Well, being a yank, I have a little experience with salary caps. Salary caps are good IF AND ONLY IF you enjoy a league of watered-down sameness. While this may sound initially appealing consider that much of the charm of sports is based on hatred. For example, I hate Manchester United as much as the next non-Man U fan. Salary caps make this all go out the window. How can you hate a championship club? Ridiculous you say? Consider that before the NFL salary cap, the 4 most successful teams were the Raiders, the Cowboys, the 49ers and the Steelers. Now note that if American football relegated their 3 worst clubs each year, three of these four would have faced relegation since the cap. Is this what you really want? Think long and hard before you answer.
Posted 04:04 9th October 2008
Paul young (Rangers fan) says...
I agree with the salary cap, but make it decent to attract the top players and of course world wide.But heres my twist. Pay all players a % of their salary on a weekly basis and at the end of their contract pay out the balance if and only if they havent breached their contract. This would stop many young players going off the rails with stupid amounts of money in their wallets every week and it would make more senior players loyal to the contract they signed.
Posted 02:52 9th October 2008
John Bagley (Manchester United fan) says...
They have salary caps in the U.S.A. They do work. Also, if we wanted to keep the current system why not create a ceiling for the maximum wage bill, anything over there is a penalty. For example, lets say the max wage bill for the premiership is 30million. If Chelsea's wage bill is 40million, they have to pay 1:1 over the 30million. That money would go to teams that are under the wage bill. This would then cost Roman 50million. Talk about making a difference. Also, it would reintroduce the need to develop the youth squad and find "good" investments not just throw money at players from Spain and Italy.
This is better than a hard salary cap. Let Chelsea and others go over the wage bill. Teams like Hull City and Sunderland will get a bonus from teams like Chelsea and use the money to get quality mid-tier players.
And I am not picking on Chelsea. ManU would be over the wage bill as would a bunch of other clubs. Chelsea just spends crazy money.
Posted 02:20 9th October 2008
Chris G (Manchester United fan) says...
The salary cap is an interesting one. Living in Australia I have seen first hand the upside and downside of this policy in sport as it is implemented across most sports here. The problem is if the salary cap is not introduced worldwide in football then you are simply going to have a scenario similar to Sonny Bill-Williams leaving Australia's NRL (which has a salary cap) to play Rugby Union in France which he openly admitted was for financial reasons. This would simply end up in players moving from country to country (or in this case, switching codes) seeking the best financial reward for their services and this isnt really a great message to be sending to kids who may have the choice of being able to pursue a professional career in football or any sport.
If it is introduced worldwide it may also have an impact on the number of people who want to play the game professionally (no longer seen as glamourous in respect to other sports - Basketball in USA or F1 etc).
The plus side though is that it eradicates the unfair advantage a team gains by having billionaire backing, as far as buying players goes, at least.
Not only that, if the AFL (Aussie rules) is anything to go by it will even up the teams in terms of how many world class players are in each team and therefore we may have a situation were teams outside of 'the big four' win the premiership, which can only be good for football in England as, since I was born there have only been 6 different winners of England's top division.
As far as the salary cap is concerned in English football alone, I think it would be a very strange thing for the FA to do as it would take away the advantage this league currently has of being the best in the World. If however, UEFA or FIFA decided to implement a salary cap across the board it might be viable but I think there are other issues in football that need addressed far quicker than this.
Posted 01:22 9th October 2008
Jonny Bluenose (Birmingham City fan) says...
Like most ignorant fans of one particular premier league club, the idea that stadiums have 75000 people paying 20 quid each week does not mean the players should recieve a massive wage each week. If wages were capped then ticket prices would be reduced and the REAL football fans could back into the grounds. I have a young family, work hard and am trying to pay a mortgage, my son wants me to take him to a match at Birmingham City, it would cost £53.00 for 2 adults and a 4 year old - money i just can't afford, yet these players are getting 6 figure somes each week. Many of them could not give a toss about the sport we love, they are happy to go to a bigger club and rot on the bench each week, they STILL Get paid stupid money and average joe like me can't get to see a match. Kids are not football mad like they used to be, they have nowhere to play football anymore and can't afford to see matches unless they're on pay per view channels - this kind of thing all adds up to the future of English Football, many potential British footballers can't get into football as its so difficult for them to do so.
