Wayne Rooney: a scapegoat for being worth every penny?

It's a sad state of affairs when 'fans' choose to mock a man's 50 pence a second, £300k a week salary by throwing money at him. Unfortunately Crystal Palace 'fans' decided this was acceptable practice on Saturday evening, not that Rooney seemed too perturbed by the incident. Considering the irony it is no surprise he carried on with his job in a professional manner delivering the subsequent corner and later producing a wonder strike to seal a two-nil victory. It was a reminder of Rooney's worth and wealth of talent that Manchester United have been so keen to secure at any cost.

Rooney picks up coin thrown by Crystal Palace fans
(espn.co.ukfootball/sport/story/285789.html)

FA investigating coin incident (express.co.uk/sport/football)

Many fans have criticised the England striker's five-year contract, which is reportedly worth a staggering £78 million, insisting no footballer is worth that much money. A view that is jealous fueled and naively expressed, as if anyone would turn down such a significant pay-rise in their job despite considering today's economic climate. Rooney is paid that much because he is worth that much, even with Financial Fair Play's implications, clubs are willing to increase their top players' wages. The cost for United to sign a player of Rooney's calibre and then pay his 5 year contract, would far exceed £100 million let alone £78 million.

There has often been criticism for footballers' wages and their gulf between the rest of the British public arguing that the Armed forces, teachers, emergency services (the list goes on) should be earning more in comparison to someone who is just good at kicking a football. An extremely valid argument but it is the society we live in that dictates footballers' outrageous salaries. TV revenue is huge in the Premier League, ever since Rupert Murdoch revolutionised televised sport in 1992, sportsmen and women's wages have grown and an almost exponential rate. The entertainment value of Premier League, Champions League and Europa League football is at an extraordinary level, hence the contention for rights to air. TV broadcasting companies pay extortionate amounts of money to secure the rights to broadcast these events; BT sport recently forked out £900 million for the rights to broadcast Champions League and Europa League football for the next three years. 

These figures are the catalyst for the players' wages and are by no means to blame. Morality aside, the entertainment value of teachers, firemen and Royal Marines is not at the level of footballers. Manchester United play Olympiakos tonight, live on ITV Sport, with millions of viewers expected to tune in and Rooney expected to entertain those views. Using the basic economic rule of supply and demand; Wayne Rooney is worth every penny

Why the Champions League group stages are so important.

The Champions League returns tonight with the Last 16 round kicking off with Bayer Leverkusen hosting PSG and Barcelona travelling to the Etihad to face Manchester City. In Wednesday's fixtures Atletico Madrid play AC Milan and Arsenal meet Bayern Munich at the same stage they were defeated by the Germans last season.

It is often said this is where the competition really begins to flourish after the minnows and Europa League candidates have exited the competition in the Group phase. But there is a more important result following the group stage, that being the positioning of the group's qualifiers.

Arsenal will host Bayern again knowing their failure to top their group may cost them further progression in a competition they have never won. Manchester City will go in to their tie with Barcelona also rueing a missed opportunity to pip Bayern to top spot in their group. 

Facing these high calibre clubs so early on in the knockout phase and with their guaranteed advantage of playing away from home first for winning their group can not only knock them out of the Champions League but additionally detrimental to their entire season. Arsenal fans will be the first to tell you that.