29 comments

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  Phil McThomas

  11 months ago

  I don't have a problem with expensive cars and big houses. If it doesn't affect other people, how they spend their money is their business.
  
  Some people in this world are richer than others. Fact of life. Gerrard won some kind of lottery with his phyique and skill, but he's also had to work hard to get what he earns.
  
  The minute a player starts driving their car at 80 in a town center after a skinful of beers..well..you can lock them up for me.
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  ChrissMari

  11 months ago

  Premiership clubs make a lot of money on the backs of their players. If the players were making 25 grand a year we'd be outraged at all the money the bosses were making off the sweat of their workers without giving them their fair share -- to put it in factory terms, just slide the scale up a bit.
  
  If there's a market for it and that's what the market will pay I have no issue with that.
  
  I wouldn't have a crazy gym with all my millions but I'm not going to begrudge someone the chance to build one.
  
  His crazy neighbor needs to stfu.
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  Bryan

  11 months ago

  Well they earned it..the way they spend their millions is their prerogative.
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  Kyle

  11 months ago

  Oh no! Not a gym!!!
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  Lonnie

  11 months ago

  I'd rather see Gerrard invest money into his home/property then watch him blow it on booze, drugs and gambling. All impressions seem to be that he is a hard-working decent fellow, who as Phil points out is being richly rewarded for his physical skills.
  
  I don't see this as any different than film/TV actors who command huge salaries. They buy themselves lavish homes and cars as well. It seems like a lot of money to us working joes but their scale of economy is quite different than ours.
  
  The gym might look ugly to some but it does include some interesting architectural elements:
  
  "Gerrard won planning permission after including plans to install a living 'sedum roof', which includes grass, moss and other plants and helps cut fuel bills by keeping the building warmer in the winter."
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  sean

  11 months ago

  Why is it such a bug deal if he spends his money like this?
  
  He had to work extremely hard to get to where he is now, and you think he should live in a 2 bedroom apartment??
  
  Of course not, and it also makes sense for him to build a gym. Especially for in the off season, its a good way to stay at top shape with out having to drive to the training fields and back,
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  jm

  11 months ago

  I sympathize with the Gaffer's point, but I think it is unfair to lay the blame so squarely on the athletes themselves. The problems here are institutional, with the amount of money in sport and that the costs are mostly placed on us, the ticketholders.
  
  As ChrissMari rightly points out, the money is either going to the incredibly wealthy owners, or to the wealthy players. The problem, then, is in the structure.
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  jim

  11 months ago

  U Mad?
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  Chris

  11 months ago

  Maybe it's time we gave up on capitalism and democracy too. Let's all take a vow of poverty and promise to never enjoy ourselves ever. Who's with me???
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  Hank

  11 months ago

  Athletes are making millions of and buying mansions?! If only I had known that before watching them on TV, buying their jerseys, and paying to see them play!
  
  Uhmm...
  
  Anyway, isn't this blog called "epltalk"? If we all started watching pickup games in our local park, where would I come to read articles like this? :)
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  Raatzie

  11 months ago

  Society places a high value on the players vis-a-vis other professions. Whether it should is debatable, but entirely another question. I agree that of all the ways Stevie G might spend his money, this isn't really near the obttom of the list.
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  tyduffy

  11 months ago

  I don't really have that much problem with a gym. It's not as though he can pop down to the local gym without being mobbed.
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  The Gaffer

  11 months ago

  So no one here is disgusted by the exorbitant amounts of cash that these players are earning and how they're spending their money on cars, mansions and the like?
  
  No one finds this excessive at all?
  
  Cheers,
  The Gaffer
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  Simon Burke

  11 months ago

  Sorry gaffer, its not exactly news to anyone. What did you think they were earning? You thought they gave it all to charity? In a perfect world my friend but in real life its fast cars, nice houses, bigger houses which are still nice and then the racetrack. I am not so offended by it unless its flaunted at me.
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  mike

  11 months ago

  Sure it's excessive what rich people buy, but a $700,000 gym is pretty low on the frivolous spending scale. It would be great if every wealthy person gave back to charities or lived more modestly, but then that is a challenge to everyone living in the West if we're honest.
  
  If you are upset about how much money players and teams make, then vote with your wallet and don't buy their merchandise, tickets, etc.
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  Jordan

  11 months ago

  I would rather see the Players be greatly rewarded than the team owners. If the players didnt make as much more would go to ownership.
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  Chris

  11 months ago

  Wow Gaffer, interesting choice of words. Disgusting...sickening. You must really despise professional athletes.
  
  People get paid what they are worth, in all walks of life. Like an earlier poster said, he has a skillset that is incredibly rare. His skillset also happens to be incredibly valuable, which is why he gets paid so much. His home and gym cost him less than half a year's wages from the club. My home certainly cost a larger percentage of my income than his did. I personally don't know anybody that has a home that cost a smaller percentage of their income than his did.
  
