Anatomy of a Contract Negotiation- A Shot Story.

Educated Hick · 04-24-2004, 09:58 PM

The Player:

The players all gathered on the field to watch the kid. The kid was only 18 years old, but the players assembled around the pitch knew they were seeing a master...a model of the small quick sniper who could score at will from deep The local press were covering the event and were busy making comparisons to Clayton Zane and Mark Viduka, the two players most comparable to the kid. But the kid had a chance to be better than those two great players. The kid was good at the tender of 18 and the assembled crowd oohed and ahhed as the kid went through the skill drills and practiced for the first time with the main squad. Not that this was totally unexpected....the hype around the kid had been building up for years, as he moved up the ranks of the Perth Glory youth system. Rumors abounded of a kid with massive skills and a penchant for scoring. But it was nothing compared to the hype and buzz that came after that fateful day in August 2002 when my asst. manager Fleming Christensen walked into my office with a huge smile on his face and told me that Greg Anastasiou was ready for the main squad. Fleming told me that Anastasiou was 18 years old and would soon be in the first team. I was skeptical until Fleming pulled out a tape and popped it into the VCR. The kid was excellent to say the least. He looked quick, smart and dangerous with the ball. He wasn’t a classic target man by any means- his heading, jumping and strength weren’t great...but he did resemble a poor man’s Michael Owens. I was just stunned by the ability of Anastasiou at his young age and I told the front office to get a move on and sign the kid. The kid knew his talent and knew he was probably headed for greater fame, so he demanded a 35,000 pound contract for three years. And he got it.

That first season Anastasipu played for the second team as I had two good forwards on the first team and I didn’t want to rush Anastasiou or have him sitting on the bench. He ripped through the reserve league with elan and aplomb.. He put the fear of God in the opposition and racked up 17 goals in 20 reserve games with an average grade of 7.72. Late in the season, Anastasiou earned a call up and played for the Aus. U-21 squad. It was at that point I could delay no longer., I told the press that Anastasipu would be the starter at forward-replacing Damian Mori whose contract would expire. In addition, I re-did Anastasiou’s contract at the same salary, but with a higher signing bonus and an increased minium release clause. To say Anastasipu was successful in the 2003 season would be a lie...he had an excellent and superlative season. At the age of 19, he tore through the NSL and just dominated when he wasn’t injured. (He does seem to be a bitt injury prone) Qnce again, the stats tell the story. Anastasipu scored 18 goals in 25 games with 6 MOM’s and a 7.92 average. He was selected as the NSL Player of the Year and of course the Fan’s POY.

Contract Talks:

All heady stuff for a 19 year old. More to the point, Anastasiou knew his future didn’t lie at Perth Glory in a backwater league. He has never really considered making a career at Glory and in fact, seems to have grown slightly cooler towards the club. He says he’s happy to be a t the club right now, but that things could change down the road. Nevertheless, I sat down with his agent to talk turkey this contract in the summer of 2004. Anastasipu wanted 45,000 pounds a year for three years , 30000 pounds as a signing bonus and a release clause of 700000. I countered with the agreed salary, 70000 bonus and a 1 million pound release clause for five years. After considering the offer for a few days, the agent rejected the offer and made the same demands as before. This time I offered 150 grand as a bonus but kept everything else the same. They considered and rejected with the agent coming back to me and making the same demands as before. It was clear to me that they weren’t going to budge and I figured it had to do with the 5 years....I wanted to lock him down so I decided to get a bit cute. I offered them 55000 (the max I could offer) with goal and assist bonuses of 100 pounds, 200 grand bonus and a release of a million pounds. They took the offer, considered, did the math and accepted. Anastasiou is now with Perth Glory for 5 years until June 2009. Whew.

The fans were happy, Anastasiou was happy, The board would be happy if he won us a title. All everyone can do is hope the money doesn't go to his head. We shall see...in Perth we shall see.

The end