Paying Players

[budsboy]

I dont know how many of you lads or ladies agree or disagree and i know its up to the individual clubs and its their choice but i for one disagree paying players at welsh league level.
What is peoples opinions on the matter or am i just being niave and its more wide spread than i imagine

[Counting Crows]

I'd guestimate that around 50% of division 1 clubs pay their players. I guess if you want promotion / a title challenge then you will have to attract some of the better players out there.

A mixture of comments from players and managers, and the blatantly obvious (Chris Summers doesn't play for free for example) would lead me to believe the following clubs pay:

Afan Lido, Goytre United, C&C, Caldicot, Bryntirion, Ton Pentre, Aberaman and Bridgend.

Not sure about the likes of Pontardawe, West End and Garden Village.

The likes of Taff's Well and Cardiff Corries say they are amateur, so if this is true, then it shows just exactly what can be achieved by fielding players who obviously enjoy playing for the love of playing the game

[Gareth Morgan]

90% of division 1 clubs pay their players - including all but one of the teams you listed (Cardiff Corries!) Some with higher budgets than others of course, but even the poorer clubs mostly pay a little - one pays £5 a point for example!

Even in the lowest points of the league only Ely don't do it.

In division 2 around half of the teams are paying money - albeit to a lesser degree.

This is fact not speculation!

There is a fair few quid flying around in Division 3 as well up or near the top.

My view is if you have it and it's sustainable that is one thing and good luck to you. But one investor bankrolling it can only lead one way can't it. There are examples aplenty!

[Counting Crows]

Good to hear the opinion of someone in the game (assuming you are the Gareth Morgan that i think you are ).

Reliable sources led me to believe Taff's Well and Celtic don't pay, but chances are you know more than me.

So is that £5 per player per point? I.e. £70 for a squad of 14 to draw, and £210 for a win?

I wonder if we're allowed to ask if Croesy pay players?

Cheers.

[Lee Robson]

I can categorically state that Monmouth Town don't pay players although in a bizarre outbreak of largesse I did promise £20 for a hat trick which was relatively safe until we signed Phil Tranter. In one game last season both he and Matthew Bowen were on hat tricks so I offered the manager £15 to take them both off! Bowen completed his hat trick and Tranter missed a penalty. Luckily Bowen owed the money for fines so happy days!

Seriously though I'd concur with Garteh. If it works and its sustainable and you don't oust all of the local talent then good luck!

[Gareth Morgan]

Counting Crows, I am more than happy to answer your question. It is a very simple answer - No!

It is a very big decision for a club to start paying in my view because once you start signing "money players" you lose a bit of identity I think and unfortunately they will often leave for an inferior team for a fiver a game more (This has happened during my days at other clubs)

Celtic don't pay, no, but I don't think they were on the original list of Div 1 clubs!?!? The other absolutely do - and it's not an insignificant budget either by the way.

A fair few clubs deny paying even though they do for some reason. I don't see the issue personally. If they do it then fine that is up to them.

Re £5 a point, yes that literally means that amount, per point, per player in the squad.

It's the root of all evil in the Welsh League in my view having worked at clubs with and without it!!

[CJ Crow]

I think that if Welsh League football wants to attract more spectators then the money should be spent on ground improvements, not players.

Some of the grounds in the league are an absolute disgrace, including a few in division 1.

The ' no swearing' law was brought in to try and attract families to the games, STRICTER GROUND CRITERIA IS WHAT IS NEEDED.

[Counting Crows]

Good post Gareth - always good to get the insight of a manager on the ground as it were.

Re: your point about paying players / losing the identity of the club, do you think it's possible to field all local 'play-for the-club' players and move up the divisions?

I guess a mixture of locals and players from outside the area is always likely to happen and perhaps is actually a good thing.

Clubs in the WPL have a mixture, but i think it's always good to have one or two local players too to keep an affinity with the town. I mean, i Liverpool can have two local players why can the top teams in the WPL and Welsh League?!

[CJ Crow]

That exactly what Cwmbran Celtic have done. All their boys are local lads who 'play for the club', and definitley dont get paid. Not sure how it will pan out in the first division though.

[Gareth Morgan]

It does happen - Llwydcoed did it a few years ago and are doing it again now. Celtic are a fine example yes. There was a generation at Dinas Powys going back a few years that took them through several leagues too.

Unfortunately though, unless like Celtic you invest in yhour production line they often overachieve and then when that generation is gone they drop down again.

[A friend]

Funny how it seems to be the same names that crop up when the state of the Welsh league is concerned, myself included. Maybe if the powers that be listened to people involved such as us, things would improve.

The problem is that while modest success is achieveable without paying, it's virtually impossible to actually win anything unless you pay your players. Celtic are a prime example having worked their way up through the leagues but have already lost a couple to £40 a game from Aberaman and that's even before promotion. I'm sure there will be managers getting in touch over the summer offering players money to play for established div 1 clubs.

Show me the last team to win the league without paying players.

On the flip side, if you're a player picking up even £20 a game you stand to "earn" £800 or so per season just from playing football.