Mirror report - Harry Maguire asks United players to donate 30% of wages

Tom Cato

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There we go, was waiting for this. Perfect example set by the skipper.
 

Tom Cato

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Manchester Uniteds monthly wage bill is around £11,8 million for the first team.

This means that Manchester United (*assuming Alexis Sanchez also donates 30%) donates £2,95 million GBP every week to Manchester hospitals. That will buy a LOT of life saving equipment. Bravo Harry, and the players who signed off.
 
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amolbhatia50k

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Fanatastic. Great decision. Hope all the players follow him in doing so.
 

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Hopefully he wasn’t asking he was telling. You’d hope a lot of them would feel guilty being paid hundreds of thousands of pounds each week for not playing football.
 

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It's a big feck you to the clubs who are trying to press their players into paying their non-paying staff to subsidise their owners.
 

duffer

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A lot of players could rightly tell him to feck off, they already do a ton for charity and they are not interested in being part of this publicity stunt.
 

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A lot of players could rightly tell him to feck off, they already do a ton for charity and they are not interested in being part of this publicity stunt.
Pretty sure, they'll take that into account and it'll be more like everyone takes their total contributions up to 30% of their salary for a bit. It would be a bit unfair to ask someone like Mata to pay an extra 30% on top of the work he already does.
 

Pexbo

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A lot of players could rightly tell him to feck off, they already do a ton for charity and they are not interested in being part of this publicity stunt.
Yeah of course they could and have every right to but I don't think they will in this instance. We're in extraordinary times and 30% is an extraordinary amount. I think we will see solidarity here amongst the first team. It's possible that some of the younger lads on smaller contracts will be given a pass on this one though.
 

Eckers99

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Good man. Let's hope this spirit spreads beyond the players and up to the billionaire owners and businessmen.
 

Eckers99

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A lot of players could rightly tell him to feck off, they already do a ton for charity and they are not interested in being part of this publicity stunt.
You talking about the stuff they do for charity at the insistence of clubs, which is also done partly for good PR?
 

gajender

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You talking about the stuff they do for charity at the insistence of clubs, which is also done partly for good PR?
I am presuming he is talking about Charity donations which they might be making anonymously.
 

AltiUn

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A lot of players could rightly tell him to feck off, they already do a ton for charity and they are not interested in being part of this publicity stunt.
I suppose that's one way of looking at it.
 

jojojo

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You talking about the stuff they do for charity at the insistence of clubs, which is also done partly for good PR?
There really are some already who are already funding significant charities including orphanages, disaster relief and hospitals - typically foreign players helping their own old home area. So a name and shame/praise thing would be inappropriate.

I hope that the Mirror article is accurate, I like the idea that Harry is laying down a marker for the United players. I guess we'll find out soon enough. If it does work the way it sounds then I'm certainly not going to begrudge the players or United from getting a bit of good publicity for once.
 

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A lot of players could rightly tell him to feck off, they already do a ton for charity and they are not interested in being part of this publicity stunt.
I think if you read the article it says ‘the players are overwhelmingly in support of the donation as they want to be seen to be doing their bit.’
 

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There really are some already who are already funding significant charities including orphanages, disaster relief and hospitals - typically foreign players helping their own old home area. So a name and shame/praise thing would be inappropriate.

I hope that the Mirror article is accurate, I like the idea that Harry is laying down a marker for the United players. I guess we'll find out soon enough. If it does work the way it sounds then I'm certainly not going to begrudge the players or United from getting a bit of good publicity for once.
He's laying down a marker for the entire league & helping shift the focus to the billionaire owners who want their players to subsidize them. Just waiting Matt Hancock to call out Ashley & Lewis tonight.
 

Robertd0803

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Our Captain. Sounds daft maybe but proud to be a United fan right now. (More so than normal).

With the payments for staff, and donations from Rashford/De Gea its a great example to set in a pretty shit time.
 

duffer

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You talking about the stuff they do for charity at the insistence of clubs, which is also done partly for good PR?
Nope. I know personally that a lots of players in the prem do loads of charity stuff that's never in the news. I used to work pretty closely with a charity and some of the stories of generosity (both their time and money) from players would surprise you.
 

2mufc0

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Good cause but it really isn't his business to tell others how to spend their money.
 

