50 Year Swing

Cast your mind back to say when you were 17. Who was the most paid player in the world of Football at that time?. People who knew football in the sixties would remember that the law stated that a club could pay a player £20 a week at a maximum! Players were delighted when they won or had drew a game as this resulted in them getting £2 or £1 more. Once May came, Even the most talented players in the world like Real Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stefano and Welsh legend John Charles had to find work to keep their family secure during the off season. During the months between May and August, Clubs paid their players at a maximum half of the wages they were on during the season. Imagine seeing one of the best players on the planet come next to you and start working in a dusty factory before jetting off to play at The Bernabau two months later?

Ofcourse now even if clubs paid half of the wages during the summer it would be quite cushy. Imagine being the family of Wayne Rooney. Imagine having half of his wages, You'd be gutted. You'd feel that way until you realised that even though its half of what he usually earns, He is still going to bring home what....125k a week? What a hardship eh?

Partly to blame for this is Wales. Yes that is what you read. WALES!. Critical of the Football League's law about the summer wage, former Wrexham manager and then secretary got together with Jimmy Hill and fought the Courts. And won!. Ofcourse this was a great victory for footballers then but it changed the financial side of football forever. Was it Cliff and Jimmys plan to get footballers a nice yearly consistent salary? Yes. Did they want footballers to become super-rich and distanced from reality? No. However sadly, the latter has occurred.

Footballers like Ryan Giggs are fooling around and using their status and money against the the media to save the story coming out and damaging their image. How distant from reality is that?!. Imagine what they would have thought if they saw, Messi, Yaya Toure and Wayne Rooney on at least 250k a week?. If it has gone from £20 to £200,000 in 50 years? What are the next 50 years going to bring? I'll let you work that one out.

If these wages go up in the ascend they are in at the moment then there is only one club who will ever be able to afford the very best players in football and that is Manchester City. Can Barcelona or Madrid afford to spend £150m a year on new talent and wages? No. Certainly not. Barcelona are a fan running club. Yes they pay Messi 250k a week but they never spend vast amounts of money on individuals. Their success is the academy. Its quite staggering to think that, Valdes, Puyol, Pique, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Bojan, Pedro, Busquets all came through as a team since the age of 13. You can see why they get the success and Manchester City will not.

A wage cap will have to be brought in pretty soon. Imagine watching a champions league game where all of the best players in world football are playing in the blue of Manchester City?.

At the start of the 1960s footballers wages were poor, 50 years later the wages are incredible and insulting to people who work a lot more hours, in poor jobs to get a lot less. When are the Government and FIFA going to say right enough is enough. A wage cap would ensure that these things happen:

• Reduces in wages
• Reduces in money paid out my clubs
• cheaper ticket prices and matchdays for fans
• more money for development of youngsters
• better fan-player-club relationship
• more of a level playing field

So how long do you think until something is done with wages?

I shall leave you with a staggering quote which really drives the point home regarding finance in football. Or should I say the lack of finance in football?

"The 10 most indebted clubs in European soccer collectively owe $5.74 billion between them."