Sports minister outraged by salaries, ticket prices

The Professional Footballers Association and some football managers have gone on the attack after English Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe ridiculed football salaries and rising ticket prices.

Sutcliffe called the salary earned by Chelsea's John Terry obscene. PFA president Gordon Taylor responded.

"I find it an incredible statement coming from a sports minister," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "We're talking about paying millions to have an Olympics or World Cup here in England, but if we're not careful we're not even going to have the sportsmen and women to do ourselves justice.

"He should be pleased that we've got a lad here who's managed to break through in a world when there's a massive amount of foreign players, and he's proved himself one of the very best in the world."

Sutcliffe had said that salaries are getting so out of hand that everyday people cannot relate to the high sums. Despite the heat, Sutcliffe remains steadfast that salaries are way too high, and tickets are going right along with them.

"To the ordinary man and woman in the street that would be seen as obscene because they cannot relate to that," Sutcliffe said. "Link that to ticket prices and people are being priced out of the game. It's not an attack on individuals - John Terry is a great football player and a great England captain."

But Chelsea manager Avram Grant chimed in that his captain merited the GBP 130,000 a week he is paid.

"John is the captain and you need to learn how he led the team with full commitment in a very difficult time," Grant said. "Everybody likes to speak about the money of the footballers. Why does nobody speak about singers who get more money in one year than any player?"

Sutcliffe also was critical of the rising ticket prices, citing a 13-percent rise by Manchester United, as well as the club's Automatic Cup Scheme, which makes season-ticket holders purchase tickets for cup games regardless of whether they want to attend.

"If you want to talk about obscene, he should look at the prices they charge at Chelsea and Arsenal," manager Alex Ferguson said. "He works in London, I am sure he knows where Chelsea and Arsenal play, so he must know about their ticket prices. They are almost double ours, so I do not understand why he is picking on Manchester United."

Responding to criticism over his own club's ticket prices, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson might have started another little battle by calling the charges at Arsenal and Chelsea obscene.

Ferguson's remarks came after English Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe had been critical of ticket prices and cup schemes at Manchester United.

"The prices with Arsenal and Chelsea are absolutely obscene. I don't know why he's picking on Manchester United," Ferguson said.

Manchester United has raised ticket prices 13 percent. Arsenal and Chelsea did not raise the cost this season, but the average expense for their season tickets cost more than Manchester United's highest tier of tickets.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.