Ardley and Watford seek cash boost

Rarely has the phrase "performance-related pay" been more apt. For the players – and staff – at Watford, tomorrow's FA Cup tie against Burnley may be the difference between receiving their wages in full, for only the second time in seven months, or not.

Ray Lewington, the manager, said yesterday that he hoped the money from the cup run would help strengthen his "unbalanced" squad – with 18 players out of contract this summer. But, in the same breath, he added that "morally" he wanted the cash to go to those already there who, to prevent the club sliding into administration, agreed to take the 12 per cent pay cut.

One player he was able to bring in – after, surprisingly, being released by Wimbledon – was Neal Ardley, 30, and he is now the only ever-present. It has been a mutual therapy with both parties victims of the financial transformation afflicting football. Ardley, the player, and Watford, the club, epitomise the situation.

He takes up the story: "I had signed a new three-year deal but Wimbledon had an option of getting out after a year – which they took. The time they had to let me know was round about the time of the collapse of ITV Digital. It could not have been worse.

"There was myself and Kenny Cunningham who had been there a long time and were Premiership wage earners and they decided that there were two players who had to go." So after 13 years Ardley was released by the club he had joined the year after their FA Cup triumph. Luckily, a call came from Lewington and his assistant, Terry Burton, a former Wimbledon manager. "They explained to me the difficulties Watford were in but I don't think they knew quite how bad it was," Ardley explained.

He was put on a non-contract, week-to-week deal. Finally, in January, he secured a deal to the end of next season. However, soon after he joined, the players were presented with the "bombshell" of a pay cut. But they felt they had no option and everyone – from office staff to groundsmen – agreed. "We did the right thing," admits Ardley. "This season has proved that. The unity within the team, the whole club, is fantastic." Such unity was a commodity traded on at Wimbledon. Indeed it is just six years since Ardley featured in an FA Cup semi-final against the eventual winners, Chelsea.

"Before we played it I went to Robbie Earle, he was the experienced man, because I was conscious of freezing and not performing on the day," Ardley recalls. "I told him my fears and he gave me some advice and said make it happen from the first whistle. I got booked after about 20 seconds for a late tackle." At Watford only the captain, Neil Cox, has gone further in the cup. "I want to have some sort of success. It might be through this, promotion next season, or whatever. That is all I worry about," says Ardley.

Wimbledon was always a hard place – "Old school, straight in your face. As an experienced player now I go the other way because I know how that can affect you" – but it became more difficult, Ardley says, after manager Joe Kinnear had a heart attack.

Egil Olsen, who arrived from Norway, was a disaster. Ardley explained: "He was good at international level but I do not think he knew how to handle players on a day-to-day basis. Things started to slide and relegation followed. It took something like that for me to realise how well Joe and Terry Burton had done."

"We were in semi-finals, we were sixth in the league and you look back and think blimey what a great job." Around £30m of talent was sold although Ardley, once touted as a future England international, stayed and probably stayed too long. He now says it is "sad" what has happened and admires the actions of AFC Wimbledon.

Maybe it is only now he can say he probably took life in the Premiership for granted. "I just got on with it and loved it. Then you go down a division and think – hold on, we've got Gillingham away. Sometimes," he adds ruefully, "your destiny is not in your hands." But both he, and his new club, are remedying that.