[Waterstones]

This nutter has spent the last 2 weeks slagging off our World Cup football team,and bitching about how much money they get,he seems to think that football should go back to 1958 when footballers lived on £1.50 lived in a tin shack under a railway tunnel.prick

[cycloon]

They are paid obscene amounts.

Um.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Is Wayne Rooney worth £50,000 a week?

Is Charlie Sheen worth $1,000,000 dollars an episode for Two and a Half Men?

Lewis Hamilton - $1m per race?

The sums are astronomical. But are they justified?

[lord_kobel]

Nope.

[mojojojo]

No.

[cycloon]

ESPECIALLY for Charlie Sheen in 2 and a half Men. Jesus wept, sense of humour failures getting that much? Arg.

[ACG]

*shrug* these kinds of prices and others are the inevitable result of bidding wars between a group of people and businesses higher up the chain who have way to much money to throw around in the first place.

the idea that a studio can buy any actor they want, a team can buy any player they want, an oligarc can buy any artwork they want.

it's not really players/actors/artists fault that people at the purchasing end have infinate pockets and no sense of perspective.

[crabcakes_windermere]

The article is pretty irritating because it boils down to one thing - sack Capello because he's a foreigner. The usual xenophobic toss that only an Englishman can properly understand an English team.

Also, what is it with this absurd notion that someone who is defeated should immediately resign simply because they were defeated? Defeat isn't a loss of honour in itself - it's the manner of defeat. And the issue there is the players, not the manager. And after all, the whole sack the manager the moment they fail ploy has worked so well for Newcastle United, and the opposite tactic of supporting and sticking with a good manager hasn't worked at all for Manchester United, Arsenal etc.

[horacegoesskiing]

Leo McKinstry is a grade 1 twat. I don't think I've ever read anything positive in any of his columns in either the Express or the Mail. I think Wayne Rooney justifies his wages more than Mr McKinstry does.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

ESPECIALLY for Charlie Sheen in 2 and a half Men. Jesus wept, sense of humour failures getting that much? Arg.

His argument is that the cast of 'Friends' got $1m each per episode. I think it's quite witty at times.

[Andy McDandy]

Agree with ACG. As the competition was kicking off, Sarah Kennedy on Radio 2 (BTW new Rogers Profanisaurus definition - Kennedy Flu: early morning complaint characterised by meandering, rambling sentences, slurred speech and extreme right-wing opinions) asked Johnny 'Sport' Saunders the same thing and he replied brilliantly.

It's the market rate. A footballer will play for what they are offered. If Manchester United were to suddenly say "Oh my God, it's obscene! Stick 'em all back on minimum wage!", it will not trigger an 'I'm Spartacus' moment from the other clubs, but more likely a feeding frenzy as they gobble up players desperate to leave the club.

Maybe players should play internationals for free and for the honour of doing so. Yes, and maybe they'll all be mysteriously ill on international weekends. Or maybe we can force them to play. Yes, because that'll really inspire them. Or maybe if we hold up pictures of Our Boys in Afghanistan or aborted foetuses or whatever to spur them on, that will encourage them. Or maybe it won't.

BTW Leo Mckinistry wrote a biography of Alf Ramsey that read like an extended Hitchens monologue. Basically how back in the old days people lived in blissful happiness, content with their lot in life and happy in their post-war, pre-permissiveness age of The England I Remember From My Childhood. That never existed.

[Ebon Badger]

The article is pretty irritating because it boils down to one thing - sack Capello because he's a foreigner. The usual xenophobic toss that only an Englishman can properly understand an English team.

Also, what is it with this absurd notion that someone who is defeated should immediately resign simply because they were defeated? Defeat isn't a loss of honour in itself - it's the manner of defeat. And the issue there is the players, not the manager. And after all, the whole sack the manager the moment they fail ploy has worked so well for Newcastle United, and the opposite tactic of supporting and sticking with a good manager hasn't worked at all for Manchester United, Arsenal etc.

This also puzzles me. It really doesn't seem to have occurred to the peeps in charge of these things that changing the manager doesn't make much difference. We've had English managers, who were sacked because the team was shit. We've had calm and collected Swedish managers who were sacked (or resigned, I can never remember what with the whole Faria Alam stuff), and now the shouty passionate Italian dude is also going to be sacked. All these managers, and we still lose because

*gets out megaphone, points it in the direction of FA headquarters*
THE TEAM IS FUCKING SHIT! IT'S NOT THE MANAGER WHO NEEDS TO GO, BUT THE PLAYERS!
*puts away megaphone*

still, at least we'll be spared the whole "We used to be good before we let the darkies play" seeing as we got completely owned by a team which also had fuzzy-wuzzies in it.

[Mr Mordon]

The article is pretty irritating because it boils down to one thing - sack Capello because he's a foreigner. The usual xenophobic toss that only an Englishman can properly understand an English team.

It really is a dagger in their heart that the most successful (club) manager in a generation in England is Scottish

The issue as i see it (and this is probably better off in the footy thread) is that the current crop of English players are all mega rich and playing at top class clubs (generally), thus they have nothing to prove. They don't need to sell themselves to club managers who will be watching the match. So, although i'm sure they still want to win, they tend not to put that extra 10% in. The German team on the other hand is full of young upstarts looking for their big break, with the Premiership being the most tantilising so by beating England in front of watching coaches they have a chance at a career for life. Same goes for the players from small nations like Algeria and Slovenia.

The other issue i feel is the sort of 'inverse snobbery' surrounding footy, where players are expected to come from humble 'salt of the earth' backgrounds, drink ten pints and be shagging around. A good brain (even a footballing one) is frowned upon. Think of the grief Graham Lesaux used to get?

Until football becomes more classless, we are going to continue to fail.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I see Spain won the World Cup. Glancing at the teams they play for, I see Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Arsenal.

Clearly big wages aren't that detrimental.

[Tubby Isaacs]

http://www.express.co.uk/ourcomments/view/220058" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oh man. I almost wish we'd lost the cricket now it's made this cunt happy.

If footballers would be better if they were paid less, why doesn't this apply to Sir Philip Green and the like? Why are these traditional values only a good thing in sport?

The bit about Bresnan is the best. Like a Tommie apparently. As if people who never won the Ashes (including Stewart, Atherton, Hussain and Fraser) were all conchies. Possibly they just played against better Australian players.