and took the first offer he could, from a manager who'd already ditched him once, and has since tried doing the same despite Vaz firing his club up a division. I saw nothing said against him though. I'm glad nothing was. He did the right thing for him. The club got the stick (or Don, to be fair). But it just shows the rules change depending on who the player is. It's bizarre.

Which brings me - finally - on to the gash basterds who've brought us to where we are now. The Wiseman's of this world who never liked BFC, nor the town, and played like a player with that kind of piss poor mentality. There are others. We know who they are. I'm just using him as the perfect example.
But **** me, the way folk defended him no matter what was bloody unreal. Only at the very end when they realised what I'd known all along, that he was a ****** did the penny drop.



So, if Jim O'Brien has rejected the BFC offer (not seen it confirmed by the club yet) then I will admit to being disappointed. Because like Luke Steele, Stephen Foster, Hassell, Stones and Butterfield, he gave his all for us in a red shirt, cared about the club and was nothing but positive about Barnsley in general in his time here. I also admit that he wasn't the best player of his type that I've seen play for us over the years. But he was far from the worse. He - like others - took this club and town to his heart, and bloody played like it. If he's gone (he/we may be negotiating?), then I thank him for his efforts here and understand that he's going for the right reasons for him, and wish him all the very best with that.





Unless he turns up at Rotherham, Wednesday, Leeds etc.



You Reds.

 

Seems a good lad but an average player so no great loss either way. I'd rather someone from the academy had a go to be honest at least they can develop. Jim trier though he is has not improved even a little bit since he arrived.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

Lets just be honest, logical and realistic on this subject. We had L1 salaries last year. We couldnt compete on and off the field. Players werent up the the task of keeping us up and we couldnt even afford teh basics of a professional football club such as a Scoreboard. Not pointing any fingers, the facts are the facts. We have no revenue streams that align to the fans aspirations. We have a budget less than last year with little possibility of an influx of paying fans, season tickets, sponsors etc that will bridge any gaps back to our 2013/14 season (said to be L1 level) salary budget. Loyalty / pay back etc from players dissapeared long ago in the game. Conclude from that what you will.

 

Aw bless em, fancy having to get a normal job at 35 rather than retiring, they should have the right to retire after such a hard, stressful career in football.

Sorry but there'll be no sympathy from me towards footballers, privileged but don't know their born.

 

The problem for me isn't that they are taking offers of salary, they are demanding more and more through their agents. It's all driven by greed, of course it is, they hold clubs to ransom who daren't swim against the tide in fear of not being competitive and suffering even further. The greedy players and their agents are the root of the problem in football.

 

How long is the Whitey-Butterfield love fest going to continue?

He's had 4 clubs since he left us, for goodness sake let your obsession go.