The mancityfans.net football forum

The Football Supporters' Federation is conducting a quick straw poll of fans up and down the country for their views on a couple of issues, including whether they think that players are worth their exhorbitant wages, or whether a wage cap should be introduced. The survey is closing in the next couple of days, so we'd really appreciate if anyone who hasn't filled it in already will give us literally one minute of their time (and not in the Jamie Redknapp sense, but it is actually very, very short; there's only a couple of questions). Just visit:

http://tinyurl.com/3ad6lau

Anyone who fills it in is automatically entered into a draw to win a copy of Football Manager 2011 for PC/Mac by way of thanks.

Done.

Done, and yes there should be a wage cap.

Done and I've posted the link on a couple of other sites if thats ok

How many fans would be expected to answer that players should continue to get high wages I wonder?

Even non-league part timers are paid way too much.

a wage cap would only work if it was global. If they capped the english wage at say 90k then ALL the best players would leave and we'd be left with something slightly better than the SPL

i don't think anyone in their right mind could fail to be quite frankly disgusted at the amount of money paid to certain people, footballers being at the moment a prime example.
From the standpoint of City though, the timing isnt right, after years of the Chumps league gravy train, the ability to pay over the odds will continue to be our greatest asset for a few years yet.

patrickblue wrote:i don't think anyone in their right mind could fail to be quite frankly disgusted at the amount of money paid to certain people, footballers being at the moment a prime example.
From the standpoint of City though, the timing isnt right, after years of the Chumps league gravy train, the ability to pay over the odds will continue to be our greatest asset for a few years yet.

Of course it is. And a wage cap is an idealistic, unachieveable situation.

Market forces serve us well right now.

However sometimes I think SWP or Jo should take a pay cut!

Kladze wrote:How many fans would be expected to answer that players should continue to get high wages I wonder?

Even non-league part timers are paid way too much.

I don't think a wage cut itself is necessarily the answer. Where would the money go? To owners, to sign more players, to agents, as a discount to fans. A unilateral wage cut wouldn't achieve anything to reform the problems with football and in fact would represent a wasted opportunity that would be counterproductive. A wage cut on it's own would have the effect of killing any chance of structural reforms.

Yes, players are overpaid but that's an inevitable consequence of the current transfer rules and status quo.

yeah players are overpaid

Should there be a forced cap in england so that all the best players fuck off to spain? NO.

the thing is, its not only footballers who are overpaid, golf players can win vast amounts and federer won 1 mill this week, not bad for a weeks work. sport in general is way to much

I dont think footballers are overpaid.
They are the best entertainers in the world and if millions of people around the globe are being entertained by these people, then they should be rewarded for it!

If the players didnt get the money who would? The Owners!

TheGOAT wrote:I dont think footballers are overpaid.
They are the best entertainers in the world and if millions of people around the globe are being entertained by these people, then they should be rewarded for it!

If the players didnt get the money who would? The Owners!

That, imo, is a solid point. I don't think we would see any major discounts in ticket prices for example even if the wages went down.

ashton287 wrote:yeah players are overpaid

Should there be a forced cap in england so that all the best players fuck off to spain? NO.

eggsackly.

Ronk, as usual, has it right.

It's supply and demand. If people stopped going to/ watching footy tomorrow they would soon have to take a wage cut. As long as it continues to be so popular there will continue to be vast sums of money involved. Why shouldn't the stars get their cut?

dead right it's supply and demand. Why is it Ok for bankers, film stars, golfers and the rest to get obscene money but not for footballers. Of course, footballers are nasty and working class, so obviously they don't deserve it.

I wouldn't mind it if halving footballers wages meant ticket prices and Sky subscriptions would also get halved. I'm not holding my breath.

I spend what I can on football, and, if most of it goes to paying the players wages then so be it. I pay to watch footballers not the likes of Blatter.

No they shouldn't be capped or take a pay cut. It is up to the individual clubs to get a grip on their wage structures. Agents shouldn't get a penny from the clubs, the players should pay ALL the agents fees not the clubs.

Lev Bronstein wrote:dead right it's supply and demand. Why is it Ok for bankers, film stars, golfers and the rest to get obscene money but not for footballers. Of course, footballers are nasty and working class, so obviously they don't deserve it.

I wouldn't mind it if halving footballers wages meant ticket prices and Sky subscriptions would also get halved. I'm not holding my breath.

I spend what I can on football, and, if most of it goes to paying the players wages then so be it. I pay to watch footballers not the likes of Blatter.

It's not, and it's rather a pointless argument. The distain o people have for the current situation has nothing to do with class.

People have stronger feelings about bankers. You actually have a choice of which film star you can pick for what movie and how many you want and the industry is regulated. Golfers mostly collect prize money from a pool. The prize fund itself has a degree of control so it doesn't spiral.

Football doesn't have that at the moment. Player wages are being inflated to the point where venerable clubs are going out of business. Are golf clubs shutting down because they have underperforming golfers signed to long term contracts?

ronk wrote:

Lev Bronstein wrote:dead right it's supply and demand. Why is it Ok for bankers, film stars, golfers and the rest to get obscene money but not for footballers. Of course, footballers are nasty and working class, so obviously they don't deserve it.

I wouldn't mind it if halving footballers wages meant ticket prices and Sky subscriptions would also get halved. I'm not holding my breath.

I spend what I can on football, and, if most of it goes to paying the players wages then so be it. I pay to watch footballers not the likes of Blatter.

It's not, and it's rather a pointless argument. The distain o people have for the current situation has nothing to do with class.

People have stronger feelings about bankers. You actually have a choice of which film star you can pick for what movie and how many you want and the industry is regulated. Golfers mostly collect prize money from a pool. The prize fund itself has a degree of control so it doesn't spiral.

Football doesn't have that at the moment. Player wages are being inflated to the point where venerable clubs are going out of business. Are golf clubs shutting down because they have underperforming golfers signed to long term contracts?

The sneering at the wages footballers get has been going on for decades. The feeling expressed (by the media and other "opinion formers")is that others (and I don't mean doctors etc) deserve the money and fotballers don't. I think that's to do with snobbery - you don't, fair enough. (Maybe I should stop reading the Telegraph)

I take your point about bankers, and other City of London whizz kids. But that's a recent thing. Previously the money they were on was more accepted, indeed at times they had celebrity status.

You may have a choice which film star you pick for your film, but a big, expensive star helps the fim earn money. Many films make a loss and you rarely see it mentioned that the actors were paid too much. I'm not too sure how the industry is regulated, at least in terms of wage capping.

Golf: I'll accept your point up to a point. The money comes from sponsors who in turn get their money from their customers - us. If I suppose I could boycott firms that give money to golf. But it wouldn't do much good - after all what's the favourite sport of the management of companies. If we all cancelled our Sky subscriptions and stopped going to games football would be brought to it's knees. How could we do the same to golf if we wanted to, stop using banks or buying cars!!

Players get the wages they get because clubs are so desperate for their services that they pay them megabucks. Clubs want success, so they take risks, others are more careful. Sometimes it all blows up in their face and then the club is in trouble. But that's the nature of capitalism.