Posted 00:45 9th October 2008
James Drew (Newcastle United fan) says...
Ever since Roman Abramovich arrived in the premiership, football has been rubbish!! The amount of money he put into football, well chelsea to be honest is ridiculous. I think that putting a wage limit on players is the best idea the fa have come up with. i also think that their should be a limit on transfers fees as well. this will stop people like abramovich and this new city owner spending millions on players. then at the olympics, which is 100% more interesting than football, the athletes get practically nothing. they put in twice as much effort for the goals they set out to achieve. they do this for the love of their sport. footballers, all they care about is money these days not the club they play for. i honestly hope they put a wage limit on players and i hope all the world class players play their football else where, this would mean you get players that want to play for their club, this will make football a lot more interesting and until this happens i wont be taking much interest anymore.
Posted 23:56 8th October 2008
Mark Farren says...
I'm not convinced that a salary cap is a workable scheme. Freedom to earn, human rights etc would get the idea so hung up in court that it would never see the light.
I read a while ago that clubs with debt greater then their worth faced heavy sanctions from UEFA (IE banishment from European competition).
Surely if clubs finances (or lack thereof) effected their opportunities to win stuff, then the incentive to sort out the finances would be there.
That way the big clubs with huge debt would get hurt more than the small clubs with lesser debt.
How would Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal fans feel if their club was excluded from competitions due to bad fiscal management (they'd change the upper management pretty damn smartish).
Equally, who will come to you for whatever wages if you don't offer them the marketability they need for the endorsements..? (Would Ronaldinho be anything like as marketable as he is if he'd played for Hartlepool, or Man Utd say in the Championship - i think not).
Forcing the clubs to manage themselves better will only work if you threaten to remove their licence to print money (ie champions league, EPL etc).
Blaming the players for high salaries and caping them, targets the wrong people...
Criticising players is an all too easy knee-jerk reaction made by those who worship players or simply hang out with them for the shared limelight...
Fix the hidden real problem, don't take the media friendly cheap shot...
I hope i didn't offend anybody, it's just my random thoughts on the subject.
Posted 23:54 8th October 2008
Steven Oliver (Hearts fan) says...
The salary cap should have been introduced several years ago , at the very top by fifa before all the tv companys started to shell out funny money. many teams throught the world are well in debt yet had these ben treated like ordinary businesses then the banks would have clsed them all down years ago , which is sad. we must move on with the times and get it sorted out now. these so called superstars should never have been able to get any more than a comany executive at possibly 5grand max per week.what do they need all that money for anyway. most regular jobs only get around 200 quid a week !! try living in the real world !!! also why do we need transfer money either its all so idiotic and needless, would someone pay 10 million to a scots plumbling company to transfer to london ??? dont think so or pay 15 milion to a manchester building company to transfer a brickie to milan ??? brainless waste of money .
Posted 22:47 8th October 2008
Colin Graves (Manchester United fan) says...
Salary caps will only work if applied across the board - in this case UEFA would have to implement it across the whole of Europe. If the EPA set a unilateral salary cap then English football could become inferior to the rest of Europe. Also, any salary cap would have to represent a good deal to the players in relation to the money they bring in - and don't expect that to help out the smaller clubs too much.
Posted 22:30 8th October 2008
Steve Dearden (Manchester United fan) says...
A salary cap is a must. Football players are currently paid stupid money, which I firmly believe is immoral. I love this beautiful game, but anyone earning 5 and 6 figure salaries each week needs to look at themselves closely in the mirror. I love watching my team do well, but I would sacrifice success tomorrow if it meant that players earned a sensible salary. This said, I do believe in a level playing field and I love watching top class players whatever their nationality. Any cap would need to be orchestrated by FIFA to ensure the world's best players don't simply pack their bags and follow the money to play in leagues where a salary cap doesn't exist.
