Football

I've just been doing some maths re: the Manchester City wage bill. The net yearly spend on wages (of playing staff) has increased by £59,400,000 (after tax and before bonusses)

... If someone is earning £5.2 million after tax, on an contract signed in 2010, does that mean they will be payed £10.4million before tax, due to the 50% tax threshold? And which figure is entered into the accounts?

The before and after tax on the £59 million will not be the same as the 50% income tax for an individual. I'm not an accountant, but to employ someone on £1m a year, you don't have to pay them £2m.

The players will evade as much tax as possible (sorry, 'manage their liability') - the contractors that I work with all manage to pay much less, the clubs and players will have super accountants and I imagine they all pay almost zero.

(in fact, not zero, but 2%: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jan/16/premier-league-footballers-tax-avoidance)