But Wayne Rooney’s latest pay rise to £300,000 a week must surely be a new low/high in the money madness of the Premier League.

At least Rooney looked like he was trying to earn his cash mountain in Tuesday night’s defeat to Olympiakos.

But the rest of the Man United side were playing like it was the Charity Shield rather than the Champions League.

United need to improve all over the park to become a force again. And that’s where deals like Rooney’s become a very expensive millstone.

David Moyes needs six world-class players at the end of this season.

That means bringing-in players who are the equal, if not superior, to Rooney.

And that could see the wage bill hit eye-watering levels as incoming players demand parity with the club’s highest earner.

Players’ wages are an out-of-control monster. Clubs at some stage will be forced to sit down and agree among themselves that a salary cap is needed or the game will surely implode.

It’s not as if most footballers would give up the game if their wages were slashed.

I can’t see many retraining as doctors or teachers instead of playing football for “just” ten grand a week rather than fifty.

But that’s all in the future while the more pressing matter is trying to pick a winner for this weekend.

A glance at the running total at the bottom of the page confirms that Betting Spy has sunk into the red this season – not a strong place to lecture people about financial prudence from.

So let’s try and turn things around with a win double.

Hull have a decent home record and host Newcastle who still look very flaky at the moment.

Southampton look like they are running out of steam and face a Liverpool side who seem to find a way of winning so let’s try them in a double with Hull which pays 4/1 and should give us a run for our money.

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Running Total for all bets this season to a £10 stake: £-10.00