At £ 630 a week, Moyo’s Scottish dance hasn’t been a bed of roses
WHEN an African footballer secures a contract, in any of Europe’s top-flight leagues, the general feeling is he would have taken a giant leap into the world of the rich and famous.
A dive into the life in the fast lane of luxury, living in mansions, driving the latest, and most expensive models of vehicles.
And, always flying first class, whenever the team decide to take to the skies, for a trip to an assignment.
In a game which can afford to pay Lionel Messi a cool US$126 million and Cristiano Ronaldo a staggering US$117 million in just a year, according to Forbes, it’s understandable why such fantasies are part of the game.
But, not every contract in the top-flight leagues of Europe, guarantees a bed of roses.
And, the case of Zimbabwe international forward, David Moyo, who has thrust himself into the spotlight as he battles to keep Hamilton Academical in the Scottish Premiership, highlights the inequality of the world of professional football.
The 26-year-old striker scored a priceless winner on Saturday to guide his club to a 2-1 win over St Mirren, in a must-win game which kept alive their battle to remain in the Scottish top-flight league.
Although the Accies remain bottom of the table, the victory provided a rainbow of hope to the dark cloud which has been hovering over their head for the better part of the season.
Now, they could even escape the chop, in the event they win their final two matches.
But, while that will be a significant achievement for the Accies, the plight of Moyo and his teammates has also caught the attention in a game pregnant with riches.
According to information gathered from multiple sources, who specialise in tracking the earnings of footballers, the Accies have the smallest budget in the Scottish Premiership, if not across Europe.
The highest-earning player, at the club earns about £2 000 a week, with the club’s total wage bill, per year, coming to about £840 840, which is less than what Messi pocketed, as an individual, last year. About £16 170 is spent every week, towards serving the club’s payroll and, from that chunk, Moyo gets about £670 a week, which then translates to about £34 840, a year.
This means Moyo earns, in a year, about half of what another Zimbabwe international, Marvelous Nakamba, reported to be taking home – about £60 000 a week – at English Premiership side Aston Villa.
He isn’t the least paid player, either.
The teenagers get far less with Sean Slaven receiving £100 a week, which translates to £5 200 a year. Marley Redfern gets £150 a week, which translates to £7800 a year and Kyle Munro gets £200 a week, which is about £10 400 a year.
The huge difference in earnings between the English and Scottish Premiership has always been a huge talking point in the game.
And Moyo’s case casts a light on their different worlds, even though they are just one either side of the border. Five years ago, the Daily Record newspaper of Scotland reported that the “monstrous financial gulf between the megarich “English Premier League and the Scottish Premiership,’’ was laid bare “by the latest report into global sporting salaries.
“The average salary of an English Premier League footballer is more than SIXTEEN times higher than that of his counterpart north of the border, according to the Sporting Intelligence website survey.
“While Mr Average in the EPL walks off with a whopping £2 438 275, that’s £46 889-a-week, the average salary in the Scottish Premiership is £146 899 — or £2, 25-per-week.’’
But, it doesn’t mean that everyone who plays in the Scottish Premiership takes home meagre earnings.
What is very clear is that there is a huge gulf, between the highest paid players in that league,
who play for giants like Rangers and Celtics, and those who play for the lightweights like Hamilton Academical.
This was revealed in a report, which was carried in November 2017, by the Scottish Herald newspaper.
“The Global Salaries Survey conducted by Sporting Intelligence shows that the Hoops (Celtics) are shelling out an average £14 135 per week on their Treble-winning squad’s salaries, compared to £6 338 by the Gers (Rangers) and the Dons’ (Aberdeen’s) £2 623.
“And, while that sum places them at a lowly number 203 in the world rankings, it blows their domestic competition out of the water.
“Celtics average annual wage expenditure comes in at £735 040 compared to the Gers’ £329 600 and Aberdeen’s £136 382.
“Hearts are the next highest spenders in the league with an average annual outlay of £95 514 and weekly average of £1 837, compared to rivals Hibernian who are just two places behind with
costs of £87 100 and £1 675 respectively.
“Hamilton Academical are the lowest spenders in the division with just £798 per week being spent on a player’s wage and a yearly average of £41 488.
“The difference between the average basic Celtic salary, at the top of the Scottish Premiership pay list (£735 000) and the average Hamilton salary at the bottom (£41 000) is even larger than last season, when it was “only” 16,9 times bigger.
“To put this into context, there is less of a resource gulf between Celtic and their 2017-18 Champions League group stage opponents Paris Saint-Germain than between Celtic and most clubs in their domestic division.’’
The newspaper said the Scottish clubs were “paying out on average £53 in wages, for every £100 of income they generate (on comparison to the) £67 in the Premier League.’’
Of course, there are some players who earn considerable amounts in Scotland with
Mohamed Elyounoussi of Celtics being the highest paid star at £59 000 a week, and about £3,068 million a year.
All the top three earners in the league are at Celtics. The highest paid player, from the other clubs, is Rangers’ Kemar Roofe, who takes home £35 000 a week, which is about £1,82 million a year. In the top 15, of the highest earners, there are only Rangers and Celtics players.
And, in the top 50, there are just four other players, from clubs which are not the Glasgow giants, who make the list.
To put things into proper context, Khama Billiat, whose weekly salary is around £10 372, before tax considerations are taken into account, earns far more than many players in Scotland.
Maybe, the financial guarantees that came from playing for Kaizer Chiefs, and being made the highest paid player in Supa Diski, with a monthly salary of around £41 490, before tax, played a big part in influencing him to remain in South Africa.