Arsenal legend Tony Adams on his shock at ‘disrespectful’ final contract offer he received at the club
England defender says he doesn't believe that the offer was in keeping with the club's traditions towards employees
AFTER the second Old Trafford approach, I met with club secretary Ken Friar and Danny Fiszman, one of the club directors of the old school.
They offered me a contract that more than tripled my wages, from £300,000 a year to £1 million, and it convinced me that Arsenal were going to be ambitious and competitive.
It was completely different to what would prove my final year at Arsenal.
At that point, the club were putting all their older professionals on one-year deals.
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I went to David Dein’s house in Hertfordshire to talk to him and Arsene about a new contract and was offered a basic sum and then a sum for each game played.
What I really wanted was a one-year deal with a guaranteed salary. I was shocked. In fact, I felt embarrassed for the club.
Arsenal were not paying what Chelsea were at that time, as shown when Ashley Cole moved there, but what I was being offered was around half of what I was getting ten years earlier.
I know I would reach 35 during the following season, but I thought I had done enough for the club over the years to warrant a salary rather than what I saw as a disrespectful appearance-based contract.
Because I would play only 13 games in my last season, I suppose Arsenal would say they were justified in paying me game by game.
I just felt it was cheap, and not really in keeping with the club’s tradition of fairness to its employees.
- SOBER: Football. My Story. My Life, published by Simon & Schuster, is out on June 1.
TOMORROW: Tony Adams on the day he called Jermain Defoe a f***ing disgrace
