Are the high salaries and rewards that top players earn justified?

Answer 1

£100,000+ a week for kicking a ball? Um... no way, and it can't be helping our education system much either...

You ask the majority of boys at school-age what they want to be when they grow up, and apart from the few wannabe astronauts out there, most will say footballer or film/pop star.
Why? Because all these professions are portrayed as glamorous, moneymaking, and don't involve any subject in the school curriculum. Anything for an easy life...

It doesn't matter that 99% of the school kids don't have the talent to walk out at Wembley or rise to fame in Hollywood... glamour and fantasy are alluring, and the desire to be like their heroes and achieve such dizzy heights will have an impact on learning.

Somebody wishing to be a surgeon would have to complete a medical degree (5 years), and a foundation programme (2 years), before they can even think about specialist surgeon training. Their ideal job (which involves saving lives), would start proper in their mid-twenties, after studying for 8+ years. Basic salary would be £29-44,000 a year.

Mr Premiership-footballer on the other hand, spent the last five years jogging around a field and practising set pieces. In his mid-twenties, he is coming up to the height of his career, and he earns more money in a week than the surgeon does in nearly 3 years.

While natural talent should of course be rewarded, who's working the hardest, and who's under more stress?

More importantly, which profession would be more appealing to young boys wondering what to do with their lives when they are older?

I'm sorry but £100,000+ a week is not justified at all for what footballers do, no matter how talented they are, and it is easy to see why children have little motivation to study for the real jobs that count, when society constantly rams consumerism and glamour down our throats.
Our priorities are all wrong...

Answer 2

Let's be fair. Players' wages come from money paid by supporters whether at the turnstiles, buying souvenirs, paying for TV channels or through advertising (which we all pay for when buying products). At the end of the day (to use a footballing cliche), the players are the ones who attract the money so why shouldn't they get it. The average Premier League wage is £12,000 per week, only a few get the astronomical ones. Thing is that if someone like, say Madonna or Elton John or Barbara Streisand does a concert and gets paid millions nobody bothers. Streisand got £20,000,000 for a half hour show and nobody said a dickybird! Puts things in perspective doesn't it? I agree that nurses, doctors and so on do a magnificent job but don't forget that those who are on the take through private medicine can make a fortune too. A friend was offered £120,000 a year to nurse in the USA, not footballers wages granted, but a lot more than NHS staff get.

John Terry on £135,000 a week is the 95th highest sports earner in Britain. That puts 94 above him with people like Bernie Eccleston (racing) on about £1m a week.

Remember that high earners pay 40% in tax so they're keeping yiour income tax bill down.

Answer 3

Although I do think that the salaries are high they are in conjunction with other top sports which get so much sponsership. If it is unfair to say that Terry and Gerrard are getting paid too much when you look at people like Lewis Hamelton. Who will be earing proabably more than the top english players and will only increase. Boxers rake in millions from one fight every 6 months. golfers can do the same at the majors. It is how the players spend the money which annoys me most. £50,000 on a turn of a card, or on a new car which they just go and reck.
Take Alan Shearer. I dont think anyone will object to the millions he earned over his career as he didnt make front line/back pages on just blowing it. There are plenty of footballers out there who spend the money wisely. The young players who get £50,000 a week just have no advise on how to spend it. Imagine if you gave an 18 y/o that kind of money, what would he do without proper guidance. I think that clubs should guide and advise the players with the money. That's the problem

Answer 4

high they are in conjunction with other top sports which get so much sponsership. If it is unfair to say that Terry and Gerrard are getting paid too much when you look at people like Lewis Hamelton. Who will be earing proabably more than the top english players and will only increase. Boxers rake in millions from one fight every 6 months. golfers can do the same at the majors. It is how the players spend the money which annoys me most. £50,000 on a turn of a card, or on a new car which they just go and reck.
Take Alan Shearer. I dont think anyone will object to the millions he earned over his career as he didnt make front line/back pages on just blowing it. There are plenty of footballers out there who spend the money wisely. The young players who get £50,000 a week just have no advise on how to spend it. Imagine if you gave an 18 y/o that kind of money, what would he do without proper guidance. I think that clubs should guide and advise the players with the money. That's the problem

Answer 5

To put it into perspective, I have read of heart transplant units closing because there was not enough funding available to attract top surgeons. Those guys who really do make a difference to peoples lives don't earn what the like of Beckham, Ronaldinho, John Terry and the likes pull in.
However life is not fair or just and there certainly is no sense of fairness about top football players salaries but I don't blame them either, if the system is so screwed up to pay them that, then who would turn it down. The same goes for singers, actors, tv hosts and so on - who in reality add very little to life but are rewarded out of all propotion.
Your question though was is it justified and the answer in any sane persons mind is no it is not.

