Thetownend.com

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/sport/football/article-1186966/Arsenal-striker-Arshavin-demands-huge-pay-rise---taxman-takes-half-80k-week.html

Although not on 50% tax i do have a little sympathy for him...only a little though about a third of my wages do get gobbled up before i see them each week in tax and insurance.

fuck off back to russia then, most poeple arent even lucky enough to earn what you do in a year (minus the tax)

Id take his weekly wage a year in the current climate

I dont come from Russia!....seriously though alot of people would accept his take home pay per week as a years salary.

Ha ha.

Has he bitched about his pavement not being made from gold yet?

What a Cock (With a capital 'C')

Fucking hypocrite. Fuck OFF!

(Arshavin, not anyone on this thread).

So he earns over half of the 50% limit in a week, stop your moaning you arse. Hes only going to have to lose more of his money if he gets a pay rise. Arsenal shouldn't have to pay him more,it'l dent there economics if they play to players demands. If i was an arsenal boardmember or whatever i'd sell him now.

As far as I see it this is a very good move by the government. If all of these 'top' players decide to go abroad it will leave more room for developing British youth through the lower divisions and onto the Premiership. There would be more money in the game rather than in the players pockets, European competitions would become really interesting again. More British players playing in the Premiership might result in improved national teams - Internationals would become more interesting again. Players would have to try hard again and the spectacle on the park would be no bloody different!

Other football stuff?

Indeed.

Tax is higher in Spain, have a go there.

Ime trying to find lorry work in Russia....a 13% tax rate is very enticing.

Does this mean Belize is about to get an influx in foreign signings? or maybe Grasshoppers Zurich could be in line for a period of European domination.  It's moments like this that could gradually cause the Premier League to fall into it's own recession.  How long can it continue to pull in the TV audiences with such a failure to grasp what is going on in the world, and a potential realisation that's it's not that much better to watch than it ever was really.

Didn't Arsenal get in trouble a few years ago for paying all their players through some sort of offshore mess anyway?

I'm not usually one to jump on the "they don't know they're born" bandwagon - players are worth, like any worker, what the employer is willing to pay.  However, to complain in this way just a few weeks in to his contract (didn't he research basics like tax rates when he took a job in another country?  I think most of us would) is just distasteful.  In a time when many of us are happy just to hang on to our jobs (and I am happy to declare at this point that I earn annually just over 50% of his £40k weekly wage) this will hardly endear him to the British public.

Its amazing that the top players expect to get new improved contracts when their tax payments go up - it's not just Arshavin, though he's the only one stupid enough to moan to the press about it.

What fucking planet are they living on?

Top players often negotiate their wages based on net amounts. Obviously his agent has fucked up, but he shouldn't be mouthing off to the press.

Yes this is true.

In fact I think I am right in saying that Ruud Gullit lost his managerial job at Chelsea for requesting a cool GBP2.0m a year "netto".