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Hot off the Press: Gareth Bale - football feat or financial folly?

JamesJames Deactivated Posts: 1,706 Extreme Poster
Whether or not you're into football, the sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for a record £85million is something of a landmark, especially in these 'times of austerity.'

Read the BBC Sport article here.

What do you think of the deal? Has football spending gone too far, or is it justifiable? Do you think there's too much money in football, or is it about right?

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    JPick wrote: »
    Whether or not you're into football, the sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for a record £85million is something of a landmark, especially in these 'times of austerity.'

    Read the BBC Sport article here.

    What do you think of the deal? Has football spending gone too far, or is it justifiable? Do you think there's too much money in football, or is it about right?

    It is unbelievable how far it's gone/will continue to go.

    But, ultimately, something/someone is worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.

    That's capitalism folks
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Big signings such as Bale will make the club more money than they spend, such things as marketing etc. It is a shock for something like this to happen in a country where the economy is so bad, but there is money there and people are paying to attend matches, buy shirts and watch the club on TV.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The money could and should be better spent elsewhere. Ideally on someone who does something life changing, not kicking a ball and spitting.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ella! wrote: »
    The money could and should be better spent elsewhere. Ideally on someone who does something life changing, not kicking a ball and spitting.

    Who is to say the money would be there to spend if it wasn't on something like this?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It's just a reflection of the grossly unfair way in which money is distributed in the Spanish league, with by far the biggest chunk going to just 2 clubs. It means that they can bring the best players to the league, of course, but it's going to be the death of the league imo. No-one wants to watch a league where there's only two competitive world class games every year.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The Premier League remains strong for that very reason, the clubs all share the TV money. Well, to an extent; football league clubs get fuck all.

    Real Madrid aren't going to go and spend EUR100m on the homeless if they don't spend it on the sheep-shagging monkey boy. That's not how it works. As with all the biggest names, they will make a good proportion of that fee back- shirt sales, prize money, TV money, that sort of thing. It's no more obscene than the amounts of money other large entertainment companies spend on their talent, and it's a damn sight less obscene than the £1m a year of TV tax the BBC spunk over Chris Moyles' tits.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It had to happen sooner or later.

    He's worth nowhere near that, imo.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Melian wrote: »
    He's worth nowhere near that, imo.

    This I don't understand. At all, how is someone worth or not worth £85million. He plays football for fucks sake.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Football may be trivial to you but millions of people pay large sums of money to watch football and they expect value for money. If a massive club like Real Madrid paid all their money to their shareholders and came 12th in their league every year there would be riots.

    Gareth Bale is a commodity. Or rather, his footballing skills or potential footballing skills are a commodity. Top football clubs will pay top dollar for players like him as they compete as their fans or customers expect them to do so. They want to win. A football player can be one person out of entire populations of countries hence they command such huge prices.

    Think that whatever million euros could be spent better on nurses, disabled people or other emotive crap? What about the trivial crap you buy? I'm sure that could go to a much better cause too.
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