Taylor angry at wage swipe
02 Nov 2007 - 12:05:47
Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor has defended the wages of top players following criticism of John Terry's salary by Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe.
Taylor has hit out at the Labour MP for Bradford South who described the reported £150,000 per week wages of the Blues and England captain as "obscene".
"I find it an incredible statement coming from a sports minister," Taylor 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.
"Every labourer is worth his hire and (Chelsea owner) Mr Abramovich thinks he's worth it.
"More than half of that money goes to the Government in tax. There's so much money coming into the game, surely it's only fair that they get their share of that?"