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I got talking to a bloke in the Wye Bridge yesterday ( I was wearing my Spireite beanie-hat, which got his attention) and we started chatting about local football - as you do. He`s a regular at Silverlands.
Apparently, Buxton were after Asante when he left us but walked away when he told them that he wanted £2,800 a week, which was far more than they could afford. So presumably that`s what Darlington are paying him, but I`m amazed that they can run to that sort of money either. Ah well; there you go.
The story going round is that when he was with us he was on £5k a week - that`s a quarter of a million a year! I`ve no idea whether that figure is accurate of course - these things can be a bit like Chinese whispers at times - and he may have been on nothing like that, but if these figures are anywhere close to being accurate it shows the staggering amounts of money that can be earned these days, even in non-league football.
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Back when I was "playing" and dinosaurs grazed beyond the touchlines, the top three Sunday League clubs all fielded players who were part-time pros in the Saturday game. Admittedly they were playing for much smaller clubs than Chesterfield or Darlington, but they seemed to be on cash-in-hand payments plus travelling expenses. They were just topping up their weekly working wage. An instance was Matlock's winger who scored at Wembley for them in the FA Vase, and turned out on Sundays for Queens Hotel, Mosborough. (I saved a penalty from him too.)
Now I suppose the spread of full-time down the pyramid has to turn into proper much-more-than-living wages. Nevertheless I can't imagine Kwasi Asante being on anything like the money you mention for Darlo'. They are struggling in the relegation zone of National North, get decent crowds for where they are, but what income streams could they generate to afford a team full of Kwasis? Jacob Hazel seemed to quite enjoy it there, but he's been everywhere man. I reckon Kwasi was trying it on with Buxton and was still hoping for perhaps a bigger, better club. How would he have ever stayed fit on an artificial pitch?
Blimey, my best offer was I think £5 a game and travel, or getting picked up in town (from Creswell Colliery). The fine for getting booked then was £5 too.
I'd like to see you in your Spireite beanie. I sometimes wear mine when I'm collecting the paper on Sunday from the local shop and that's it.
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I dread to think what we are paying the likes of Grigg, Jacobs and Naylor just to name 3. I know they have short careers but some of the wages suggested are just crazy. Asante was good in his prime but still not worth that kind of money in my opinion.
I'm all for a cap on salaries in each division with bonuses extra. At our current level £100k per year basic max would be about right. I've a funny feeling that the 3 I've named are well in excess of that.
Big Bore Exhaust = Small Dick
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I can't imagine Jacobs is on that good a screw. I know a Portsmouth fan and he wanted to know how we get him on the field. His opinion of him and that of Pompey fans is that he can play, but his next sick note is always just around the corner. But yes to get Will Grigg and Naylor, we must have been offering more than winner's medals. I'm sure they could have found comfy berths in Leagues One or Two, had our bid not been the highest.
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Barton Rovers have developed their club from a village-based club to one boasting 21 youth teams, 2 veterans' sides, a women's team and walking football as well as their first team in the Southern League Central Division. They haven't had fantastic on-field success because they have spent heavily on infrastructure. They play a division lower than Ricky German and attribute their lack of first team success to that very choice of spending on infrastructure, because several of the teams they come against "are paying their players big money". If clubs at Step 4 are paying players big money perhaps Kwasi's demands at Buxton were more than simply bigging himself up, perhaps they had some basis in reality.
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We'll never know until someone tells us and then we will probably disagree.
Good to see the youngsters get a run out on Saturday. Am back in the UK till Jan. Didn't go but listened and between that and the highlights I wish I had gone. It seems at long last that we have a structure in the way that the club is run. The youngsters do the same training and are coached to play the same way that the first team do. If that's the quality it produces then I'm all for it.
It's interesting reading where they all came from or were rejected by. If we can catch 1or2 gems that way it's probably the way to go. Jamie Hewitt was completely sold on D'Sena and waxed lyrical throughout the game.
Good result and just imagine what it's done to their confidence.
The future looks bright
Big Bore Exhaust = Small Dick
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Yes as you'll know only too well I've never shut up about the club needing something substantial below first team level. Yes it seems like the way to go. It seems very funny to think of Jamie Hewitt as a respected club elder statesman and I still think of him as a fresh-faced young lad trying to break into Chesterfield's first team on a regular basis and turning out at cricket for Sheepbridge on Newbold Road. He wasn't a bad batsman, and always was a nice lad.
Wouldn't it be nice to be back in the EFL with a side peppered with the young talent we're bringing through?
