Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs have both surprisingly spoken out about the controversial issue of football players earning every penny of their astronomically large salaries.
When the starting salary for a nurse is £20k a year, a teacher is £21k a year and a police officer is £22k a year, it’s hard to argue that John Terry deserves £160k a week! To think that Terry earns eight times more in a week that a nurse would earn in a year is mind-boggling.
“Others earn billions selling rights and 75,000 come to watch us every week,” Neville argued. “There’s a product there that people love. Fans are crucial but without the player you have nothing.”
Ryan Giggs has supported his team-mates claim, citing the increase in money in the game as justification.
“There is plenty of money in the game but the majority of the players deserve it,” he said. “There are a number of players that perhaps 20 years ago would not have got paid the money that they’re getting now but that is the way that football is. The average player is getting a lot of money – if that is right, I don’t know. But good luck to them – the money is in the game, why not earn it while they have got the chance? But 20 years ago that wouldn’t have happened. Then it was probably only the top, top players, the elite players who would be earning good money.”
Does he have a point? When United won the Premiership in 1993 we earned £815,210 in prize money, which is just £54k more than what West Brom were awarded for finishing bottom of the table last season and £700k less than Boro earned last season for finishing second from bottom.
There is also the point that maybe some players are more deserving of their wages than others. I’ll take the most obvious and most easily proved example: Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo earned roughly £6m-£6.5m from Manchester United in wages during the 2007-2008 season. During this time he was the Premiership top scorer, with 31 of our 80 league goals (which works out at almost 40%) as we went on to win the Premiership title. The prize money alone was £15m, which doesn’t take in to consideration the revenue from ticket sales and television rights.
In the Champions League he was again the top scorer, scoring 8 of our 20 goals (again, around 40%), including our only goal in the final. Winning that evening reportedly earned us £85m.
Ronaldo didn’t single-handedly win us those trophies, regardless of what was written in the press after his departure, but of course he made a significant contribution. To have a big part to play in the success of the club also means he had a big part to play in how much money we earned. Our turnover grew by 21% on the back of that season compared to the one before, with the club bringing in a massive £257.1m.
I can only imagine just how much revenue was generated simply because we had Ronaldo at the club, with day-trippers paying to watch the game simply to see him, fans buying shirts with his name and number on the back, as well as all that other gimicky crap you can buy from the megastore.
So, is the £6m we gave Ronaldo in 07-08 a good return for the £257.1m of revenue the club earned?
I’m playing devil’s advocate here a bit because obviously it’s sick that people who kick a football around a pitch earn more in a week than people who save lives on a daily basis earn over a period of years, but some players do earn their clubs vast amounts of money and probably do deserve their salaries. Better that the money go to the players we pay to watch than line the pockets of the owners, right?
Man Utd News 24/7
I’d rather the players have it than greedy owners and shareholders. Of course it isn’t fair when you compare it to nurses etc, but it’s the world we live in. If we capped it at £50k a week is it any less obscene really?
I think players should have more charitable work built into their contracts. many do this as part of the club stucture and off their own backs, but there is a lot of room for improvement.
That said, Giggs, Neville, Scholes, Beckham, etc have been worth every penny of my money over the past 20 years!
I wonder who was the 1st player to get a “larger than life” salary ….
Footballers are worth the money, they bring joy and a bit of excitement into our lives.. When your at a game or watching it on tv you do forget about anything else that you have going on in your life.. what is really obscene is the money the bankers get for bring misery into peoples lives…
Good article…
Like other top performers footballers get a lot of money simply because there is a lot of money. There was a time, not so long ago, when people like Sir Bobby got 40 quid appearance money for playing for England. Naturally, it was because money was not availabe. The question we have to ask is: if players did not get these amounts would tickets and merchandise be cheaper? If the answer is no then God bless them and their earnings.
you’ve got to think about how much time and dedication these footballers put into their professions. many go out to become professional footballers and in the process, they shun their academics and other valuable skills they can be learning. think about the huge risk they are taking on in the case that they do not make it as a footballer, and the lack of skill/education they will have when they have to find a job. the few that actually do make it into the premier league or the first team have worked so hard to be there. think of how many hours a day they practice, how many days a week, and for how many years. they have put in more work than most people do to earn a degree from a university. it takes 2-4 years to get a degree to become a nurse … it takes atleast 10 years to become a good footballer and thats after countless hours practicing their trade. footballers are also part of a multi million dollar entertainment industry. these footballers are the reason why people spend their money on tickets and merch, and are rightfully getting their share of the pie. it’s all a business. really if anyone has a problem with the wages the players are getting, don’t buy their shirts and dont show up to games.
