£300,000 a WEEK. An insult to the working man?

[gimp27]

The players wages from their clubs are PAYE, they are employees of an employer. If you don't believe me google it. It's also worth looking at the plight of Glasgow Rangers when they thought that they hit on a scheme which would mean that they could avoid paying PAYE saving the club tens of millions.

 

The players image rights are usually organised as a separate business, and as such a full range of tax avoidance techniques are probably utilised, but it's worth remembering that it's very rare that a player receives the full income from their image rights because the clubs will demand their percentage.

 

In Europe the wage figure that is usually negotiated between the top players is usually the figure after tax. So Ronaldo's income at Real Madrid of £280k a week, would in effect be over £600k a week.

 

Could you provide a link to that, as Wayne has his own company called Stoneygate, which he is a director of. If you are a director, earning more than the minimum tax bracket, which his business shows he does, and get a second job, then your tax from the second job is calculated at BR, which is not PAYE, as you dont declare this as a scecond job, but as extra income for your January tax return.

That means he isnt on PAYE as you say.

[Stan Tamudo]

It's the working man that must want him to have it, why else would they pay to watch him play football?

 

You can trot out all the platitudes you like but most of the people I've spoken to think it's an obscene amount he's getting, good job I support little old Sheffield United.

[discodown]

I think this is an insult to the ordinary working man

No it isn't.

 

His agent negotiated a contract. The club agreed and they signed it. Good luck to the lad. I don't like Man Utd. In fact I think they're being ripped off by this contract but I don't begrudge Rooney a single penny of this contract. This is pure economics. If one of the parties didn't think it was worth it then they didn't have to sign it. Its that simple.

 

All this talk of an insult to the working man is pure fantasy. What working man? I work and I don't feel insulted. Rooney's agent has done what is best for him, that is what he gets his 15% for.

[ivanava]

Hey Anna, I am not being deliberately contrary to you so lets forget the other discussion we disagree on for the sake of this thread

 

You, and everyone who complains about footballers and their salaries misunderstand the reason why he is paid so much. There are two things that primarily determine how much anyone is paid;

 

1) The value the employee brings to it's employers,

2) How replaceable the employee is.

 

Wayne Rooney drives huge amounts of revenue for Manchester United, far more than he gets paid. Do you honestly believe that the Glazers (his employers) deserve this money more than he does? This "kicking a football up and down a field" is important to hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people across the world.

 

Wayne Rooney is one of the very best at this. Of the hundreds of millions of men who desperately wanted to become a footballer (including me), he has risen to the top. It is hard to think of a more competitive industry in the world to get a job in than playing Association Football. Wayne Rooney is only replaceable by less than 20 people in the world (rough estimate).

 

A soldier/teacher/nurse etc is replaceable by many, many people (sad but true).

 

The attacks of footballers wages is a sad reflection of the perpetual classism that is indemic in our society. Wayne Rooney is paid less than Leonardo Di Caprio, so why have you not started a thread saying "Di Caprio get £35 million a year, and all he does is pretend to be someone else!". He also earns less than Madonna "all she does is open her mouth and dance!", and Lewis Hamilton "all he does is drive round in circles!".

 

The answer is, I believe, because football is associated with the working class. How very dare a scouser from a council estate have the temerity to earn so much!

 

That must be your best post to date.

[discodown]

You can trot out all the platitudes you like but most of the people I've spoken to think it's an obscene amount he's getting, good job I support little old Sheffield United.

Would you turn it down?

[999tigger]

Supply and demand. In the one sense I can see how its a bit obscene he gets paid so much more than say a surgeon, nurse, teacher, soldier. On the other hand its TV revenues , sky subsctibers who are driving the premier league. Its big business watched around the world.

 

The one thing I think is a bit sad is how 90% of the money goes on players salaries and that less of the millions slushing round finds its way down to the lower leagues or subsidisng ticket prices for the fans. I wouldnt say no to a salary cap for teams so that there was even more competition and teamds had to manage a budget rather than just buy their way out.

