'Ronaldough' lines his pockets

Most of the talk so far has been about how much Cristiano Ronaldo will cost Real Madrid in terms of transfer fees.

And, at nearly €94 million, it is perfectly understandable that this is a pretty hot topic. He is, after all, the most expensive player in the history of football.

However, with the move set to be finalised in the next couple of days, I think we should have a little look at how much he is going to cost the Spanish club after that initial sum has been paid.

Because if the talented winger sees out his entire six-year deal, reports suggest he will have pocketed a quite staggering €125 million for his trouble. And that's a lot of money by anyone's standards.

Cleverly, the player has an automatic pay rise built into his salary, which will see him earning more than €700,000-a-week by the final year of his deal. A large chunk of that will no doubt go on hair gel and tanning salons, but it should still leave him with enough spare cash to keep Paris Hilton in champagne and caviar.

To try and put it all in proportion for us mere mortals, young Mr Ronaldo will receive enough cash during his time in Madrid to buy 530 brand new Ferrari 599 GTBs. That means he could crash one a week for the next decade without worrying about needing to catch a bus.

Alternatively, if he is feeling generous he could use his fortune to buy every man, woman and child in Malta a decent sized LCD television. Then again, considering the size of the man's ego, he may prefer to spend his money a little bit closer to home and buy himself 10 million pairs of Cristiano Ronaldo pyjamas. I dread to think what they look like.

There is one other option, of course, and he could just buy himself. With enough cash left over to purchase Carlos Tevez too.

Joking aside, however, the sheer size of his salary in Spain could have some serious repercussions on his team. Yes, he is the best player in the world, but how would you feel as one of his teammates knowing the guy you were about to pass the ball too was getting five times as much money as you were? Slightly miffed, I would imagine.

There have already been some mumblings of discontent among his soon-to-be colleagues, and I am sure one or two of them will be approaching the club's directors demanding a pay increase.

And you also have to wonder what effect this massively inflated salary will have on the game as a whole. Are we now going to see another wave of wage inflation, with even the most mediocre of players expecting a small fortune for kicking a ball?

The amount of money players get paid has long been out of control, but the Ronaldo deal has taken the situation from simply ludicrous to entirely unsustainable.

If Mr Platini and Mr Blatter are serious about wanting to protect the future of the game as we know it then this out-of-control wage spiral is the first issue that needs addressing.

I understand and appreciate that football is now big business. I understand that the biggest names with the most talent and best marketing appeal should get paid the most.

But does that really need to extend to nearly three-quarters-of-a-million euros a week? Isn't that just a tiny bit excessive? If not downright gross?

Don't get me wrong. This is not some personal attack on Ronaldo. If the club is willing to pay him that, and his agent has been able to get that amount of money on his behalf, then all well and good to him.

But I think the sport as a whole needs to take a look at how much of the fans' money - because that is what it is after all - is being sucked out of the game and into the pockets of people who are already wealthy beyond any normal person's wildest dreams.

If that introspection doesn't occur, I fear the day when the whole football pyramid collapses is not too far off. If fans realise they are being taken for a ride and they stop forking out the cash, the whole thing will crumble like a pack of cards.

I, and probably even Ronaldo himself, don't want to see that happen.

How much?

Talking of silly amounts of money, exactly how overpriced is Glen Johnson?

He's not a bad player, I admit. And he may well yet turn out to be a very good one given more time to learn his trade and gain experience.

But £18 million? That's just daft. By those standards I roughly calculate I must be worth around £100,000.

Of course, Liverpool are claiming they aren't actually paying that much for Johnson as Portsmouth still owe them £7 million on the Peter Crouch transfer.

But that is just a bizarre way of trying to justify paying over the odds for a player. Whichever way you look at it, writing off a £7 million debt and forking out £11 million in cash still adds up to £18 million.

It appears that rather than the club's sensible approach to finance rubbing off on the owners, the owners' cowboy management skills are rubbing off on the club.

Our bit for charity

As you may or may not know, Sheffield United are coming to Malta shortly to spend a week here, training, playing and getting to know the island that sponsors them.

During their visit they will be holding all sorts of different activities ranging from hospital visits to parties for young fans.

But one of the most important items on their agenda without a doubt is the charity concert they are holding at the Excelsior Hotel on July 9. This will be a double header involving Sheffield band Craine and local star Ira Losco.

Any money raised from the concert will go to the Inspire Foundation, the local organisation that helps over 1,000 people with learning and physical disabilities.

United's first-team squad will be at the event, meeting the people and getting a feel for Malta, while food and drinks are also going to be available.

Obviously, I will be there giving the event my little bit of support. And it would nice if a few of you could come too.

Tickets are only €10 each, which is nothing in this day and age, so get yours booked now. You can pick them up from the Excelsior itself, the Inspire premises, Teamsport in Birkirkara or online at www.jaggedhouse.com.

Catch you all there.

Spain in the neck

There are only two certainties about winning streaks. One is that they are fun while you are on them and the other is that they will one day come to an end.

However, as an international football team, European Champions and favourites to win next year's World Cup, I'm fairly sure the Spanish didn't expect their 15-match run of victories to fizzle out against the mighty USA.

No offence to any Americans who may be reading this, but the truth is that football (the proper kind with a round ball) isn't really high on the USA's list of sporting priorities. And this lack of importance is normally reflected in the standard of their national team, which is rarely as good as it should be considering the population pool.

Yet in the Confederations Cup semi-final the Americans threw the form book out of the window and gave the high-flying Spanish a jolly good beating.

In truth, it was their greater athleticism rather than skill that won the day, but that shouldn't take anything away from the Americans who deserved to send a nearly full-strength Spanish team home with their tails between their legs.

Their reward is a place in the final against Brazil, who themselves struggled to overcome hosts South Africa in the semis.

Will the Americans have enough left in the tank to beat the favourites? I doubt it. But then again, if you had told me they were going to beat Spain I would have said you were a few matadors short of a bullfight.

Five-a-side hell

Over the past month or so I have been on the losing end of three particularly humiliating five-a-side defeats.

Back in May, some colleagues at my office decided it would be good idea for us to resurrect our football careers and get out there on the pitch to strut our ageing stuff. This despite the fact that few of us have kicked a ball in anger for the best part of half a decade.

However, undeterred, we took to the pitch and were promptly hammered 12-0 by our first opponents. It was only a combination of hysterical laughter and pity that kept the score out of triple figures. And so, encouraged by this magnificent achievement, I did the only logical thing and challenged The Sunday Times to a match, which has subsequently been followed by two replays.

So far, we have lost all three. The Sunday Times, ably led by their editor and his deputy, showed us no mercy as they dealt out three footballing spankings. Under the terms of the challenge the losing side (us) has had to pay for the pitch each time and I promised to eat humble pie in my column if we lost.

So here is that humble pie eating.

Talk about abuse of editorial power...

Editor's note: James did not promise. He was forced.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com