Its all simple economics. How many people watch football every week? Hundreds of millions. These people pay tv fees, buy merchandise, buy tickets, watch ads, see the sponsors etc. Without the footballers you wouldn’t have these people and since there is such a limited supply of really good players (According to my latest FFT magazine Fat Ronaldo is the one hundreth best player in the world!) good footballers can ask for high wages because they’re worth it. Demand far exceeds supply so wages shoot up.
Like Scott said with Ronaldo, when we sold him, we all looked for replacements, Ribery, Kaka, Villa, Silva etc. but the clubs selling these players knew that their players had enough talent to hike up prices because suddenly United had a greater demand for them (since in a lot of peoples eyes they needed to replace Ronaldo). Thats also why transfer fees have suddenly exploded. There are so many top clubs with money and still the same amount of talented players.
So in my opinion footballers deserve every scent, they have a very rare skill and are able to sell it for high amounts, so more power to them.
A nurse 20k ayear? too little.
although i would prefer nurses, soldiers and all the other ppl who our country couldn’t live without would earn a premiership wage, i understand the economics of it. While millions around the world pay to watch football matches, buy the tacky merchandise, get the umpteenth shirt their club has brought out with their name on at 1.50 a letter, and while advertising and sponsorship increases even in a supposed credit crunch, no one pays to watch a skilful, trained and caring nurse help save someones life, or help them to recover from life threatening situations. It seems the world has it wrong, but while it’s the way it is, footballer’s deserve the money far more than some of the mercenary owners looking to make a quick quid on the back of a football club, or ones that have no interest in the history and stature of a club. Saying that, some mercenary players aren’t worth pots to piss in but still manage to pull in more than their worth.
I remember when Denis Law became the first player to earn one hundred pound per week, not so long ago really
It’s all relative to where the money is. Take for example the banking industry, When the banks we’re flourishing 2-3 years ago, bankers we’re picking up massive salaries with 6 figure bonuses on top of it.
When the banking sector collapsed, guess what? Traders, bankers all got paid less and the bonuses disappeared.
As long as money keeps getting pumped into Football & sport as a whole then players will carry on getting sky-high salaries.
Thanks for an interesting article Scott. Also nice to see so many balanced views from the readers.
As I see it the question isn’t wheter footballers deserve their salaries. Footballers don’t contribute to the wealth of society and ultimately don’t supply anything beyond entertainment. To compare a nurse or a teachers salary with a footballers salary seems rather pointless, and on the basis of that comparison a premiership footballer doesn’t deserve his salary.
The real question to what extent people (the fans) are willing to pay footballers salaries.As long as the fans continue to put their money into tickets, merchandise etc, you can’t really argue. As a lawyer, I’m used to people raising the question over inflated salaries and so on, but it’s a market where people are willing to pay what is deemed right by the person supplying the services.
Thing’s may be different if ticket prices continue to soar, but as long as people put their money into the clubs you can’t really blame the players…
“Winning that evening reportedly earned us £85m.”
the hyperlink on reportedly is broken.
Its all about supply and demand. Demand to watch these top players is immense and the number of top players are few and far between so they are going to get paid daft amounts. Nobody moans about Films stars earning 20 million a film. However I think some of the more “mediocre” players are on far too much. The likes of Giggsy and Nev are worth every penny.
I hate how the issue is always centred on footballers. What about actors, musicians and the like? They are all obviously extremely talented in their field. Do they deserve more money than nurses, teachers etc? No.
But footballers are getting what is fair to them – if we paid them less its not like the nurses etc. would magically get more money, the bigwigs in charge of tv companies, football clubs would get it.
Just like actors they don’t do anything actually ‘productive’, however they entertain people on a worldwide scale and it’s only fair that a good part of the money generated from this entertainment goes to the people who are responsible for it, rather than just the people responsible for organising it.
Also if people complain about what nurses earn they should maybe look a bit closer to home at what doctors earn in comparison.
Good Morning Everyone
Sorry to go off topic straight away but just read a daily mail article regarding the best wing wizards in the english game.i completely agree with the list but some of the comments are really annoying.maybe its a fight between giggsy and best for the no 1 spot but its got to be one of those 2
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1126766/THE-LIST-10-1-English-footballs-greatest-wing-wizards.html
It’s a free market and if that’s what a player can earn then he should take it.