Posted 22:29 8th October 2008
Matthew Lloyd (Manchester United fan) says...
A salary cap would be both unjustifiable and detrimental to the Premiership. Yes, players get paid a huge amount of money, but if say 75,000 people go to Old Trafford, all paying at least £20 every other week to see 22 players, it's only fair that a decent chunk of that goes to those players (not to mention the tv rights, merchandising etc.). If a club is spending more on wages than it can afford, that is bad business management on that club's behalf and is not the players' fault. If legislation has to be brought, perhaps a maximum club expenditure on wages could be tied to 50% of turnover or something similar.
Posted 22:25 8th October 2008
Chris Smith (Manchester United fan) says...
I think its a great idea, no player is worth 100 grand a week. It should be 10,000 and no more for the top players. But to make it fair it has to be across the board with all european teams also working under the same rules. It may even be better for the fans with savings from the clubs passed onto cheaper season tickets.
Posted 22:02 8th October 2008
Simon Hirst (West Bromwich Albion fan) says...
I think this is a good idea. I am interested as to where the cap would go though, would it be a player can earn a maximum of so much a week, or the club can spend so much a week on wages for all there players? I admit it would hinder the chances of seeing the world's best play in the premier league, and we would rarely see 2 english teams in the Champions league final, but the positives r that it wud give younger domestic players a chance to play in our league where they can be trained to a higher degree which wud be funded with the money that wud have been spent on foreign imports. football used to be the working mans game, players used to go in the pub with players after they had played and have a few drinks, now its for those who can afford it. Let's brign football back where it belongs and that for everyone to enjoy it.
Posted 22:01 8th October 2008
Ashley Cutten says...
I think this is a great idea. Just look at rugby for example, they use salary caps and look how well the national team has done. This would get rid of the foreigners who just want to play for money. Take robinho for example he wouldnt be at man city if it wasnt for the money. I say bring the salray cap in then the prem would be far more competitive and not just about the so called ''big 4''. Ashley (Leeds fan)
Posted 21:57 8th October 2008
Zeus Dormer (Manchester United fan) says...
A wage cap is a ridiculous idea. All that hard work by directors at the successful clubs to get where they are today will be lost. Idiots who put there clubs into debt through wage payments will be let off the hook. Look at Manchester United, where were we 20 years ago, we got where we are today through hard work, grafting.
United have a relatively low wage bill per % revenue, as has Arsenal, two successful clubs. Wages at clubs like Newcastle are not so clever. There is no restrictions that could be put in place to stop some idiot at Newcastle signing a washed up player and pay him the Earth. They have no choice, live in Milan, Madrid, London or sunny newcastle.
Bye Bye premier league.
Any restrictions on any body/business means that competitors to that business have a FREE advantage.
What advantage do Premier League clubs get from this wage cap.
NONE
Posted 21:39 8th October 2008
Graham Blandford (Arsenal fan) says...
It's interesting to see the number of Chelsea and Manchester United fans reacting very badly to Mr. Triesman's comments. (Credit to those that see the real issues).
Personally, I would support a cap (although I'm not surprised it was the Bolton chairman who proposed the measures here - not exactly a club that has lit up the European stage with flair football or multitude of superstars..). But the cap has to be enforced at the UEFA level. We can't expect the FA to enforce this and not their counterparts in Europe - otherwise we are very quickly going to see an exodus of players from the Premiership and our league will simply not be able to compete. Arsene Wenger has had a wage cap in place during his time as coach and unless I'm very much mistaken, the club is NOT running in debt. This is good news for us gooners, as any UEFA sanctioned cap will have minimal effect on us. Mind you, it can be just as infuriating when big players up and leave for pastures new when management can't/won't break the pay scales. Wenger is a VERY shrewd coach and businessman. I suspect he has seen this day coming for some time...
Posted 20:37 8th October 2008
Matt Stevenson (Liverpool fan) says...
