MONEY! MONEY! MONEY!.........but at what price?

[yogi bear up the cagire]

An interesting polemic. In the first instance you have the impression that religious dogma is clouding a players professional duties..........then, when you read further, it's not quite as clear as that. As an ex-pat 'Wonga' doesn't mean that much to me but when you read about the company and how they make their money, I don't think I'd like to have them sponsoring my club. Doesn't seem to worry Mr Ashley, perhaps ethical and moral concerns don't come into his considerations? Wonga are apparently paying Newcastle £8 million for the deal......so that makes it OK then? The fat cats of the Premiership continue to gorge themselves whilst the rest of the football league clubs fight off starvation.......there certainly is a moral there.





Pa**** Cisse pulls out of Newcastle tour after sponsor row

By Ben Smith BBC Sport
Pa**** Cisse has pulled out of Newcastle's pre-season tour to Portugal after refusing to wear club sponsor Wonga's logo on religious grounds.
The Senegal striker, a Muslim, told club officials he was not prepared to promote the money-lending company.
But the 28-year-old did offer to wear an unbranded shirt or one bearing a charity logo instead.
It leaves Cisse's future in doubt, with sources describing the relationship between the parties as "strained".
The Newcastle forward and his representatives have been in talks with club officials and the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) in recent days but neither the club nor their shirt sponsor have been able to find a solution.
Pa**** Cisse factfile

• Age: 28
• Nationality: Senegalese
• Clubs: Douanes Dakar, Metz, Freiburg & Newcastle
• Newcastle goals: 26

Cisse's Newcastle team-mates Cheick Tiote and Moussa Sissoko are also Muslim, but have told the club they have no issue with wearing the sponsor's logo.
Cisse will continue to train on his own as he attempts to catch up on his fitness after returning later than the majority of the squad following international duty with Senegal.
Both camps are hopeful that a solution can be found, but it seems Cisse is not prepared to move on his position.
In October, high-interest pay-day lender Wonga was announced as the company to take over from Virgin Money as Newcastle's shirt sponsor from the 2013-14 season. It is thought the contract is worth around £8m a year to the club.
Speaking in June, PFA deputy chief executive Bobby Barnes told BBC Sport: "We're all aware that clubs need to generate revenue and sometimes have to use a wide range of companies.
"However, if someone feels very, very strongly that it's not compatible with their beliefs, then some sort of solution should be found."
Cisse joined the Magpies in January 2012 and has scored 26 times in all competitions.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Swear filter gone MAD!!!

 

[South Bank Hank]

Fair play Mr Cisse.

I'm a Capitalist but I wouldn't Pa**** on the Wonga CEO if he was on fire.

 

[Jam_Man]

Whilst I dont have a lot of respect for those companies and wouldnt want them as our sponsor* how is it any worse than having Santander or Barclays as a sponsor?

Seems a bit drastic to me.

*although for 8 million pounds Ill drop my principles rather quickly

 

[South Bank Hank]

Whilst I dont have a lot of respect for those companies and wouldnt want them as our sponsor* how is it any worse than having Santander or Barclays as a sponsor?

It's not. Unless of course you're asking if a 5853% APR is any worse than a 5% APR (although that shouldn't necessarily make a difference to PC's 'religious grounds' argument). If the government introduced a tax on the desperate and stupid, people would be up in arms about it but we seem to tolerate the likes of Wonga doing it. Hopefully not for much longer.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

It's not. Unless of course you're asking if a 5853% APR is any worse than a 5% APR (although that shouldn't necessarily make a difference to PC's 'religious grounds' argument). If the government introduced a tax on the desperate and stupid, people would be up in arms about it but we seem to tolerate the likes of Wonga doing it. Hopefully not for much longer.

Yet another example of your social liberalism.:thumbsup:

 

[Uncle Leo]

Cissé seemed ok wearing Virgin Money on his shirt last year though?

As Jam Man says, Wonga are a rotten bunch, but Virgin lend money too. He's clearly agitating for a move now he's realised that Newcastle United aren't actually very good.