Comparing salaries with other industries doesn’t make any sense.
I think alot of it comes from jealousy myself. I’m personally not interested in what other people get paid. That really is their own business.
Bottom line is try harder at sports if you wanna earn the big bucks!
Ive never had a problem wiv wat footballers earn, it’s a short carrer.
@aig I wud swap giggsy and besty but im amazed there’s no jinky johnstone in that list.
@ AIG & King Eric, I hope Realmadchump2008 sees that wingers article!
Say for cash… Some people are effortlessly born into riches footballers can only dream about! Most footballers are from working class backgrounds & sacrifice a lot of their childhoods & vices to excel. Let em live the dream! We all WOULD in that position!
I think they deserve it. They’re the greatest entertainers in the world!
if they can get it then they might aswell take it
off topic our strikers are scoring loads of goals, rooney about to become a dad, berbatov became a dad this morning so i hear and owens girl is pregant
aig – Typical ABU responses mate. So bitter and jealous. Best one was “manc propaganda” or “Giggsy and Best were not out and out wingers”?
AIG – Typical ABU responses mate. So jealous and bitter. Best comments were “Manc Propaganda” and “Giggs and Best were not out and out wingers”? Idiots.
It’s hard to disagree with Neville’s statement. It is the players that make the show so it has to be them who earn the bucks!
This has alwyas been the case that people who work the hardest don’t earn much.. not everyone (or anyone?) can do what messi or rooney can do, so of course they deserve it
Lots of people are willing to pay lots of money to watch good football.
There are very few people who can provide good football, hence they are a paid lots. It’s a simple case of supply and demand.
Of cource they deserve their wages since without them, there would be no good football.
King Eric.
Hi mate.ya i mnean how can someone say giggsy and best were not exactly wingers? thats ridiculous.and we all know giggs is one player who never gets the credit he deserves. i mean people say figo was better.did he even win 1/3rd the trophies giggsy won? so much jealousy.atleast sometimes you got to give someone credit.especially someone like giggs
If entertainers, they have the right to be paid that much.. in
Suppose a superstar earns = £ 120k*52 weeks = £ 6.2 m
Russel Crowe, Tom Cruise and all top hollywood guys would charge around 10m $$ for a movie..
Off topic please! Anyone with berbatov and nani goals (youtube)
I think for truly elite players the salaries are justified…because they are the best in their profession.
If you look at other professions, those who excel and become the best earn similar amounts (not including civil servants).
For example, businessmen, writers, TV personalities, other sportsmen, whatever….those who go on to be the best earn millions every year.
We live in a supply and demand economy. There is huge demand to watch world class footballers and only a limited supply of them.
What does annoy me is when average players or scumbags (Joey Barton) are earning £50k+ a week.
theres no answer to this question really like its people on 20k bein forced to pay to watch their teams by the likes of sky and espn while sky make millions as do clubs and players, if players earned less, match tickets cost less and subscriptions cost less we wud all be happier haha sports in ireland like hurling or gaelic football players dont get paid but the money made from sponsors goes into developing clubs and players and croke park which is the national gaa stadium is one of the best in europe it holds over 80,000. but at the end of the day were payin to watch the players and no one else so its better that giggs and rooney get money instead of the glazers
how on earth are they not deserving that kind of salary? One small wrong action on or off the field will get you becoming the talking point for weeks!
A nurse scolding a patient will not even get noticed by others outside the room.
But a handball (/handgoal) by Maradona got him notorious reputation all his life, all over the world. And that was 20years ago, long before the internet era.
And what does Ronaldo get for diving, compared to a businessman cheating his client?
The pressure, demand and expectation on footballers are just too big these days. That is why they deserve the big salary.
anyone know anything about this guy, fergie seems to be interested http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_5629476,00.html
“There’s a product there that people love. Fans are crucial but without the player you have nothing.”
The statement above is really bad to come out from someone who have the status of legend in Man Utd. It show arrogance in word. The truth is without the fans, player are nothing. Many fan come for the matches n buying tickets that constantly increasing & this what a footballer should said to them? Every single penny that been spend by the fans no matter if they go to Old Trafford or watching from other parts of the world should be appreciated. Footballers duty is to play to entertain the fans n that’s their job. And when they don’t do their job, get rid of them no matter what status they got
red rossa
I remember when football on TV was so crap, they used to show one game a week and there were no good foreign players in our league.
