Gerry Sutcliffe is spot on!!! I really don't know how Alex Ferguson can try to defend uniteds season ticket prices!!!

The Premiership should put a cap on players wages as a proportion of income and give more of the income to grass roots football.

Henrymen, Manchester,

Dear Bishop,

If everyone followed football rather than religion what a safer and happier place the world would be. Thank God (sic.) for economics - think about it...

(Although Norwich supporters may have a valid contra argument for the happier point!)

Kelvin, London,

Bishop Dominic,

There are plenty of players earning far more than they can spend, ask them then for a contribution. They cannot possibly spend it all. And I suspect the vast majority will be Christian.

Generally, there are lots and lots of people that earn in excess of the John Terry wages. This is an issue about supply and demand. And at the moment the demand is there.

Simon, Ticehurst, UK

What scares me most about all this is how naive people are, at least judging by the views printed on this page.

Are the players' wages huge? Of course they are. Do they deserve it? Only one entity get to answer that and that is their employers. And there, the economics is simple - if the employer thinks the employees generate sufficient value, then he pays them accordingly. End of story.

Some are even suggesting this wealth should be distributed more fairly!! Interestingly, this system is called 'socialism' and was once used in Soviet Union. It failed.

Finally, there is something particularly annoying about the government and the church complaining about taking money away from the 'man in the street'. The former has spent billions on destroying Iraq alone and the latter has been taking from the 'man in the street' for centuries. I really don't wish to be preached on this issue by either.

Steve, London,

I guess it's a matter of scale.

I would no doubt be disgusted with the amount of Gerry Sutcliffe's expenses?

Bill Bird, Wallasey, Wirral

Footballers should only earn £47.63 per week. esp. Arsenal.

Dan, Chigwell,

'people at the bottom struggle on £200, while footballers get £100k, therefore we live in a sick society', says Keith Fletcher.

Reading to this, you'd think their respective salaries were decided by lottery!!

So, what is the right society? The one where we take from people who have made major sacrifices and worked incredibly hard to become the best in the world in the their chosen profession and give it to those who didn't (and, in a lot of cases, didn't even try)?

Does this sound like a fair society? Not to me, Keith, not to me.

Whether you like it or not, those players on 100k per week are a key part of one of the most successfull commercial organisations in the world and get paid a lot as a result. Those on £200 per week aren't, so they don't get paid a lot.

Sounds fair to me.

Mark Stevens, London,

Football as a sport disappeared a long time ago. It is a global business and so long as people are prepared to pay ridiculous prices to watch pretty boring stuff on occasions, the few young men advertising their sponsor's products will continue to be overpaid, especially when the British Government allows people like Abramovitch to stay in the country throwing around billions of rubles, which I believe really belong to the Russian people.
Apart from the UK stadiums I have noticed from watching European games on TV that there are more and more empty
seats. Has football peaked, is it the cost, or is it the violence from mindless chanting, "supporters"?
Supporters used to follow their team through thick and thin. Today's "Supporters" are a fickle bunch following the most fashionable club. Shirt buying Kids are being ripped off as their favourite players switch allegiance in order to fill the offshore bank accounts of agents in the global market
which is what the game has become.

peter fieldman, paris, france

101 economics class, the demand for Terry's skills determines his wages. The premiership is watched by 160 million people, and all of them pay, directly or indirectly to watch these footballers. The players earn the wages they get. That is the law of demand!

mukwaya, clemson, usa

Just half of one weeks wages of one premiership player (not even a top one) would cover all the required work on my church building. Yes, the wages are obscene.

Bishop Dominic Stockford, Teddington, Middlesex

It's no wonder Bradford City can afford to only charge £138 for a season ticket, £6 a game, when they charged me £20 to watch Darlington there 3 weeks ago. And they ran out of food before half time.

Andy, Darlington,

No condoning the level of wages any football receives as we don't know the full facts.

However its hypocritical coming from somone in government with the billions being syphoned from the lottery fund for the Olympics. Anyone checking where the £9bn is going?

Jay, Berkshire, England

When the people at the bottom struggle to earn £200 a week and survive whilst soccer players get over £100000 a week we are surely living in a sick society. Peace and harmony won't come until we have a fairer and more equal world.

Keith Fletcher, Chesham, Bucks

So, Simon, it's alright for politicians to let rip, without the politicians even bothering to check their facts? So opposition politicians can claim that everybody is out of work, just because there are people out of work?

No wonder politicians lie continually; there's always somebody supporting them.

cotumely, london,

I'm an American that took a tour expecting to see Sheffield United at Manchester United and unexpectantlly got to see the 7-1 drubbing of Roma. Didn't even have tickets until I arrived in Manchester. Not a bad deal. Bottom line is they still sell out the stadium so as a business owner, you have to look at maximizing profits. The prices suck but I'd pay it again when I come back. Go ManU!

Jarrod McConnell, Evansville, IN, USA

totally agree with the minister......hard facts or not

simon, las palmas, sppain

Soccer is such a dud game in any case who really cares.

Ross Hall, Canberra, Australia