FFA at loggerheads with A-League players over pay

What sort of ametures are the backrie group-not paying Brisbane Roar players what they deserve. Boycott their dodgy business!

MLS must look at us and laugh at guys like D Gallop. He is the strangler. Salary cap champion, at restraint of trade. Expansion is not on our radar-Gallop.

@Middy McGlinchey was paid late by 4 weeks = breach of contract. Why do you keep giving ridiculous comparisons with the NRL. If you told me to base my wages on 48% of 215M or 64% on 40m, guess which one I am choosing. Just because the percentages are more means nothing. I am sure that once we grow the football pie we will also have a similar percentage to NRL. As for the Newcastle players, it wouldn't surprise me if they were not paid their superannuation even now. That money is supposed to be GUARANTEED through the salary cap. Its not supposed to be touched or used for any other purpose other than players wages. It is totally unprofessional of clubs like CCM, Newcastle, Roar and anyone else who are trying to squirm out of paying players what they are owed. Its just embarrassing for the league and the FFA.

RBB For me its the PFA at times pushing things a tad to far ... just on McGlinchey he was paid ... paid late by about 4 weeks I think ...he then resigned with the club for another 3 years... about three months latter the China offer came he was released on a free transfer as was said during the dark times... Its more the manner in which the PFA conducted themselves the judge even commented on this... Generally I take the side of employees and in this case the players ... however as I posted above if we compare ourselves with RL who get more from crowds and team sponsors and they pay only 48% of their media deal to players FFA currently pay 64% of the media deal to players ... and RL does not have 9 national sides to support either nor is it developing national coaching standards etc. Sometimes you can kill the goose that lays the golden eggs...

Sorry midfielder but I will mostly side with the players. If you consider how well players from other countries through their leagues are paid you can understand why it doesnt bother them as much if their national team doesnt pay them as much. I have no problem if the FFA reduces the payment for the NT but increases the wage for the A-league. As for your McGlinchey example, its a poor one. As soon as a player isnt paid, the club is in breach of contract. McGlinchey was well within his rights to leave the Mariners. I wonder how you would react if you werent paid by your bosses. My guess is you would be the first person seeking protection from the union.

RBB The Socceroos rank as one of the top 3 I think maybe top 5 sides in regards to player payments... I want the Socceroos well paid as I want the players well paid but not at the expense of many other things... The PFA are known for using the media to cry foul ... Lets look at a recent PFA action and one I am very close to... Roughly 4 years ago the Mariners could not make weekly wage payments a new owner Mike Charlesworth was trying to cross his I's and tot the T's . The story goes Graham Arnold held the team together especially the senior players and part of the way he did it was if you get an offer we will let you take it... One player to take advantage of this was Michael McGlinchey he was released to China despite having almost three years left on his contract no fee was charge and he would receive a massive pay increase .... the only part was the last 6 months of his contract he was to return to the Mariners on the wage we were paying him. This meant we could sell him for a fee or use him in the squad. Charlesworth formed a new company to take over the Mariners and all players signed for the new club except McGlinchey and it was understood he would when he returned. McGlinchey with 6 months to go in China and says he wants out ... we cant use him as he is only contracted to us for the last 6 months... In come the Nix and they offer a long term contract on more money that the Mariners were paying... The Mariners say he is contracted to us so bugger off ... PFA steps in and says as McGlinchey did not sign the new contract the old contract is invalid. The Mariners argued you are mad as any club wanting to get rid of players could simply sell the club and not resign players... The PFA went crazy writing to the media often making huge claims in the media about the Mariners management I dare say SBS backed em up... PFA advised the Nix management to hold their ground and wrote more media stories ... The Mariners stood their ground and said lets go to court ... it was agreed and again the PFA said the court case was open and shut... after about a week of the court case the jude took about a week to find the Mariners had to be paid and all our expenses had to be paid ... The PFA went to the media again ... The Nix management this time ignored them and paid a transfer fee... What was so annoying in all this was not only were they wrong but of all teams to try to take money away from when we were struggling... Also remember the proud boast when in 1997 they did the Socceroo's new deal and the NSL could no longer afford to fly the national team out... Don't believe everything the PFA say...

Well it also might relate to promises that might have been made by the FFA in previous deals. The FFA does not have a very good history when it comes to wage negotiations and looking after their players. You only have to look at the situation brewing between the FFA and the NT. If the players were promised a wage increase in this period or at least it being considered then this needs to be addressed. Any goodwill that has been built up over the years between the FFA and the players will be shot to pieces. At the end of the day, it needs to be sustainable, which it obviously isn't. Is this player greed or club mismanagement. It will be a bitter pill for the players to swallow if they are once again forced to restrain any wage demands and I am afraid that going forward their stance in future negotiations will only get more militant.

Thank Mid. Yes, interesting times. Good also to see the NRL people pointing out that NRL and football are not competitors, but seek different kinds of athletes. Sanity at last!