I'm going to stick up for football players here. People are talking about doctors etc, but a private doctor earns loads! Plus he doesn't entertain millions of people week in week out. Noone complains about Tom Cruise or Bill Gates earning shed loads so why not Football players. There is a huge demand to watch football and this supplies a lot of money, that rightly should go to the ones who provide the entertainment. If a salary cap comes in it should not be for a player but as a percentage of a clubs income. This would mean a club can spend according to success instead of having a situation like Leeds United. Don't hate the player, hate the game as someone once said.
Posted 20:27 8th October 2008
Neil Styles (Liverpool fan) says...
Salary capping is a great idea, because, as has been stated before, it will level the playing field, and make the league a lot more interesting for the teams who are not so well funded.
However, I think it will have to be done on a European, if not worldwide level to prove successful.
If not, then the best players would end up in leagues like the MLS, just for the money.
Posted 19:41 8th October 2008
John Devlin (Liverpool fan) says...
I think a salary cap is a good idea. Not only will it stop spiralling debt, it will also mean a bit more of a level playing field between clubs.
Posted 17:52 8th October 2008
Ibukun Adebayo (Arsenal fan) says...
I'm surprised all these clubs have been paying players the millions they do, on the back of £3bn debt! Have they never heard of the saying 'cut your cloth according to your size?' Here's foolish me thinking players are paid, from the gate takings, plus the monies received from the FA/UEFA etc.for any competitions won - obviously not the case!
I don't see the justification behind football players wages, compared to, say brain surgeons wages. Why pay a player more money than they or their entire generation can ever finish spending in a lifetime?
Plus, it's amazing that we go and import players from abroad ,and pay them the highest salaries because of their 'skill' rather than invest the same money in developing and growing our own - then we wonder how those same players return to their country of origin for international competitions and actually WIN something (Torres, Fabregas, Ronaldo...), whilst we get to watch Euro 2008 from our homes, pitifully changing our allegiances as each round progressed - being sure of only one thing, i.e. we wanted Croatia knocked out quickly!
We need to start investing realistic wages to home-grown players who have the PASSION and PRIDE to play for club and country and let's see whether we won't start winning at international level again.
(Posted by 'the original Emmanuel Adebayo's' wife)
Comments (63)
Tony Maika (Arsenal fan) says...
Well, being a yank, I have a little experience with salary caps. Salary caps are good IF AND ONLY IF you enjoy a league of watered-down sameness. While this may sound initially appealing consider that much of the charm of sports is based on hatred. For example, I hate Manchester United as much as the next non-Man U fan. Salary caps make this all go out the window. How can you hate a championship club? Ridiculous you say? Consider that before the NFL salary cap, the 4 most successful teams were the Raiders, the Cowboys, the 49ers and the Steelers. Now note that if American football relegated their 3 worst clubs each year, three of these four would have faced relegation since the cap. Is this what you really want? Think long and hard before you answer.
Posted 04:04 9th October 2008
Paul young (Rangers fan) says...
I agree with the salary cap, but make it decent to attract the top players and of course world wide.But heres my twist. Pay all players a % of their salary on a weekly basis and at the end of their contract pay out the balance if and only if they havent breached their contract. This would stop many young players going off the rails with stupid amounts of money in their wallets every week and it would make more senior players loyal to the contract they signed.
Posted 02:52 9th October 2008
John Bagley (Manchester United fan) says...
They have salary caps in the U.S.A. They do work. Also, if we wanted to keep the current system why not create a ceiling for the maximum wage bill, anything over there is a penalty. For example, lets say the max wage bill for the premiership is 30million. If Chelsea's wage bill is 40million, they have to pay 1:1 over the 30million. That money would go to teams that are under the wage bill. This would then cost Roman 50million. Talk about making a difference. Also, it would reintroduce the need to develop the youth squad and find "good" investments not just throw money at players from Spain and Italy. This is better than a hard salary cap. Let Chelsea and others go over the wage bill. Teams like Hull City and Sunderland will get a bonus from teams like Chelsea and use the money to get quality mid-tier players. And I am not picking on Chelsea. ManU would be over the wage bill as would a bunch of other clubs. Chelsea just spends crazy money.
Posted 02:20 9th October 2008
Chris G (Manchester United fan) says...
