How much should players be allowed to earn?

[clangers]

There's no perfect solution, I'd go for a salary cap similar to the NFL's. A flat rate, say £200-250 million a year, all salaries and fees included. All transactions publicly visible, all transactions made through the football clubs limited company, no subsidiary business structures for funding or payments. Any breach and you're out for a season.

[Anubis]

Let it eat itself and then see what you can build from the ashes.

[JohnnyH]

7 hours ago, Alex_K said:

Assume you'll cancel whatever money you direct to football then (tickets; merchandise; pay-TV) and send it all to nurses in Iraq?

 

If everyone stood by these kind of hyperbolic statements there'd be no money in the game of football and nurses, firemen & the likes would have pockets swelling with gold. As it is, its a world of hypocrites; the salaries that these players generate does not come from thin air, it comes from every man woman & child who chooses to contribute money/time/attention to the sport, while public service workers take a government-funded salary and do not swim Scrooge McDuck style in a bank vault funded by the generosity of words.

 

As for what a player should earn? They should earn what any free agent in any regulated free society should earn: whatever the market deems them worth. Should there be caps & monitoring on market? Of course. But many of those who scoffed at a Super League that would -- at the very least -- have put-paid to the inflationary tactics of the Oligarchs/Sovereign State Funds are happy to get up in arms at the results it yields. C'est la vie.

I can believe you hate the NHS/Nurses/Dead soldier zombie nurses. 

[deiseach]

I voted "They should all play for free" as that is what I would have in place if I were president-for-life. In terms of the real world though, I'd rather money ended up in the pockets of players than in the pockets of owners.

[aRdja]

Tricky question. I want the club to house some of the best players in the world but I don’t want the club to have one of the largest wage bills in the world. 

[dave u]

9 hours ago, Mathewbet1 said:

Hair gel and fake tan shortage in manchester incoming

I saw a tweet during the Euros from someone saying Grealish looks like he has the world's highest snapchat score. Someone then replied saying "yeah he definitely still sends streaks".

 

I only know how funny those are because I have a teenage daughter who uses snapchat.

[coachpotato]

Any notions that football at the highest level is a sport is a bit fanciful.

It’s a business and has been for decades now.

On that basis then, footballers should be allowed to earn as much as they can get for their skills, in the same way as any Electrician, Plumber or Doctor can do.

Of course, Club Owners (Employers) will try to get those skills as cheap as they can to maximise their own profits, or they’ll pay a premium for the highest skilled to try and ensure their product is more attractive (successful) and sells more than their competitors, thus giving them more profits that way.

For Employers and Employees it’s all about getting as much as you can.

The fans (customers) can buy if they like, or not.

All very cold and calculating.

Welcome to modern football.

 

 

 

[Elite]

In answer to the original question. I think £15.63 a hour and double at weekends.

 

[Total Longo]

56 minutes ago, dave u said:

I saw a tweet during the Euros from someone saying Grealish looks like he has the world's highest snapchat score. Someone then replied saying "yeah he definitely still sends streaks".

 

I only know how funny those are because I have a teenage daughter who uses snapchat.

[coachpotato]

2 hours ago, Elite said:

In answer to the original question. I think £15.63 a hour and double at weekends.

 

Fair.

Maybe triple time for MNF?

[Elite]

3 minutes ago, coachpotato said:

Fair.

Maybe triple time for MNF?

Time and two thirds.

[magicrat]

I voted for the pub.  Former stars half crippled from playing with pain killing injections for years slumped against the bar with red faces , a fag and a large scotch on the go banging on about the glory days to half a dozen bar flies. 

 

Heady days. 

[TheHowieLama]

5 hours ago, clangers said:

There's no perfect solution, I'd go for a salary cap similar to the NFL's. A flat rate, say £200-250 million a year, all salaries and fees included. All transactions publicly visible, all transactions made through the football clubs limited company, no subsidiary business structures for funding or payments. Any breach and you're out for a season.

That was the Super League.

[Colonel Bumcunt]

15 hours ago, Ron B said:

One of the weird things, even on this forum, is the claim that Messi is somehow personally to blame for Barcelona being in such a mess. 
“How much money does he need? He could play for free. He should play for free!”

A bold shout. Does anyone actually believe the is nonsense?

