Readers' letters - February 9

Sir Stanley Matthews had more playing ability and was paid less than todays players says a correspondent

Stop paying football players these obscene wages

Are footballers of today worthy of their hire? Football fans are entitled to ask this question, especially those who can remember the top flight players in the First Division, before the advent of the Premier League and the influx of overseas players.Forwards of the calibre of Sir Stanley Matthews, Sir Tom Finney, Wilf Mannion, to name but a few. All of these players had one thing in common – they were all paid the then Football Association club maximum weekly wage of Â£20. Now we have Â£250,000-plus per week for Wayne Rooney while at Manchester United and similar exorbitant sums for imported foreign players. These players are paid more in one week than Stanley Matthews and his ilk earned in a lifetime career, and with less playing ability. They play two matches a week at the most, which is three hours actual playing time if they remain on the pitch. Â£85,000 per hour is an obscene and unjustifiable figure for a modern-day footballer to be paid – I refrain from saying earn. Yes, they train during the week but this does not need them to be using any football skills as in match play.Referees, while not being in the same pay category as footballers, should also earn their pay for the job. All too often players jostle and tug each other’s shirts when a corner is being taken, yet referees seldom do anything about it. By all means pay footballers a fair wage, commensurate with their skills value to the team, but let sanity prevail by the clubs uniting to stop paying these ludicrous wages of today. Players go on the field knowing they are on contracts to be paid irrespective of performance – if their contract is not renewed, they have been paid enough for most of their fans to live on for life.Cyril OlsenAddress supplied