Colo to be asked to cut wages in half?

Posted on November 11th, 2011 | 27 Comments |

Rumours suggest Newcastle's Fabricio Coloccini will be asked to cut his wages by £40k/week.
Practising for contract negotiations?
Newcastle United have some player contracts to sort out, in particular the contract of team Captain Fabricio Coloccini who – it is rumoured – will initially be asked to cut his wages by half.

With all the furore over the stadium naming, let’s not forget that there’s a football team somewhere there in the background!

Apparently the international break is being used to sort out some contract issues with players, most notably those of Fabricio Coloccini and Danny Guthrie.

But one item of news I did read in connection with Coloccini worried me a bit. It comes from the Northern Echo, which first suggests that Coloccini’s wages are currently around £80k/week and further suggests that the club will be looking to cut those in half as part of a renewed contract.

I have seen quotes of £60k/week – £80k/week for Coloccini’s wages in the past, so I’m not sure how accurate the Northern Echo’s assessment is, but surely the club will struggle to get Coloccini to cut his wages by half won’t it? Again, I’m not sure how the Echo knows that’s what the club intends to do but I’m hoping that, if there’s any truth in it at all, it’s merely a starting point for negotiations.

For me, Coloccini has been one of the stand-out players for us this season and, whilst I accept that at 29 he’s moving towards what is termed ‘older’ in relation to football players, he’s a player I’d like to see signed up for a few more years yet.

Apparently Colo is keen to remain on Tyneside despite strong interest from Sevilla so hopefully negotiations will be good-natured, but I always fear that he might become a victim of the much-rumoured but never-clarified wage caps at Newcastle.

Danny Guthrie has done his own contract negotiations the world of good over the last few games as he has looked like a decent stand-in for Tiote. Guthrie will become a free agent in the summer and is thusly free to start looking elsewhere if a new contract isn’t signed by the start of 2012. With the influx of midfielders over the summer, I’m not sure he’s in the best position to demand too much though and it remains to be seen how his contract negotiations turn out.

Alan Smith and Peter Lovenkrands will also become free agents next summer and the club will certainly be letting Smith go (please!). My guess is that they’ll let Lovenkrands – who is now 31 – go to.

NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10). Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.

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Comment on this post

27 Responses

  1. U have to be kidding dont u? Collocini isnt on $80k a week and secondly fat cashley is stupid but not stupid enough to waste time, money or resources to attempt a wage cut that dramatic to retain our captain

  3. Steve, I’d like to agree with you about the club not wanting to waste time over Collo’s contract but it wouldn’t surprise me one little bit if Llambias went in with a view to negotiating a deal by offering a salary cut as its opening position.

    I’d like to think that if the club’s keen to tie him down, then they’d go in with a good offer first.

    But, who knows

  4. They wouldn’t give Gutierrez a raise of they were cutting the wife’s favourites wage in half would they

  5. I think this will play out with a really poor contract being offered and Collo turning it down and as we know the Board don’t do negotiations it is either Mike’s way or the highway.
    I think this will be another Toon casualty engineered out of the door,sold and replaced with someone on a free or very very cheap.

  6. I don’t believe the newspaper story for one minute.

    Can anyone name a player who has had his wages reduced by a half, I doubt it.

    If the club were doings such things then Jonas is unlikely to have signed a new deal.

    It’s all the usual claptrap from a tinpot rag that has nothing to report as there are no premiership games this weekend.

  7. Part of the new contract will probably be him wearing a sandwich board with Sports Direct offers on it during matches! Stocking shelfs Monday to Friday! Changing his name to Lonsdale Dunlop Collocini!
    On the subject of Dunlop, wasnt it great that golfer and Beer Monster Darren Clarke signed a deal with Ashley to recieve £2 million if he won a Major, with Ashley obviously thinking it was never happening and then “Bang!” five minutes later!

  8. i’d imagine offering 40k a week to Colo, is a way of letting him be sold while looking like we tried to keep him…..has he got one more season left on his contract?

    If so, we’d get 7/8m for a 29-year-old….?

  9. if we lost him in jan, a really good season would soon become a grim one, like waking up next to bird u thought was stunning the night before, and then finding out u just nailed a downy up the arris.

  10. Collo is outstanding atm but let’s be realistic if he wants a long contract then he will need to take a substantial pay cut. Ashley is a tosser but if sticks to his guns and its working so far. I think they will offer him a decent but not extravagant contract then its up to him if he accepts it. I would like to see fans kicking off because collo wants more. Nolan had a good offer as far as I’m concerned and wanted better, if collo is the same he 2 will be gone.

  11. I think Collo will be off for whatever reason.
    As a player he has grown immensely over the last couple of seasons and he will get in many good teams and be able to earn much more cash.
    End of Story.

  12. Simon says:

    November 11, 2011 at 2:05 pm

    “Collo is outstanding atm but let’s be realistic if he wants a long contract then he will need to take a substantial pay cut.”

    Simon, Why when he could go somewhere else and get a better deal like Enrique, Barton etc? Especially so if he can just run down his contract and become a free agent without the encumberance of a hefty transfer fee.

