After a Season, Tampines Rovers Could No Longer Afford $20k-per-month Jermaine Pennant

In January this year, everyone was rooting for Jermaine Pennant to join Tampines Rovers. People then believed that his entry into S-league would bring the domestic league to a whole new level.

He was believed to be paid for up to $60,000 a month, with the football club’s sponsors supporting the high wages. And just for the record, his last-drawn pay was well over $200,000 a month from Wigan Athletic.

Fast-forward nine months later, and everything went the other direction: there were reports that Tampines Rovers players will suffer a pay cut, and there were rumours that the club only planned to keep players who were willing to accept a monthly salary of $2,500 a month.

According to those reports, national players are usually paid between $4,000 to $10,000.

And of course, then there’s Jermaine Pennant, whereby these new reports seem to allege that he is paid $20,000 a month. Not as much as previous reports, but still way above average.

The reason for the pay cut? Budget—which, to be honest, is every organization’s greatest problem.

And today, it is confirmed that Jermaine Pennant will not be staying. According to a Channel NewsAsia report,  Jermaine Pennant mentioned that he was not offered a new contract nor a new figure. The club, however, told the news outlet that they did offer a new contract but it was not as high as this season’s contract.

Jermaine Pennant also said that he would not be the only player leaving, and that “quite a number of players” are leaving, too, presumably due to the pay cut exercise.

He told The Straits Times that even bringing Messi here wouldn’t grow the league due to these factors: poor attendances, lack of public interest and limited sponsorships.

Weird that all these weren’t taken into consideration nine months ago, eh?

But now, with S-league losing its key player a player who once played for Arsenal and Liverpool, let’s all go back to watching swimming matches.

Featured Image: ESPN FC

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com

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