  What would you have Steven Gerrard do with his money? Why shouldn't he be able to spend his hard earned money to improve his home? Should he not spend his money in an attempt to not offend jealous onlookers?
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  AtlantaPompey

  11 months ago

  I don't begrudge anyone the right to spend their money how they see fit, as long they are acting within social norms, or at least being private about it so I don't have to hear. If Stevie G wants to build a gym, fine with me. If he wants to give it away to charity, fine with me. If he wants to give it to me, really fine with me.
  
  Everybody does things with their money that others might find wierd. I spend $100 a month on Directv's HD package plus the sports packages so I can watch the EPL. I know lots of people who think that strange. One person's normal is another's strange.
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  ls7

  11 months ago

  This article caught my eye....very topical :)
  
  http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/new...
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  Karthik Balasubramanian

  11 months ago

  its his money.. he can spend it how he wants.. if ur really sick to your bones.. dont watch him play.. if more of you think that way.. maybe stadium attendances will fall and liverpool may not be able to pay him those astronomical wages..
  
  Its not right to blame the footballer for the money he is making.. the average football fan has become football crazy in terms of spending money.. u cant have the best of both worlds my friend..
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  jm

  11 months ago

  Gaffer,
  
  I have some sympathy with your position. I, after all, do not think it is right for people to do "whatever they want with their money." (Note, however, that this does not license the government to tell people what to do with their money either, something can be wrong and your own business - e.g., an extramarital affair).
  
  I think part of my negative reaction is that I think it is missing the forest for the trees to look at how Premier League players spend their money. The issue seems to me to be that the game is awash with money, at costs all passed on to the consumer through ticket prices, television rates, etc. Within that institution I'd actually rather the players are the ones getting the money than the owners, and I'm also not "sickened" by people failing to live up to ethical standards I know so very few of us manage to. What sickens me is the general social trends in the stratification of wealth, particularly here in the States.
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  50

  11 months ago

  pay attention to american sports much?
  EPL wages are nothing comapared to what NBA,NFL,& MLB players make.......and flaunting? the NBA instated a dress code just to tone down how the players looked coming & going from games.
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  Raatzie

  11 months ago

  @ Chris:
  
  It's not that people get paid what they're worth. It's that people get paid the value assigned them by society. Lots of folks (police, fire, teachers) get paid less than their value to society. But it is what it is. Like I said, whether it should b otherwise is another matter.
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  LemmusLemmus

  11 months ago

  "So no one here is disgusted by the exorbitant amounts of cash that these players are earning and how they’re spending their money on cars, mansions and the like?
  
  No one finds this excessive at all?"
  
  I'm not, and I don't. Like many people, you seem to think that you know what the "right" or "fair" wage for doing something is. I believe there used to be an experiment along those lines in the 20th century; it didn't work. I, for one, am glad I live in a market economy.
  
  And I can find nothing wrong with a person spending his honestly earned money on a gym. If he commits assault, that's a different issue.
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  Adam

  11 months ago

  This article's ridiculous. Next time Steven Gerrard trips over his wallet on the pitch, post this.
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  Eladio

  11 months ago

  Gaffer, would you prefer that the players get paid 40k/year, and the owners pad their pockets even more? There's a lot of money to be made in the EPL, and I'd much rather it be spread around to the players than the owners hording it all.
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  Steve Colclough

  10 months ago

  Wow, Gaffer. Never took you as a closet socialist. In case you haven't figured it out yet, it's the fans who willingly choose to pay what they pay to watch these footballers play. In your world, who should reap the benefits? Maybe require the proceeds from television contracts, ticket sales, and licensed apparel be redistributed amongst society? Or perhaps governments should just set a cap on what athletes are allowed to earn, thereby reducing the incentive for some of these guys to work so hard to become brilliant athletes and diminish the interest in sport which creates a market for those who earn their livelihoods by running websites which celebrate the exploits of the world's sportsmen.
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  j

  10 months ago

  If these guys are paid as much as we excitedly discuss they are paid, they must keep the money moving -- what good is it just sitting in a bank? The banks are failing anyway. I'm sure the financial planners have advised the wealthy to invest the money in things that will re-invest by itself -- not cars very much, but property always. It is obnoxious how much they are paid, but this is now an old topic.
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  Brandon

  10 months ago

  I'm not going to knock anyone for how they spend their money. Especially pro athletes who spend their wages on lavish toys and the lot. There just happens to be a lot of money floating around. What are they supposed to do with it?
  
  I'd reckon that many of them, Stevie G included give a decent amount to charities and youth groups as well. Obviously that's not going to reported as much.
  
  Disposable income is disposable income no matter how much money you have. If I blow some money on a DVD it's the same as Gerrard buying a gym. We just happen to live in different economic planets. His just happens to be Mars.
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