 

[Jam_Man]

It's not. Unless of course you're asking if a 5853% APR is any worse than a 5% APR (although that shouldn't necessarily make a difference to PC's 'religious grounds' argument). If the government introduced a tax on the desperate and stupid, people would be up in arms about it but we seem to tolerate the likes of Wonga doing it. Hopefully not for much longer.

I dont think the high interest rate is wrong as its a short term loan, however as you say as its aimed at people who may be desperate then theres certainly something distasteful about the industry.

 

[chapperzUK]

Didn't Bolton turn down Wonga after there were protests and another club, can't remember who, said they turned down a Payday loan company.

It does make you realise how much money they make when they only loan out a couple of hundred quid, yet it is enough to pay professional sport teams multi-million pounds each.

Personally, I wouldn't want to see it on a Southend shirt and I doubt any of the players would like the irony of it either ...

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

It's not. Unless of course you're asking if a 5853% APR is any worse than a 5% APR (although that shouldn't necessarily make a difference to PC's 'religious grounds' argument). If the government introduced a tax on the desperate and stupid, people would be up in arms about it but we seem to tolerate the likes of Wonga doing it. Hopefully not for much longer.

Why are you measuring them by APR?

They aren't annual loans.

ps No-one complains about the lottery.

 

[Pubey]

Cissé seemed ok wearing Virgin Money on his shirt last year though?

Only because he had 72 of them.

 

[South Bank Hank]

Why are you measuring them by APR?

They aren't annual loans.

ps No-one complains about the lottery.

If only they were annual. Worst case is that they might be longer than annual if the dim-witted people who sign up to them then find they can't meet the payments one month. I have little sympathy for the stupidity but even less for the chronic exploitation of it.

 

[EastStandBlue]

Whilst I dont have a lot of respect for those companies and wouldnt want them as our sponsor* how is it any worse than having Santander or Barclays as a sponsor?

Seems a bit drastic to me.

*although for 8 million pounds Ill drop my principles rather quickly

Someone pointed out on Twitter yesterday that there's a distinct difference in Islam between usury and interest, and it's to do with how ethical it is. Virgin do lend money, but they're considerably more ethical than Wonga.

 

[Cricko]

If only they were annual. Worst case is that they might be longer than annual if the dim-witted people who sign up to them then find they can't meet the payments one month. I have little sympathy for the stupidity but even less for the chronic exploitation of it.

Oh but for the grace of God go I, It's funny what people have to do when they are skint and desperate don't you think?

 

[South Bank Hank]

Oh but for the grace of God go I, It's funny what people have to do when they are skint and desperate don't you think?

Fair comments John. Actually, I can see how offensive what I've written there is and I apologise for it. I do believe that there are plenty who do get into trouble with these things for the wrong reasons but it's fair to say I got carried away there with my ire at the ruthless exploitation of these businesses.

What I've not said is how dim-witted I've also considered myself when I've run up credit card bills previously. The truth is the idea of a payday loan is fine, if only there were some regulations around the interest rates and the lenders.

 

[Firestorm]

Someone pointed out on Twitter yesterday that there's a distinct difference in Islam between usury and interest, and it's to do with how ethical it is. Virgin do lend money, but they're considerably more ethical than Wonga.

For years insurance was not allowed under Sharia as it was felt to be profiting from others losses however this has changed over the past 15 years or so with the development of Takaful companies. I think their banking sector has developed ethically too

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_banking

 

[EastStandBlue]

For years insurance was not allowed under Sharia as it was felt to be profiting from others losses however this has changed over the past 15 years or so with the development of Takaful companies. I think their banking sector has developed ethically too

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_banking

Aye, I was merely repeating what Simon Bird (he of Joe Kinnear fame) retweeted the other day when he posed the Virgin Money debate. With Tiote and Sissoko seemingly having little problem with donning the kit, I assume it's simply down to individual beliefs. Still, I wouldn't say it's simply down to Cisse trying to engineer a move, I think there's a few question marks over his performances last season (13 goals in 14 in his first half-year, just 8 goals in 36 games last season) and I don't think many clubs would plonk down as much money as Mad Mike Ashley would to keep him around.