Do footballers really have skill???

[rodney 17]

I sometimes question their skill levels as they spend their waking life trying to hit a goal and then miss by a mile... However there is the odd one we know has a real skill..

The chap at the end is on my list of operates on a different plane to us mortals... but look at the people before... Ohhh the shame.. You know they are going to go home and practice... LOL

http://videogames.virginmedia.com/xbox360/fifa_10/videos/fifa_10_blind_keepy_uppie_trailer.html?playlistId=4724

[bungy 2]

Skill, yes

Worthy of their wage, no

[The Monk 50]

Agree with Bungy.

Without me, people wouldn't get better in hospitals and some woldn't be alive.

Without bungy, we'd have no aircraft being blown out the sky.

Without Jim, we'd still have no workforce in the road.

Without jake footballers wouldn't be able to swim in their gardens.

Without craig no one would have any carpets.

Without dave, England would collapse under the weight of undrunk beer.

ect ect.... so where's our 300k a week?

[Nex 17]

Cant say l am a fan of football but most of what l have seen of it is just luck, right place, right time, and a shovel full of hope for the best and the fact they get paid so much is like a pencil in the eye

[J5KE F 0]

Agree with Bungy.

Without me' date=' people wouldn't get better in hospitals and some woldn't be alive.

Without bungy, we'd have no aircraft being blown out the sky.

Without Jim, we'd still have no workforce in the road.

Without jake footballers wouldn't be able to swim in their gardens.

Without craig no one would have any carpets.

Without dave, England would collapse under the weight of undrunk beer.

ect ect.... so where's our 300k a week?

[/quote']

PMSL!

Without those guys and bankers bonuses our clients wouldnt speak english.. and I wouldnt be kept busy

so back to topic, really yes they have skill as i couldnt even begin to do what they do with a cows bladder..

[Jamesr_VR6 0]

Good debate,

But i have to say most of their wages are justified.

When a player is bought sold from a club the money paid for him doesnt go into his pocket but the clubs.

When you think a football club rakes in on average over 100 million a season, and only employs 300-400 people.

Most footballers dont earn 300K a week either only the few exceptional ones.

Most are on 20k-60k a week

Which in the grand scheme of things is pennies compared to the money the club makes.

A club is a business, look at it that way it makes more sense than a group of guys jsut turning up each saturday and getting paid stupid amounts

[Eat this 2]

look mate im not on 20k a year!! theyr nowhere near 50 times better at their job than i am at mine

[VR6Nat 9]

a skill maybe.... but everyone has different skills... i dont think the wage is justified what so ever... they do nothing for people other than provide entertainment, they dont save lives, they dont keep the country running, they dont produce food... to me i have more respect and admiration for a parking attendant... at least they keep the roads clear which helps with getting on with your day...

I think they should swap their wages with the nurses and surgeons that work in hospitals saving lives everyday, dealing with the gruesome sh*t that most of us couldnt even look at, now that is a skill!!

A footballer should be on a normal wage as what they do is very normal...

[H13VYY 0]

at the end of the day if the players didn't get that money, the club would be raking it all in. so the question is where is the money coming from? the anwer is - the fans!!

But comparing footballers to surgeons, nurses etc is totally pointless because their two totally different jobs regardless of how important one is to another. Footballers can't do what a surgeon do and vice versa.

[goonersteve 0]

If you say footballers don't deserve the wages they get, then neither should any other sports men / women. In fact, some of the other sports pay even higher wages than footballers! Same goes for other forms of entertainment (singers, musicians, actors etc.).

[krave 0]

I dont see people ever moaning about actors fees, some ten million per film. Top top dj earnings, Some of which are 50,000 for a 2 hour set.

Its entertaiment at the end of the day. Alot of people are into it so the price people get goes up.

What about Bupa, They are saving lives etc, But due to demand make big profit.

Plastic surgeons make big money, Some in millions. They where once normal surgeons, And now due to DEMAND make big money.

Football is a business as is anything else.

The fact we run the nhs is why nurses etc dont get what they deserve and its non profit. Bupa again as the opposit example.

This I would imagine also dictates the wage of private healthcare employees to some extent.

And yes footballers are skillfull.

Put your ronaldo, messi and henry next to your local teams star player and say they are on the same league.

[MarksMintness 0]

Yeah there's no way you could say that somebody like a footballer deserves or is justified in earning the ridiculous salaries they earn.

The fact that they get them is a different matter as that can't be helped as its down to the market they operate in.

But yes I agree, there are surgeons, doctors and nurses out there saving lives and genuinely improving peoples quality of life in the areas that matter most (your personal health) they certainly don't get paid enough, not even in the same league as footballers.

Their lifestyle shows a tremendous lack of humility and arrogance as well, with millions being spent on cars houses etc, but then again if you are earning £50k plus a week what do you expect!

[Rustyman 0]

May i wade in ?

As a former professional sportsman ( in my teens !! ) Doing any sort of sport was intially fun ( i was never any good at anything else) and as i was good enough to get sponorship and money for doing it even better !!! ... i retired at 21 due to injury but had great time spending the dosh i got out partying nice clothes etc... Athletics didn't pay as much as footballers get but here in lies the problem. A sportsmans life is genrally a lot shorter than say a nurses career.. so in some way they are justifyibly paid more they do have over heads too, employ agents and alike. However i don't condone the 30k a wk... if i had my time again i would of saved some of the money as pension or nest egg ..If i was still doing it i prob would be arrogant and a bit child like as wat else do u do as ayoung man with money ??? You spend it and get laid. As for skill sprinting , hurdles etc came natuarlly as i suspect most of the footbllers will say they don't think about what they do they just do it ( to coin a well known manufacturer's phrase )

Now i'm a civil servant and know what it's like to be poor... at only 19k a yr i'm better off than some but not the so called average salary earned in the UK... I would agree without the police nurses army etc and other public sector workers & alike this country would struggle.

