Collapse of the pound

"Don’t worry, that time will soon be over because with the new taxation system, with the collapse of sterling, the domination of the Premier League on that front will go, that is for sure”.

- Arsene Wenger, pessimistic about the future of English dominance

Britain's raised the tax rate for their top income bracket from 40p in the pound to 50p in the pound. The pound sterling's collapsed against the euro. And because of these two factors, there will soon be a steady stream of footballers leaving England for the continent.

On one hand, it's worrying because it means Arsenal will be more vulnerable to advances by the big Spanish clubs. Cesc, Adebayor, Arshavin, van Persie... these players will be effected by the drop in sterling and may agitate for either a significant pay rise, or a transfer out. If it's the former, it'll shoot Arsenal's pay structure to pieces, and if it's the latter, we'll find it difficult to find experienced replacements.

On the other hand, the top taxable income bracket is £150,000 a year. Most footballers earn that much in a month. They can afford to lose a little bit. And anyway, it's not like the other top leagues are swimming in euros. Serie A is moribund. La Liga is, apart from Barca and Real Madrid, relatively poor. However weakened the pound will become, Premier League would still be financially dominant due to pay TV rights, stadium price gouging, etc,.

Anyway, if there's a problem, the Arsenal board would just increase the price of hot dogs at Emirates. Match-going gooners can be relied upon to dig deep for our players. And we've all got to contribute for the team.

Still, I think we should set up a protest group against this new tax hike. Struggling footballers need to be subsidized and protected. The Government obviously wasn't thinking about elite football when they hatched up their crazy plan. Footballers need our help in these tough times. Entourages are expensive. Luxury cars and bling are expensive. If we don't act soon, Cristano Ronaldo will soon be reduced to a pauper's lifestyle of one Lamborghini, two floozies and one tonne of hair product a week.

Won't someone PLEASE think about the footballers?