Comments on: Table tennis coach Liu Guodong says salary offer is “insulting”

By: 1

Fri, 15 May 2009 23:45:21 +0000

Lee Beew Wah SCREWED UP BIG TIME

By: David Lim5

David Lim5 — Wed, 06 May 2009 06:14:35 +0000

I don’t care what is written and who is right or wrong.

If you want a MEDAL in the Olympics, pay what THE TEAM deserves.

If you don’t have the money, then, forget your MEDAL DREAMS.

Davidlim5

By: Johnny

Johnny — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 07:11:08 +0000

He is worth that money since he has lead the team to a medal which Singapore has been dreaming of.

By: les

les — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 07:16:41 +0000

Just a note, the $9000 a month salary he was asking for is in US dollars. I’ve made the changes to the story above.

By: les

les — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 07:15:38 +0000

You are quite right, Jonathan. A coach has every right to be paid what the market can bear. No question.

It would have been a lot more advisable for Liu to have kept his comments about the salary to himself regardless of how he felt. He doesn’t have to accept it, but calling it “insulting” isn’t necessary. If he had said that he got a better offer somewhere else, that’s fine. Everyone would accept that.

By: Jonathan Wong

Jonathan Wong — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 15:42:02 +0000

A top coach is worth the fee he asks for. After all, there are only 6 (men/women) medals to win in a sport. 9000 is CHEAP for a world class coach. SSC spends much more than that on equipment (high speed cameras, 3d motion stuff etc) that is 1/4 to 1/2 million dollars… I am 100% sure that the benefit of a top coach is more beneficial than any of these pieces of equipment. I’m all for paying the top guys what they are worth (within reason…) and 9000/month is well within reason. I recently went to a seminar by the world’s top strength and conditioning specialist. He charges $30,000USD per week. And he’s worth every penny.

By: -

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:01:41 +0000

I like this article. Well said about how we cant embrace those china born players. Anyway to put this on local newspapers?

By: dazz

dazz — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:51:50 +0000

Well all I can say about this issue is , you pay for what you get. Since the STTA refused to pay his price tag, well go look for another top coach who is willing to work for what they are offering.

By: blinking

blinking — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:53:24 +0000

has this been the case throughout Singapore, and not just in this context? take for example McDonalds, a firm that exists throughout the globe, how is it that locals working in the company is paid significantly lower than those in other nations?

the governments strict pragmatic policies perhaps? now that it has translated into a problem in Singapore, perhaps, it’s a policy that requires modification?

(sorry for being incoherent if i am, JC studying is no fun)

By: Dawn

Dawn — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:26:17 +0000

Jan, well-said. I know it’s not a comfortable subject, especially in a season like now when regular people are losing their life savings due to the excesses of the highly-paid. But if there is a market value that can be estimated, and the STTA pitched too low, then it’s not surprising he would feel insulted.

By: jan

jan — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:11:37 +0000

If the increase from USD4000 to USD5600 is adjusted after he took Singapore to the Commonwealth 2006 Gold, SEA Games 2007 Gold, World Championships silver, Olympic 2008 silver (and the only glitch over his past 2 years 8 months was the lack of an Asian Games medal) and has built a sustainable squad for the nation, then I’m not sure whether USD5600 per month is a reasonable or true reflection of the market value of Liu.

Even if it is only adjusted based on the Olympic Games, in the sporting world, if we consider the Olympic medal the highest sporting honour and a benchmark of excellence, then by bringing Singapore from 0 (no medal) to 100 (got medal), I don’t think a less than 50% pay increase is a good reflection of his current market value? I’m not sure whether questions of citizenship can be implicated because in most sports, it is the norm to have coaches crossing borders.

I guess after his achievements in Singapore, Liu is now considered the world #2 coach in this sport. And when the world #1 coach aka his brother is believed to be pricetagged at close to half a million US per annum (including endorsements and assets I believe, I read about it in Forbes) but Liu is now tagged only a small fraction of that (when their achievements are just but one medal colour difference), then I can understand the ‘insult’.

Even if Liu does not compare with his brother, he should know better that being a sports personnel in Singapore is incomparable to one in China, but looking next door at our neighbour across the causeway, an Olympic medal pay package has come along with a DATUKSHIP and life time pension of about RM 3K a month on top of the current monthly salary to reflect their worth. So I can understand why Liu felt insulted by how Singapore has deemed his worth/value in the sporting market.

By: nyp

nyp — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:30:47 +0000

Ungrateful

By: lego

lego — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:12:35 +0000

be realistic, want top talent, you need to pay premium price. dont think $9k for a top tier coach is a lot.

By: lego

lego — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:12:20 +0000

be realistic, this is a free market…want top talent, you need to pay premium price. dont think $9k for a top tier coach is a lot.

By: ct

ct — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:44:52 +0000

I feel that he is quite hypocritical in a sense. I believe he didn’t come to Singapore in the first place just to do a good job and receive his due ‘recognition’. Maybe he was just aiming to raise his stock here and look for greener pastures elsewhere. But I think that if it wasn’t for an attractive job offer by STTA, he wouldn’t even bother about Singapore.

By: les

les — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:21:12 +0000

I read a report that he’s getting USD 4,000 and he was offered USD1,600 more.

By: christy

christy — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:11:09 +0000

I don’t want to be mean but personally I am not surprised. After all, he is a man who left his own home country that he has grew up in for DECADES to go to a rival country and coach.

If he doesn’t even feel something for a country that he has grew up in, we shouldn’t be surprised that he doesn’t feel for Singapore (which he spent 2 years and 8 months in) either.

Its evident that he is here for the fame and money. And once we can no longer afford to provide him that, he leaves.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:06:43 +0000

Does anyone know what ballpark his salary was in up until now?

Putting aside questions of citizenship and the talent market (a tall order, I realise), if he was being paid say $10,000 before, and is now being offered $9000 non-negotiable, I think it’s not unreasonable that he should feel insulted….