Why Man City should take a stand over spoilt, greedy and out of touch Wright-Phillips

By David McDonnell

Published 08:05 11/03/10

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Spare a thought for poor Shaun Wright-Phillips, whose father Ian says his son is being "mugged off" by Manchester City's offer of a new deal worth £90,000-a-week.

Yes, that's right, £90,000-a-week, more than what most City fans who pay to go and watch Wright-Phillips can hope to earn in a year, maybe even two or three.

Yet it's not enough for poor little Shaun, whose dad has valiantly decided to fight his son's corner against those miserly folk who are running City and handing such meagre contracts.

"They're mugging him off and treating him like a youth team player," said Wright-Phillips' dad, in a frenzied rant which exposed the full deluded perspective of the modern-day footballer.

In the interests of fairness, though, here are the facts.

Wright-Phillips, who was - it should be remembered - rescued from his ill-fated move to Chelsea by old club City, is just 18 months into a four-year deal worth £75,000-a-week

He therefore has two-and-a-half years left to run, a point at which most clubs would not even consider starting to renegotiate a new deal with a player.

But City have moved to offer Wright-Phillips a one-year extension, which would keep him under contract, on an improved salary of £90,000-a-week don't forget, until he is 32.

Oh, and that's not forgetting a clause within that new deal that would allow Wright-Phillips to extend that it further, if both parties agree. Poor Shauny.

Just like Ashley Cole, whose now ruined public image started to suffer irrevocable damage with his now infamous outrage at being offered JUST £55,000-a-week by Arsenal, Wright-Phillips is in danger of suffering the same fate and becoming Public Enemy No.1.

Wright-Phillips may be an accomplished player, but he has not done enough at City to start demanding parity with the likes of Carlos Tevez and Emmanuel Adebayor, currently the club's highest-paid players on around £120,000-a-week.

Spoilt, greedy and out of touch, Wright-Phillips has laid himself open to all of those charges through his dad's revelation that £90,000-a-week is not enough for him.

As such, City should take a principled stance for the good of football and suspend all negotiations with Wright-Phillips with immediate effect. Somehow, sadly, I doubt they will.

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