Middy, stop making sense! The metric relating Salary Cap to the TV rights is critical. That should be the foundation for the PFA to negotiate wages for ALeague clubs. Current Deal: $40m/year Salary Cap (10 clubs): $25.5m/year All wages should be linked to the TV rights. If the TV rights increase - the players deserve to get their cut. If the TV rights stagnate the players deserve to no increase in wages.

Very inefficient HHHMmmmm RL salary cap is 6, 500, 000 per club * 16 clubs is 104 million in a 215 million dollar deal or 48%.. A-League is 2,550, 000 per club * 10 clubs is 25.5 million in a 40 million dollar deal or almost 64% .. RL clubs get bigger crowds, generally have more sponsors and sell more shirts.... yet they pay 48% or 16% less and we want to increase the amount. AS for the statements the A-League clubs are poorly run... Mariners were for about 18 months they are back on track now the CEO responsible has gone... Roar and with legal action being considered there is much more to this story ... Jerks Tinkler he is gone... For me right now with only one club making money its pure madness to push to hard especially when a 12% increase was supposed to be made by the clubs... The PFA have a mixed history of success but be moderate despite what they say is not what they are known for... Back to all clubs are poorly run and the league as well ... I would laugh but I think you actually believe the knowledge of a few on some forums is superior to those running the game today or there are people out there willing to invest who have the knowledge and contacts to run the clubs at a profit ... for me this is a dangerous trend not so much questioning those in charge but the change language recently which is becoming hostile and said like those saying it should not be questioned .. BTW these comments are not directed at you RBB more the way the trends are shifting as I read them...

I think its fair to say that the players themselves have shown remarkable wage restraint. For the past 6 years they have effectively waived off any pay increases. They have been more than willing to co-operate with the FFA in moving the A-league forward. As it stands now it is the clubs themselves who are being mismanaged and the players for their part are paying the price for this ineptitude. Its a bit rich for the clubs to turn once again to the players and say "come on guys, lets show some restraint. If anything the clubs themselves need to reign in their expenditures and run a much tighter ship. You only have to look at the messes that have been left by the Jets, Glory and the Roar to realise that it is the club administrators who are to blame..............not the players. A bit of perspective needed.

Has always made sense what they are proposing here. League is the number one sport in that area followed as it says, easily by football in 2nd. And if the A-League get in first in the next couple of years when they do expand it could be a real winner.

I don't two clubs being in financial trouble and breakdown of a CBA would warrant another Crawford Report. Remember what state the A-League was in a few years ago? Far worse than now.

Waz & Real interesting news today in the News media. NRL, A-League prepare dual expansion bid based in Ipswich http://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-a-league-prepare-dual-expansion-bid-based-in-ipswich/story-fndujljl-1227418637667

Waz Good post

My understanding, which could be wrong, is that the money paid from the FFA to the clubs from the current tv deal is enough to cover the current salary cap. Any increase in salary cap though would have to be paid from elsewhere. This is very different to a deal whereby the salary cap is covered by the FFA. I believe that prior to the current tv deal the tv rights were less than the cap. Anyway, I'm sure that the clubs would love to have money left over from the tv deal after paying their players to go towards their other expenses (stadium hire, coaching and backroom staff, travel, NYL, W League, training facilities, marketing and so on). Of course they also have ticket sales/memberships, sponsorships, merch sales, possibly prize money etc as other revenue sources too. I believe that it goes into one big pot and their expenses are then paid from there, including wages. Would love someone to confirm or correct that...

I don't know for sure but my guess is the PFA are referring to the $2.55m salary cap which the bulk of their players are paid by. This is paid by the FFA to the clubs who in turn pay the players. On that assumption the PFA assume clubs losses are therefore nothing to do with what the players get paid, marquees aside that is true. However the FFA are hardly a fountain of endless cash themselves and any increase in player payments via the cap would inevitably result in cuts in other areas of expenditure, after 10 years of the HAL we find our game yet again on a knife-edge, if common sense doesn't prevail we may well end up with another government investigation into the failure of professional football in Australia.

Yes, I laugh at that too - increase our wages and we'll be better players. Sure, they may attract a few player home, but that's marginalia best. On your first point, I think FFA covers wages (except marquee) hence their concerns.

No doubt they see the FFA as the arrogant rat bags. Certainly I know many employers who are.

Do much doesn't add up here. For a start, how on earth can the pfa claim that "the losses attributable to some clubs are unrelated to player payments" when player payments are the biggest cost in running these clubs? The one that really gets me scratching my head though is the idea that paying the same bunch of players more will somehow make the quality of the league improve. It may make it slightly easier to retain players, if clubs keep space free in their cap to move players up into but on the while, locals will always take the chance to go to Europe or Asia anyway and big name foreigners are coming as marquees. Maybe the average quality of non-marquee foreign players well improve a little..