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I'm currently writing a piece about the business side of European Football, and one aspect caught my eye more than others. The amount paid on wages to players in just incredible. Premier League player salaries have shot up by more than 200% since 2000.
According to a few studies, higher player wages directly correlate with success of the club. The only option is for clubs to pay more and more money that they don't actually have just to avoid being left far behind by their competitors. This is a trend that shows no signs of slowing down either.

When will it stop? Can player wages keep increasing at exorbitant rates with fewer and fewer clubs staying competitive?

In today's world, the only chance for a small club to become successful is to be bought by billionaire owners. (Thank you Sheikh!!)




I'm not entirely sure what my point is in this post, but it just seems alarming.

So, what do you think? Will we eventually see players on £1,000,000 per week in the future?
Do you believe it's a problem or that something should even be done?

It's all very confusing to be honest. In the article I'm writing I just blamed it all on the rags after I found sufficient evidence.

I think FFP will probably slow the trend down in at least the short term, meaning the current best paid players will stay around that 200k per week mark.

How strictly it's enforced will determine how long that lasts.

Very interesting data, but an additional column with the national average weekly wage would be very informative and give a correlation point for the statistics

the problem is if you cap wages, everyone will end up earning the capped amount.

What would a fair wage be? You could set wage limits per division, to make people aspire to be in the premier league.

What about paying out a shit load per England cap?

If you are looking for decent info regarding wages and clubs financial accounts etc check out this, some excellent analysis of teams esp us:

http://swissramble.blogspot.com/

If top clubs maximise their income & sponsorship possibilities worldwide, the gap will keep growing & the wages will follow suit. That's what the Champion's Lg was invented for; to guarantee the 'elite' could escape competition from the great unwashed.

It's not as bad as you think..comparable to some American sports like Baseball

Ok so it's still obscene

I cannot see why, in a capitalist society, people seem to get socialist tendencies when it comes to people earning large sums of money. By all means express distate, but If football hadnt bent over so readily for sky the players wouldnt be earning so well. If people saw tesco for the scumfucks they are they wouldnt be able to squash the competition. You cannot have it both ways. Hypocrisy is always around the corner, so if the money is there for the Sheik to pay a third choice goalie 50k a week let him pay it...its his money. until the day a level playing field is established in all walks of life the injustices will always chip away at people...but its a waste of time hankering for that day...because it won't happen.

For me, the most astonishing thing about that list is that players in League One earn twice as much as their League Two counterparts. I can only imagine that it's down to a few of the fallen big-boys splashing the cash to try and get out of there.

Interesting is what happened in the championship in 2001/2, then the year after wages fell. See, we have been ruining football since 2001.

The drop must be on a large part due to us being promoted, as we must have had a huge wage bill with the likes of Benarbia, Berkovic, Huckerby et al.

Slightly worrying that the supposed impact on clubs of Setanta failing did nothing to stop wage inflation even though many clubs who went into administration in the years since have blamed that as the reason.

Im_Spartacus wrote:Interesting is what happened in the championship in 2001/2, then the year after wages fell. See, we have been ruining football since 2001.

The drop must be on a large part due to us being promoted, as we must have had a huge wage bill with the likes of Benarbia, Berkovic, Huckerby et al.

Slightly worrying that the supposed impact on clubs of Setanta failing did nothing to stop wage inflation even though many clubs who went into administration in the years since have blamed that as the reason.

Wolves came up with us that year and they'd spent a fair bit too, bankrolled by Jez Moxey. Bradford had come down with us the season before, and they'd been spaffed a load of cash on the likes of Benito Carbone. What a player he was. I'd forgotten all about him.

Alioune DVToure wrote:

Im_Spartacus wrote:Interesting is what happened in the championship in 2001/2, then the year after wages fell. See, we have been ruining football since 2001.

The drop must be on a large part due to us being promoted, as we must have had a huge wage bill with the likes of Benarbia, Berkovic, Huckerby et al.

Slightly worrying that the supposed impact on clubs of Setanta failing did nothing to stop wage inflation even though many clubs who went into administration in the years since have blamed that as the reason.

Wolves came up with us that year and they'd spent a fair bit too, bankrolled by Jez Moxey. Bradford had come down with us the season before, and they'd been spaffed a load of cash on the likes of Benito Carbone. What a player he was. I'd forgotten all about him.

Saw him playing in the masters last year for Sheff Weds I think it was, he was so fit, was like a one man team.

I didn't realise he had played for so many clubs in this country though, aside from sheff weds he never stayed at any of the 15/16 clubs he played at for more than a year which makes you think he was a bit of a cunt.

Personally I don't have a big problem with this. Football clubs make their money from being a source of entertainment - which means a small number of employees (ie a few dozen players) are what they rely on. They are the staff that make or break the business - so why shouldn't they be well compensated?

Personally I prefer to see employees making good $$ rather than the CEO's. I don't really see what we are trying to achieve by having things like salary caps - either the players themselves are gonna get paid or the shareholders are going to get paid. Why does everyone want the shareholders to make more and the players less? That there is so much money in football its no suprise that the few hundred players who are playing each week make huge amounts.

Now if we want to add some rules to ensure that more $$ is diverted to other causes and away from player salaries, if its enforceable then I'm more than happy with that. Things like football development at youth level, the national setups, any other infrastructure, or even just starving kids in Africa, that's fine with me. But just trying to make players be paid less doesn't make sense to me, it just means that the wrong people are probably going to get paid that instead.