  13. It’s been rumored Colocinni is on 55k. per week, which sounds reasonable, always doubted the higher salaries tossed about.
    It’s also rumored he is looking for a five year deal.
    And why not? probably wants to cement his retirement, with the best deal he can get.
    Doubt if he will get five years, possibly four with a small reduction in salary.
    Why ?
    Guys playing some of his best football, but at twenty nine, getting long in the tooth (in football years) in which case don’t see him here beyond thirty three.
    He’s not going to Spain, he knows he wont get the same money there, though there’s always the chance that a club like Liverpool could come in for him, by offering a better deal.
    Best to get him signed before the window opens.
    But knowing Ashley’s parsimonious bent, he’s likely to screw the whole thing up, which would be a tragedy.
    But hey what do i know ?

  14. 80k 70k 60k what ever he is on he has been worth every penny!

    never mind all the nonsense with the renaming of sjp this is where we see ashleys true colours with regards to how serious he is to push this club forward on the pitch!

    i agree with the club policy of not keeping players over 29-30 on long term contracts however somtimes there has to be an exception and in my opinion collo is worth at least another 4 years as he is probably the best centre half i have ever seen in a black and white shirt! and is very good value for money

    hes ever present has exceptional skill, rarely has a bad game, loves the area and has settlled well with his family, hes club captain and a model professional so i see no reason why he couldnt carry this on for a god few years yet!

    i will be more p@@@#d off if we let him go than i am about the rebranding of sjp!

  15. well, its over a week till the next match – so I suppose we’re going to whinge ourselves into a rabid lather based on gossip & negative vibes – its an NUFC tradition after all!
    not me, I’m going to keep my head down & bask in the feeling of being 3rd in the greatest league in the world.
    Mancity ? I expect to be beaten, so what, most teams will be, but I’m looking forward to it, hopeing they slip up (and they will sooner or later) – it might as well be against us! HWTL

  16. “Older”? At that position? Nemanja Vidic is 30 years old. Think he’ll be asked to take a cut for his next contract?

    If there’s any truth to this, we can kiss Colo goodbye.

    Simon @ 10 says:

    “Nolan had a good offer as far as I’m concerned and wanted better”

    As good as we gave Shola? I wonder.

  17. tunyc…wtf has Shola got to do with this ?

    Would you really have been happy to see Nolan get a five year deal on 60K a week ? Give ower man…

    The worst case scenario, which probably will happen, is that Collo runs down his contract and leaves for nowt. The only thing working against him is that both of his bairns are Geordies. Collo holds all the cards, bad for the fans, but good for Ashley cos he gets a big earner off the books, and he is only interested in the wedge…bit like Collo…!

  18. Munich Mag says:

    November 11, 2011 at 7:24 pm

    “The worst case scenario, which probably will happen, is that Collo runs down his contract and leaves for nowt.”

    Munich, surely the worst case scenario would be Ashley deciding to cash in while he can still get a fee, then selling him in January with Alan Pardew hailing James Perch as his “natural replacement” in the side? :-)

  19. Worky …that sounds like a “worser than worst worst case scenario”….if such a scenario exists… :sad:

  20. can i ask you all one thing? who is leaving? and what replacements will be needed and for who?

    “We need to bring in a striker in January, we will need replacements in the summer and we need to give ourselves as much as possible”

    this is one of the comments made by Lamearse yesterday. did any one else dissect what he said or did everyone else just concentrate on the stadium renaming? if you look deeper you will see lamearse made a lot of concerning comments and one in particular points directly to players leaving. take a look.

    the other comments would suggest puma are going to be our kit manufacturer for next season also.

  21. Stephen C says:

    November 11, 2011 at 9:32 pm

    “this is one of the comments made by Lamearse yesterday. did any one else dissect what he said or did everyone else just concentrate on the stadium renaming?”

    I dissect everything that four-flushing shitbag says in public Stephen. He even had the gall to attempt to turn some of the responsibility for the name change on to we fans, saying that the reason they need to generate extra revenue was because “the fans want us to buy more players”.

    They aren’t even generating ANY extra revenue FFS! It’s all a freebie for Sports Direct International PLC, and I strongly suspect that it will continue that way for quite some time, just as it has for two years so far.

  25. LOL your caption! ‘Thusly’ a word? Admit I looked it up on the net… You’re right. Colo will probably sign on same contract

  26. ‘..“You guys heard about Northern Rock finishing sponsoring our shirt early now?”..’

    Worky, it’s possibly looking like ‘counting the pennies time again’ with this sponsorship deal ending and according to Hugh (no reason to doubt him) that Sports Direct don’t pay for their advertising.

    In order to balance the books, either the club find cash paying sponsors quickly or Ashley puts his hand in his pocket which is unlikely as he has already stated he will not. Players to be sold and no replacements this coming transfer window?

    Something has to give.

    A great many fans are up in arms about the renaming but few if any are suggesting different ways to bring in additional revenue.

  27. Quite frankly I thought it was a disgrace that the failed bank Northern Rock continued shirt sponsorship. They badly let down 1,000s of honest depositors like my brother & my dad
    – they should have put them first, not what was in fact a millionaires play thing
    – yes, they were NUFC fans as well, but when it comes to endangered pensions & savings, sponsorship should have been dumped at Ashley’s door to sort out, not ordinary families worried about the future.
    A pox on all bonus grubbing bankers & millionaire heritage strippers.