26 Mar 2018 16:03:48
Hi ed,

Can you perhaps confirm players wages in the Premiership, we all see occasional headlines and rumours but I and presumably others would like the figures confirmed, hopefully it is not too much work.
Another topic how many fans are planning to travel to Russia to watch England and how many people would support withdrawing from the World Cup in protest against the Russians nerve agent attack in the UK?
Regards vs.

{Ed002's Note - I am afraid I have no interest in discussing wages. Around 10,000-12,000 England fans are expected to go and I am not aware of the nerve agent attack by an unknown attacker from an unknown country has impacted anyone's thoughts - probably not. Certainly it is numerically down by perhaps 5,000 fans or so due to safety concerns over fighting, etc..}

1.) 27 Mar 2018
27 Mar 2018 00:43:33
Hi ed

Thank you very much for your response.
Regards vs.

2.) 27 Mar 2018
27 Mar 2018 11:43:45
Why should any of us be interested in Premier League players' wages?

Mixing sport and politics is always a thorny issue. The Govt. is co-operating with an investigation into who the likely perpetrators of said attack may be but there has been no definitive decision on that front yet. The Govt. has also taken action in response to Russia's failure to co-operate with the enquiry following the event. Whilst many assume Russia are responsible, the investigation is on-going at this time. Should Russia be found responsible or the most likely perpetrators, the response globally and domestically will likely be far greater and more far reaching then withdrawing our football team from playing in a tournament on Russian soil. I'm not sure that sends any particular message of any great strength to Russia or the rest of the world.

Also, let's not forget who is still running international football. If we are to abstain from an international tournament, surely the protest would be better directed at the corruption and greed of the likes of FIFA than a political issue outside the sporting arena. In any event, one team withdrawing is unlikely to have any great impact so it seems baseless.

Finally, I don't consider the team or our fans are at risk by travelling to Russia for the tournament, save the potential for hooliganism, so from a purely sporting and safety perspective, I'm not sure there are any grounds for not going.