MARTIN SAMUEL: McCartney will earn more than Kaka, but we'll still listen to The Beatles

19 January 2009 08:53
Golden boy: Kaka may generate far more than his transfer fee. Take the Kaka argument to its logical conclusion and nobody would have paid to see Frank Sinatra, either. 'He's talented, he can sing, he's fabulously wealthy, how can I relate to that? I prefer Charlie Scuttles at the Rose and Crown. He's tone deaf and can't play the piano. Just like me.' Only sport has to affect this literal association with the community. Tom Finney went to work on the bus, we are self-righteously told. True, but Tom Finney was getting royally shafted by chairmen who were the equivalent of Victorian mill owners. What happened was not right. Finney played in the era of the biggest attendances in English football, he was the man the fans were turning up to see and he received a maximum of£14 a week with no freedom of contract. Non-League players were better rewarded because their part-time income supplemented a full-time job. The pay offer Jerry Seinfeld turned down to continue his NBC show beyond its final season was $5million per episode. The only reason the network could afford to pay that was because the show was generating even more in advertising, so it represented an investment. The same is true of Kaka. Manchester City are now funded as a way of publicising the resort potential of the state of Abu Dhabi and if this cross-fertilisation is successful, the money paid for one attention-grabbing transfer will represent a fraction of what is later accrued.     More from Martin Samuel...   THE DEBATE: Martin Samuel responds to your comments on Andy Murray's chances of winning a Grand Slam this year 14/01/09   MARTIN SAMUEL: Why history is stacked against Fergie's fairytale 13/01/09   MARTIN SAMUEL: Credit crunch? Just cash in on your superstars 11/01/09   VIEW FULL ARCHIVE   Steve Bruce, the Wigan Athletic manager, said that if people are scraping together£45 for a ticket to watch football, they might resent a player whose salary is measured in millions. Yet look at it another way: if a man is spending his last penny to watch a game, who would he rather see: Kaka or Darius Vassell? Dave Whelan, the Wigan chairman, was complaining recently about rows of empty seats at his stadium. Well, they wouldn't be empty if Kaka were playing. Manchester City are not living in the real world, according to Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager and, as usual, commentators nod sagely at his wisdom. Yet how is this so? The sheik is real, Manchester City is real, Kaka is real and that cheque is real, so why is it not the real world? VIDEO: Paul McCartney belts out Helter Skelter from The Beatles magnificent White Album... It is a different world from that inhabited by Arsenal, yes, just as Wenger's reality is different from that of Tony Pulis at Stoke City, propped up, as it is, by the inflationary rewards of the Champions League, a tournament that allows a manager to come fourth and be successful. Ron Atkinson would have liked that at Manchester United. He achieved similar League positions to those occupied by Wenger in recent years and got the bullet. Back then, first was first, second was nowhere and fourth might as well have been Siberia. So is Wenger not in the real world? No, this is his reality, just as it was Finney's to commute on public transport and David Beckham's to own, not a car, but a fleet. Whenever Wenger talks on financial issues we are solemnly informed that he has an economics degree as if this precludes further discussion; strange, because people with economics degrees have not been looking too bright lately. There are plenty of economics degrees flying about among the people responsible for the global financial crisis, for instance. Chances are the person who screwed up your pension and recommended the endowment policy that no longer covers your mortgage is a refugee from the London School of Economics, too. Since when did a degree become a full stop in any debate about fiscal matters? It is fair to assume that if Kaka signs for Manchester City, at least part of his£20m annual salary will be susceptible to PAYE, currently running at 40 per cent and very soon 50 per cent. So, in answer to the standard question about how many hospitals could be built for the money Kaka is earning, the reply is considerably fewer if he stays in Italy. His salary is money coming directly from Abu Dhabi and a slice is going into the Government's pot. Now there is an equation to which we can all relate, even without a first from the LSE.   Will Fergie join Rafa's call to clip Gill's wings? Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool manager, will no doubt find at least one powerful, vocal ally in his view that senior club officials such as David Gill, the chief executive of Manchester United, should not become too empowered within the Football Association. Shake on it: Rafa Benitez and Sir Alex Ferguson are likely to agree on one thing. Sir Alex Ferguson should definitely be behind him, for this was precisely his opinion when David Dein, former vice-chairman of Arsenal, was a prominent figure at the FA. Indeed, so firm is Ferguson in his quest for complete impartiality that he is even opposed to supporters of football clubs, let alone employees, assuming a position of influence. Only recently, he was in a lather about Nicholas Stewart QC, who headed the independent panel that banned Patrice Evra for four matches, being a season-ticket holder at Arsenal. Now some would argue this is an extreme view. After all, was Stewart meant to forgo the pleasure of being a football supporter throughout his young life on the off-chance that he would become a respected figure in specialist sports arbitration? Imagine him as an eager teenager... 