Sir, – Jordan Henderson, the Liverpool captain, expressed concern when speaking about Covid and the Premier League’s packed Christmas schedule. He stated that nobody “takes player welfare seriously” and those players do not get the respect they deserve. The Everton manager Rafael Benitez, having been forced to play with an understrength team, complained that money is driving the game (Christmas Soccer, Sport, December 24th).
And he’s right – money does drive the sport. More specifically, it drives the enormous compensation packages players receive. According to Statista, the average annual salary of a Liverpool player in 2019/20 was around €6.2 million (behind both Manchester clubs). Further, considering their substantial squads of players, is it really that detrimental to their welfare when a few extra games must be played over the Christmas period? The low Covid vaccination take-up of Premier League players relative to their cohorts in comparable European leagues is not helpful to their cause.
Thankfully, the Premier League announced its intention to continue with the scheduled matches. We can now at least reap some reward from the lofty Sky subscriptions we pay to watch sport on our days off during the cold festive period. The players will have the luxury of the warm summer months to enjoy their extended holidays.
I don’t think we should pay too much attention to Jordan Henderson playing the world’s smallest violin. – Yours, etc,
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KEVIN McLOUGHLIN,
Ballina,
Co Mayo.