Messi has a big part to play in their wage mess.  Well, actually, Man City and PSG have a big part to play in it, because Barca had to match their ridiculous wage ceilings to keep the fucker there.  His 'loyalty' to Barca is a bit of a myth. 

[MOGLET]

Even if there was a cap at say £100 M a year, the greed of the agents and the players, would soon come to a head.

I could live the rest of my life very happily on £50 M, and I wouldn't want or indeed need any more.

Sadly, top players want the silly amounts to justify being who they are.

Greedy cnuts the lot of them.

 

And yes there are quite a few NHS staff (nurses, Doctors, Paramedics etc who have worked in Iraq and Afghanistan, and many other shit holes, Bastion had a regular stream of them. Fact.

 

 

[Ron B]

13 hours ago, Strontium Dog™ said:

 

To my knowledge there were no NHS nurses in Iraq, let alone dead ones. Pretty sure it was a joke riffing off the ludicrous populism of the initial question.

Well it’s funny you should say that...

 

17 hours ago, Carvalho Diablo said:

Messi is personally responsible for Barca's financial woes? I've not seen anyone suggest this but it is reasonable to suggest that his wage demands are at least partly responsible.

Ah @Carvalho Diablo, if you’ve not seen anyone suggest that Messi is responsible for Barca’s financial woes then you might have missed this. 

 

[Ron B]

And if we’re looking for more people castigating Messi...

Apparently it’s Messi’s fault because his wages caused inflation. 
Apparently his wages are a good part of the reason for the mess (and, of course, the club were powerless to resist, what with Barcelona being a charitable foundation who will write blank cheques to anyone who asks). 
And it’s all down to greed. Rather than, say, financial ineptitude. 

[Ron B]

But perhaps most of all @Carvalho Diablo there’s these. Twice you’ve said “Messi could work for nothing if he wanted to.” Then, belatedly, you’ve said you don’t expect you m to work for nothing. No wonder you don’t remember anyone blaming Messi (despite you personally blaming Messi). You can’t even keep a straight line on whether you want footballers to be paid or not. 
This is on Barcelona. Not Messi, not his agent, Barcelona. If you want footballers to play for free, go and watch Sunday League. 

[dockers_strike]

It's a difficult one, isnt it? On the one hand, Ive no problem with people earning a shedload of money, especially for their talents people want to see and on the other hand, the wage poverty many people who in reality are in and, end up paying these astronomical sums.

 

I dont hold with the 'Id play for free' ethos. Yeah, you might for a few games but when you see 50,000+ people coming to see you and the rest of the team paying 50 quid a pop even before tv income, you'd soon realise which side your bread should be buttered.

 

Barcelona, like Real just spunked money away trying to keep up with each other and show players at other clubs, these are the riches you could have if we come calling for you.

 

Despite what some think, I dont profess to have the answers for everything so I dont know how or what would be a fair system to remunerate the players.

[Baltar]

Messi is only asking what he's worth. In fact, he's just asking half of what he's actually worth but Barca can't even afford that since they're so skint. By "worth" I mean what another club would be willing to pay him. I don't know what his previous salary was with Barca but apparently City were prepared to match it last summer if they could get him on a free. Pretty sure PSG would also be willing to match it too. 

 

Messi does earn an absurd salary but he's not solely responsible for their sky high wage bill. You have muppets like Greaseman, Coutinho, Umtiti, Alba and other average/crap players earning £200k+ a week there. Apparently there are around 8 players are Barca that earn over £200k a week (yes that's in stirling, not Euros). I don't think we have a single player earning that amount. Unlike those muppets I've mentioned, Messi is a commercial goldmine and earns Barca a shit tonne of money each year so you could say his salary is partly justified (within the crazy world of football wages) based on his commercial benefits as well as his football ability.

[Carvalho Diablo]

42 minutes ago, Ron B said:

But perhaps most of all @Carvalho Diablo there’s these. Twice you’ve said “Messi could work for nothing if he wanted to.” Then, belatedly, you’ve said you don’t expect you m to work for nothing. No wonder you don’t remember anyone blaming Messi (despite you personally blaming Messi). You can’t even keep a straight line on whether you want footballers to be paid or not. 
This is on Barcelona. Not Messi, not his agent, Barcelona. If you want footballers to play for free, go and watch Sunday League. 

