Two seasons, 7 goals, 1 new Lamborghini Aventador.

[Philzo-93]

It's a case of swings and roundabouts.

On the one hand yes football league clubs are struggling to make ends meet and offer opportunities to compete at the highest possible level for some youngsters to kick start their career.

On the other hand, you also have a footballer who has made a name for himself in the past and living a luxury lifestyle, living off a wage that some can afford to give and others cannot.

Swings and roundabouts.

 

[Easy 10]

Don't see much wrong with this. Football is a billion pound industry at the top level, so it stands to reason that the footballers playing at that level are going to be richly rewarded. They are the top 0.01% in the country who are good enough to play at that level, so as a result they get given lottery-level money every week. The big house and flash cars are the two fundamentals most of us would splash out on if we were on the gargantuan wages these guys are on. Bitter Sunderland fans grizzling about what their players are driving around in just boils down to petty jealousy.

 

[Hamilton]

That's two prime ministers worth of car he's standing with there.

I think the fancy dan is worth every single penny. Let's think of the pressure he is under. If he didn't earn exorbitant amounts of money, then in his early thirties he'd be forced to get another job. We really can't have these poor creatures worrying about things like that.

Whilst I don't approve of the flow of wealth towards an elite, a Tony Bloom type figure who has been born with a talent and taken massive risks that have resulted in that wealth, then I think, ok fair play. Or a CEO of a business, responsible for thousands of jobs, I think, ok you're worth that (and many of them are on nothing close to what a Raheem Sterling is being offered).

BUT, for somebody who has been born with a talent, but let's face it, taken very few risks and is basically being paid just to play a game - well for goodness sake, they just shouldn't be showered with these riches. Most of them can't even play the game without resorting to cheating and poor gamesmanship.

 

[Hamilton]

This made me laugh...

"Fletcher began his career with Hibernian before lucrative moves to Burnley, Wolves and Sunderland racking up transfer fees totalling more than £20million."

It's not exactly Real Madrid, Barcelona and Inter Milan is it?

If Fletcher was to drive the car that related to his performance, then I'd put him in this perhaps...

 

[Stat Brother]

This made me laugh...

"Fletcher began his career with Hibernian before lucrative moves to Burnley, Wolves and Sunderland racking up transfer fees totalling more than £20million."

It's not exactly Real Madrid, Barcelona and Inter Milan is it?

If Fletcher was to drive the car that related to his performance, then I'd put him in this perhaps...

While riding a Trek.

 

[Worried Man Blues]

It'll be a rust bucket in 6 months oop thare

 

[Easy 10]

That's two prime ministers worth of car he's standing with there.

I think the fancy dan is worth every single penny. Let's think of the pressure he is under. If he didn't earn exorbitant amounts of money, then in his early thirties he'd be forced to get another job. We really can't have these poor creatures worrying about things like that.

Whilst I don't approve of the flow of wealth towards an elite, a Tony Bloom type figure who has been born with a talent and taken massive risks that have resulted in that wealth, then I think, ok fair play. Or a CEO of a business, responsible for thousands of jobs, I think, ok you're worth that (and many of them are on nothing close to what a Raheem Sterling is being offered).

BUT, for somebody who has been born with a talent, but let's face it, taken very few risks and is basically being paid just to play a game - well for goodness sake, they just shouldn't be showered with these riches. Most of them can't even play the game without resorting to cheating and poor gamesmanship.

It IS obscene what players at the top level are paid.

But when Sky and Barclays and various worldwide sponsors are pouring billions into the game to buy the product, then where else is that money inevitably going to end up ? It'll go to the performers who everyone is paying to see.

Ideally there would be more of a trickle-down effect of this money into to the lower leagues, but ultimately that would mostly end up getting spent on players anyway. You could argue that the big clubs have a moral responsibility to donate more money to the flotsam at the lower end, but you'd still have no guarantee it would be used wisely.

Market forces drive salaries, always will. Tom Cruise probably gets paid $50m a movie, because the movie will make millions upon millions worldwide. Is he deserving of that just for a few months work reading a script and doing a bit of acting in some (often terrible) films ? Of course. Because he's the star, and what he does brings in a hell of a lot of money. No different than footballers at the top level.

We find it distasteful, but it is what it is because of the sheer volume of cash washing around in the game. And its us who feeds it.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Don't see much wrong with this. Football is a billion pound industry at the top level, so it stands to reason that the footballers playing at that level are going to be richly rewarded. They are the top 0.01% in the country who are good enough to play at that level, so as a result they get given lottery-level money every week. The big house and flash cars are the two fundamentals most of us would splash out on if we were on the gargantuan wages these guys are on. Bitter Sunderland fans grizzling about what their players are driving around in just boils down to petty jealousy.

Fletcher is hardly a top player though. No wonder the English game is such a mess if mediocrity and/or failure is so handsomely rewarded.