It ain't new...it won't stop....it's just the way it is...will be....and always has been.

In 18/1900 and whateveritwas, our 1st pro earned 5s...that's FIVE SHILLINGS....The other City players (all amateurs) didn't like it...the situation...or him...He changed in a different room and they weren't keen on him being on the same pitch and didn;'t like passing him the ball....(BTW, they all recieved exactly the same 5s for expenses)
In the early 1900s, City were the rich boys from "OOOP NORTH" and the establishment all went "OOOOH!!! City have to be stopped." So they cooked up a charge and banned just about everybody in blue that was wearing a City scarf....for life!. We had money, they didn't like it or us.

Fast forward to the rags buying Albert Quixall from Sheff Wed and the World asked "When will it stop?" and they have asked the same question ever since....and you are asking it now as it was asked in 1900 and whateveritwas.

As long as someone somewhere thinks he can get an advantage by upping the stakes and spending more, he will do so and those who can't keep up or compete will ask...."WHEN WILL IT STOP?"

Stop worrying about it....at the moment, we are the rich kids who can up the stakes...It is our turn. SIT BACK AND ENJOY IT!!!

john68 wrote:It ain't new...it won't stop....it's just the way it is...will be....and always has been.

In 18/1900 and whateveritwas, our 1st pro earned 5s...that's FIVE SHILLINGS....The other City players (all amateurs) didn't like it...the situation...or him...He changed in a different room and they weren't keen on him being on the same pitch and didn;'t like passing him the ball....(BTW, they all recieved exactly the same 5s for expenses)
In the early 1900s, City were the rich boys from "OOOP NORTH" and the establishment all went "OOOOH!!! City have to be stopped." So they cooked up a charge and banned just about everybody in blue that was wearing a City scarf....for life!. We had money, they didn't like it or us.

Fast forward to the rags buying Albert Quixall from Sheff Wed and the World asked "When will it stop?" and they have asked the same question ever since....and you are asking it now as it was asked in 1900 and whateveritwas.

As long as someone somewhere thinks he can get an advantage by upping the stakes and spending more, he will do so and those who can't keep up or compete will ask...."WHEN WILL IT STOP?"

Stop worrying about it....at the moment, we are the rich kids who can up the stakes...It is our turn. SIT BACK AND ENJOY IT!!!

John mate your table at the bottom that shows how our the team of today compares with our previous title winning teams.One question in 68 how many points did the rags have after 27 games.

I truly have no idea mate but looking at our record around that trime would seem to suggest that we may have been as low as 4th and I think the rags would have been a little ahead of us.

My thinking behind that is that the whole season was a rollercoaster of up there then down a bit then up a bit...etc and the record shows the following
game 22 Stoke (WIN)....probably up near the top
game 23 WBA (LOST)
game 24 WBA (LOST)
game 25 Forest (WON)
game 26 Sheff Utd (WON)
game 27 Arsenal (DREW)

games 28,29,30 & 31 were all wins and game 32 was a loss to Leeds. I know that left us 2nd behind the rags because it was the famous 3-1 derby at the swamp that we won an went top.

For the record, our record over the last 12 games of that season were Won 8, Drew 1 and Lost 3.

Hope that helps Mate.

john68 wrote:I truly have no idea mate but looking at our record around that trime would seem to suggest that we may have been as low as 4th and I think the rags would have been a little ahead of us.

My thinking behind that is that the whole season was a rollercoaster of up there then down a bit then up a bit...etc and the record shows the following
game 22 Stoke (WIN)....probably up near the top
game 23 WBA (LOST)
game 24 WBA (LOST)
game 25 Forest (WON)
game 26 Sheff Utd (WON)
game 27 Arsenal (DREW)

games 28,29,30 & 31 were all wins and game 32 was a loss to Leeds. I know that left us 2nd behind the rags because it was the famous 3-1 derby at the swamp that we won an went top.

For the record, our record over the last 12 games of that season were Won 8, Drew 1 and Lost 3.

Hope that helps Mate.

Cheers John i'm just trying to gauge what margin of error we may have this time round.

Just as an aside, whilst discussing football finance....KARL MARX, that most able of left wingers, would, I am sure, have replaced his red flag with a sky blue one, had he still been alive and kicking in and around Manchester today.

Considering that it is the players who provide the entertainment, draw in the crowds and attract the sponsors, They, as the means of production are well rewarded, leaving our owners with huge losses on their investment in the last few years.
In fact if the father of Communism was to look at the altruistic behavior of our owners, he should also be well chuffed at their benevolence to the local community, youth, local employment and their philosophy of providing opportunities for talented kids to rise from the gutters and cast off their chains.

On the other hand, whilst the same would apply to the rag's players, Mr Marx would be horrified by the fact that the Glazers were skimming off the profits from the rag's means of production to prop up their failing capilalistic ventures in the States.

Maybe the opening lyrics of the City song should be adjusted....TO......MARX NOW HEAR THE CITY SING

Gillie,

We are currently standing nose to nose, in a game of who blinks first loses, with the most successful club in Prem history. They have an ingrained belief of their divine right to success. The thought that they just might come second will horrify them....The thought that they just might come second to City, will be beyond their comprehension.

Seperating the rags from the Prem trophy will be akin to removing a rampant granny from a slot machine in a bingo hall at closing time...near impossible!

THERE WILL BE NO MARGIN FOR ERROR.

When football finally eats itself. Can't be too long now.