Raheem Stirling - Seperate Issue

[10ClarionSt]

The outrage from Raheem Stirling about the alleged racist abuse is one thing, but there is another issue, in my opinion, that comes out of his article yesterday when he mentioned two young players buying houses. It's nothing to do with race or racism. It's the fact that young players like those, have huge amounts of money available when they haven't done anything. It's a money issue for me. And what has happened over the last 15 years in football, shows that the fans are now conditioned to this talk of large sums of money. They just accept it. When the rest of the country has supposedly been going through years of austerity, football lives in it's own bubble and has conned the fans into parting with their hard earned money, when there is no need. In the summer, a player was transferred from one premier league club to another for the "bargain" price of £12M! That was the description in the media. A "bargain". The money factor is obscene and the scale of it is obscene. The huge sums of money just become accepted as normal. No player is worth £1m in my opinion. An enormous amount of money. Football should stop taking the mick out of people and give them free admission. It'll "only" cost a couple of million.

[dannyk13]

You can blame JimmJimmy Hill was the Chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA). He led the campaign for the scrapping of maximum fees for professional footballers. At the time, footballers' salaries were capped at £20 a week.y Hill for this:-

[Zacs-Master]

You have a very innocent view of the world, 10.

[woofgang]

Its a business. Like any other business it charges what the market will bear. Personally I have no interest in football and wouldn't even pay a penny of someone else's money to see a game or buy merch but its no different from the price of seeing a movie or going to a live concert.

[bhg481]

Would the likes of Paul Gascoine and George Best gone the way they did without the "silly" wages they were paid? (I nearly said "earned" then).

[ichkeria]

Why should professional players have their pay capped? No other profession does (not even banking!)
The amount of money at the top end of football is eye watering and if someone could come up with a fair and sensible way of evening it out a bit then I’d be all in favour. Free admission for fans would not be one of those solutions. Most clubs rely on admission fees: only a select few could make an occasional gesture like that.

[dannyk13]

Ich, There are some people who think capped wages would be a good idea:-
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2009/apr/23/football-fans-salary-cap

[bhg481]

ich - I agree that there is no simple way to limit the pay of footballers but fans could help by refusing to pay silly prices for strip, avoiding altogether buying "away" strip etc. I did my bit by stopping watching football; I don't suppose anybody noticed but, if lots of people did it, they might twig that interest in football was fading and then it would attract less advertising/TV money etc.

[Guilbert53]

>>You can blame Jimmy Hill

Ridiculous statement, the maximum wage would have been removed at some point or other without Jimmy Hill.

It is like "blaming" the early trade unions for getting pay rises for their members.

While I am no fan of these huge transfer fees and wages you have to remember that the top footballers are watched by millions all over the world.

I remember a match a couple of years ago - Man Utd v Arsenal I think it was - where it was estimated the worldwide TV audience was 1 billion.

If anyone provides entertainment for 1 billion people then they deserves payment for it.

After all if Tom Cruise makes a film he expects to earn 20 million pounds (or what ever he gets) as he knows the film will be seen by millions all over the world.

It was announced that the lady owner of Bet365 earned 250 MILLION pounds last year, much of it I am sure on the back of football betting.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/nov/21/bet365-denise-coates-paid-herself-an-obscene-265m-in-2017

Why should SHE earn so much, and the footballers who most people bet on earn (and provide Bet365's profit) earn very little.

NFL players in the USA earn millions, as do US baseball players, and US Basketball players.

The age of worldwide TV has allowed sport to be shown all over the world and generate huge viewing figures and huge profits (for lots of people) so why should the players not share it.

(Note as a football fan I am not a fan of the huge salaries or the huge transfer fees but we have to accept football is one of the most popular sports in the world so it comes with the territory)

[dannyk13]

Guilbert //Ridiculous statement,//
Ridiculous post.

[ToraToraTora]

2 words 10CS, "market forces", end of.

[ichkeria]

Guilbert im afraid is absolutely right.
I agree that fans are ripped off but sadly as long as there are enough people willing to pay then any talk of a boycott is doomed to fail. It’s a multi billion pound business - at the top end: there’s a whole world of football beyond and below. Mind you even in the Irish League which I follow high finance has kicked in with the multi millionaire owner of Purple Bricks having bought his hometown’s team.

[Ken4155]

A few seasons back, Burnley had just been promoted to the Prem. We were hosting Man Utd and they were introducing their new signing, Angel Di Maria, who was making his debut. The commentator informed viewers that United had bought him for almost £60m - the highest fee ever paid by a British club at the time. And more than Burnley had spent in their entire 100 year plus history. Obviously these supposedly world class players are lured to the big city clubs because of the massive wages they can afford to pay. Which is why they win the trophies, sell more merchandise and make much more money. And the player's agents wouldn't be doing their jobs if they didn't get the best deals for their clients, irrespective of age or experience. It is a cycle which shows no sign of stopping

[EDDIE51]

Top rated players ,young or not so young, earn HUGE amounts of money for their clubs. People pay to come and see them. Without them the clubs would get smaller crowds and so less income. It's all about the clubs income and therefore the dividend to their shareholders.
It is a proven fact that when an 'expensive' new player comes out on the pitch , the number of paying spectators (and so the match income) increases dramatically.

[cassa333]

I didn’t see the article you are talk8ng about and tbh the comments give me no indication, other than players pay what it was about.

Do you have a link?

[ichkeria]

I suppose Danny what I really meant was that the maximum wage was an iniquitous thing that was quite rightly abolished.
Capping monster wages tho would not work: it would be easy to get around and souls probably lead to all sorts of dubious under the counter arrangements to get round it.
Interesting mention of George Best: not sure it was money that was his undoing and it certainly wasn’t excessive drinking in his playing days. A lot of it was just his personality (and looks :-) )

[Spicerack]

It was the Bosman ruling that transformed footballer's wages. (amongst other things)

[ludwig]

I've heard it said that the Premier league clubs could play to empty stadiums every week without any significant dent to their finances, such is the amount of money coming in from TV and merchandise.

That being the case, you have to wonder why ticket prices are such a rip-off.

I'm glad I'm not interested in football.

[Ken4155]

That, Ludwig, probably applies to just a few of the bigger clubs in the PL.

[hereIam]

Absolutely agree with you 10C, the money footballers are paid is obscene just for kicking a ball around a field and a lot of them are as thick as pig **** and couldn't do anything else anyway. Most boring game in the world as well !

[10ClarionSt]

Thanks for the replies. Interesting. Market forces was mentioned by TTT. Value for money. Millions watching. Merchandise sales etc. etc. All of that is taking place against the background of many clubs losing money in the lower divisions. Without the sugar daddies and TV deals of the last 15 years, hardly any club in this country would be making money. I don't believe they give value for money. Not in the slightest. I would guess that Tom Cruise puts lots more effort into making a film than just 3 hours per week.
I think the nature of the replies to this OP prove exactly what I said: that people have become conditioned to the large sums of money that are slushing around in football. Those sums are incomprehensible to the likes of us, the great unwashed.
However, I believe that something will come along and burst the massively inflated bubble of football; something that will scandalise it for years and have the sugar daddies scattering off to Formula 1, NFL, Golf or maybe even Tennis. And no TV/Cable company will be willing to pay billions for coverage. When that happens, very few clubs in the premier league will be able to stay in profit, let alone the lower leagues. And everyone will be wondering where it all went wrong.