Premier Footballers Wages! Have Your Say! (Money in Football)

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Product:	Money in Football
Date:	08/12/02 (8208 review reads)
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Why is the Premiership Football association currently looking at imposing a maximum wage into the Premiership?

Wages in the Premiership are continuing to grow since money attracts the best players. Having the best players means survival in the Premiership so clubs are willing to increase wages to gets these players and increase their security in the top flight. Division 1 is a big step down from the Premiership since those players in lower divisions often earn only £500 a week, compared to the average player who gets over £20,000 a week in the Premiership. The financial gap between the Football League and the Premiership is continuing to increase at a large rate. The Premiership clubs are currently getting richer while many Football league clubs are facing bankruptcy situations. The problem with the Premiership is it attracts all the money from the Football League including merchandise, TV coverage, attendance’s to matches etc. Leicester City was relegated last year from the Premiership into the Division 1 but has now reached a very critical financial situation, forcing the club into administration after reach £30 million debts. One of the main causes or this financial struggle was because of the clubs struggle to keep its top players it had from the Premiership. Instead of letting their top players leave to go to other clubs abroad or to clubs in the Premiership, they sustained the clubs high wages, which worked since most players stayed at the club. This has meant that the club is currently doing very well in Division 1 but at a consequence financially. The Division 1 does not bring in near enough money to fund the players wages which has meant that over just a few months since the beginning of the season, the club has fallen into large debt problems. Players are already being forced to take pay cuts. And the union has said it cannot afford to hand out any more emergency loans to meet struggling clubs' wage bills such as Leicester. So clubs like

Leicester may not survive until the end of the season despite their good form in matches. It’s with this problem that wages from the Premiership need to be limited. If Premiership wages weren’t so high then clubs like Leicester wouldn’t be in such high financial difficulty from being relegated. But the fact is no restrictions have been imposed so clubs wages have been free to grow five times as high as they were since the Premiership first started in 1991. If wages continue to increase at such a substantial amount than it won’t be just the smaller clubs who suffers in the football industry. If wages continue to grow for the biggest clubs then soon they will outstrip their budget, one of the worlds most popular and richest clubs Manchester United may soon find wages to be a large problem as players demand more and more wages to reflect those of the highest paid footballers such as Christian Vieri who earns £120,000 a week at Inter Milan.


Would the maximum wage solve this problem?

Salary caps mean the maximum wages are 70% of your budget. It doesn't mean players don't get more money because if the budget gets higher, players get more money. Since budgets of the clubs have continued to grow at such a substantial rate, clubs will still be able to increase player wages. Also in the Premiership clubs only use 40% of their budget to pay for wages so a 70% limitation will not solve the problem, instead it will continue to give clubs room to increase wages. But anyway a maximum wage for the Premiership isn’t the answer because once club players find out they cannot increase their wages because it will go over the salary club, these players will most likely leave the English Football industry and travel abroad to play for Football industry’s that do not have Salary Caps since its a key fact in the Football industry that money attracts the best players. If the maximum wage were to stop Premiership players
from
going abroad then the salary cap would need to be imposed globally. But there is very little chance of this happening, since there is little possibility of it even imposing it into Europe since UEFA’s power to do so seems very doubtful. But if it were to be imposed globally then salary caps would have a good chance of succeeding but punishment for clubs who do not obey the rules should be punished severely. But the only real problem of setting it globally is monitoring the clubs efficiently. But as stated above this scenario seems very unlikely due to the limitations of UEFA’s powers so other options need to be evaluated.

Wenger (Manager of Premiership club Arsenal) believes relegation would be a better punishment for clubs who allows their wages to spiral out of control. He stated: “If clubs aren't capable of respecting their budget, they should be punished rather than incite clubs to do more crazy things than they do at the moment by imposing a maximum wage”.

“I would rather reward clubs who manage well and punish clubs who don't. So if you cannot manage your club reasonably well, you should be punished. If clubs don't respect their debts, they should be put down a division. That's the biggest punishment you can get”.

Wenger’s suggestion is defiantly a better option since they have excercised this form of punishment in Italy, France and Germany. Fiorentina went down in Italy, and Marseille and Nice in France. Both clubs professional licences were taken away due to poor financial management. In my opinion this seems like a much better alternative than salary caps.

Another option being discussed by the League is divisional contracts under which a player's salary rises or falls with promotion and relegation. But like maximum wages if only imposed in England then players may feel entitled to a move abroad if his wages are cut.

Overall neither do I thi
nk maximum
wages or divisional contracts should be imposed due to the consequences of players moving abroad if his wages are restricted. But neither do I think the problem of wages be put on hold as the problem can only intensify. Like Wenger I feel that punishments should be imposed to clubs who do not manage their clubs financial well. Relegation is a good possibility as forms of punishment since clubs will have to obey otherwise fear the worst: relegation. Although relegation may be seen as too extreme for some people, it seems like the best option to warn clubs and has been exercised in countries such as France and Italy but strict guidelines would need to be set out if used in the Premiership in England.

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