I see Liverpool have just backed down and admitted they were wrong to furlough their non playing staff. I wouldn’t hold my breath of Levy doing the same, regardless of the fact they made a profit of £58m last year and have a majority shareholder worth 4 billion quid.

I’m a big football fan but the greed at the top of the game has sickened me for a long time. I’d love to think this experience will wake a few people up to just how morally bankrupt the premier league is. I know they’re under the microscope these players more so than cricketers, rugby players etc but we’ve had Jack Grelish out seeing his mates, Wayne Rooney (the over paid footballers new union rep by the looks) out seeing Kyle Walker and Kyle Walker himself throwing some sort of sex party. These guys wonder why they’re being seen as villains.

That's what annoys me. They know they won't receive the same level of punishment as us normal folk and basically don't give a stuff what they do.

Yes, they will pay less tax if they took a 30% pay cut, but it is no excuse for not making more effort in the present crisis.

For example, how many of players like Rooney and indeed officials of the Players Union like Gordon Taylor, have made a substantial donation to the NHS from their non taxable personal fortunes.

Today's overpaid prima donna's should consider themselves lucky that they were not living during the days of the maximum wage when even star players like Finney, Lofthouse, Matthews etc,etc had to have a job or small business to supplement their income and like Rugby League players lived in the same areas as the supporters and even travelled to a game on a bus with the supporters.

When Jimmy Hill and George Eastham of the Players Union got the maximum wage abolished, they later admitted that they had never even considered that it would lead to the vast salaries and lifestyles that players have today.

So you want them to take a pay cut which reduces the amount of money they pay towards vital services and then want them to give money to help towards vital services?

I have always thought it unreasonable, and frankly, lazy thinking, that it always seems to be footballers who get the stick for being overpaid, and this criticism often seems to come from media pundits who possess no great skills of their own. Wayne Rooney is (or was) paid what he is precisely because others couldn't do what he does. You or I could not replace Wayne Rooney, however much practice or training we had. And yet, I'm sure after a short training period, I daresay many of us could make a half-decent fist of doing the job that Ant and Dec, Schofield, Eamonn Holmes etc , do. The ability to read an autocue is not rocket science!

Meanwhile, in the US, individuals are profiteering from selling PPE masks on to States that desperately need it.

Let's not lose track of who are the bad guys here!

He kicks a ball about FFS, nothing more, nothing less. Don’t build him up as if he’s the second coming.

nothing more?...well it is

Apologies, yeah your right occasionally he may head it

As I always say to football fans who say rugby is just bulldog for fatties, I expect to see you at the next game I go to earning good money for it.

Just kicks a ball about? It might seem a charmed life but do you know how hard it is to become a top level footballer? It's probably the most competitive job in the world. No it isnt heroic etc but put it this way a normal person dropped into a Premier league game would look ridiculous, drop a normal person onto a film set and they could well do a decent job (many examples of untrained actors making a success in that nonsense industry). Top actors get paid more than top footballers, they never get the stick footballers get.

It's not even about being just a footballer. The way look at it is that at his peak Rooney was easily in the top 50 in the world at what he does. If I was in the top 50 in the world at my job then I'd be on a hell of a lot of money as well.

And if you were in the top 50 nurses you'd still earn a fraction of what Rooney does. The problem is that society places ridiculous values on some people's 'worth' while completely undervaluing people of true worth. That's why the various Kardashians are collectively worth billions for doing...well, you tell me!

Not Rooney's fault, or other footballers, actors, TV or social media stars for that matter, but a problem society as a whole should address. That doesn't mean that the aforementioned shouldn't, in the meantime, recognise what a privileged position they are in and act accordingly.

They can still pay towards the vital services you are on about by making a substantial donation without taking a pay cut, especially in a time of need like at the present.

You can dress it up as much as you like but he still kicks a ball about. I’m not a big fan of actors either so I side with you on that one.

Don't try to justify the obscene earnings with others in the entertainment world like actors. presenters, models or even directors in the business world.

Compare them to those doing vital life saving jobs like Doctors, Consultants, Surgeons in the medical profession.

As for being a hard life getting to the top, it is not so hard if your parents know the right people or you have a parent who who also played the game and has the contacts within the game.

Most of today's footballers at the top deserve all the stick they get as they have proved that they are no different than some of the other people you are on about as they have proved that like them, they are no different where greed and selfishness is concerned.

As far as I am concerned, footballers are no more important than the farmers, bakers, food processing workers who produce the things for our everyday living which at the present time has shown to be true!

How do you know they don't already?

The only sport that i can think of that is as hard to get to the top as football is American Football,it is so hard to make it its ridiculous

Some clearly are, some will be and we won’t know but the majority won’t be. They’ll be waiting till the negotiations have taken place and dragged out for as long as possible.

In other footballer news, they’re clearly filling their time productively, hosting sex parties, visiting friends or hosting club training sessions down the local park. They live in a bubble the majority of them. Yes they’re being scapegoated to a degree but they don’t help themselves.

Agree

It's the British way...

No doubt a minority are, but I think you find that the majority arde not!

Only proving that some of them consider themselves to be something special and exempt from the restrictions imposed on those who provide them with their income, be it a season/match ticket or a subscription to BT/SKY SPORTS.

A major major step forward with this central fund the players have set up. They’ve always got a step back in them though with a players agent (Toby Alderweirald) coming out now and pushing for players to be able to walk away from clubs for free if mandatory pay cuts are enforced. I get his point but jeez keep it to yourself man! You almost feel for some of the players when it comes to the agents because guy like this fella and Riola are the dregs of existence.

Correct, but they get paid a fee for doing a movie. As they are not filming at the moment, they wont be earning.