The salary cap is an interesting one. Living in Australia I have seen first hand the upside and downside of this policy in sport as it is implemented across most sports here. The problem is if the salary cap is not introduced worldwide in football then you are simply going to have a scenario similar to Sonny Bill-Williams leaving Australia's NRL (which has a salary cap) to play Rugby Union in France which he openly admitted was for financial reasons. This would simply end up in players moving from country to country (or in this case, switching codes) seeking the best financial reward for their services and this isnt really a great message to be sending to kids who may have the choice of being able to pursue a professional career in football or any sport. If it is introduced worldwide it may also have an impact on the number of people who want to play the game professionally (no longer seen as glamourous in respect to other sports - Basketball in USA or F1 etc). The plus side though is that it eradicates the unfair advantage a team gains by having billionaire backing, as far as buying players goes, at least. Not only that, if the AFL (Aussie rules) is anything to go by it will even up the teams in terms of how many world class players are in each team and therefore we may have a situation were teams outside of 'the big four' win the premiership, which can only be good for football in England as, since I was born there have only been 6 different winners of England's top division. As far as the salary cap is concerned in English football alone, I think it would be a very strange thing for the FA to do as it would take away the advantage this league currently has of being the best in the World. If however, UEFA or FIFA decided to implement a salary cap across the board it might be viable but I think there are other issues in football that need addressed far quicker than this.
Posted 01:22 9th October 2008
Jonny Bluenose (Birmingham City fan) says...
Like most ignorant fans of one particular premier league club, the idea that stadiums have 75000 people paying 20 quid each week does not mean the players should recieve a massive wage each week. If wages were capped then ticket prices would be reduced and the REAL football fans could back into the grounds. I have a young family, work hard and am trying to pay a mortgage, my son wants me to take him to a match at Birmingham City, it would cost £53.00 for 2 adults and a 4 year old - money i just can't afford, yet these players are getting 6 figure somes each week. Many of them could not give a toss about the sport we love, they are happy to go to a bigger club and rot on the bench each week, they STILL Get paid stupid money and average joe like me can't get to see a match. Kids are not football mad like they used to be, they have nowhere to play football anymore and can't afford to see matches unless they're on pay per view channels - this kind of thing all adds up to the future of English Football, many potential British footballers can't get into football as its so difficult for them to do so.
Posted 00:45 9th October 2008
James Drew (Newcastle United fan) says...
Ever since Roman Abramovich arrived in the premiership, football has been rubbish!! The amount of money he put into football, well chelsea to be honest is ridiculous. I think that putting a wage limit on players is the best idea the fa have come up with. i also think that their should be a limit on transfers fees as well. this will stop people like abramovich and this new city owner spending millions on players. then at the olympics, which is 100% more interesting than football, the athletes get practically nothing. they put in twice as much effort for the goals they set out to achieve. they do this for the love of their sport. footballers, all they care about is money these days not the club they play for. i honestly hope they put a wage limit on players and i hope all the world class players play their football else where, this would mean you get players that want to play for their club, this will make football a lot more interesting and until this happens i wont be taking much interest anymore.
Posted 23:56 8th October 2008
Mark Farren says...
I'm not convinced that a salary cap is a workable scheme. Freedom to earn, human rights etc would get the idea so hung up in court that it would never see the light. I read a while ago that clubs with debt greater then their worth faced heavy sanctions from UEFA (IE banishment from European competition). Surely if clubs finances (or lack thereof) effected their opportunities to win stuff, then the incentive to sort out the finances would be there. That way the big clubs with huge debt would get hurt more than the small clubs with lesser debt. How would Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal fans feel if their club was excluded from competitions due to bad fiscal management (they'd change the upper management pretty damn smartish). Equally, who will come to you for whatever wages if you don't offer them the marketability they need for the endorsements..? (Would Ronaldinho be anything like as marketable as he is if he'd played for Hartlepool, or Man Utd say in the Championship - i think not). Forcing the clubs to manage themselves better will only work if you threaten to remove their licence to print money (ie champions league, EPL etc). Blaming the players for high salaries and caping them, targets the wrong people... Criticising players is an all too easy knee-jerk reaction made by those who worship players or simply hang out with them for the shared limelight... Fix the hidden real problem, don't take the media friendly cheap shot... I hope i didn't offend anybody, it's just my random thoughts on the subject.
