From Hill's £20-a-week to Ronaldo's £288k Madrid mega-deal

Cristiano Ronaldo's new salary of £288,000-a-week after tax is a new record. Sportsmail studies football history to see how wages have been sharply increasing through the years.

We're scratching our heads too, Cristiano: Ronaldo now takes home an eye-watering £288,000-per-week

 

When Johnny Haynes became the first footballer to earn £100-per-week in 1961 punters were outraged at the ridiculous wages.

Imagine what they'd make of Cristiano Ronaldo's new galactic salary of £288,000 after tax.

The abolition of footballer's £20-per-week salary cap in England on January 18, 1961, was a defining moment in the history of the game's global wage rises.

Jimmy Hill, Fulham, 1953: £20-a-week                                                                    

 

 

Johnny Haynes, Fulham, 1961: £100-a-week                                                          

At the time there was disgust that footballers in this country could earn more than the miners slaving away at the coalface. 

Yet in a PFA meeting to vote on strike action Bolton's representative Tommy Banks, who had been a miner, gave a speech in which he argued that although admired people in the mining community that didn't mean they could mark Stanley Matthews on a Saturday afternoon. The decision was unanimous and the cap was lifted.

Fulham's then chairman Tommy Trinder saw the publicity value of making his England midfielder the highest-paid player. Soon other clubs such as Manchester United and Liverpool, having initially decided to stick to strict wage caps, followed suit.

It came just in time with Italian clubs spotting the value in attracting star names and persuading the likes of Denis Law and Jimmy Greaves to leave England for bigger salaries. The competition forced clubs to offer higher and higher salaries to secure top players.

George Best, Manchester United, 1968: £1,000-a-week                                          

 

 

Falcao, Roma, 1980: £10,000-a-week                                                                      

George Best was the first to break four figures at Manchester United in 1968, but the Italians struck back. In 1980 the Brazilian Falcao became the first player on £10,000 per week when he joined Roma. Ten years later and Roberto Baggio became the first on £50,000 when he signed for Juventus from bitter rivals Fiorentina. 

The Bosman ruling in 1995 then had a dramatic effect on wage increases. Power shifted from the clubs to players when it was decided in the European Court of Justice that players finishing their contract at a club were allowed to leave for free. Agents could now demand their clients received greater wages based on their new employers saving money on their transfer fee.

Roberto Baggio, Juventus, 1990: £50,000-a-week                                                  

Sol Campbell, Arsenal, 2001: £100,000-a-week                                                       

What happened next? Sol Campbell moved from Tottenham to north London rivals Arsenal for nothing and became the first player to earn £100,000.

It has continued to escalate from there, with other stars demanding wages matching their team-mates or counterparts at other clubs. 

Coupled with the money poured into the Premier League through TV rights, global sponsorship and merchandise sales; the spiralling season ticket costs and billionaire owners bankrolling their teams and with clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona having a limitless overdraft from Spanish banks. 

Carlos Tevez, Manchester City, 2009: £200,000-a-week                                          

Wayne Rooney, Manchester United, 2010: £250,000-a-week                                   

There is something in joining a rival club – or at least threatening to. Following on from Baggio and Campbell, Carlos Tevez was the first to break £200,000 moving from Manchester United to City in 2009. 

Wayne Rooney trumped him by threatening to move across the city, too, and was the first on £250,000. And now we have Ronaldo, but who knows where it will go from here.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid, 2013: £288,000-a-week (after tax)                        

SALARY STATS

Wage increase percentage since 1961

Miner salary: 6,037% increase
Footballer salary: 1,439,900% increase

Top 8 highest earning footballers in the world...
1 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) £15million per year
2 Lionel Messi (Barcelona) £13.41m
3 Neymar (Barcelona) £12.57m
4 Zlatan Ibrahimovic (PSG) £12.16m
5 Radamel Falcao (Monaco) £11.74m
6 Wayne Rooney (Man Utd) £11.57m
7 Sergio Aguero (Man City) £11.31m
8 Yaya Toure (Man City) £10.90m

 

My Blues are eggs-ellent!

The last time Jose Mourinho ventured into egg territory, he found out Roman Abramovich was an over-easy kind of guy.  Mourinho complained about the eggs and Abramovich told him it was over. Easy.

Turned out the Russian liked his managerial relationships the way he liked his eggs.

