How many times have we heard football fans lamenting about the ever-increasing fees of watching the English Premier League (EPL) or UEFA Champions League (CPL) over the past few years? Yet, we have continued to pay the fees faithfully to satiate our addiction for the beautiful game.
Football clubs pay exorbitant fees for player transfers. And as of today, about £278 million have been spent on buying 79 players (about £3.5 million per player) by the twenty clubs in the EPL and the transfer fees for at least 12 players were "undisclosed", according to British Daily Mail. To put these figures into perspective, it could take more than 80 years for a NUS Business graduate with honours to save up to buy one player!
As we blindly pay the increment for our cable channels to watch the games on saturday nights, we have indadvertedly given clubs the free rein to throw reckless money at the game. As a supporter of sports, I agree that sports athletes have a relatively short career but the money earned by some of the top players in the EPL is obscene! Wayne Rooney earns £13 million per year... surely one year of that money is more than enough compensation for a footballer's short-term career? Hello, I doubt they even have the brains to run a country! (think our Prime Minister's annual income or $4 million.)
If clubs pay less money to players and spend less on players, then we as the "end-users" of the football game will spend less too. You just have to look at Leeds United or West Ham United's recent history to appreciate that prudence is necessary.
Therefore, Arsenal's model of paying what they can realistically afford and reluctance to break their wage cap is commendable. So it is unfathomable to me why the same supporters who were recently complaining about the increased fees for stadium entrance were the same ones who sang "Spend some f***king money" during Arsenal's last game. At a time like that, when Arsenal are the only top six club in the EPL who retained a bit of sanity, it is them who deserves more vociferous support than ever. Supporters of the club have to understand that the enjoyment of the beautiful game should not be balanced on how much we have in our pockets, and be proud that the club have chosen to stick to their values.
Arsene Wenger, this season I support your team. I hope you win!
