£ 600.000 ... a week :( How obscene is that :(

Bale may well be quarantined since his return this week Biba, he injured himself playing for Wales and won’t be back in Spurs team until October.

Apparently footballers are exempt I can understand when it is a team coming specifically for a match and return home- but why exempt when this guy is coming back to live here?

Pantglas, lol, sorry but that did make me laugh

You intrigue me Biba ....which bit is funny? The fact that he may be in quarantine for two weeks, that he plays for Wales or that he’s injured?

The latter I am afraid- and sorry- smacked my own hand for that. So he will be paid 30+ million for sitting at home, ah well.

I find the comparison with a ballet dancer odd (I love ballet btw).

Footballers are overpaid because of these very wealthy clubs competing for the best players. Although I find that kind of wage obscene I don’t blame an individual player. As with everything else, something is ultimately only worth what someone is prepared to pay. Add TV rights and payments, entrance fees (many thousands every game) plus advertising, there’s millions involved in football. Ballet dancers, as talented and dedicated as they are just don’t generate such huge amounts of money. It’s only fair the players receive their share.

Will he pay the full tax due on that salary or just fiddle it away somehow?

You obviously know little about the Ballet world. Do you not think that World Ballets and Operas don't compete for the best?

Yes, good question Jane. The fiddles they come up with are unbelievable- yachts, helicopters, planes, huge properties, etc, all registered abroad.

Are you seriously saying that ballet generates the same amount of money as football? I can assure you it doesn’t. Do theatres hold over 40,000 people? No.

If Marcus Rashford is so concerned about free meals for children, why doesn’t he donate some of his personal fortune to repay taxpayers for helping him when he was a child? I appreciate that many parents have lost their income, but sending children to school without breakfast is pure laziness; two words - porridge/toast. Cost - pennies. Keeps you going all morning.

Not very balanced nutritionally though. Nobody can live on toast and porridge.

I'm surprised you didn't recommend gruel.

“Not very balanced nutritionally though”

Some of these kids go to school with a packet of crisps. About time individuals were held responsible for themselves and their children.

I think you’ll find that Marcus Rashford pays taxes and makes charitable donations. The premier league is worth £51 billion, so actually benefits the economy despite big salaries. Why did the so called minister for children claim £51,000 in expenses and vote against free school meals? That’s more obscene in my view.

It is obscene but then football at the highest level has been out of touch with reality for a very long time now. Apart from the likes of young Mr Rashford who hasn't forgotten his roots.

She need a more pointy hat

I have posted before on this subject so sorry if you have read it before but....
I was listening to Radio 4 a few years ago to a programme about who was worth what. A footballer, in this case they were talking about the likes of David Beckham put bums on seats. They are exceptional players who bring in the £££ for the clubs. Therefore to the club they are worth it.
As has been said, if they pay their taxes then we, the taxpayers should benefit too.

I find the outrage about what footballers earn really tedious.

The players often come from working class backgrounds. Do we resent them earning lots of cash, most of them for a short period of their lives. They provide great entertainment for huge numbers of people, internationally. If you don't like the game, don't watch it.

They pay tax, they donate to and get involved in charities. Some earn mega bucks. Our local chippy is run by a former premier league player. A restaurant by another ex footballer.
Surely there are more important things to get wound up about.Free school meals for example.

I have been thinking about footballers and free meals for children, as well as MPs of course. It stirred up a recent memory.
We lived in the next road to footballers' houses, (the famous London club rented big houses to put their prodigies in as the training ground wasn't far away). The flashy cars and WAGS were one thing, I don't begrudge the young men those. BUT nearly every evening take away cars would turn up with curries, Chinese, kebabs and pizzas. Next morning the boxes were thrown out with only half the food consumed and enough pizza wasted, rice and salads, to feed a family. It was obscene wastage, and probably by some who as kids had themselves had very little.

Footballers like many high earners use shielding companies thus enabling them to sidestep paying the full amount of PAYE.

grannygravey13 and that’s why we get cross.