Da_Blu_Moona said:
Puts things in to perspective though. I'm working my arse off at now at medical school to become a doctor (I'm actually studying now for an exam tomorrow!!) and yet no matter what I do or how many people's lives I make a difference in I will never earn in a year what he does/did in a month.
Sad state of affairs but I guess that somethings are more important than money and that is something that they will never understand.
He may think the EXACT same thing. However, is he supposed to tell the club, "No mate, just give me a grand a week and I'll be dead chuffed!"?!! Too bad there are no economics courses at medical school, eh? Simple SUPPLY AND DEMAND!
YOU want to watch the Premier League on telly, so SKY pays big money to the League to be able to screen it. Advertisers want YOU to buy their crap, so they pay SKY top dollar to put their product in front of millions of men who watch SKY. So, YOU buy stuff, advertisers think their ads are working, they pay SKY more money, the league wants more money from SKY for their "product" and SKY puts up subscriptions and advertiser rates because the system appears to be working!
The part people seem to be envious of is the fact that the PLAYERS, who actually PRODUCE the PRODUCT that is ultimately being sold (in order to sell products made by the advertisers), get a decent share of the money created by the system.
IN MY BOOK, MORE POWER TO THEM! If not the PLAYERS, most of whom have short careers with VERY FEW making the stratospheric wages created by playing on the world's biggest stage, then WHO EXACTLY SHOULD GET ALL THE MONEY?!
BTW, if you think the big clubs live or die from ticket sales, you are living on the 60's and 70's!! Today, TELEVISED FOOTBALL IS A GLOBAL COMMODITY FOR SALE TO THE ENTIRE WORLD. Why do you think Rupert Murdoch owns SKY and FOX all over the world?!!! The Fox Soccer Channel in the USA simply uses satellite feeds from SKY (which I am actually watching as I type!!), so the PRODUCT BEING SOLD HERE IS BASICALLY FREE to him in this market....and I have to pay $8 per month for the channel (a single channel).
It's business and Riise is simply a laborer who gets paid to produce a product. My hat is off to him for managing to get to the top of his profession, being resilient and talented enough to enjoy a decent career in it and I hope he lives a long and happy life after the game. If he throws of a bob or two to a few worthy causes, more power to him. However, beyond that, he owes no-one anything, least of all a reason to apologize for choosing a profession that rewards people more handsomely than almost anything else.
Envy and jealousy are bad traits. Sadly, they seem to be ingrained in many Brits.