I just don't understand (footie related)....

[prr]

BrenD you are correct in what you say, however what is truly offensive is that a football player will earn in one week what the average working person does in TEN years. Or putanother way it will take a footballer a month to earn what the average working person will earn in their whole working life. Not the footballers fault I agree but obscene all the same.

[wibble]

I'm gonna go buy me some footie boots and apply for a job !!! 90 minutes work for god knows how much money ... I am seriously in the wrong job here !!

[prr]

wibble ifI was playing Rugby (union) in the professional era I wouldearn about 35 grand a year. Translate that to a similar level of football and I would probably earn about 2.5 grand a week.

[wibble]

Sept 2, 2014 17:07:01 GMT prr said:

wibble ifI was playing Rugby (union) in the professional era I wouldearn about 35 grand a year. Translate that to a similar level of football and I would probably earn about 2.5 grand a week.

yes but in rugby you can get hurt and you have to carry on !!! In football you just fall over and they come with a magic sponge and carry you off on a stretcher !! That sounds more like a game for me. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm .. do you still get paid in full if you dive (sorry !!! fall over fatally injured) after 2 minutes ?? I feel a career change on the cards 

[prr]

I like your thinking! go for it girl!

[Raffles]

Just to chuck a hand grenade in to this...

The Prime Minister (regardless of what we think of him, or his successor, so don't let us go there) is the person who can take us to war and influences all our lives gets £142,500 pa... or £2740 per week (yes, I know they'll do OK later with their memoirs and board positions etc.). If he makes a serious mistake we are all in trouble.

We're now talking of footballers on £300k+ per week... if they make a mistake it was 'I'm afraid I wasn't up for it today, we're all human, we all have off days'.

Regarding a post earlier that said they should have their 'cut', I'm sorry I totally disagree... they are employed to do a job and if they don't perform then they should be treated like the rest of us. The ridiculous money that is generated should be diverted to lowering admission prices and the rip off prices for a bit of cloth with a 'name' on it or a 'boot' with a 'must have' logo drive me insane. Yes, I have grandkids who want them, what a lesson we are giving them.

Sorry for the rant, but on a more serious note, I can understand the resentment across the world about the corruption amongst leaders and businesses, the total unfairness... (sorry, another topic so I'll stop there!)

[wibble]

If I fail at football ...... I could always become PM ??????

[wibble]

It's still more than I earn now !!!

[cHooBeyDoo]

Well over £800,000,000 spent in this transfer window  

[Bluefish]

Pay em more I say, put ticket prices up and sky sports subscriptions up, maybe we can price it out of existence

[Jerri]

I always wonder this myself. Not just about footballers but movie stars etc. the work they do is so completely disproportionate to the wages they get.

Then you get people on jobs working day in day out making a real difference to people's lives. Nurses. Fire fighters. Teachers etc who have to fight for a 1% increase in wages when some overgrown bratts kick a ball around for a while and dive every time they feel a breeze get paid more in a week then I have my entire life.

But, sadly that's the way of the world. Football is massive business. It creates billions in revenue and yes I understand they're paid that well because it's supply and demand. They provide the skills their team needs to win (or not win) so can demand whatever they like. And who in their position would say 'no thanks. I'll take minimum wage'. That and their career is limited so they have to make enough to set themselves up for life (which they do very easily it seems).

But it is one of the things that always makes me feel sad. We live in a world where you worth is wholly dependant on money. How much of it you have. How much of it you're worth. How much of it people can make from you. And how much of it you're prepared to spend.

If you're wealthy, no matter how you came to that wealth then you're better thought if and better treated than someone may work day in day out but struggle to make ends meet.

Sorry. Bit of a rant there.

[BrenD]

If footballers underperform for long enough they get sold or released and often find themselves at smaller clubs on lower wages or unemployed in the case of lower/non-league clubs.

I don't for one second believe they are worth what they get paid, but I stand by what I said about preferring it to what would happen otherwise.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using proboards

[wibble]

give me this job anyday !! www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1403040613303215&fref=nf

[gill2009]

 I just think of all the wards in hospitals that could be re-opened 

[ionian]

It is obscene when looked at in a vacuum, no doubt. 350k a week is 18m a year. However, that's one player, renowned as the best striker in the world. It's about the same as the top Hollywood movie stars make.

There are 20 clubs in the premier league - each with (let's say) 25 senior players, each earning (again, a guestimate) around 35k a week. That's 1.8m a year each - fantastic money by layman standards, but we're talking about the top 500 footballers in the country, if not the world. Put that up against the top 500 banker salaries, or top 500 business salaries, and it starts to look a little more in keeping with the market price for elite professionals at their craft. Footballers in lower leagues will earn significantly less, although still on a par with the best doctors or similar I would guess.

The career of a footballer is short; they try to earn enough money to live well for their entire lives in the 15 years they get at the top of their game.

Take those 500 people earning silly money and work out how many people in the UK are playing professional or semi-pro football. 4 professional leagues, at least three more non-league semi pro leagues, and a bunch of feeder leagues below that with the odd pro. All told, around 4000 - 5000 people, in a workforce in the UK of 29.68m. A drop in the ocean.

We live in a free market society, and the market has valued a footballer's wage at these figures. They are by no means the only people in our society earning ridiculous sums for their work, but without wishing to get all Guardianista it highlights the inequities between the few and the many. If you think this is important and unfair, think carefully about where you put your cross on the ballot paper in 2015.

On a lighter (and more selfish) note, if only I could get Sky to televise university administration, I might start getting more money