[GLASGOWOODS]

If people stopped re-newing their sky sports packages, then things would go tits up pretty quick.

 

What makes me laugh is when the die hard fans whinge that they can't get cup final tickets after following their teams through all the rounds because they're gobbled up by the big corporate companies.

 

Don't buy into it whatever sport you follow.

[ivanava]

You can trot out all the platitudes you like but most of the people I've spoken to think it's an obscene amount he's getting, good job I support little old Sheffield United.

 

It doesn't really matter what a Sheffield United supporter thinks, you aren't the one paying his wage, I don't pay to watch him play, and I won't complain about his wage because I don't contribute towards it.

[Anna B]

Hey Anna, I am not being deliberately contrary to you so lets forget the other discussion we disagree on for the sake of this thread

 

You, and everyone who complains about footballers and their salaries misunderstand the reason why he is paid so much. There are two things that primarily determine how much anyone is paid;

 

1) The value the employee brings to it's employers,

2) How replaceable the employee is.

 

Wayne Rooney drives huge amounts of revenue for Manchester United, far more than he gets paid. Do you honestly believe that the Glazers (his employers) deserve this money more than he does? This "kicking a football up and down a field" is important to hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people across the world.

 

Wayne Rooney is one of the very best at this. Of the hundreds of millions of men who desperately wanted to become a footballer (including me), he has risen to the top. It is hard to think of a more competitive industry in the world to get a job in than playing Association Football. Wayne Rooney is only replaceable by less than 20 people in the world (rough estimate).

 

A soldier/teacher/nurse etc is replaceable by many, many people (sad but true).

 

The attacks of footballers wages is a sad reflection of the perpetual classism that is indemic in our society. Wayne Rooney is paid less than Leonardo Di Caprio, so why have you not started a thread saying "Di Caprio get £35 million a year, and all he does is pretend to be someone else!". He also earns less than Madonna "all she does is open her mouth and dance!", and Lewis Hamilton "all he does is drive round in circles!".

 

The answer is, I believe, because football is associated with the working class. How very dare a scouser from a council estate have the temerity to earn so much!

 

Thankyou for a respectful and thoughtful reply,charmer, putting forward a different point of view, even though, (not surprisingly,) I disagree with you.

 

I take issue with your last paragraphs, with regards Leonardo Di Caprio, et al.

I also object to the ammounts they earn as it happens, even though I enjoy and admire their work. (Incidently, using your analogy, they should be a rare commodity in that there shouldn't be many others who can do what they do, when it is quite clear there are many who could, but who haven't had their good fortune to be in the right place at the right time.) Also America seems to have a much better attitude to philanthropy than we do in Britain.

 

It certainly isn't a question of jelousy, but a reaction against the dangerous and growing gap between rich and poor. From such things spring revolutions. Much of the difficulties and protests we are seeing abroad at he moment - much of it censored and edited, comes down to this issue.

 

It affects us all. Much property, (especially in London,) is now unavailable to the average worker, and much that the middle classes were able to afford is now out of reach - private education, private health care, very nice houses in very nice areas, etc, (I use these only for illustration purposes to show the shift downwards.) And for working classes it is much more marked. Even essentials like a roof over your head, food, and heating, are becoming problematic.

 

The more wealth that is sucked up into this elite group, the less there is to be shared by the rest of us. There are plenty of examples to show the distribution of wealth is becoming seriously unbalanced. I'll find some and try and post links (tho' I'm not very good at it) but a quick search on Google or Youtube will come up with plenty.

[Stan Tamudo]

Would you turn it down?

 

I have never been or will never be in a position where that sort of money would be offered. I get by and have a good lifestyle in a year on what Rooney is going to get for half a days work. So would I turn it down? I wouldn't and I'd give the vast majority of it away each week to make myself feel better. £300,000 a week for a footballer or anyone else disgusts me when so many folk are struggling.

 

But you carry on pal if you think it's right and all the rest of you that think it is. It makes me puke.