Does Wenger deserve some credit here? Suddenly Sanchez with Giroud as an option and Perez/Wellbeck as backup looks like a decent Strikeforce. Everyone was convinced we needed to sign a top centreforward (myself included) but at the moment we are looking good on the goals front plus we have two very different striking options.
I wasn't convinced when Wenger started playing Sanchez as a CF, but he's proved the doubters wrong. Wengers made some comments about him being like our 'Suarez' and that is just what he is looking like at the moment.
The Sanchez CF experiment seems to be going well and having Giroud as an alternative backup and style of play is a good ploy by Wenger. It allows more varieties in attack up front and give us more options of breaking down different types of defences. But i don't like this "give'm anything they want" talk. What has happened to football where players get paid huge amounts and still need an ever larger pay rise. How has 100k a week become inadequate? It's a frigging fortunate. It's vulgar hearing players getting pay rises to 200k-300k. We truly live in a crazy world.
Its because other clubs are offering it mate. Barca, Real, the MLS clubs, the Chinese league, all offer stupid wages now. Apparently Sanchez has been offered 400k a week to play at some ****ing Chinese club!! It's beyond a joke, and the only people losing out are the fans, as merchandise and ticket prices go up at ridiculous rates.
That's the biggest problem, everyone is doing it. The whole thing is wrong and it's spiralling out of control. You have people struggling with getting affordable housing and going to food banks yet footballers are getting insane sums of money. You are right, the hard working fans on modest sums of money are the only losers here.
Problem is, the only way to rectify this problem is to speak with our wallets. Stop buying the merchandise and stop going to games until they get the message. But that will never happen, as long as the clubs are getting away with making a killing, they will continue to do so.
I agree, nothing will happen until it hits them personally and then they'll realise how screwed up the whole situation is.
Hmm it's debateable wether its such a bad thing. When you look at the earnings of the TOP European Clubs - wages don't form that much of their outgoings. How many people go to watch Barcelona play in order to see Lionel Messi or Ronaldo at Madrid?...Alot. You would have to say with the money they make their Clubs in return these players are worth their wages. I think if the business is sustainable and the other employees at the Club are earning a reasonable wage then its not really a problem.
Don't talk utter ****, no one is ever worth 200k a week, no matter what job they perform!! The clubs only make loads of money because the prices of merchandise and tickets are ridiculous, plus the money Sky pour into football as well, which again, is recouped from subscribers paying £50 a month.
Why the **** not? What kind of backwards logic is that? Someone like Messi earns Barcelona tens of millions per year. What percentage of that is he worth? .. Its highly debatably. One thing that really ****s me off about the British is that if some working Class kid ends up playing football and earning 200k a week - they are immediately branded overpaid. I'm no capitalist but in the grand scheme of things footballers are nowhere near the most overpaid people out there.
no that award goes to the bankers. Footballers should be paid in proportion to the amount of money the clubs generate, yes, but not at the increasing, and ridiculous expense of the fans. No fans = no football club. There is no way a season ticket should cost thousands of pounds. Look at the way the German clubs do it. Bayern still manage to generate lots of money, stay competitive in Europe and attract decent players without completely dicking over their fan base. In the Bundesliga, the average cost of a ticket to see Bayern play is around £12. In England, the average amount to watch Leicester is around £22. More expensive to watch Leicester (nearly twice as much), as Bayern Munich? Come on..... When you consider the HUUUUUUGE amount more that PL clubs get paid for TV revenue compared to the other big leagues, it makes the comparison even more shocking.
I think footballers are overpaid, but it is a symptom of the amount of money in the game (or top flight anyway) There is an argument that, given that the players are the key component of this industry, then they should get a fair slice of the money that is sloshing around. But the sums are obscene. Personally I would introduce a wage cap across the industry and bring in a rule where a percentage of TV and sponsorship money filters down to the lower leagues and grass roots level. There is too much money (like in society) that stays at the top and never finds its way to the majority.
Exactly. Yes the footballers should get a good wage, but since when was 100k a week not a good ****ing wage? Its more than a lot of people earn in 3 years! And they get that a week!
Increasingly the sounds madr by Arsene are getting worse,i hope its just playing hardball till the very end like we do in summer transfer windows,when you see what players around them are getting and that both our superstars are in their peak..250k should be the minimum we offer these guys. COYG!
I agree, it's a staggering wage. Let's not forget though that it was Chelsea who opened Pandora's box in the UK and started the whole mega wage issue.
I read a statistic recently that footballer was the most popular career path for boys in the World. Ie more boys want to be footballers than anything else. In the Premiership the average wage is actually £22,000/week. In the Championship (2nd division), the average salary is £4,000/week, which is about £200,000/year (less than Rooney earns in a week). Then in League 2 (4th division), the average salary is £750/week, which is fairly close the average salary in England. What I'm trying to get across to you, is that only the best of the best (about the top 1000 players in the world) are paid huge amounts of money. And when you compare that statistically to any other industry the number of people on HUGE wages is comparable. Take a look at Banking, Advertising, Pharmaceuticals etc.. When you look at home much elite players make for their Clubs and how much other industries split their payroll I think its hard to argue football is any worse.
Exactly, and the point i was trying to make. The whole thing is wrong and one day it come and haunt us. I mean, how can anyone justify a man kicking around a ball 60k plus a week, no matter how damn good they look - Mess, Ronaldo or whoever else.
Because they make MILLIONS of pounds for their Clubs. I work in the film industry most of us VFX artist earn between 25-100k a year. Tom Cruise for example earns around £10+ million per film. Football is no different. Its no different from CEO's at big Corporations earning MILLIONS per year. If you break it down numerically football is no worse. I honestly think Footballers get picked on as the 'example' of overpaid by the media because they are mainly just working class blokes.
I will never agree that Player's wages are responsible for price hike for match day expenses. Greed of the owners & clubs is responsible for the price hike.
