Anger at football ownership but are the players getting away with it?
As football fans up and down the country rightfully continue to fume at their respective owners in light of the (now shattered) Super League plans, something else has been bothering me the more I think about it.
The players have been portrayed as innocent victims in this sinister plan of the owners and while I believe they knew nothing about the plans, I don’t think it’s right that we should be feeling sorry for them and portraying them as victims in this whole sorry saga. Why I hear you ask? Simple, because it’s their fault. There is one thing and one thing alone that is crippling football financially and that is player wages.
Our own players all released simultaneous statements on their social media accounts, speaking out against the SL plans as one and making their feelings clear on the issue, which was rightly welcomed by the fans at the time. I didn’t see any of them offering to take a pay cut however. Quite the opposite in fact, Salah has been speaking about his contract situation at every available opportunity. Gini also looks set to leave the club over money, despite professing his love for the club and desire to stay.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not demonising our players, it’s an issue across the board. De Bruyne has been getting praise in the media for not using an agent when negotiating his new contract and carrying out his own negotiations with just his lawyer present. Now I applaud him for not using an agent but what do you need an agent for when you can negotiate your own terms at a whopping £395,000 a week!!
Real Madrid’s head honcho Fiorentina Perez has been outlandish in his claims since news of the SL broke, insisting it’s required to “save football” and speaking about how his own club have no money and are in a terrible financial situation… as they put the finishing touches to David Alaba’s €400,000 a week contract and are paying Gareth Bale €400,000 a week to play for someone else!!
Fear not for all Spanish football however, as Barcelona legend Lionel Messi has decided he’ll do his bit to save the club and has agreed to a pay cut. God knows how he’ll get by but he’s agreed to struggle on only earning a measly €800,000 A WEEK!!!
Twenty year old Erling Haaland is another. Apparently he knows exactly what he wants from his next contract and that is €30 million a year wages plus €20 million for his agent and €20 million for his dad. Oh is that all? Plus the €130 million Dortmund want? I’ll see what’s down the back of the couch…
The whole thing is a nonsense and while I do believe it’s the responsibility of the clubs to keep their wage bill in order, the insatiable greed we see from modern players and their agents needs shot down as well.
What kind of inflated sense of self worth makes you think you can demand wages in excess of half a million a week? It’s an immoral amount of money for one person to be making and make no mistake, the players know football is on the brink of financial collapse but they don’t care as long as clubs find a way to pay them, and as long as clubs need to keep trying to find new ways of bringing in massive revenue because their wage bills are so high, they will continue to explore ideas like the Super League.
Football needs a reset and there will never be a better time to do it than right now but it’s more than just an ownership issue. The whole industry has become a cesspit of greed, corruption and opportunism and it’s time football was regulated from top to bottom. Ownership, transfers, wages and for god sake, somebody get a grip of agents.
Ultimately though, as much as they may be our heroes on the pitch, the players are every bit as accountable for the crisis football currently finds itself in as anybody else. Greed and inflated self worth is bankrupting the game and in my opinion, the footballing reset needs to start with a cold, hard slap of reality for the players.
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