 

[Vegas Seagull]

Great car, well done. I'd love one

 

[Ernest]

It's like SKY paying billions to screen the Rolling Stones and the support act want 95% of the cash and give Mick Jagger nowt, people pay to see the players so they and their agents hold all the cards

 

[GingerBeerMan]

The group claims as many as three in five Premier League footballers face bankruptcy within five years of retiring from the game.

Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, disputes these figures, saying it is closer to 10% or 20%, but the fact that many multi-millionaire players fall on hard times is not in question.

Taken from here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21790728

60% face bankruptcy? Not hard to see why based on this photo.

 

[Lower West Stander]

It's the lack of humility which gets me.

Premiership footballers are in the public eye far more than most highly paid professions and their lack of empathy with the common man who spends hard earned money to watch them is stunning. If Fletcher is going to buy a flashy high profile car then being criticised goes with the territory, same as parking in disabled spaces, being photographed surrounded by pound notes etc etc.

As someone has already said, it also lowers the Lambo to a level of naffness once a premiership footballer is seen driving one

 

[Easy 10]

Fletcher is hardly a top player though. No wonder the English game is such a mess if mediocrity and/or failure is so handsomely rewarded.

Depends who you're comparing him with. He's not a top player if you're comparing him with the obvious world superstars, but he's been good enough to rise to a level where he's spent much of his career in the top division in England, and he's an international.

Its easy to label players as being complete shite, we all do it, me as much as anyone. But if they're earning a living playing football at the very top level, then they're still on a completely different skill level to 99.99% of anyone else who kicks a ball around.

 

[Stat Brother]

Depends who you're comparing him with. He's not a top player if you're comparing him with the obvious world superstars, but he's been good enough to rise to a level where he's spent much of his career in the top division in England, and he's an international.

Its easy to label players as being complete shite, we all do it, me as much as anyone. But if they're earning a living playing football at the very top level, then they're still on a completely different skill level to 99.99% of anyone else who kicks a ball around.

and because of all that, he's going to be handsomely rewarded, by virtue of the fact he's playing in the worlds 'richest' league.
Money which he has honestly earned and can spend on what he likes.

 

[n1 gull]

Depends who you're comparing him with. He's not a top player if you're comparing him with the obvious world superstars, but he's been good enough to rise to a level where he's spent much of his career in the top division in England, and he's an international.

Its easy to label players as being complete shite, we all do it, me as much as anyone. But if they're earning a living playing football at the very top level, then they're still on a completely different skill level to 99.99% of anyone else who kicks a ball around.

International foe who? CMS and Bridcutt are internationals

 

[Lady Whistledown]

It's the game that's depressing, more than the players. And the suits at SkySports who throw such sums of money at football. I can't blame a player as ordinary as Steven Fletcher for taking the money offered, or for spending it (legally) how he chooses. He's hardly likely to buy a Vauxhall Astra if he earns £40k per week, and nor, I'm sure, would most of us if we were in the same boat.

Sky were so desperate to keep hold of the Premier League cash cow that they bid a ludicrous amount of money (again) for the rights, to ensure nobody else got a sniff, and so upward it continues to spiral. Plenty of our players, both the top ones and those on the fringes, have fairly expensive cars too, and they're at a bottom half Championship club.

 

[Easy 10]

International foe who? CMS and Bridcutt are internationals

And ?

We can all pretend otherwise, but these players are still a WORLD away from what most of us could ever even dream of being with a football at our feet.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Depends who you're comparing him with. He's not a top player if you're comparing him with the obvious world superstars, but he's been good enough to rise to a level where he's spent much of his career in the top division in England, and he's an international.

Its easy to label players as being complete shite, we all do it, me as much as anyone. But if they're earning a living playing football at the very top level, then they're still on a completely different skill level to 99.99% of anyone else who kicks a ball around.

Oh come on. A career with Burnley, Wolves and Sunderland and playing for the mighty Scotland is hardly "at the very top level" is it? If supporters think this then it's no wonder mediocre players can get away with such ludicrous salaries.

 

[Stat Brother]

Oh come on. A career with Burnley, Wolves and Sunderland and playing for the mighty Scotland is hardly "at the very top level" is it? If supporters think this then it's no wonder mediocre players can get away with such ludicrous salaries.

The wages aren't down to the players though, are they?

It's ok it not like the system, just don't take it out on the players.
They didn't drive the system, they are just benefitting from it.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

The wages aren't down to the players though, are they?

It's ok it not like the system, just don't take it out on the players.
They didn't drive the system, they are just benefitting from it.

I'm not criticising the player for his actions, merely pointing out he is not a player at the very top as Easy 10 suggests.

That said, if I was well paid and part of a failing team I'd be more discrete. I wouldn't allow anyone to take a picture like that.