Football is an entertainment industry and i guess they demand the kind of payments big stars earn... all i can say is this debate will roll on it's a double edged sword..

[binliner 0]

Footballers are skillful and just like any skill/job, the best of the best get paid accordingly... is it too much? I think so but then if someone is prepared to pay them that much they're hardly likely to turn it down are they?

[Jamesr_VR6 0]

The point of which people seem to miss is here are possibly the most obvious ones

Do footballers and sportsman "Deserve" a high wage? - NO

Do nurses, police army "Deserve" a high wage - YES

the reasons this isnt so is because

Millions upon millions of people pay good money each week to watch their football team play, this money is then filtered throug the club, the club can obviously afford to pay everyone ridiculous wage with enouth left over to buy/sell players

Millions upon millions of people each week/month pay tax and national insurance that gets divided up into the NHS system, can the NHS afford to filter that money down to staff? more than likely not

Football clubs can afford it

NHS cant

END OF

[thegoth 5]

When you think a football club rakes in on average over 100 million a season' date=' and only employs 300-400 people.

[/quote']

Man City made a huge loss, nearly £100m, last year. Both Watford and West Ham are on the verge of administration and Chelsea have only just started making a profit after half a decade of losses.

[craggsy 91]

Also Portsmouth and Cardiff are very close to going as well

[Ben Seabrook 4]

Millions upon millions of people pay good money each week to watch their football team play' date=' this money is then filtered throug the club, the club can obviously afford to pay everyone ridiculous wage with enouth left over to buy/sell players

Football clubs can afford it

[/quote']

not true mate - interesting article from last year http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/whats-in-the-kitty-how-the-premier-league-clubs-shape-up-financially-834762.html - just look at the debts owed by most of the big clubs and most of them seem to be operating at a loss.

[krave 0]

When you think a football club rakes in on average over 100 million a season' date=' and only employs 300-400 people.

[/quote']

Man City made a huge loss, nearly £100m, last year. Both Watford and West Ham are on the verge of administration and Chelsea have only just started making a profit after half a decade of losses.

Some of this is down to the owners pumping there own money in to start off with and it being a debt on the clubs behalf. Like Roman pumping millions into chelski with no trophies or success behind them at that point. The money has now been earnt. Although i believe there debt free statement Bollo***.

And also bad previous decisions by owners.

[J5KE F 0]

I hate football!

[bungy 2]

I hate football!

[Jamesr_VR6 0]

Millions upon millions of people pay good money each week to watch their football team play' date=' this money is then filtered throug the club, the club can obviously afford to pay everyone ridiculous wage with enouth left over to buy/sell players

Football clubs can afford it

[/quote']

not true mate - interesting article from last year http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/whats-in-the-kitty-how-the-premier-league-clubs-shape-up-financially-834762.html - just look at the debts owed by most of the big clubs and most of them seem to be operating at a loss.

Ben its as true as true can be

Its jsut the clubs choose not to pay off debts

The clubs dont seem to be run very "business like" although essentially thats what they are.

You will notice small clubs like my dear beloved Hull City dont have alot of debt problems at all because we spend what we can afford, if we have to borrow some its repayed quickly

Whereas Man utd / Liverpool etc have all these millions coming in, but still borrow money to buy players of which they dont pay back duely so it becomes a debt

Its not a case of football clubs cant afford the wages because they dont make enough, by god they make plenty!!! the fat cat owners and shareholders take most of that though

[Ben Seabrook 4]

But mate that's why for the first time ever Premiership clubs are on the verge of going bankrupt !! These huge debts are mostly paid off by the owners but in these times they do want to do and instead try to look to sell the club - you think why a club like Liverpool hasn't been bought by new owners ? mainly because they dont want to be saddled with the huge debts ! They are basically running on borrowed time, for the first time in 6 years of applying in got offered the chance to have a season ticket at Arsenal this year, I think that speak's volumn's for the fact that money is flooding out of football. You only have to look at the attendances at some of the clubs to see that - the corporate aspect keeps the bigger clubs full but I wonder how long this will go on for.

[Ben Seabrook 4]

You will notice small clubs like my dear beloved Hull City

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/facup/6932850/FA-Cups-average-attendance-flatters-to-deceive.html - were you one of the 5000 ?? surely the drop yet again in attendances such as the cup competitions is another pointer that supporters simply cant afford to follow there teams as much as they used too - and this will affect the clubs because as you pointed out the main revenue for them is attendance.

[Jamesr_VR6 0]

attendance for smaller clubs is 90% of the revenue,

but the likes of man utd / chelsea / liverpool are world renowned, with big asian followings to boot, there attendance revenue on match day is probably the tip of the iceberg when you consider global merchandising of them etc.

I agree they are all in massive debt, but the money is still there.

Its like Rover, they had massive debt and went bankrupt, but they were still raking it in, the board were just irresponsible money grabbers who didnt want to pay off the debts.

If you think for example liverpool are in £100m of debt, how mucha re the owners pocketing from owning them? i bet its alot more than that!!!,

They jsut dont want to pay the debt, they take what they can get and then sell up