The recent recession has hit many of us…hard. We’ve had to downgrade our cars, find new forms of employment and even sold off family possessions to try and raise a few valuable pounds to make sure we can cope with the rising costs of living, including increasing fuel and utility prices.
What makes things worse is that there are certain people who seem to be essentially immune to the economic downturn. No, in this instance I’m not necessarily talking about bankers or MPs, but another category of people who can demand astronomical salaries, and they do what many would call “no work whatsoever.” I’m talking about professional footballers.
While we’re all struggling to make ends meet, having to swap Caribbean cruises for a trip down the Norfolk Broads; we’re reading newspaper stories about players being unhappy because they’re ONLY paid £100,000 each week! It’s enough to make your blood boil sometimes. However, amongst all of the anger and heated discussions with other football fans about how there’s no loyalty in the game anymore or how we’d play for nothing, there are some interesting facts that emerge, particularly those unveiled in this interactive infographic created by Clear Debt: http://debt.co.uk/football/
The graphic lets us – the regular, every day people who sit on the terraces and fund the people we’re watching roll about laughably on the floor – compare our salaries to those of the top stars, finding out how long it would take us to make as much as they earn each week. It also reveals just how favourable some of the top stars are, by letting us see their social following, the people who ‘like’ and ‘follow’ the players compared to how much they cost the club.
You might be surprised to learn about a few teams and players whereby the most expensive signing who scores 30 goals each season has fewer followers than a player who comes through the youth system and grafts week in week out seemingly unnoticed.
Take a look, there are some really intriguing insights into life behind the Alice bands and the supercars.
whoever this reporter is. sounds a bit jealous. totally biased, one-sided and un-insightful.
funny how you don’t pick on tennis players or F1 drivers. Maybe your just classist. Footballers are the stars in a multi-billion pound business. and millions of fans still pay a lot of money to watch them despite “all struggling to make ends meet
i understand what you mean but to receive 200k-300k per WEEK for doing something that anybody can do, is stupid. yh, they play at a much higher level but they get rewards through publicity etc. through receiving so much, surely they can give some to charity? how would you feel if you worked your butt off everyday in your life and you dont earn as much as someone does in a week? you feel a bit useless. just think.
If anyone can do it why are you not doing it and making millions? Very, very few of the people who devote their lives to football will make it as a pro, and even less will make over £500 a week. Easily the most skilled sportspeople on the planet. Simple economics when you think about it, footballers supply what the fans demand and pay money for, skills and goals.