Red Devil
Jul 19 2002, 06:34 PM
Birmingham City chairman David Gold last night described the 50 per cent pay rise awarded to players' union chief Gordon Taylor as 'scandalous'.
Taylor, already the best paid union leader in the country, now earns £484,135 and Gold, a long-term critic of the Professional Footballers' Association chief executive and his organisation was quick to go on the attack.
Gold said: 'I recently accused the PFA and Gordon Taylor of building a mausoleum to greed and I take no pleasure in saying I told you so.
'What sickens me is that this cash is coming from TV monies awarded to the clubs which should be used to pay our players. Instead we are seeing a percentage of it going to the union, who then hand themselves big pay increases. It is scandalous.
'We as chairmen are attempting to persuade the players to take cuts because of the slow-down in revenue and recent TV digital disasters and then we see something like this.'
Taylor, 57, who used to play for Birmingham, also had his benefits increased to take the overall deal to £623,227.
Gold added: 'The timing of this is utterly shocking and confirms what I thought about the organisation all along. They are continually talking about how they bail out hard-up clubs but fail to mention that this is in the form of interest-attached loans which put lower-division clubs in more trouble.
'This pay award is flabbergasting and frightening. I have nothing against rewarding success but I can see no reason for it - I just can't see what Gordon Taylor and the PFA have achieved.'
ESPN
Taylor, already the best paid union leader in the country, now earns £484,135 and Gold, a long-term critic of the Professional Footballers' Association chief executive and his organisation was quick to go on the attack.
Gold said: 'I recently accused the PFA and Gordon Taylor of building a mausoleum to greed and I take no pleasure in saying I told you so.
'What sickens me is that this cash is coming from TV monies awarded to the clubs which should be used to pay our players. Instead we are seeing a percentage of it going to the union, who then hand themselves big pay increases. It is scandalous.
'We as chairmen are attempting to persuade the players to take cuts because of the slow-down in revenue and recent TV digital disasters and then we see something like this.'
Taylor, 57, who used to play for Birmingham, also had his benefits increased to take the overall deal to £623,227.
Gold added: 'The timing of this is utterly shocking and confirms what I thought about the organisation all along. They are continually talking about how they bail out hard-up clubs but fail to mention that this is in the form of interest-attached loans which put lower-division clubs in more trouble.
'This pay award is flabbergasting and frightening. I have nothing against rewarding success but I can see no reason for it - I just can't see what Gordon Taylor and the PFA have achieved.'
ESPN