Jonathan Walters — Crunching the Numbers
On 18th August 2010, Stoke City formally announced the signing of Jonathan Walters from Ipswich Town, for a fee of a mere £2.75m.
With additional ‘add-on’ clauses, the fee could rise to £3.25m — not a bad sum for the Tractor Boys, who had signed Walters themselves for just £100,000 from the now-defunct Chester City.
The deal to sign Walters wasn’t without controversy.
Having announced his desire to leave Portman Road, the then Ireland B international was dropped by manager Roy Keane, revoked his status as club captain and publicly announced he would never play for the team again whilst he was in charge.
It was some statement from the manager — and, ultimately, Keane got his wish.
Fighting for the signature of the player against QPR, Tony Pulis eventually got his man on a four year deal.
Fast forward nearly seven years, and Stoke face the prospect of losing Walters to fellow Premier League rivals Burnley for a price of £3m.
A good deal for Burnley? A good deal for Stoke? Or a better deal for both parties?
Firstly, the disclaimer.
The rumours and in-media suggestions are a fee of £3m. Local newspaper The Sentinel report it was actually a six-figure sum.
In reality, the deals usually include add-ons and ‘rising to’ clauses; there’s little chance that it will actually be a single, one-off fee of £3m. And, unlike other clubs, Stoke don’t tend to announce the actual sums in their press releases when announcing a signing or departure — so we may never actually know.
Now, the nitty gritty.
Since signing for the Potters, Walters has played an impressive 17,097 minutes of football — participating in 269 fixtures. He has scored a total of 62 goals and created a further 26.
In response to Russell (Twitter: @RussellDutton), I jokingly commented that Walters had earned Stoke 78 points as a result of his contributions. I then went and actually researched it (stats from StatBunker.com).
There have been some impressive performances.
The ‘perfect’ hat-trick against QPR — Stoke’s only hat-trick in the Premier League. His performance at Wembley against Bolton, in the FA Cup Semi-Final, will live long in the memory.
He has established himself on the international scene, too.
Having made 43 appearances for the Republic of Ireland, he has bagged 11 goals and has been selected as captain on a number of occasions, too.
When Pulis signed Walters, the Welshman proclaimed he had been looking at adding more goals to the squad. That seemed an odd statement, given he had only scored 28 goals for Ipswich over 129 fixtures — but the intent at the time was clear, especially having signed Kenwyne Jones the week previously.
The difference in thoughts between the two pre-signing, was marked. Jones was the “natural goalscorer”, gifted and talented and a fantastic coup for the club. Walters, meanwhile, was going to have to prove himself having not been on the top stage of English football for a decade, and having played around the lower levels of the league structure during that time.
In the famous white-and-red stripes, the truth came out.
In the 2010/11 Premier League season, Jones played in 33 games and scored nine goals. Walters, meanwhile, played in 27 games — scored six goals and assisted in two.
The following season, Walters played every (38) Premier League game. He scored seven goals, and assisted in five. Jones, meanwhile, lost his place to then-record signing Peter Crouch, having failed to live up to expectations in the previous season.
In 2014, approaching the end of his contract, Stoke cut their losses with Jones and swapped him with Cardiff’s Peter Odemwingie — having added just 20 appearances and four goals (plus three assists) to his first season tally.
Having spent nearly twice as long at the club as Jones, and having cost £5m less than the Trinidad and Tobago striker, it would be fair to say that Stoke fans and the Chairman have had value for money from the Irish player.
Things haven’t all been plain-sailing, though.
In the summer of 2015, Walters demanded a new and improved contract or a transfer request approval.
Making such a request is fine in private, and no doubt happens regularly. However, with the advent of social media, Walters publicly posted an image of him “knocking on the gaffer’s door”. This following the announcement of Raheem Sterling (who he had statistically outperformed the previous season) refusing a new multi-million pound deal from Liverpool.
It wasn’t the best move by Jon, who faced much criticism amongst the fanbase. He got his contract extension, though, in November 2015, extending his deal through to the summer of 2018.
Since then, and with an influx of foreign flair players, Walters has often been criticised for his performances.
As previous manager Pulis constantly reminded us, Jonathan “works hard”. Watching him for 90-minutes, it’s clear that he does that. He’s the backbone of the team that is on the pitch, and you’ll find him putting in 110% effort.
I’ve never once heard a fan criticise him for his lack of effort — only lack of ‘flair’.
But that was never his style. He plays to his strengths, he’s honest and not work-shy. He tracks back, tackles, makes the defender’s life uncomfortable, isn’t afraid to shoot and isn’t afraid to take-on his man.
That’s what we should be asking for from our players.
Under Mark Hughes, the team had begun to transform into something more akin to Barcelona. Pass-move-pass-move-pass. Playing out from the ‘sweeper-keeper’. Players like Bojan, Marc Muniesa, Giannelli Imbula, Xherdan Shaqiri and Marko Arnautovic all brought the Continental game to Stoke-on-Trent.
But, last season, when the going got tough — those players went missing, the identity of the team evaporated and it was Jonathan Walters, Ryan Shawcross, Glenn Whelan and Peter Crouch who stepped up.
It was the “old guard” that Mark Hughes turned to, to ultimately save his blushes and a potential relegation battle.
Jonathan brings something else to the team, too.
Character.
It is obvious that he has great camaraderie with his team-mates. Prior to leaving for Leicester City, defender Robert Huth and Walters would constantly be making jokes over Twitter. Their light-hearted approach to life and the fans was a refreshing change to see amongst Premier League players.
Whilst Peter Crouch has attempted to take up that mantle from Huth, it hasn’t quite been the same — but Walters continues, to this day.
If he’s like that on social media, what’s he like in the changing room in private?
Even on the pitch, he would go out-of-his-way to irritate and annoy his opposition all within the rules. The comments and joke behaviour at corners and free kicks, taking a drink out of a goalkeeper’s water bottle…
It’s the little things that keep the game alive.
You can replace a goalscorer. You can replace an ageing player. Money will buy you those things.
Money doesn’t buy you chemistry between players. It doesn’t buy you friendships or positive relationships.
And that’s what Stoke risk losing if they let Walters go without a positive replacement. What price do you put on that?
