[Archived] £115,000 A Week 'not Enough'

[blue phil]

Have you all not been watching the premiership and champions league over the past few years? No doubt you will respond by simply looking at his performances for England, which I suppose is fair, but on that basis you could argue that there are no very good English players around at the moment.

True . Until these pansies start to perform at international level I don't regard any of them as being worthy of the obscene wages they "earn" . Roll on the Euro league and get rid of the lot of them I say

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

Prepare for the £200,000-a-week footballers...

Financial consultants Deloitte predict that the new £2.7bn TV football rights package will create £10m-a-year footballers by 2010. Deloitte believe that in just three years time, £200,000-a-week wages will become a reality in the Premiership.

Next season Premiership footballers will be paid £1billion in wages. Dan Jones, a partner in Deloitte's sports business group, said: "We expect wages to go up pretty significantly over the next couple of years because there is so much more money coming in as a result of of the new TV deal."

Deloitte believe that more takeovers will follow the likes of Malcolm Glazer, Randy Lerner, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, partly thanks to the massive new TV deal.

There's a very unhealthy gap now between the rich Premiership clubs and the rest, with a huge gap between the top flight and the second tier. If West Brom had beaten Derby in the play-off final on Monday, then it would have been the exact same three clubs (Sunderland, Birmingham and the Baggies) who went down the previous season coming back up again - indicating that the Premiership is starting to become a semi-closed shop.

As Barnet chairman Tony Kleanthous warned recently: "The Premiership has become a monster, seeking to consume everything in it's path by wielding a huge wallet which divides its clubs from the rest of football."

The news that Rovers are cutting season ticket prices is very welcome, but unfortunately a number of other clubs won't be using their extra TV income to reduce prices for the fans. Instead the agents of the greedy barstewards on the pitch will persist in demanding increased wages. And as Deloitte predict, that is likely to result in £200,000-a-week footballers in a few years time.

I've been in love with the game of football since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. But in recent years the love I've got for the game has become tainted. Premiership football has sadly become a sickening orgy of greed.

[den]

Prepare for the £200,000-a-week footballers...

I've been in love with the game of football since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. But in recent years the love I've got for the game has become tainted. Premiership football has sadly become a sickening orgy of greed.

Undeniable AESF, absolutely right.

[Billy Castell]

And no doubt the agents of John Terry, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and Chris Ronaldo will be say they 'deserve' that sort of wage next season. It seems that players of that reputation and standard demand a bigger new contract every 1 or 2 seasons. You never see Rooney have 18 months on a contract and sign another 4 year contract. They always sign the 4 year contract when they have 2 or more years left on the current deal.

I really hope the next TV deal will be a fraction of the new one, thus causing a crash in the finances of many clubs. Harsh, but there does need to be a reality check for the game.

[Shevchenko]

We need a wage cap...

[ABBEY]

ive got a broncos cap..200k a week wow....scary

[RevidgeBlue]

I really hope the next TV deal will be a fraction of the new one, thus causing a crash in the finances of many clubs. Harsh, but there does need to be a reality check for the game.

I don't, post Jack the TV money is the only thing allowing us to successfully compete at our current level.

The better the TV money the better our relative position both in relation to non Premier League clubs across the globe and the less important is our shortfall in income from gate receipts and merchandising etc.

[tcj_jones]

And no doubt the agents of John Terry, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and Chris Ronaldo will be say they 'deserve' that sort of wage next season. It seems that players of that reputation and standard demand a bigger new contract every 1 or 2 seasons. You never see Rooney have 18 months on a contract and sign another 4 year contract. They always sign the 4 year contract when they have 2 or more years left on the current deal.

Isn't it usually the case that the club is desperate to tie players down a few years before their contract ends because of the risk of them leaving on a bosman, or for a deflated price in light of the ruling? Perhaps with the very top players it is because they are demanding improved contracts, but I swear the majority of the time it is the clubs decision to start procedings.

Also, withdrawing TV rights would hit the likes of us even harder than the top teams.

[RovertheHill]

Interesting table in the NOTW today. 23 Rovers players apparently contributed to that "days pay for nurses" campaign. Not one Chelsea player did. It's a miracle Frank and John aren't on the breadline with the pittance they have been offered

[Billy Castell]

The programme following the nurse who started that campaign is on Channel 4 soon.

[Fife Rover]

The programme following the nurse who started that campaign is on Channel 4 soon.

I just hope they publicise exactly who contributed and who did not!

[OJRovers]

I just hope they publicise exactly who contributed and who did not!

It does seem a bit tight of the Chelsea players, although you don't know if they contribute to other charity fund raising, they might get pleas like this all the time.

[philipl]

Lucash Neill deal blamed as the start of the new slippery slope.