'Coming to the match, Nicholas?' 'No, for one day many decades from now, I may be asked to sit in judgment on football matters and this would compromise my integrity. I shall watch it on Match of the Day, where I can observe all teams equally, without thought of favour.' 'Eh? Oh, all right then, please yourself. Weirdo.' Isn't it ironic? The professional game wants people who understand football to sit in judgment, but then cries foul if a person has even the most obscure link with another club. How is that meant to work, then? How many people do you know who are consumed by football, but have no association with any team? Benitez is right about Gill, just as Ferguson was right about Dein. Stewart, however, is merely caught in the crossfire. After all, since when did football start listening to fans?   Search for the Spurs mole Craig Bellamy, the West Ham United striker, walked out because he heard of interest from Tottenham Hotspur. Meanwhile, Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham manager (right), wishes to locate the mole who keeps leaking his transfer business to the national media. This is puzzling as the person who could be seen on Sky Sports News talking up the talents of Bellamy when the transfer window opened did not look much like a burrowing mammal of the family Talpidae. He did, however, look very much like Harry Redknapp.   AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT... At least we won't pay for Great Leighs Great Leighs, the newest racecourse in Britain, has entered administration. Self-sufficient: John Holmes at least bankrolled Great Leighs with his own money. 'There is nothing wrong with the track,' said Michael Jarvis, a Newmarket trainer, 'but the facilities left a lot to be desired.' He is only half right. True, the amenities were a disaster, with a temporary viewing stand in the middle of the course that obscured much of the running. But the biggest problem for Great Leighs was its location, between Chelmsford and Braintree: all the aggravation of getting to the other out-of- town racecourses, with none of the quality. How foolhardy it now looks for the Government to have rejected the site at Fairlop Waters, walking distance from a London Underground station, which was to have been developed as London City Racecourse. Errors such as this will continue while we keep giving people what we think they should have, rather than what they want. At least John Holmes, the entrepreneur who invested£30m in Great Leighs, was playing with his own money. When a vast athletics stadium sits unloved and under-used in east London several years from now, it will be completely on us.   Premiership rugby clubs are discussing expansion to 27 games - nothing like a nice, round number - in a bid to beat the recession. Snooker is putting up its own prizemoney, playing to sparsely attended halls and Ronnie O'Sullivan wants to bring in Simon Cowell for a revamp. As we are so often reminded, though, it is Premier League football that is facing a harsh financial reckoning. How lucky those other administrators and owners must feel not to be in its shoes. Struggling for attention: There are a few empty seats at the Wembley Conference Centre as Shaun Murphy takes on Ding Junhui in the Masters   The news that Sir Clive Woodward's 2012 project, the Olympic Coaching Academy, is under threat serves as a timely reminder of the way England's only World Cup-winning rugby coach has struggled for purpose in recent years. A dismal time at the helm of the Lions was followed by a spell in the wilderness at Southampton Football Club and now this. Woodward's academy opened to fanfare, but has cost£1.5million in two years and is yet to attract a sponsor. One is reminded of Sarah Silverman's barbed comment about Britney Spears at the MTV awards in 2007: 'Only 25, and already she has accomplished everything she is going to accomplish in life.' Woodward (right) deserves better, surely.   With Wayne Rooney injured, Carlos Tevez now has the first-team opportunity he demands at Manchester United. And if he does not take it, the matter of his£30m transfer resolves itself, don't you think? Shooting star: Tevez gets his chance to shine   It has been revealed that Steve Harmison (right), the bowler, takes a dart board with him to pass the time when England's cricketers are on tour. Having seen his first ball during the last Ashes series, you wouldn't want to be poking your head around the dressing-room door when that little session is in progress.   Christine Ohuruogu is contemplating running at all six Golden League meetings this season, in the hope of landing a prize worth $1m. Bet she remembers to turn up for those. In the running: Christine Ohuruogu is hoping for more glory   THE DEBATE THIS WEEK: Who is your footballer of the year so far? Dependable: Nemanja Vidic Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, made a strong early case for Nemanja Vidic as Footballer of the Year, observing that too few defenders win the individual prizes. He has a point. As much as Frank Lampard was a popular winner of the award in 2005, it could have equally gone to centre half John Terry, the Chelsea captain. The following season, when Thierry Henry of Arsenal received a third trophy, Claude Makelele, Chelsea's defensive midfield player, was arguably the most influential player in the League. Chelsea have certainly struggled without him, just as Manchester United's assault on four trophies this season is built on Vidic and Rio Ferdinand as confidently as anything produced by Wayne Rooney or Cristiano Ronaldo. Now it is your turn. Every Monday this column will raise a subject for debate. Simply click here to add your view On Wednesday, I will return online to reply to as many as time allows.

Source: Daily_Mail