The law of diminishing returns in football

Following on from Haaland's new contract and several posts on the matter, there's something I've been thinking about which I'd be interested to hear people's opinions on.

City signed Haaland for reportedly between £50 and £80 million, depending on which sources are accurate. His new contract is worth £500k a week. Forest signed Chris Wood for £15 million, reportedly on £80k per week. His goals per game ratio is only just below Haaland's this season. So in paying a salary 6 times more, City won't get 6 times as many goals.

I appreciate this is a very rudimentary calculation, and doesn't take into account the fact that Haaland has a good 10 years in front of him whereas Wood is probably coming to the end of his career. But I think it illustrates that there must be a point after which more outlay will bring less and less in terms of player performance per £ spent.

Discuss.

 

Football and sport is about buying an edge, it’s the 1-2% extra that costs the big bucks.

Usain Bolt was only 0.1 seconds faster than the next best sprinter in the world at the time. Bolt made all the money because he had that slight edge that made him the fastest in the world.

Where the next best was still incredibly fast, he’d have made significantly less out of sponsors etc.

This is actually the basis of Billy Beans moneyball program, due to valuing the edge with in depth stats.

 

I was thinking about what you said the other day about Sam Cosgrove unlikely to get another professional contract after us.

I have been thinking about what to buy you for a birthday present and was wondering if you’d like me to purchase him and put him in your garden or maybe just help around the house to do some chores. What do you think?

 

Having seen Sam's first touch of a football, I'm not sure I'd even trust him to mow my lawn, never mind prune some delicate shrubs.

 

Imagine him hoovering.

He’d smash the faberge egg I have on show by just barging into it, aimlessly.

On route to the washing machine with the basket, he’d trip over his own feet and smash his head through the washing machine door.

 

101 Things to do with a Sam Cosgrove. There's a book in there somewhere.

 

He'd probably still miss the egg by 3 yards and stumble into your dry wall, leaving a Sam Cosgrove shaped hole

 

I think Ricky Gervais could do a mockumentary on Sam’s life after football. A fly on the wall account of Sam trying to get a job but failing miserably.

 

And this is actually a great example of the reality of money in sport, like Haaland, Bolt didn’t earn his money directly because of his ability in his Sport but because of his marketability as a result of his results (that sounds like a contradiction),
EH gets his money because of his & City’s marketability the reality is whilst in his case it’s because of his goals, the goals are actually a bonus reason.
Beckham was a great example of this a good footballer but never close to one of the best Midfielders in the world but earned way more than others due to his global marketability.

 

Some good points pal, but I would argue that unlike Beckham, I would say that Harland is one of best in his position in world.

 

I'm already worried about your music setup. Hope to god your vinyl is stored somewhere safe.

 

He’s not going anywhere near my studio

 

Anna Kournikova - sultry, eastern European, liked to walk around the locker room with her kit off (so she claimed). Not particularly good at tennis (by pro standards).

 

Great early example.
Was she as popular in Russia or was it more of a Western thing?

 

You may well be right about that. She was pretty successful in doubles, which pretty much flies under the radar for anyone except serious tennis fans.

 

I think the latter. Marat Safin was always the most popular tennis player there in that era. Evgeniy Kafelnikov is also a bit of a legend, mainly for getting quite fat and trying to make it as a pro golfer!

 

Sharapova ia another decent player TBF but for 11 consecutive years was the highest earner in Women’s Tennis, Serena Williams despite being much more successful earned much less off court.