Newcastle United A Tough Nut To Crack In Contract Talks

Sunday 20th May 2012 by

Just as Newcastle United have made clear that they drive a hard bargain in the transfer market, it seems a similar story with Danny Simpson’s contract talks.

The club stance is allegedly that when they make a bid for  a player it is take or leave it and possibly it is a similar story when it comes to player contracts, especially when it is a player like Danny Simpson who maybe isn’t seen as absolutely integral to United going forward.

Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, Simpson had the following to say;

“I’m not a greedy player and I just want to be on par with the other players around me. In football terms, what I’m asking for is by no means outrageous.

I want to stay at this club and I’ve been saying that all season. I’ve recently had a baby, I’m happy here and so is my family.

Hopefully me and the club can find some solution. I want to stay but if I have to move, then I will accept it and move on.

But it’s a great club with 50,000 screaming Geordies at the game every week. Why would I want to leave? There is speculation but I want to state, like I have all season, I want to stay.

Over the last two years I’ve played nearly 80 games and started most of them. I’m not being greedy, this club is on the up, the manager and staff are brilliant – I want to stay”.

My reading of the situation is that the club want to pay him squad wages while the player wants first team pay.

I think Danny is a solid decent player who ideally to me would be in the first eighteen but not guaranteed to start as I see right-back as a position we can definitely strengthen.

It would be good to keep him and maybe a fair position would be somewhere in the middle of what both sides want to settle on. More than likely Newcastle are taking advantage of the team’s success and the fact it’s most likely that any potential new club would be a step down for Simpson in terms of profile, potential and support.

Newcastle have been linked with various defenders including one of Cabaye’s ex-team mates and best friends, Mathieu Debuchy.

Part of me feels a bit sorry for Simpson (well as sorry as you can be someone who probably currently earns in a week what I do in a year!) as maybe he deserves a better deal but as a fan I would hope that whatever money is saved on contracts such as his, will in some small way give Alan Pardew and Graham Carr a little bit more to play with elsewhere.

  • Long Beach CA Toon

    accept for one or two hiccups, he had a spectacular year, particularly by NUFC standards. He has been a starter for two years. He deserves his pay on par with other members of the squad.

  • PJ

    I’m hoping you make more than 10K/yr! (that’s Simpson’s current weekly salary), NU offered him 25K/wk (which would be avg for the english players with only S.Taylor on 50K/wk, most would be lower). He wants closer to Taylor’s salary I presume (Colo is an aberration of earlier times @88K/wk, next highest in squad is Gutierrez @55k & even that’s from an earlier era, Smith @50K has run down his contract since no one would pay him that much). Most of the first team is in the 40-50K range which is where Danny boy would like to be. Thing is better foreign player will come at higher salary so can’t keep both. Best to have a youngster as a backup.

  • PJ

    There, you can pay me know (from your 10K ;-) for all the research I’ve done for your next many articles over the summer on NU contracts!
    Cheers.

  • Juniorchubbs

    these footballers need to give their heads a shake.

    turning down 25 grand a week?

    in these times of austerity, when people are having to depend on food handouts from charities to feed their family???

    god have pity on them.

    • http://twitter.com/CFudgemuffin Charles Fudgemuffin

      It’s not purely just about the money, though. It’s also about what the club’s offer tells you, i.e. the size of the offer reveals how importantly a player figures in their plans.

      In Danny’s own words, “I just want to be on par with the other players around me.” The fact that the club want to pay him less than the other players suggests that Pardew may see him as more of a squad player in the future.  If that’s the case then Simpson may feel that he’d rather be a regular starter somewhere else rather than just a squad player at Newcastle.

      In my opinion, any player that loves the game is fully entitled to consider whether they’d rather be getting regular starts at a mid-table club rather than a squad player at a club that is on the rise like us.

      Personally, even if Pardew is looking to bring in another right back then I hope we keep Simpson as well, but if he does decide to move on then I wouldn’t hold it against him.

  • Mal

    Colo and Jonas aren’t on the contracts they signed when they came here – they have both signed new contracts since then and I think Colo has taken a pay cut. I suspect their new contracts are very much incentive based, as will many of the others.
    I know Simpson gets a lot of criticism (mostly unjustified in my opinion) but I hope he signs up as we will be playing a lot of matches next year and we’ll need a good squad plus some decent back-up players. If he doesn’t sign he’s going to end up at the likes of Villa, Fulham, QPR, Brum etc – nothing like as exciting.

  • Cowboy Gun

    Honestly, I think NUFC are being on the generous side with 25k a week. We all know he is going to be replaced by a better player at some stage. We need to think ahead to what we plan to offer his replacement and that less 5k to 10k is the ceiling for Danny boy. If he does go to Fulham good luck to him, though not against us of course. Maybe he will disappear into contented obscurity.

  • Gary

    Junior Chubbs is spot on.  People on this site talk as if 25k a week is insulting.  It is over 1.3 million a year. I would take PJ’s salary guesses with a pinch of salt.  He is greedy as are most of the footballers playing today.  The usual drivel about being a short career is bull.  

    Lets put things into perspective if your earn £25,000 a year it would take you 52 years to earn what he is being paid in a year.  He also gets a 10% signing on fee of the total new contract. 5 years on 1.3 million a year = 6.5 million.  So a 650k signing on fee.  Bless him.

    • http://twitter.com/CFudgemuffin Charles Fudgemuffin

      Signing on fees are negotiable and aren’t set in stone. For example some clubs will pay a player over and above the usual signing on fee and spread it out over the course of a player’s contract as a way of circumnavigating their wage structure. Players who are our of contract also have more negotiating power when it comes to a signing on fee, so if Simpson is indeed greedy he could decide to see out the last year of his contract.

      I personally don’t think money will be the only motivating factor in Simpson’s decision, though.  Like I say, I think he’ll also want to assess how he fits into Pardew’s future plans.