Posted 23:54 8th October 2008
Steven Oliver (Hearts fan) says...
The salary cap should have been introduced several years ago , at the very top by fifa before all the tv companys started to shell out funny money. many teams throught the world are well in debt yet had these ben treated like ordinary businesses then the banks would have clsed them all down years ago , which is sad. we must move on with the times and get it sorted out now. these so called superstars should never have been able to get any more than a comany executive at possibly 5grand max per week.what do they need all that money for anyway. most regular jobs only get around 200 quid a week !! try living in the real world !!! also why do we need transfer money either its all so idiotic and needless, would someone pay 10 million to a scots plumbling company to transfer to london ??? dont think so or pay 15 milion to a manchester building company to transfer a brickie to milan ??? brainless waste of money .
Posted 22:47 8th October 2008
Colin Graves (Manchester United fan) says...
Salary caps will only work if applied across the board - in this case UEFA would have to implement it across the whole of Europe. If the EPA set a unilateral salary cap then English football could become inferior to the rest of Europe. Also, any salary cap would have to represent a good deal to the players in relation to the money they bring in - and don't expect that to help out the smaller clubs too much.
Posted 22:30 8th October 2008
Steve Dearden (Manchester United fan) says...
A salary cap is a must. Football players are currently paid stupid money, which I firmly believe is immoral. I love this beautiful game, but anyone earning 5 and 6 figure salaries each week needs to look at themselves closely in the mirror. I love watching my team do well, but I would sacrifice success tomorrow if it meant that players earned a sensible salary. This said, I do believe in a level playing field and I love watching top class players whatever their nationality. Any cap would need to be orchestrated by FIFA to ensure the world's best players don't simply pack their bags and follow the money to play in leagues where a salary cap doesn't exist.
Posted 22:29 8th October 2008
Matthew Lloyd (Manchester United fan) says...
A salary cap would be both unjustifiable and detrimental to the Premiership. Yes, players get paid a huge amount of money, but if say 75,000 people go to Old Trafford, all paying at least £20 every other week to see 22 players, it's only fair that a decent chunk of that goes to those players (not to mention the tv rights, merchandising etc.). If a club is spending more on wages than it can afford, that is bad business management on that club's behalf and is not the players' fault. If legislation has to be brought, perhaps a maximum club expenditure on wages could be tied to 50% of turnover or something similar.
Posted 22:25 8th October 2008
Chris Smith (Manchester United fan) says...
I think its a great idea, no player is worth 100 grand a week. It should be 10,000 and no more for the top players. But to make it fair it has to be across the board with all european teams also working under the same rules. It may even be better for the fans with savings from the clubs passed onto cheaper season tickets.
Posted 22:02 8th October 2008
Simon Hirst (West Bromwich Albion fan) says...
I think this is a good idea. I am interested as to where the cap would go though, would it be a player can earn a maximum of so much a week, or the club can spend so much a week on wages for all there players? I admit it would hinder the chances of seeing the world's best play in the premier league, and we would rarely see 2 english teams in the Champions league final, but the positives r that it wud give younger domestic players a chance to play in our league where they can be trained to a higher degree which wud be funded with the money that wud have been spent on foreign imports. football used to be the working mans game, players used to go in the pub with players after they had played and have a few drinks, now its for those who can afford it. Let's brign football back where it belongs and that for everyone to enjoy it.
Posted 22:01 8th October 2008
Ashley Cutten says...
I think this is a great idea. Just look at rugby for example, they use salary caps and look how well the national team has done. This would get rid of the foreigners who just want to play for money. Take robinho for example he wouldnt be at man city if it wasnt for the money. I say bring the salray cap in then the prem would be far more competitive and not just about the so called ''big 4''. Ashley (Leeds fan)
Posted 21:57 8th October 2008
Zeus Dormer (Manchester United fan) says...
