Transfer fees.

[BigbadBillyMcKinley]

I was watching bits of yesterdays game against Peru and thinking of the transfer fees of Henderson etc, and thought; How much would the likes of Shearer, Haynes, Scholes, Moore etc, command if they were at the peak of their powers in todays game? And if Bale went to Real for £82 million, what would Zidane or Figo have gone for now??

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[PokerMatt]

I read this the other month. Obviously there are issues with it in that some of the older fees updated (£40m for Makelele when 30) seem a bit off, but in general it's a good read. http://tomkinstimes.com/2014/01/transfer-records-and-why-they-mata/

Shearer, for example, updated with inflation would cost nearly £58m based on his transfer to Newcastle.

This only has English transfers, and won't include the likes of Scholes, Haynes, etc, but gives some sort of idea.

[BigbadBillyMcKinley]

Nice one. Liked the chart at the end, rest was a bit too much maths.

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[cmg]

What a fascinating list.

The maths is a bit (a lot, actually) beyond me but you can see the gist of it.

The list throws up some amazing pairings. At one time in their careers the following cost almost exactly 'the same'.

Alan Shearer/Shaun Wright-Phillips
Michael Owen/Adrian Mutu
Claude Makelele/Andy Carroll
Thierry Henry/Chris Sutton
Dennis Berkamp/Scott Parker
Mario Balotelli/Darren Bent
Xabi Alonso/Chris Sutton

For those, like me, who had forgotten all about Chris Sutton, who has two transfers on this list, was playing last year in the Isthmian League Division One North.

For those who were feeling a bit too cheerful today another 'pair' are D. Bent/S.Marlet - so they are not all contrasts!

[BigbadBillyMcKinley]

Chris Sutton was awful. But then he signed for the scum when they had no money, so, every cloud and all that.
Its interesting to think tho, players like Van Nistelrooy and Shearer would be considered an absolute snip nowadays, but then it was shedloads. Even with the updated prices.

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[Jamie88]

I still remember fat Ronaldo's 20m move to Inter in 1997 and that was almost a joke of a transfer fee it was so huge at the time, you look now and a 20m fee isn't all that much for many of the big clubs in Europe.

[ron]

The interesting point about money in football comes with comparing Johnny's £100 p.w. in 1961 with current wage rates...

Allowing for inflation that wage is now worth roughly £4000 -£5000 p.w.

Now, I wonder if Mr. Rooney is sixty-odd times better than our Maestro...?

No, neither do I!

[BigbadBillyMcKinley]

But also remember, Johnny could have bought a house every 3 weeks or so. Not saying Rooney is worth that much money, no one is. But I'm saying the difference in prices of luxury items, and even basic stuff, was totally different to what it is now.

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[General]

You have to be careful with what you read as some of the figures are wrong... Torres for example went from being worth £50,000,000 to being worth £44,000,000 the year after... Not sure that's how inflation works.

[General]

But also remember, Johnny could have bought a house every 3 weeks or so. Not saying Rooney is worth that much money, no one is. But I'm saying the difference in prices of luxury items, and even basic stuff, was totally different to what it is now.

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In London? Or just in general?

Because if it is in general Rooney could buy a house every week in the UK if he wanted to.

[HatterDon]

The interesting point about money in football comes with comparing Johnny's £100 p.w. in 1961 with current wage rates...

Allowing for inflation that wage is now worth roughly £4000 -£5000 p.w.

Now, I wonder if Mr. Rooney is sixty-odd times better than our Maestro...?

No, neither do I!

In 1966 when I first got to England, the average industrial wage was 24 quid a week. My first pint of bitter cost me 1s7d, and I often went to Bedford on a Saturday night with only a 10 bob note in my pocket. I'm sure that by 1966 there were several players making more than 100 quid a week. I'm sure that Charlton, Moore, and Best were making around 250-300 quid a week.

considering the cost of everything going up since 1966, the increase in wages is easily understood. The factor that really didn't exist until the birth of the Premier League, however, was income other than sponsorship and gate receipts. The huge amount of money gained by shop sales and international television, makes gate receipts look like chump change. That's where the exponential growth in salary -- and everything else -- comes from.

Here's the thing, if you have gotten to the point where all you think of when you see a match is "how much these guys get paid for kicking a ball around on a Saturday afternoon," you're never really going to enjoy the game again. The game itself has gotten better and better to watch. Even the lower divisions are significantly better than they were in the nearly 50 years since I've been watching English football. THE GAME IS STILL GREAT, but if all you can do is resent people for their wages and their transfer fees, you'll not be able to see that at all.

Sad, really.

[ron]

I think the core values of football as a sport have been eroded by the influx of super cash from satellite TV etc.

Maybe the technical aspects have been improved - but then again what sport hasn't? Remember that the JH £100 era wasn't so long after the 4 minute barrier was broken for the mile in athletics, and the high jump/long jump/ pole vault have been similar.

But the global brand image and movement of highly paid players around the globe takes away from the way we used to identify with the players as being like us, but with the ability to make a living from doing something we would have loved to do. And very often, these players were from the area around the club, giving us the chance to feel a sense of local pride when things were going well.

It is this aspect that saddens me, rather than any feeling of resentment about the football wages of today. Goodness knows, anyone is worth exactly what they can convince an employer that they are worth. Good luck to them.