Utter bollocks.

 

I've consistently stated that Messi *could* work for nothing, if he chose to. This is a fact.

 

Nowhere did I say that he *should* do this.

 

I'm at a loss why you choose to personally misconstrue and misrepresent what I actually did say.

[Ron B]

38 minutes ago, Carvalho Diablo said:

Utter bollocks.

 

I've consistently stated that Messi *could* work for nothing, if he chose to. This is a fact.

 

Nowhere did I say that he *should* do this.

 

I'm at a loss why you choose to personally misconstrue and misrepresent what I actually did say.

You say “Shame on Messi”. 
You say that he could play for nothing if he chose.
You’ve called him greedy and short-sighted, adding that he “values the money above all else” (he had already agreed to take a significant pay, to earn far less than is on offer elsewhere, so this is transparently not true). 
This isn’t Messi’s fault. Barcelona have wildly mismanaged their finances. At any given point they could have declined to give him a new contact. If they hadn’t been so pigheaded they could have let him go for nothing a year ago and saved themselves a fortune. 
 

[Carvalho Diablo]

15 minutes ago, Ron B said:

You say “Shame on Messi”. 
You say that he could play for nothing if he chose.
You’ve called him greedy and short-sighted, adding that he “values the money above all else” (he had already agreed to take a significant pay, to earn far less than is on offer elsewhere, so this is transparently not true). 
This isn’t Messi’s fault. Barcelona have wildly mismanaged their finances. At any given point they could have declined to give him a new contact. If they hadn’t been so pigheaded they could have let him go for nothing a year ago and saved themselves a fortune. 
 

As I've said repeatedly, Barca have acted irresponsibly and they are definitely culpable for their financial mess, I do not hold Messi solely responsible for Barca's calamities but by failing to see his hand in it you're coming across like Messi's agent.

 

A case of the Dak Prescott's.

 

Again, why you're choosing to purposely misrepresent what I've said puzzles me. Are you LFD in disguise?

[Ron B]

4 hours ago, Carvalho Diablo said:

As I've said repeatedly, Barca have acted irresponsibly and they are definitely culpable for their financial mess, I do not hold Messi solely responsible for Barca's calamities but by failing to see his hand in it you're coming across like Messi's agent.

 

A case of the Dak Prescott's.

 

Again, why you're choosing to purposely misrepresent what I've said puzzles me. Are you LFD in disguise?

Still no. 
You’ve called Messi greedy. So come on then: How much should he be allowed to earn?

Or more pertinently, how much is he allowed to earn before you stop coming out with rubbish like “He values the money above all else,” and “Greedy, short-sighted player,” or “Messi’s love of money is evidently greater than his love of Barca and possibly of football itself.”

This entire poll is asking that very question. So stop fannying about. You know that I’m not Messi’s agent. You know that I’m not LFD in disguise. I’m asking you a straight question. And whilst you’re happy to make big sweeping statements, you can’t offer a straight answer. 

[Carvalho Diablo]

1 hour ago, Ron B said:

Still no. 
You’ve called Messi greedy. So come on then: How much should he be allowed to earn?

Or more pertinently, how much is he allowed to earn before you stop coming out with rubbish like “He values the money above all else,” and “Greedy, short-sighted player,” or “Messi’s love of money is evidently greater than his love of Barca and possibly of football itself.”

This entire poll is asking that very question. So stop fannying about. You know that I’m not Messi’s agent. You know that I’m not LFD in disguise. I’m asking you a straight question. And whilst you’re happy to make big sweeping statements, you can’t offer a straight answer. 

I've already given you a straight answer earlier in this thread, 2% of a club's total income?

 

I mentioned the Dak Prescott parallel at Dallas. Like Messi, Prescott's broken no rules and undoubtedly, just like Barca, Dallas have acted irresponsibly, but just like Messi, Prescott was happy to accept the ludicrous pay offer, ultimately to the long term detriment of the team.

 

Is he their best player? Definitely, but his willingness to push for those obscene wages came with consequences, that they're now in FFP / salary cap purgatory.

 

And btw, I wasn't fannying around and avoiding the question, I was watching the telly.