toddhopper, on 23 June 2011 - 09:57 AM, said:
I'm sorry, but to think our society provides equality of opportunity & that successful people get there through just their own efforts is entirely inaccurate.
As for footballers, I see no chip on the shoulder attitude in pointing out how fatuous the 'short career' explanation & excuse for exorbitant pay packets is. It simply has nothing to do with why wages can be so astrinomically high in football. Football is a very good example of a market out of control & unlike many who have been indoctrinated into thinking free markets are the perfect means on which to base our economy, I recognise that without adequate regulation & control things always & I mean ALWAYS spin wildly out of control until major convulsions occur causing untold suffering to real people, all for the sake of market purity & the wallets of those who are in a position to milk those markets for their own benefit. In the case of football, the fans will be the one's who suffer, as because of their emotional attachments to their clubs, they are asked for & willingly pay ever more money to help finance the obscene extravagance we witness corrupting the people's game.
Past few decades?
The notion of the free market economy has been around for slightly longer than that.
If I couldn't afford a season ticket I wouldn't buy one. If I couldn't afford Sky Sports I wouldn't buy it. It's a pretty simple equation. I don't buy a shirt because I think they are expensive....I therefore don't get myself into debt because of my spend on football. If I did I wouldn't expect anyone to help me. The UK does not exist to make sure everyone can do whatever they want to do. People have to take responsibility and look after themselves.
Maybe the club is "forcing" me to buy their product because I love it...when you can't afford something you don't buy it (short of putting food on the table for family). Simple as. Football is therefore underpinned by a rational model of market economics. If a club oversteps the mark they go bust. And they should be allowed to go bust.
Yes top footballers are paid a ridiculous amount of money and I believe it is OTT. Who is to say what is "too much though". At the moment it's a bl00dy good job they are paying tax to support public sector inefficiency, final salary pensions and general waste.