Six years and seven managers later, Mourinho is back where it all ended, at the start of a Champions League campaign. This time with no complaints about the quality of his stock.

 

Mother hen: Jose Mourinho said he had to nurture his 'young, beautiful' 'eggs'

All smiles: It is an echo of what he said in his last reign under Roman Abramovich

Jose Mourinho seeks to nurture Chelsea's 'young eggs' 

 

Shaking it off: Mourinho sort out his umbrella after the Chelsea press conference

Man with a plan: Mourinho put his 'eggs' through their paces ahead of the Champions League clash with Basle

‘Beautiful, young eggs,’ clucked the Chelsea manager, quick to embrace the role of Mother Hen and remind everyone that this young team does not yet compare in stature to the one he left behind in 2007. Wednesday night's team will include four players aged 22 and under.

‘They are eggs that need a mum or, in this case, a dad to take care of them, to keep them warm during the winter, to bring the blanket and work and improve them,’ added Mourinho. 

‘One day the moment will arrive when the weather changes, the sun rises, you break the eggs and the eggs are ready to go for life at the top level.’ The Eggsceptional One smiled, pleased with himself, and his audience chuckled approvingly. Wednesday is six years to the day since the final game of his first spell at Chelsea, a 1-1 draw at home against Rosenborg.

Stamford Bridge was far from full to capacity on that night and his team, having surrendered their grip on the Barclays Premier League title, were under increasing fire for lacking flair.

Spring chicken: Key player Eden Hazard, in training ahead of Wednesday's clash, is still 22

Hair today: David Luiz (left) and new signing Willian prepare for the Blues' first Champions League match

Fighting fit: Fernando Torres (centre), and his Chelsea team-mates are looking to kick-start their season

Behind the scenes, friction had developed between him and Abramovich about the club’s transfer targets and it reached its critical point as Chelsea prepared another assault on Europe.

‘It’s all about omelettes and eggs,’ said Mourinho on the eve of the Rosenborg game. ‘You have eggs Class One, Class Two and Class Three. Some are more expensive than others and some give you  better omelettes. So when the Class One eggs are in Waitrose and you cannot go there, you have a problem.’ 

Mourinho was ousted despite winning five major trophies in three years and the team, under the guidance of Avram Grant, went on to reach the Champions League final where they were beaten on penalties by Manchester United.

Since then, Chelsea have won it without him. Mourinho, having first won it with Porto, has won it again with Inter Milan and now they are back together, owner and manager  having made up.

THE BEST OF MOURINHO

'Please don’t call me arrogant, but I’m European champion and I think I’m a special one.'

Mourinho at his Chelsea unveiling in 2004, leading to a long-surviving nickname...

'The dog is fine in Portugal - that big threat is away - you don’t have to worry about crime any more'

After the police questioned him over whether his dog had a pet passport...

'Wenger has a real problem with us and I think he is what you call in England a voyeur. He is someone who likes to watch other people. 

 

'There are some guys who, when they are at home, have this big telescope to look into the homes of other people and see what is happening. Wenger must be one of them - and it is a sickness'

Taunting Arsene Wenger for talking about the Blues...

‘If Roman Abramovich helped me out in training we would be bottom of the league and if I had to work in his world of big business, we would be bankrupt!’

Describing his relationship with Chelsea's owner...

'No eggs, no omelette. And it depends on the quality of the eggs. In the supermarket, you have eggs class one, class two, class three.

'Some are more expensive than others and some give you better omelettes. So when the class one eggs are in Waitrose and you cannot go there, you have a problem'

The original 'eggs' rant after the Rosenborg game...

Stretching out: Mourinho watches his players train in preparation for the match

Pushing for a place: Juan Mata (left) and Demba Ba walk out for training at the club's Cobham complex

Chelsea start at home to Basle tonight searching for a European win against the Swiss champions to lift spirits after five points dropped from the last two Premier League games.

Mourinho’s destiny has been entwined with this competition ever since Manchester United goalkeeper Tim Howard failed to hold a free-kick from Porto’s Benni McCarthy and Costinha pounced in the last minute of their first knockout round tie.

United, until that point going through on away goals, crashed out, Porto went on to win the title and Chelsea poached Mourinho. The goal spun the tie upside down and may have jolted football from its previous trajectory.

