'Too many average players are overpaid'

Updated 13.31 Sat Nov 03 2007
Keywords: Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe, Premier League, John Terry, Chelsea, Martin O'Neill, Aston Villa, football, sport

Martin O'Neill believes far too many "average players" are overpaid.

But the Aston Villa manager does not have a problem with top players earning huge salaries.

Martin O'Neill believes far too many "average players" are overpaid but thinks top players deserve their big wages

Earlier this week, Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe courted controversy when he branded the huge sums being paid by the likes of Chelsea to England captain John Terry 'obscene'.

When asked for his opinions on the matter, O'Neill replied: "I do not begrudge the top-quality players getting well paid and I don't care what era you happen to be in.

"It seems to be as if the Premier League is awash with money and the very good players seem to be availing themselves of that through their own efforts and the efforts of agents.

"I haven't got a major problem with that, what I do is the follow-on from that, which is that very average players are getting well paid and that has been a bit of a problem. Whereas, in our day average players got average money - and I would know plenty about that."

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