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The Bank of England web site uses the fact that Lionel Messi earns 600 times the salary of the UK Prime Minister to illustrate the principles of supply and demand. He is, as they point out, a unique talent who earns millions for his football club so is recompensed with a pay packet of some £1.75 million pounds every week. He earns some 33.5 times that of an average UK  Premier League player who’s salary is some £50,800 each week. At the same time a League One player will receive a mere £3,640 for the same period. However, this is still 5.7 time more than a nurse at the local hospital. By my calculations, Messi’s pay is the same as 2,700 nurses who, according to the same website, take home an average of some £630 pounds a week.

It is therefore interesting to note that during the caronavirus outbreak the UK government’s list of key workers who are needed to keep the country functioning, includes nurses but there is no mention of football players.

If we look at ourselves through any sort of critical lens, surely we can see that our system is unfair. Whilst football is undoubtedly an amazing game, a player is just not worth so much more than a nurse. As we reappraise our situation following the shock of the virus attack we hopefully will look critically at the division between rich and poor and ask ourselves what is the value of this person to our community ? 

Sources , Bank of England and Guardian Book Reviews by Terry Eagleton

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