Opinion - Life's a pitch.

Warnings that football may soon have to consider capping players’ salaries have flown thick and fast – not surprising when the likes of Arsenal’s Sol Campbell, Manchester United’s Roy Keane and Liverpool’s Michael Owen are thought to earn more than #50,000 a week.

But not everyone in football is so richly rewarded. This week we report that Charlton Athletic – another Premier League club – is on the hunt for a new FD. It is offering a salary of #65,000 a year, a handsome reward for many accountants but a pittance compared with the wage packets collected by the stars on the pitch.

Of course, we shouldn’t be surprised by the disparity; accountancy itself operates its own divisional system. Just ask Robert McCullough, the American-qualified FD of investment management group Amvescap, who earned #1,635,000 last year – more than #30,000 a week.

McCullough’s pay packet may not be quite as fat as the likes of Keane, Owen and Campbell. But with the salaries of some newly qualifieds barely creeping into five-figures, it shows that football is not the only industry where Premier League rewards – and income gulfs – exist.