As sports club revenues have plunged amid pandemic-induced ticketing revenue losses, player wages are understandable the subject of even more scrutiny than usual.

The spotlight is once again trained on players of the elite game, who have been accused – rightly or wrongly – of being out of touch with the struggles of the “ordinary” people being placed on reduced salaries through furlough schemes, or in the worst cases losing all their income. The debate over whether players earning several times more in a week than most of the population could hope to take home in a year has played out very publicly, with many advocating the introduction of restrictions to bring ever-increasing player pay under control – as well as for the benefit of the game through making clubs more financially sustainable.