Fat Cat wages...

...specificaly footballl for the purpose of this post. A related article can be found here. Comments within prompted this post. Gordan Taylor big cheese at the PFA, what a fucking arse!

"No-one calls film stars' wages obscene or Robbie Williams' wages or the directors of big companies that get big payouts," he told The Times newspaper.

"It's supply and demand - they don't hold a gun to their owner's head. Football is a very precarious career that lasts a short time."

Eh i think people do call some of these wages obscene, not least Robbie Williams in my opinion talentless noise polluter that he is. Thierry Henry will make £6,760,000 a year under the terms of his new contract. That kind of wages kills dead the concerns over a short career. If you were lucky enough to earn a wage of £169,000 a year(a smidgen above the national average) it would take you 45 years to earn what Thierry will earn in a single year. How is that not obscene? I love football, Thierry Henry is a brilliant player and deserves to be richly rewarded for what he does and the entertainment he provides but the wages he and others are on are disgusting in a world where millions starve and in a country where poverty is far from eradicated and we have thousands homeless living on the streets. It's an affront to decency.

Football is a short career and players make sacrifices at a young age which will hinder them in later years in alternate careers. Some are more capable of coping with that than others. Football is a hugely popular sport, i don't begrudge professionals players wages that are above what the average fan earns. By the time they are 35 years old or so if they have enough to retire on in comfort that is fine by me. Ideally lots of them will stay working in football at all levels from thise that go on to manage and coach at big clubs to working with youngsters outwith the acadamies that bigger clubs now run.

Everyone of the examples given i'd quibble over the worst excesses of their earnings. How many people didn't think there was something wrong when you read about companies posting records profits and at the same time sacking thousands of workers with chiarman and chief excecs taking pay rises and huge bonuses? Film stars, doesTom Cruise really need another £20m plus payday? I dunno i guess actors getting their fare share is no worse than studio executives raking in it, at least the actors are part of the creative process but i'm sure the money could be more evenly spread throughout the industry.

Ach well, maybe there will be a wage cap in football as in other sports, i not sure how well they work, under the table payments etc. I don't see it happening just yet anyway.