Answer 6

The argument in favour of high salaries is basically that they can only 'work' for a few years and are then on the scrap heap. However, most of us will only get the amount a top footballer gets in a month for a whole lifetiime of work - and that with no more financial security than the next pay cheque.

On a financial basis, how do football clubs get the money to pay salaries and transfer fees for the top players? Can a team with a £20 million player get even the equivalent of bank rate interest on their (wasting) investment except from the turnstiles, never mind the inflated pay for that man for each week?

Surely this is a bubble that must sooner or later burst and leave many ordinary people who pay their pound or two at the turnstiles regularly worse off?

My answer to the question is therefore a resounding "NO"

Answer 7

Not entirely no. We see players in the top flight getting paid well over 100 grand a week. While I love football I would say that no it's not justified. People have already stated that workers in the emergency services, the military and the healthcare professions get paid pitiful wages, they earn a fraction in their lifetimes than football players earn in a year, it's preposterous.

Obviously I don't blame the players, they do work hard, they go through intense training, control their diets and to perform week in and week out at the top of the game takes, determination and a high degree of physical fitness.

However, we see the likes of john Terry, Wayne Rooney and David Beckham earning so much and what exactly can they ever spend so much money on? The buy mansions and cars that cost hundreds of thousands of pounds and yet, certainly in the case of David Beckham, it still doesn't come close to the the amount they earn.

Pay them a lot, but not that much. If they we're paid say £160,000 a year and they saved and invested a portion of that money then they would be able to retire from football and still live in the kind of luxury most of us can only dream of.

Also, to Doctor John (page 2) Are you mad? Top flight teams today would completely destroy teams from the 50's, 60's and 70's. For the simple reason that they're fitter, have more skill and play professionally every week in the league, not to mention competitions such as the F.A Cup, the Carling Cup and the Champions League. Whereas players from those eras were still mainly amateurs. Sorry to burst your bubble mate but you might want to re-think your stance there.

Answer 8

A comment was made on the radio the other day why do people single out footballers when TV Film personalities and some musicians earn hypersalaries as well.
I see it like this.
.TV LICENCE COSTS ABOUT £12 PER MONTH
.CINEMA NO MORE THAN £10 DVD/ CD NO MORE THAN £20. Making these alot more accessible.
I would agree with comments of you wouldn't turn down their wages. IMHO Its the fault of the clubs instead of paying excessive wages they could cut ticket prices perhaps.
Regarding short career argument in a year a highly paid footballer could earn what an average person earns in a lifetime. But at the end of the day the clubs deem the players are worth this, the important thing is the players are active in their clubs communities using their privileged position

Answer 9

Although I do think that the salaries are high they are in conjunction with other top sports which get so much sponsership. If it is unfair to say that Terry and Gerrard are getting paid too much when you look at people like Lewis Hamelton. Who will be earing proabably more than the top english players and will only increase. Boxers rake in millions from one fight every 6 months. golfers can do the same at the majors. It is how the players spend the money which annoys me most. £50,000 on a turn of a card, or on a new car which they just go and reck.

Answer 10

No most certainly not. A major problem is that they distort the amount of money a school child believes they could earn doing the same job. Why be a dentist, doctor or WHY when all you have to do is kick a ball or drive a car fast?
There should be a limit on what anybody can earn - I would suggest £250,000 is more than enough for ANY job.
Tony Bliar should have anything in excess to this taken away for simply writing his 'memoirs' AKA a pack of lies.
Why should somebody get millions for writing Harry Potter stories.
Why should incompetents be paid so much and given such good pensions for being MPs and Ministers when they block other people getting what they were once due for.
BAH! I hate the lot of them - they are destroying MY Country.
I'll stop now!
RoyS

Answer 11

In a word no.
The argument of a short career is meaningless when in a month some of these guys make more than many will make in a life time.
To put it into perspective, I have read of heart transplant units closing because there was not enough funding available to attract top surgeons. Those guys who really do make a difference to peoples lives don't earn what the like of Beckham, Ronaldinho, John Terry and the likes pull in.
However life is not fair or just and there certainly is no sense of fairness about top football players salaries but I don't blame them either, if the system is so screwed up to pay them that, then who would turn it down. The same goes for singers, actors, tv hosts and so on - who in reality add very little to life but are rewarded out of all propotion.
Your question though was is it justified and the answer in any sane persons mind is no it is not.