The Editor Speaks: Rising Wages Killing the Game?
This week saw Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe make a name for himself on the back of John Terry's latest wage rise, labelling it 'obscene', as well as criticising Man Utd's ticket prices for pricing the ordinary fans out of the game.
Sutcliffe's comments have raised debate among sports writers this week, with many arguing that footballer's have every right to their inflated salaries, due to the fact that they attract the people into the stadiums and make football the money powerhouse that it currently is.
But what of the football fans? I for one have never met a soul, myself included, who agrees with the wages that even average Premiership footballers take home every week. The major reason for this is that I believe top level football has lost it's true meaning as a working class spectator sport, and now sees itself as profitable business which aims to cream revenue out of every crevice it can find.
Sutcliffe said, "Good luck to John Terry but I think it is obscene to be on £150,000 a week".
"I understand a footballer's career is limited but people in the street cannot understand salaries like that".
The typical argument against this is that if footballer's and their clubs are able to make this much money, then they should be able to enjoy the rewards of their success. if the fan's don't agree with the price they are paying, then why do they insist on going to games and taking out their subscriptions on Sky Sports?
This argument stands on very thin foundations. For a start, football has for over a century been the traditional past time of the working classes in Britain. The football clubs enjoy this popularity, but should not exist as a business with the aims of maximising profits, instead, the football club has a duty to keep prices in their stadium as low as possible, they are at their heart an entertainment institution. They were created at the beginning by fans, and were successful for their universal access. Football is the beautiful game because it takes nothing more than a football and couple of mates to set up a game, this is how it began, and this is how it has thrived.
The current mentality that seems to exist in premiership clubs is a fear that without money, they will lose ground on the other clubs, who carry raising ticket prices and attracting bigger and bigger investors. The league needs caps to be put on it, as the clubs left to their own devices will simply become greedier and greedier. The F.A. exists to make sure the game stays under control; perhpas it is time that they remember the fan who made the game what it is, and do something to bring football back to the masses.