Alex Pearce

[ZacNaloen]

Signing on fee.

[Esteban]

The club's wage bill in 2006/07 was £28.1M, meaning that if you split that evenly (which obviously it wasn't but still...) amongst a squad of 25 you'd get £1.12m a player per year. That's 20k a week give or take.

Obviously the individual wages are going to be all over the place, no way Cox was earning what Doyle/Kitson was on, but some in that team had to be making over £30k.

With that in mind again it's not the least bit surprising that Brian/Hammond would give their first choice keeper such a contract 5 years later.

I had not twigged that at all. Out of interest, do you happen to know how that compares to our wage bill last season? I was amazed to find out that Nathan Tyson is on £10k a week for Derby, but that sounds like it might be small fry now!

Not sure on last year as I've not seen the figures, but the previous two Championship seasons our wage bill was £18m, so a shade more than that I'd expect.

Thanks. That's gives things a different perspective!

[Hoop Blah]

I guess it comes down to your perception of how the deal is structured and if the players and their agents see it the same way.

I can believe we paid Pogrebnyak something like £1-2m to sign and then £40k per week for the 4 years, with perhaps some loyalty and performance bonus thrown in as well.

That £40k won't be breaking our wage structure or massively different to a number of other players in the squad. If players see his deal as including those extras then thats up to them. They won't be able to get that total package here because we don't pay those wages but if Pearce, for example, thinks he can get a similar golden hello package by moving then he'll have to move I guess.

[AirRaidSiren]

Pearce has shown in the last 3 or 4 games that he is by quite some distance our best defender and the decision not to play him for half a season is one of very many poor decisions made by the management team this season which has already basically condemned us to the drop.

This ^^^^^

Word for word, a perfect summary.

[winchester_royal]

Pearce has shown in the last 3 or 4 games that he is by quite some distance our best defender and the decision not to play him for half a season is one of very many poor decisions made by the management team this season which has already basically condemned us to the drop.

This ^^^^^

Word for word, a perfect summary.

Not really, Mariappa has been just as impressive (maybe even more so against Spurs)

[jellytot]

It would be a shame to see Alex go but if he has decided that he wants to join a larger club and feels he deserves higher wages then I say best of luck to him. Liverpool are rumoured to be in for him. I would not sell him unless we have signed enough QUALITY cover. KG must be sold I feel as he has proven that he is not PL standard. Carrico is a classy player but will take time to settle into our midfield or defense. My attitude is keep Pearce til the summer. If we stay up (unlikely) we can throw more money at him then. My impression is though that he has decided to move on.

[Hoop Blah]

Mariappa was at fault a fair bit earlier in the season. I don't remember Pearce being too culpable for goals at any point really so I'd agree he's looked our most comfortable centre half over the season.

As a pairing, helped by the more tight and defensive set up McDermott has gone with recently, the two of them have looked our best bet though.

[winchester_royal]

Mariappa was at fault a fair bit earlier in the season. I don't remember Pearce being too culpable for goals at any point really so I'd agree he's looked our most comfortable centre half over the season.

As a pairing, helped by the more tight and defensive set up McDermott has gone with recently, the two of them have looked our best bet though.

Pearce was at fault for Spurs' second goal on Saturday.

CB is all about partnerships, who can forget how woeful Pearce looked when next to Khumalo? Mariappa had the hapless Gorkss and the inexperienced Morrison to play with earlier in the season, and at no point really looked comfortable. Likewise when Gorkss and Pearce played together at the start we looked very open.

The two guys with the shirt at the moment have struck up a good partnership, and both deserve equal credit for that.

[melonhead]

as well as having the change made in front of them
not sure its possible to really assign the credit for our defensive turnaround to any one person

[AirRaidSiren]

Pearce has shown in the last 3 or 4 games that he is by quite some distance our best defender and the decision not to play him for half a season is one of very many poor decisions made by the management team this season which has already basically condemned us to the drop.

This ^^^^^

Word for word, a perfect summary.

Not really, Mariappa has been just as impressive (maybe even more so against Spurs)

Agree with your point too. Mariappa has been just as impressive since Pearce has partnered him in defence. I'm a fan of Mariappa and feel both him and Pearce in defence, we have less of a chance leaking goals that the other partnerships played so far this season, especially Mariappa and Gorkss which was abysmal.

