An intriguing story reaches us from the Times this morning, though as it's lurking behind a paywall, we can only bring you the miserly freebies tossed grudgingly in the direction of us mendicants. Fortunately, you can guess the rest of the story from the first couple of paragraphs, which read as follows:
Manchester United's players will be forced to take a pay cut next season if they do not qualify for the Champions League, The Times can reveal.
The players and coaching staff stand to lose about £14 million if they fail to finish in the top four of the Barclays Premier League this season. That works out at about £500,000 per player.
Such a claim isn't particularly outlandish, nor especially surprising: it's most unfortunate that we live in an age in which everyone and everything are slaves to capital, but it's hardly groundbreaking news. Still, at least we can take some consolation in the knowledge that the players will receive a financial kicking for the few gutless performances we're sure to see before the end of the season. Happy Saturday!