I wuld rather players get paid all this money and we can watch this good standard of footie..
Sir Giggs with all due respect.. I think nurses, teachers and police officers are more important than football players
Without them we are fucked!
Without football players we are bored!
For gods sake take all my money now i dont want to be bored!!!!!!
I’ll say one thing for them – attaining and maintain the levels of fitness that they do is a lot harder than your average, sedentary joe could ever comprehend.
Aside from that, the debate bores me senseless. If it isn’t football players, it’s bankers. If it isn’t bankers, it’s politicians. You get weary from having the tabloids and broadsheets tell you who to be outraged at next.
Zalee – I can understand what you mean but that statenment, as arrogant as it may sound, is spot on. Without the players you don’t even have the sport.
this is off topic…
but
Berba is now a dad…
Congrats to him
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/soccer/wires/10/15/2080.ap.soc.berbatov.daughter.0084/index.html?
Bebeto – “You get weary from having the tabloids and broadsheets tell you who to be outraged at next”. Absolutely bob on fella. Unfortunately a lot of fools listen to the media rather than making their own mind up. You only have to trawl through various blogs and sites to see the constant idiotic comments. Just this week we have “the footballers salaries debate” and “Is Rio good enough” and “Fergie is a bully”.
@kshetrajna, just saw that, congrats to Berba!
The 1st player to earn £100 per week was Alan Mullery.
If the clubs are willing to pay the salary,the players may as well take it.
Especially since these 2 players are the ones who have taken 20% pay cuts just to remain at United.
When you have a 5 year career at these wages,you earn 3-4 milion pounds(taking an average here,not talking about Becks,Rooney,the like).Nurses,cops,teachers can all work for 40 years and earn the same amount.The difference is in the amount of time that a footballer’s career lasts as compared to the other listed people.Don’t forget that you have to shun education to become a footballer,it’s a huge risk and sometimes it pays off.
Maybe the teachers, nurses and cops should be better at football…
jk
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2684203/Fergies-doting-on-crock-Defour.html
helloooooooooooooo
lol maybe we’ll get to see the “cradle” celebration when Berbatov scores
@Scott – don’t you mean you were playing “red devil’s advocate”?
Sorry that joke was sh*t.
I’ll get my coat.
i think that football is in huge demand so there can’t be any complaints it is a multi billion industry and with foreign investment it becomes a lot beneficiary for footballers. although saying that nurses and policemen play a significant role in the safety of everyone. only world class players deserve the salary and not overpriced,overrated cunts like lescott and toure. but i think that nurses and doctors are being ripped off in salaries as politicians pocket it for themselves. lol berba’s little girl may be a little cute ballerina in a tutu. cos she’ll definately have the technique and charisma of her dad:-)!
Maybe if the players didn’t earn so much money the ticket prices for us fans would be cheaper.
The united lads deserve the money for providing our fans with excitement and glory! They earn it by entertaining us. You could argue that players at lesser clubs like the massive and dippers don’t deserve anything as all they give their fans is disappointment and heart ache year after year.
I agree players are on too much money like ballack for example.
Park’s Dog
I saw the wingers article Chris Peterson who wrote it hits the nail right on the head.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=685342&sec=england&root=england&cc=5739
its not about the players. its about we the peons that should be paid more.
It’s absurd to compare nurses, teachers, and cops to Premiership footballers because the former aren’t at the very top of their fields. It’d be more accurate to compare Man Utd footballers to leading brain surgeons, education ministers, and the head of Interpol, all of whom do make a substantial amount of money.
Footballers work extremely hard and sacrifice a lot for the sport & the club. It looks like they get paid to just drive over to OT in their Ferraris, play a game for 90 minutes, and then go home, but think about all the time and effort they’ve had to dedicate to the game since they were old enough to kick a ball. They suffer a lot of abuse and unfair criticism, and sacrifice privacy. Plus, at a club like United, they are one in 100 million in terms of talent, and that should be celebrated. The sport itself is silly in theory but there’s a billion people for whom football makes their lives better, so the players are part of a genuinely positive force. I think they deserve the money for the same reasons I think brilliant musicians, writers, scientists, actors, engineers, etc, deserve all the money they receive.
Players get paid stupid fucking amounts of money but that’s wat it is. The game has turned into a multi billion pound industry n so they all deserve a slice n good luck to them. As for nurses teachers etc, get a shifty raw deal. Morality n wants of society have changed
what are all the united players on then can i see a list?
Good article.
