'Reflect his ability' contract demands so unrealistic

[Cid]

I know this must have come up plenty but it's so maddening I have to have a go: players constantly coming to me with stupid demands that surely, surely don't reflect the real world.

I have a 20-year-old Mexican at my Premier League club. He has three and a half years left on his deal which, admittedly, he signed 18 months ago. He's on 94k a week though, roughly halfway up the table of wages at the club.

I'd just pay the bloke, but he's on a 6.71 average for the season, at Christmas, and playing like a donkey. On what sane grounds would he now come sniffing for a new deal, with 3.5 years to go? I respond with 'you have plenty of time left' because the 'but you're useless mate' options literally never work, and he starts whining about how good he is, then the rest of the team come moaning and the whole thing goes to ****. He's even in 'Other players' with no influence whatsoever, and hardly any mates.

If FM prides itself on at least a degree of realism, what the hell is this? The options are (a) pay him loads more, even if he's pony, or (b) p!ss the entire team off. It's nonsense. If I pay you to reflect your ability you'll be moaning to HMRC son, not your team-mates.

[XaW]

Don't give in to contract demands if you think they are too high. I'm refusing unless I think the demand is reasonable and if they get annoyed then I tell them to stuff it. And 99% of the time that works fine. If a player really moans on, then I sell him.

I have no proof, other than my own anecdotal evidence, but it seems to me that if you accept contract demands, them more and more throws themselves on the same wave and want more. So my advise is to not give in to demands, tell them to stuff it and when they have accepted that, THEN give them a new contract if you want. That seems to work for me, at least.

[zindrinho]

48 minutes ago, XaW said:

I have no proof, other than my own anecdotal evidence, but it seems to me that if you accept contract demands, them more and more throws themselves on the same wave and want more.

This, absolutely.

Same thing happens if you buy a star player and make him the best paid player in the club (because he obviously is the best player by far), all the others will come crawling through the woodworks wanting more money.

I started giving new contracts to people who was having pre-concerns about joining a bigger club, I seemed to have been able to stop the whining by simply starting to say no. They come around after a while and stop being upset if you just keep on playing them as normal, even the ones agreeing with the complainer becomes happy then too.

[XaW]

19 minutes ago, zindrinho said:

This, absolutely.

Same thing happens if you buy a star player and make him the best paid player in the club (because he obviously is the best player by far), all the others will come crawling through the woodworks wanting more money.

I started giving new contracts to people who was having pre-concerns about joining a bigger club, I seemed to have been able to stop the whining by simply starting to say no. They come around after a while and stop being upset if you just keep on playing them as normal, even the ones agreeing with the complainer becomes happy then too.

Yeah, I'm shutting down players who thinks they are too big quite fast and I've obviously gotten a reputation since it rarely happens anymore...

[Cid]

OK, I'll try it, cheers gents. 

[Norfair]

Agree with all above. Also, fringe players all of a sudden thinking they're good enough to be a star player. Usually you can talk them out of it, but sometimes they won't budge even if they've done nothing for the club. I mean I get if they want to play more, but jumping from fringe/squad to star player is just not gonna happen. Players are utterly unrealistic with their demands and it all simply comes down to lazy coding imo.