If there is half a commercial brain cell at the Sheff U arbitration, they will get West Ham out of the Premiership.

[OscarRaven]

Old topic I know but surley now someone has to do some serious thinking about a wage cap. Although I'm sure EU law will prevent it.

[Fife Rover]

Old topic I know but surley now someone has to do some serious thinking about a wage cap. Although I'm sure EU law will prevent it.

The remedy is ultimately in the hands of the football supporters. As long as there are enough people willing to pay the asking price either at the turnstiles, the corporate suites, or simply on the TV, then this situation will continue or worsen. It will only improve when enough people get sufficiently P****d off with the whole exploitation that football has become, and either individually or collectively cry "ENOUGH!, I am out of this rat-race" and go away to do something else with their time and money. That day may never come, or it may be just around the corner. It is for each one of us to make our own choice.

I am just glad that I have already had over 60 years of supporting, and for the vast majority of that time enjoying the game, and until the the last 5 years or so feeling satisfied that I was getting good value for my money. Alas, I can no longer feel that; not because of price increases at the gate, but more because of the feeling that I am being taken for a complete mug by players and their agents on the one hand, and the bad smell of corruption fuelled by big money on the other.

[thenodrog]

I am just glad that I have already had over 60 years of supporting, and for the vast majority of that time enjoying the game, and until the the last 5 years or so feeling satisfied that I was getting good value for my money.

Even in nthe early / mid 60's when Fred and Keith went to Everton and Mike to Spurs Fife? That was the beginning of it all ..... with Bosman the beginning of the end!

[tcj_jones]

With Rovers ticket prices as cheap as they are currently, and on the back of two great seasons, I say we are definitely getting value for money.

Don't get me wrong, football has been transformed completely in a very short space of time, and it is very worrying for the future of the game, but I'd say Rovers fans are some of the most fortunate in England.

[stuwilky]

Old topic I know but surley now someone has to do some serious thinking about a wage cap. Although I'm sure EU law will prevent it.

How sure are you?

*thinks about Rugby League*

[RovertheHill]

Apparently John Terry has sold his wedding photos for a small fortune AND asked guests for Harrods vouchers as a present!

[thenodrog]

Apparently John Terry has sold his wedding photos for a small fortune

Not to me for sure. Who but a complete dolloper cares about what he does in his personal life OFF the pitch?

[RovertheHill]

I'm not sure what a dolloper is but I must be one Is it a phrase they used in the 40's then?

Maybe I shouldn't but I do find it distasteful that the captain of England, a player who is lauded throughout the land for his honesty and toil, finds £115k a week not enough and still needs to sell his wedding photos. And frankly, the public has nobody to blame but themselves because soembody out there buys these stupid magazines. And by the way, it ceases to become a personal life when you hawk it around for the biggest buck

[blue phil]

Not to me for sure. Who but a complete dolloper cares about what he does in his personal life OFF the pitch?

A bit surprised to see Hughes at Terry's wedding .....hope it carries on raining personally anyway .

[Fife Rover]

Even in nthe early / mid 60's when Fred and Keith went to Everton and Mike to Spurs Fife? That was the beginning of it all ..... with Bosman the beginning of the end!

I certainly started down the very long road to where I stand now in the early 60's with the abolition of the max wage and the inevitable emergence for the first time ever of the "big club" phenomena. However being a true Roverite I have stuck with it (rough with the smooth) all along until as I said before about the last 5 years or so which have for me amounted to the proverbial "straw which broke the camel's back" That's it really! I now prefer to watch the Cowdenbeath's and East Fife's of this world. Remind's me a lot of the good old days. I don't care about the skill gap. I just appreciate the lads trying their very best at ALL times and getting paid a pittance for it. Also the atmosphere amongst the "crowd" (200 to 500 typical) and standing there in all weathers freezing my naughty bits off, but enjoying every minute of it. To say nothing of the after-match banter and a couple of pints in the club bar afterwards. Fantastic!

[stuwilky]

I think Im turning into Fife Rover.... and Im 28!

[daren]

Watch the Irish Hurling Championsip (particularly the Munster championship, but I'm biased) if you want to see skill, pace, power, commitment (and more than a fair share of tough tackling) all for players who really do get a pittance. As for football - I Blame Roman. Until he came along, wages had dipped for the first time in a while in England and the whole transfer thing had gone a little less looney. Then, BAM, he comes along and starts the money race again. I've no objection to players earning a decent wage, and for most of them to be more-or-less independently wealthy at the end of it, but seriously - £115,000 per week. That's just under £6,000,000 per year. Crazy money.

As the devils advocate (and in the same post, no less), check up the statistics on the average length of a professional athlete (like soccer players) life compared to the rest of us. What price a few extra years on the planet?