As a nurse who worked in the NHS, i know the fantastic work that most do in that service. As much as i love United, football players wages are simply obscene. I know there is obviously huge demand and so therefore huge amounts of money in football and rightly footballers should get their fair share. If there is such a surplus of money, why not give it back to the fans with cheaper tickets, merchandise,travel expenses to away games etc. Then nurses like me on a meagre salary may be able to afford to get to games more often.
I think it’s fair to see how much footballers earned. You just have to think their life after their football career.
Can’t footballers get another job when they’ve finished playing, like the rest of us?
@ shebangsthedrums
I fully understand your sentiments and and I do sympatize with you. I know how it feels as I spent 40 years teaching. But I come back to the question I put earlier. Would tickets and merchandise become cheaper if footballers get a lesser pay packet? I don’t think so. However, had I been any good I would have chosen football career. I wish you all the luck in your profession and cheer up and enjoy your Saturdays and Wednesdays watching our stars.
@cav, agree with you completely mate.
I think people are comparing apples and oranges when they compare a footballers’ salary to a teacher or a health worker. A better comparision would be to compare a footballer to another artist. Some artists get paid handsomely whereas others dwindle. It is no different for footballers – there are some mega stars whereas the rest of them are languishing in lower leagues.
Whilst to me and you the amounts may look obscene, it is unfair for that information to be even out in the public domain. £6M a year is obscene for a twat like Jonathan Ross, not a Christiano Ronaldo or a Thierry Henry.
shebangsthedrums – Great username.
PG – Spot on, especially about that talentless cunt Ross.
It’s an emotive question but ultimately it’s all about market economics. The global TV reach of the game is such that these days even average footballers make a salary that in years gone by would have made a banker blush.
The players are entitled to be the principle beneficiaries of the money swilling around the game, no doubt. Nonetheless, the divergence between what they earn and the ‘usefulness’ of what they do (compared to say a nurse, copper, chippy, magistrate, spark, mechanic, IT guy whatever), does rankle with the common man.
My biggest problem with the money is that youngsters who make it in football now have no notion of what real life is like for the average person. Players of Giggsy and Neville’s generation would have had some notion of that, but the gilded youth coming through the ranks now, doesn’t.
Either way – given footballers propensity for all things tacky and overpriced (take a look at Stephen Ireland’s cars) – you can rest assured most of them spunk most of their money on shite anyway.
I’m amazed people on this site agree with Gary Neville’s comments. Very foolish comments if you ask me, doesn’t do himself any favours.
Footballers basically have their arses wiped for them, they are a bunch of over pampered cry babies = fact.
Gary – I hear what you are saying and couldn’t agree more that they are pampered babies but it still doesn’t detract from the fact they DO deserve what they get paid.
I am sorry but they really do NOT deserve what they earn. They should introduce a wage cap. 25 grand a week max I think for the elite players is more than reasonable, seeing that they don’t pay for fuck all and have sponsorship deals e.t.c on top.
i know what you mean scott. However, i still not convinced and feel sadden by the salary. One people working hard to become a lawyer and i bet his one year salary is lower than the players one-two months salary. A football player whole career salary, i bet no ordinary worker can be able to earn in his LIFETIME!!! it’s sad really if you think this way.
Interesting point of view and is in line with what Wenger was talking about in an interview for the time recently
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/arsenal/article6796014.ece
Like Neville and Giggs he argues that footballers justify their wages and that they are an easy target for the press compared to the really super rich people who are invisible to most of us.
Like someone already said, it’s simple economics on the face of it. Millions upon millions watch top level football every week and the product is valuable. There is undoubtedly big money in football and something would be very wrong if the players didn’t see a large slice of it.
However surely if a football club is being being bankrolled by a super rich owner and accumulating debts that it’s revenue stream doesn’t cover then how could you ever possibly justify a huge wage bill?
I always feel that the Premiership era has also gone hand in hand in with the growth of moronic Katie and Peter style celebrity culture and that as a society we no longer produce anyone who aspires to do jobs like nursing and teaching etc. These people are not rewarded, I don’t know what it’s like in Manchester but in London hospitals pretty much all of the nursing staff will be Asian or African immigrants(a bit like Arsenal
). I have no problem with that but it just shows how unappealing a career like that is to people born in this country.
Without football the world will be so boring and besides that , what will we be doing with our weekends anyway .Let there entertainment and let the players get paid for there efforts , they deserve it .After all where will all the loot from adverts and gate collections go to