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Good cause but it really isn't his business to tell others how to spend their money.
Can't see him going public with this, without the players buying in first. It would make it very uncomfortable in the dressing room.
 

duffer

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Duffer you sceptic! :lol:
I have no doubt that Maguire has the best of intentions and at the end of the day, the recipients don't care if the doners were under pressure to give but if someone like Pobga/De Gea/Sanchez (big earners) prefers to do his own thing charity-wise, this will put a big target on them for morons.
 

Andersons Dietician

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Bugs me when people try to shame these guys in to parting with their wages. Lots will already have foundations and charities they support. Doesn’t Mata already give 5% of his wages somewhere. Take in to account that yes they make 100’s of thousands a week but some probably still live to their limit and to boot they probably already support a number of dependants From brothers, sisters, uncles, cousins, close friends and so on.

Its a fantastic gesture but in no way should they be shamed or forced in to it.
 

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A lot of players could rightly tell him to feck off, they already do a ton for charity and they are not interested in being part of this publicity stunt.
That is a bizarrely negative response. It's great that lots of players do lots of charity work, but its worth pointing out that the majority is pretty superficial stuff. Even Mata's salary donation thing, which is laudable, is about a 1% donation. 30% of Man Utd's entire wage bill would represent an actual sacrifice that the players might even notice, and more importantly would constitute a really significant income for these hospitals which will make a real and concrete difference to a huge number of lives.

As for the 'stunt' part... does it really matter if it's actually making a huge difference? We should all rightly point out when public figures take superficial virtuous actions that don't really help anyone and just improve their image. But if a genuinely useful contribution also improves a person's reputation... who cares? If this is virtue signalling it's better than doing nothing, which in my opinion would be just as actively 'signalling' that they're selfish pricks who don't really care about the rest of the world because they're happy tucked away in their McMansions.

EDIT: Any player who feels they already make a significant sacrifice supporting other causes can very easily just post a public reply somewhere along the lines of 'huge respect to Harry and the others doing what they're doing, personally I support CHARITY X in the following ways and am committed to continuing to do so.' If their support for other causes amounts to a similar level of sacrifice on their part, that would be a perfectly respectable post. If not, maybe they should consider stepping up? As many have noted, with a 30% loss of wages they will continue to enjoy lifestyles that normal people can only dream of.
 

Tom Cato

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"Want to be seen" is the part that is a bit gross.
There are several players who have made 6 figure donations without saying anything, including Manchester United players. The "want to be seen" part comes from the public outcry that will 100% happen if everyone who feels entitled to know everything, get's to believe that football players collect grossly enormous salaries for being couped up in their extravagant homes. So going public with the donations is the only way to avoid massive public backlash. I'm sure you understand.
 

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Good cause but it really isn't his business to tell others how to spend their money.
He isnt telling anyone how to spend their money,he is asking them to donate.

Good of Maguire,hope its true and all players sign up.
 

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I have no doubt that Maguire has the best of intentions and at the end of the day, the recipients don't care if the doners were under pressure to give but if someone like Pobga/De Gea/Sanchez (big earners) prefers to do his own thing charity-wise, this will put a big target on them for morons.
Agreed with that - though I would doubt the request was for 30% on top of any other charitable work anyway. But yeah, not sure why stories like this get leaked either. Good PR for Harry and the club (& football) I suppose.
 

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Agreed with that - though I would doubt the request was for 30% on top of any other charitable work anyway. But yeah, not sure why stories like this get leaked either. Good PR for Harry and the club (& football) I suppose.
Because yesterday our health secretary just called out footballers for not taking a pay cut to pay for the non-playing staff that are getting furloughed, rather than making the billionaires who own the clubs and employ the guys to pay for them.
 

Eckers99

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Nope. I know personally that a lots of players in the prem do loads of charity stuff that's never in the news. I used to work pretty closely with a charity and some of the stories of generosity (both their time and money) from players would surprise you.
You're right, it would surprise me. If that's the case, fair play to them. Maybe my thoughts about footballers and charities have been coloured by the embarrassing lack of uptake with previous attempts to publicly get them to donate to high profile causes. And the ubiquity of photographers when they visit a hospital for sick kids.