Football long ago stopped being primarily a sport and became just another branch of capitalism. Today it is a global $250bn-a-year industry.
No surprise, then, that players such as John Terry – salary: £130,000 a week – paid the same sort of whack as chief executives of FTSE 100 businesses. They are no more worth the money than the fat cats are.
On some estimates, the players who made up England team that crashed 3-2 to Croatia at Wembley can be valued at £200m or more; the Croatians were ‘only’ worth an aggregate £80m. Who seriously doubts Marxist notions of the commodification of labour power in this context?
Despite that, England could not manage even the draw that would have seen it qualify for the 2008 European championship. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland didn’t make the cut, either. This will be the first major tournament without a British team for over two decades.
The fate of football is yet more evidence that the deregulation and Neo-Liberalisation of absolutely everything does have its natural limits.
It actually makes me sad that multi billionaire oil tycoons that pay their workers around £2 an hour are going on a monthly shopping spree and buying a Premiership Football Club. End this for the sake of the beautiful game!
06/12/07 @ 16:03