What of the Mourinho story if Howard had fielded McCarthy’s shot comfortably as he should have? Instead, a legend was fuelled by European adventures from Anders Frisk and the ‘enemy of football’ to the laundry skip and Rui Faria’s woolly hat to Luis Garcia’s ‘ghost goal’ and a feud with Rafa Benitez, which still  echoed around Stamford Bridge last season.

Scrambled: Mourinho complained about his 'eggs' after his last match in his first spell at Chelsea, a 1-1 Champions League draw with Rosenborg, with John Terry (left) battling Yssouf Kone

Mourinho accused Lionel Messi of acting, which enraged Barcelona fans to the point where they spat at Chelsea’s team bus, thus casting him as a Real Madrid manager, although he was unable to acquire for them the landmark 10th European title. His Real team was foiled three times in the semi-final, twice on penalties.

‘108 Champions League matches is a lot of matches and in quite  a short period of time,’ said  Mourinho. ‘So that means my relationship with the competition is not so bad.

‘Winning the competition twice, when I think we are only three or four who have managed to do that, means also something. But I felt during these 108 matches that many strange things happened. I have to believe it is just football, no more than football.’

This is a flick at the ear of UEFA. He is convinced they are anti-him, or at least pro-Barcelona. It remains hard for Mourinho to resist an anti-establishment remark here and there, although he managed to avoid comment on the choice of referee on Wednesday night.

Dangerous opponents: Basel knocked Manchester United out of the group stages two years ago

Ambitious: Roman Abramovich likes his 'eggs' in the knockout stage of the Champions League

Daniele Orsato twice sent Mourinho from the touchline during his time in Italy when the Inter Milan coach became embroiled in a lengthy dispute with the Italian FA. 

‘I have to focus not in the past, but in the future,’ said Mourinho. ‘There is no obsession for me, no obsession for Chelsea but I want to win it for a third time. I want Chelsea to win it for a second time. This is the beginning of a process.

‘Last season, Chelsea went out of its natural habitat and into a  competition that is not a Chelsea competition. We don’t want to do that again. We don’t want to play Europa League.

‘We want the Champions League and when you start the group phase with a victory, normally it’s a good step in the direction of qualifying. It doesn’t mean you qualify but it’s a big step.’ 

At least this time there is no confusion about how Abramovich likes his eggs. He likes them in the knockout stage of the Champions League.

Bill Gates kekal individu terkaya di AS

GAMBAR bertarikh 23 Mac 2011 menunjukkan Bill Gates dan isterinya, Melinda melayan seorang kanak-kanak di Kampung Jamsot dekat Patna, India.- AP

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NEW YORK - Pengasas syarikat teknologi Microsoft, Bill Gates kekal individu paling kaya di Amerika Syarikat (AS) dengan nilai kekayaannya mencecah AS$72 bilion (RM234 bilion).

Jumlah itu merupakan kenaikan sebanyak AS$6 bilion (RM19 bilion) berbanding tahun lalu. Gates mengungguli senarai terbaharu 400 individu paling kaya di Amerika Syarikat (AS) yang dikeluarkan oleh majalah Forbes kelmarin.

Menurut Forbes, gabungan kekayaan golongan paling kaya di AS mencecah AS$2 trilion (RM6.48 trilion), meningkat daripada AS$1.7 trilion (RM5.51 trilion) pada tahun 2012.

Purata nilai bersih kekayaan mereka yang berada dalam senarai tersebut adalah sebanyak AS$5 bilion (RM16.1 bilion), angka tertinggi setakat ini.

Pelabur terkenal, Warren Buffett menduduki tempat kedua dengan kekayaan sebanyak AS$58.5 bilion (RM190 bilion), naik $12.5 bilion (RM40.6 bilion) dari tahun lalu.

Berada di tempat ketiga ialah pengasas Oracle, Larry Ellison dengan kekayaan sebanyak AS$41 bilion (RM133 bilion).

Selain menjadi antara bilionair paling muda, pengasas laman sosial Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg juga mencatat pertambahan kedua paling tinggi dengan kekayaan sebanyak AS$9.6 bilion (RM31 bilion). Zuckerberg yang baru berusia 29 tahun kini kembali berada dalam senarai 20 teratas selepas jatuh ke tangga 36 pada tahun lalu. - Agensi