Experienced football administrator Fred Pappoe has given a thumbs up to the idea of scrapping payment of lump sums of money to players as signing-on or enticement fees, describing the practice as an unsustainable model that impacts heavily on the finances of clubs.
According to him, this eventually becomes a burden to many club owners especially as we are in difficult times because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The enticement fee is a lump sum paid upfront to a player when he agrees to join a club. The practice is seen by many as a scourge to the local league; something that impacts the capacity of clubs to pay deserving monthly salaries to footballers.
Fred Pappoe, a former Ghana FA-vice president acknowledged that the practice of spreading the enticement fee over a period of time and paid as part of the package of monthly salaries to players as being proposed by the current leadership of Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak was initiated by the management of Great Olympics somewhere last season.
In an interview with Kumasi-based Silver 98.3 FM, Pappoe endorsed the move and opined that efforts should be taken to lessen the burden clubs go through in being pressured to pay upright a lump sum to players as enticement fees.
“It is a very interesting idea, to the best of my knowledge, (at) Olympics we had a similar arrangement with a few of the players, so if other clubs have taken it up, I think its a good idea,” Mr Pappoe told the SportsNet Show on Silver FM.
“The present practice where clubs pay the bulk sum to players is very difficult. Now situations are very tough for everybody. Now financing of clubs rests on the shoulders of just one or two people. So if there will be an approach where the burden on such people can be lessened at a point in time with respect to the fact that the signing-on fees will be spread over a period of time,” he continued.
However, in trying to bring order to this system of paying enticement fees, Fred Pappoe is also suggesting that in drawing up a payment plan, certain clauses tied to appearance and performance should be inserted into the contract.
“What I will also want to suggest is that, in spreading it, there must be an insertion of performance related clauses. A player should not just come and irrespective of whatever happens, he takes his money. We need to tie it with performance so that at the end of the day it becomes a win-win situation for both the club and the player.
“Mostly in Europe and other places, the signing-on fee is tied to appearance, wins and this incentivizes the player to put his shoulder to the wheel and deliver (and take his money),” Fred Pappoe said.
In conclusion Fred Pappoe has advised that in trying to implement the above-mentioned proposals, clubs should take it upon themselves to engage players thoroughly in discussions to explain the nitty gritty of such an arrangement.
“(Spreading the enticement fees) is something that can be explored but then, there is the need for a lot of discussion to explain to the players because most of the time if the explanation does not sink down well, payers will think you want to cheat them, but this is the modern way of planning football and recruiting players,” he said.
