Diao 'keen' on Stoke

[Morph]

Nope, not surprised at all I'm sorry to say.

I just wonder how it is decided what wage to offer the player - do the board decide or is the manager?

At the end of the day it'll most definately be the board, but they are advised by the manager and his scouts. So at the end of the day, they will have asked Houlier how much he wanted the player, and will have done all they could to get him. However I can't imagine that was the minimum required wage to get him at the time, even after a half decent world cup.

[Rich]

This thread shouldn't become another Houllier bashing exercise, but the fact remains that the summer of 2002 was when it all started crumbling down for him.

Cheyrou,
Diao,
Diuof

One of the worst trios in history, and has probably cost the club more than £35m all in...

[livvy145]

Yes yes, i fecked up....enough already

I could have added the bonuses as well and this final year of his contract.

All in, I think he has bled us for close on £10M.

[Craig_H]

This thread shouldn't become another Houllier bashing exercise, but the fact remains that the summer of 2002 was when it all started crumbling down for him.

Cheyrou,
Diao,
Diuof

One of the worst trios in history, and has probably cost the club more than £35m all in...

When people ask why it might STILL take Rafa another 2 or 3 years to get to the top of the league, this is one fundamental issue that is still having a knock on effect.

[Morph]

Lets be honest, Houlier's first dealings in the transfer window were pretty much his best, after that it all went downhill, apart from striking lucky with a few signings here and there.

[dom9]

He's on anything between an estimated £40-50k a week.

You keep saying that, but you're the only source I have ever read this.

How do you know?

[Rich]

Exactly; we all can accept that not all transfers work, and some are more costly than others - however, these 3 happened all in the same summer and have had a huge knock on effect.

You could equate it to spending our entire 2005 Champions League earnings on them three - that is how massive a failure it's all been.

(Not that you can blame the players for signing a lucarative contract!)

[Morph]

You keep saying that, but you're the only source I have ever read this.

How do you know?

I'm pretty sure Bascombe has mentioned it in the Echo on a couple of occasions.

[Dhav]

Dont blame Diao for staying so long just to pick up those wages - if I were him I'd have probably done the same. But these guys came from France, they would have been on low wages, and even accounting for inflated prices at the time and any interest in the players from rival clubs, I'm willing to bet we could have got them on half the wages we actually offered them.

[Rich]

I'm not the only one! It's not hard to envisage paying an international footballer, on the back of a World Cup, £40k a week - probably more.

Somebody (can't remember who, probably Lec) has seen/got told what Cheyrou was on a week - and it was truly shocking, it was that high. I'd expect a similarly lucrative contract for Salif.

[dom9]

I would say that there is more than a little guess-work going on here.

I'm sure Diao is on a lot of money for what he contributes - no doubt about that, but does every player we buy for £5M get a £40,000 + a week contract? I would be very surprised.

I still think he is getting paid nowhere near £40,000 a week. Unless I see any confirmation to the contrary, I will retain that opinion.

[Rich]

That's fair enough! But, what makes you think he isn't on that amount?

You've got to remember the circumstances around him signing, rather than the ****e player that he is - also the fact that he's proved impossible to move on shows he's on a large pay packet.

[dww]

Lecter has maintained for ages that Diao and Cheyrou were on scandalous wages. I've always taken the figures he has given (I think he said Cheyrou was on close to £60k a weak) with a pinch of salt. All it takes is a € to £ mistake to be made and all of a sudden wages look ludicrous. However what ever we paid them we got very little back.

[Red_Polo]

I'm stoked!




Sorry

[saveferris]

According to the BBC gossip column its because Diao reckons he "needs" first team football. When do you think he might have realised he was no longer in the first team