to think it's shameful that over 800million has been spent on premier league transfer when there are people struggling to feed their families etc etc.

[DontSweatTheSmallStuff]

that's it really. :(

Is DH an Arsenal fan?

I bet most of you watch films. Keanu Reeves got $156,000,000 for the last two Matrix films and they weren't even any good!

I bet most of you watch TV. Sheldon, Penny and Leonard get $1,000,000 for every single upcoming episode of the Big Bang Theory and that's a light comedy.

I bet most of you listen to music. Taylor Swift made $40,000,000 last year.

I don't see threads about those but every transfer window or big contract people moan about football.

I think a lot of the resentment stems from the fact that a great proportion of these players don't have much "brain power".

When you compare this with NHS Drs who work long hours for no where near the reimbursement, it does seem a bit unfair.

However, footballers are given a talent and they are entitled to make as much money out of the game as they can in a relatively short period of time.

No. Football is a legitimate business which pays taxes. Football players pay tax.

This is not money which is being diverted from government funds to pay for football players. It's no more shameful than any other legitimate trade or business.

It's considerably less shameful than say the money sloshing around in the porn industry or say the money spent on cheap clothes made in appalling far eastern and Indian factories.

YABU

I agree with you, it's obscene. For football clubs or any other big business for that matter to have so much wealth basically means that people are being ripped off along the way.i hate everything they stand for.

YABU, yes it's obscene money but that's the players job. No different to a high flying banker or lawyer.

The people responsible for feeding their children are the parents. If they are struggling then they look to find more work, cut back etc.

Yes it's a lot of money, in fact too much just to kick a ball around but it's a business and it's one that pays a lot to those in it. Feeding families is a separate issue and you can't compare them. For that reason Yabu (but I totally agree that no one should get paid that much)

No one should earn more than the prime minister, but at least some of the money gets spent in our shops which is good for the economy.

Why does everything have to be boiled down to the stupid argument of "....when people are struggling to feed their family"

At some point the logic completely falls flat or we'd never do anything remotely interesting. Now don't get me wrong, I have zero interest in football so I also think the sums spent on footballers are crazy. But it's somebody else's money and obviously they think what they're buying is worth it so who am I to judge how someone else spends their money?

But niceguy why is it a stupid argument. When families struggle to put food on the table because of poor wages and the rising cost of living as opposed to the massive wealth of football clubs(who make their money from the working class) it is a very valid argument. When you can get a footballer such as Wayne Rooney who is set to earn a staggering £85 million over the next 5 years and then compare it to the average family who struggle to get by with 2 incomes coming in and have to rely on tax credits because the wages are so poor I see it as grotesquely obscene, unjust and immoral.

However excessive footballers' salaries may be, they have nothing (apart from in connection with the amount the footballer is taxed) to do with feeding families.

I don't agree flipflops we're talking about the big picture here and the widening gulf between the haves and the have nots. In this case footballers are being used as an example but it could so easily be some other big business. The average wage in Britain is well below the level of inflation, there are far too many on the national minimum wage and too many dependant on tax credits. In a well run country tax credits wouldn't be so widely given out because wages would be a lot higher. I think using footballers wages as an example of the unfair distribution of wealth is perfectly reasonable.

That's capitalism. Or at least, capitalism of the kind we seem to have gone in for. We could all vote for a more socially democratic redistribution of wealth in this country, but we don't.

*Phaedra, HMRC treat these football businesses with kid gloves; Rangers should have been wound up and their ground sold for development to pay their debts and there are others. We have also tolerated the Football Creditors' Rule for far too long.

Some jobs are low wages though as require little or no skill. If they paid a lot more then skilled job wages would have to rise to reflect the knowledge and qualifications so it wouldn't solve anything.

A living wage is very subjective. Many people have one adult stay home, have children, live in expensive areas etc. Many believe this is their right and claim tax credits to assist. They don't have to rely on them it's a choice. There are cheaper areas, both partners could work, they could wait for promotion or study more before having children at a time they can actually afford them.

We need people in those high paying jobs to keep the system afloat. Whether the job demands that salary can be doubtful at times but that's down to the employer.

Footballers and football clubs generate a lot of money from abroad, too. From foreign TV deals and the income tax on footballers paid directly from a foreign billionaire's pocket. Football clubs contribute about a billion pounds yearly to the exchequer.

And I don't, Maisyblue, and that's fine. It could also be argued that the levels of tax credit are too high to incentivise people into work, and the levels of immigrants accepting low wages are both a disincentive to Britons seeking work and a disincentive to employers to pay more. It's all massively unfair but seems to be the only system that works even slightly.

I'm willing to bet a lot of footballers started life as have-nots.

Can't say it bothers me. Right now that is what he is worth.

And Flipflops is right, the overwhelming majority of today's millionaire footballers are kids from very humble beginnings.

Maisy gets it and explains it far more eloquently than i could.

I hate football...

But if you say that'd unreasonable where do you stop?

How much a year do we spend in cosmetics?
How much money does the sex toy industry make?

It's galling though I do understand that op