By IANS
London : British Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe has termed as “obscene” the spiralling wages in English Premier League football.
“Good luck to (Chelsea captain) John Terry but I think it is obscene to be on 150,000 pounds per week,” Sutcliffe told a sports industry conference Thursday.
Sutcliffe, who took over as sports minister from Richard Caborn earlier this year, said football was in danger of alienating itself from ordinary people.
“Chelsea are 250 million pounds in the red and they may be able to cope with that but it’s not the real world. That is not sustainable.
“This year Manchester United increased their season tickets prices by 13 percent. That’s taking the game away from the ordinary fans. We don’t want to be in a position where people are alienated.”
Sutcliffe also endorsed English Football Association (FA) chief executive Brian Barwick’s tough stance on behaviour in grassroots football, but said top players needed to clean up their act as well.
“Players should be exposed if they are not acting properly as role models,” he said. “I abhor what goes on sometimes.”