A wage cap is a ridiculous idea. All that hard work by directors at the successful clubs to get where they are today will be lost. Idiots who put there clubs into debt through wage payments will be let off the hook. Look at Manchester United, where were we 20 years ago, we got where we are today through hard work, grafting. United have a relatively low wage bill per % revenue, as has Arsenal, two successful clubs. Wages at clubs like Newcastle are not so clever. There is no restrictions that could be put in place to stop some idiot at Newcastle signing a washed up player and pay him the Earth. They have no choice, live in Milan, Madrid, London or sunny newcastle. Bye Bye premier league. Any restrictions on any body/business means that competitors to that business have a FREE advantage. What advantage do Premier League clubs get from this wage cap. NONE
Posted 21:39 8th October 2008
Graham Blandford (Arsenal fan) says...
It's interesting to see the number of Chelsea and Manchester United fans reacting very badly to Mr. Triesman's comments. (Credit to those that see the real issues). Personally, I would support a cap (although I'm not surprised it was the Bolton chairman who proposed the measures here - not exactly a club that has lit up the European stage with flair football or multitude of superstars..). But the cap has to be enforced at the UEFA level. We can't expect the FA to enforce this and not their counterparts in Europe - otherwise we are very quickly going to see an exodus of players from the Premiership and our league will simply not be able to compete. Arsene Wenger has had a wage cap in place during his time as coach and unless I'm very much mistaken, the club is NOT running in debt. This is good news for us gooners, as any UEFA sanctioned cap will have minimal effect on us. Mind you, it can be just as infuriating when big players up and leave for pastures new when management can't/won't break the pay scales. Wenger is a VERY shrewd coach and businessman. I suspect he has seen this day coming for some time...
Posted 20:37 8th October 2008
Matt Stevenson (Liverpool fan) says...
I'm going to stick up for football players here. People are talking about doctors etc, but a private doctor earns loads! Plus he doesn't entertain millions of people week in week out. Noone complains about Tom Cruise or Bill Gates earning shed loads so why not Football players. There is a huge demand to watch football and this supplies a lot of money, that rightly should go to the ones who provide the entertainment. If a salary cap comes in it should not be for a player but as a percentage of a clubs income. This would mean a club can spend according to success instead of having a situation like Leeds United. Don't hate the player, hate the game as someone once said.
Posted 20:27 8th October 2008
Neil Styles (Liverpool fan) says...
Salary capping is a great idea, because, as has been stated before, it will level the playing field, and make the league a lot more interesting for the teams who are not so well funded. However, I think it will have to be done on a European, if not worldwide level to prove successful. If not, then the best players would end up in leagues like the MLS, just for the money.
Posted 19:41 8th October 2008
John Devlin (Liverpool fan) says...
I think a salary cap is a good idea. Not only will it stop spiralling debt, it will also mean a bit more of a level playing field between clubs.
Posted 17:52 8th October 2008
Ibukun Adebayo (Arsenal fan) says...
I'm surprised all these clubs have been paying players the millions they do, on the back of £3bn debt! Have they never heard of the saying 'cut your cloth according to your size?' Here's foolish me thinking players are paid, from the gate takings, plus the monies received from the FA/UEFA etc.for any competitions won - obviously not the case! I don't see the justification behind football players wages, compared to, say brain surgeons wages. Why pay a player more money than they or their entire generation can ever finish spending in a lifetime? Plus, it's amazing that we go and import players from abroad ,and pay them the highest salaries because of their 'skill' rather than invest the same money in developing and growing our own - then we wonder how those same players return to their country of origin for international competitions and actually WIN something (Torres, Fabregas, Ronaldo...), whilst we get to watch Euro 2008 from our homes, pitifully changing our allegiances as each round progressed - being sure of only one thing, i.e. we wanted Croatia knocked out quickly! We need to start investing realistic wages to home-grown players who have the PASSION and PRIDE to play for club and country and let's see whether we won't start winning at international level again. (Posted by 'the original Emmanuel Adebayo's' wife)
Posted 13:59 8th October 2008