I recently travelled with my son and daughter to see Aston Villa play at Villa Park. I am a Patron of Aston Villa Football Club and am passionately committed to football and helping all sport to thrive. My father was a professional cricketer and played for the Warwickshire Bears.
However, I am disturbed by the obscene amounts of money misdirected in professional football. Only last week, the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) agreed to buy Manchester City F. C. for a reported £150 million. In the time it takes for most of us to do our weekly food shop, ADUG ‘bought’ the Real Madrid striker Robinho for £34.2 million.
Allegedly Robinho will earn £95000 per week at Manchester City. In these days of credit crunch and mortgage difficulties, this reads uncomfortably. How many fast cars do these football stars need? The modern soccer culture now is that money equals success. But what of team-work, inspirational leadership and commitment?
Football is more than just a sport in this country. It is romance and finance. Fans will support their club through thick and thin, from generation to generation. Most money in football is spent on players’ wages. We should be investing in the grass roots of the game which have been neglected for too long. We should make school soccer a priority after successive governments have sold off our playing fields. I have argued this many times in Parliament.
If ever there was proof that this is the right way forward, take a look at the Olympics. Our success in Beijing was achieved by passion and commitment rather than money being the goal. It is time for Soccer to take note of the old adage: “Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves”.
It’s all supply and demand though – nobody is forcing clubs to pay those salaries. There is a limited supply of top class footballers, and a large number of clubs demanding top class players.
Another point is what do you think would be improved if players were paid less? The main difference I can think of is that ticket prices would come down, since clubs would no longer need as much finance. Seeing as how most top clubs (ie the ones paying the high level salaries mentioned) tend to sell all their tickets. It therefore seems that there’s no need to reduce ticket prices since they are currently pitched at a rate where they all sell.
Also, while our success in Beijing was achieved with passion and commitment, so is our success in European club football. The champions league semi finals matches have been stacked with English clubs recently so the English league at least is very successful. Also I would defy you to claim that professional football players don’t play with passion. Every time one of them looses their cool just proves how passionate they are that their emotions bubble over.
(But footballers loosing their cool is a debate for another day I think!)
I love going to see my local team play but sadly cant afford it unless its a big treat. I hate the fact that ticket prices are so high. I get quite angry at the fact that i cant go as much as i would like simply because of the money the club demands that we pay. On the other hand i can always go and see the ice hockey in my town for £10!
I couldnt care less if clubs loose players to abroad if we cant pay the massive salaries that they expect. At least that would mean that our home grown talent would get more of a chance to shine. Id rather have that and more British players coming through than be left to pick from the best of whats left come world cup time.
Donald, I disagree with your analysis. First off, the more highly paid English players have scant interest in their international roles, thus I would not class them as professional. A moot point, but my opinion. Their allegiance lies with their clubs and, fair enough, they are the ones who pay their wages but this is where your comparison with Olympians falls flat. I’m glad Fabio has dropped Owen and hope he drops Gerrard and Rooney, complete waste of spaces.
Of course clubs are forced to pay the high wages, that is the point of supply and demand. I don’t know how many clubs and how much is ploughed into youth development but I’m willing to bet the ratio is way down from, say, 10 years ago.
Sepp Blater needs to shove off and stop blathering about a GB team and the FA needs to get some real teeth.
So, what is a fair wage for a footballer? And who is to decide? Should there be a committee for wages, etc. I see a socialist football league forming…
A really top flight athlete is a true rarity. And, given the competition, it’s certainly tougher to be amongst “the best” in a popular sport (soccer/football) than even the Olympics. If he/she’s not a team player, the team will suffer, gate receipts will fall, and management will be forced to cut them.
So why complain about their wages- if you’re willing to pay for it, watch it, etc. they will and should charge as much as they can. There are plenty of opportunities to watch less qualified player but no one wants to!
And if a club doesn’t spend enough on their youth teams, talent scouts, etc. then clubs that do will beat them in the years that follow. Or they’ll have to shell out huge sums in transfer fees (another cost).
Sports is a business. It’s time to stop whining about it.
“However, I am disturbed by the obscene amounts of money misdirected in professional football.” Food for sport?
Many thanks for all your comments. They made varied reading! I will try and address some of the points that disagree with my blog.
Firstly, Donald: you made the valid point that “there is a limited supply of top class footballers, and a large number of clubs demanding top class players”. True, but one of the reasons for this shortage is not enough money being directed into encouraging young footballers. Hence, we have a shortage of good British footballers coming through to the top.
Secondly, you defied me “to claim that professional football players don’t play with passion”. Although I am sure that professional players feel passionate about football, I am not convinced that all feel passionate about their clubs. I highlighted the Robinho example to illustrate that, when footballers are purchased for vast amounts of money, part of the romance and passion is lost from the game. Robinho allegedly told reporters that he was delighted to be playing for Chelsea. He was unaware that the deal had actually been clinched with Manchester City. It was the money, not the club or sport, which was shown to be the driving force here.
Finally, Krishna, you said: “if a club doesn’t spend enough on their youth teams, talent scouts, etc. then clubs that do will beat them in the years that follow. Or they’ll have to shell out huge sums in transfer fees (another cost)”. Unfortunately, the former is happening more and more. My concern is that we are not seeing enough young British players coming through because of lack of investment at the grass-roots level of the game. We need to invest there to achieve more long-term. If not, the number of top-class football players will drop as their transfer fees rise. A sobering thought.