Campbell slams players' vulgar wages

Mr Campbell said obscene wages were a corrupting influence on the game in England. He was speaking during a debate prompted by a motion from Liverpool Labour MP and Anfield regular Steve Rotheram.

During the debate Mr Rotheram cited a YouGov poll in April that reported 56 per cent of English fans wished to take control of their clubs.

“In Manchester and Liverpool, where fans are outraged at the way in which their clubs are being exploited by wealthy foreign businessmen, the figure rose steeply to 82 per cent and 72 per cent respectively,” argued Mr Rotheram.

East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell said vulgar salaries paid to players plying their trade in England were ruining the game.

The Riverside regular said: “I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on the timeliness of this debate. Does he not agree that an essential element in coming to grips with the problem of the modern-day game is that however difficult it is, we must grasp the nettle of the obscenity of the six-figure-sum-per-week footballer, which is totally unsustainable and is corrupting the game from within?”

Mr Rotheram responded coyly to the suggestion as a Liverpool supporter and beneficiary of the top heavy imbalance of spending power in England.

He said: “It is a difficult issue. I am a supporter of one of the supposedly big four - Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool -and that is how we and some other clubs attract the big footballers.

“Implementing that idea would be like turkeys voting for Christmas, but I understand the rationale behind the obscenity of somebody earning such huge sums when the people paying his wages are on a fraction of what he earns a year.

Mr Campbell’s DUP colleague and long-suffering Foxes fan Jim Shannon asked if a Football Governance Act suggested by Mr Rotheram would allow supporters’ clubs a say in the setting of admission prices.

“One thing that people have mentioned to me is their concern about admission fees. A well-heeled Chelsea supporter can attend matches on a regular basis; an Arsenal supporter does not have to be as rich, because Arsenal's system allows admission; a Bradford supporter can probably go to every match.

“A Leicester City supporter like me unfortunately cannot attend due to distance. In the governance Act that the hon. Gentleman proposes, will supporters' clubs have input into admission fees?” asked the Strangford MP.

Mr Rotheram again said it would be difficult to achieve affordable and fan-friendly ticket prices such as those common in Spain, Germany and the Netherlands.

“The dichotomy is that in some of the foreign models where football supporters are represented on boards, match ticket prices are much lower than in the premier league,” said Mr Rotheram.

“Anyone who goes to Europe-as we will do this year, although on a much lesser basis than in previous seasons-will find out when they buy tickets that European games are always much cheaper than their equivalents in the premier league. One does not always go with the other. Football supporter representation at least gives that concern a voice.

“It is more easily said than done. In the current political and economic climate, many difficulties and setbacks lie ahead. Any lack of will or any outright resistance by the parties involved-the Government, the governing authorities and the premiership clubs-will make the task more challenging,” he added.