If we stay up(which is highly unlikely), I feel Pearce will sign, if we are Championship bound, Pearce will be off. He could have the potential to play for one of the top 6 teams in the Premiership.

[Gordons Cumming]

He got outjumped by Adebayor .

HTH

[From Despair To Where?]

He got outjumped by Adebayor .

HTH

That may be true but Adebayor has done that to better defenders than Pearce. Had it been Shaun Wright-Phillips outjumping Pearce then , yeah, there's a significant issue.

[Ian Royal]

Because the offer made isn't big enough to meet what Pearce (or his agent) think he's worth.

Whether it's Pearce or RFC that's being unreasonable is something we just don't know.

very true. as i said in a previous post we will probably never know what is happening and who was being unreasonable. however, i am more inclined to believe that it is reading being unreasonable given their track record for not paying more than they believe a player is worth.

Is it unreasonable not to pay a player more than you think he's worth?

Kebe was in a similar position this time last season and I was pretty resigned to him not signing, but he did in the end. There's still time for an agreement to be reached.

Kebe signed the deal he'd been offered already because of the sign of intent made by the takeover, rather than got an improved offer. IIRC. Which is not necessarily the case.

[Ian Royal]

I've been led to believe he's after Guthrie type money, not Pog money and not even Federici money.

Club completely dragged their heels with this one. Pearce & his new agent obviously play a part and the club is in it's total right to offer what it believes is fair, but the club, especially Nick Hammond seemed to genuinely believe he would just cave in and sign the first thing put in front of him. Quite staggering naivety in my opinion and a bit disrespectful to a player that's never kicked up any sort of a fuss or been involved in any type of shenanigans.

Beyond the ins and outs of how we've got to this point, why this wasn't addressed 18 months ago is the question that really needs answering.

Because 18 months ago he wasn't really considered a first team regular and had two years left on his contract?

[soggy biscuit]

I know that Sonko was £18k a week when he was with us.

Not this again

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Pearce is our best CB, but he isnt as good as some of us make out. The club will have a figure of what he is worth in terms of wages and that will be that. Its the way the club has been run for 20 years now barring the Burns ere debacle. If he's not prepared to sign then thats up to him, but no way should the club make an exception to a financial ethos that has brought huge success for the club.

That said, the decision not to play him earlier this season was pathetic. He signed a contract to play for the club until June 2013 and not beyond that. If he doesnt want to stay any longer then he's perfectly within his rights to do so, but dont drop him. You dont sign a player on a 1 year contract and then bench him for not signing a 2 year one. You only need to look at Steve Sidwell's last year at Reading to show what a shit decision it is.

[SPARTA]

From what we've seen of Morrison this season I'd go as far as to say he could well be/become our best centre-back. Mariappa also looks useful. Pearce is very important, don't get me wrong, but the world doesn't revolve around him and we'd move on without him.

[holsgrove breaks a leg]

I think the most frustrating thing about all of this is that, whatever the decisions behind leaving out Pearce for periods of this season, we have toyed around with all manner of different CB's which has been at a great cost performance and results wise. With Pearce now back in it has stabilised things somewhat, but to lose him potentially in Jan will see us back to square one with new signings potentially having to fill the void and learn a CB partnership very quickly. I have a bad feeling that Morrison may be out for a good few months too.

[Terminal Boardom]

I see the ideal CB pairing as Morrison and Carrico.

[RoyalTank]

I think the most frustrating thing about all of this is that, whatever the decisions behind leaving out Pearce for periods of this season, we have toyed around with all manner of different CB's which has been at a great cost performance and results wise. With Pearce now back in it has stabilised things somewhat, but to lose him potentially in Jan will see us back to square one with new signings potentially having to fill the void and learn a CB partnership very quickly. I have a bad feeling that Morrison may be out for a good few months too.

I agree that the most frustrating aspect of this is the fact that if he had been playing from the start of the season we would have had far more points, which could ultimatly cost us relegation!
The man clearly loves the club, anyone that saw his reaction after the west ham game will agree and I feel that the club needs to do everything it can to keep him as he will be one of the players that stays with us through relegation!

Morro isn't too far away, he came out to do a 'warm down' after the west ham game and was sprinting the full length of the pitch, I could even see him starting at the weekend!