Manchester City received "a huge" bonus of £6.2M ($9.7M) shared between 24 players for winning this year's Premier League title, according to Sam Wallace of the London INDEPENDENT. The club's bonus scheme decreed that "the players would receive" £5.2M ($8.2M) for winning the EPL and an extra £1M ($1.6M) for it being "an unprecedented achievement for City in the modern era." However, City's players earned nothing for their Champions League performances. They stood to net "a massive" £7.25M ($11.4M) if they would have won the competition -- a long shot, given that it was their first appearance in the new format -- but went out in the group stages despite having accrued 10 points. Any bonus for the City players was "contingent on them progressing to the knockout stages" of the competition. The bonus schedule gives "a fascinating insight" into City's incentives. The players would have collected £4.7M ($7.4M) even if they had finished second to ManU on the last day of the season and there was £4.2M ($6.6M) at stake for third place (INDEPENDENT, 7/31). In London, Wallace also reported that to the average British worker, the sums involved in City's bonus schedule, "are life-changing amounts of money." The £258,333 ($405,100) that was the average paid to every one of the 24 players "appears to be a huge sum," but when you consider that Carlos Tévez earns around £220,000 ($345,000) per week, the picture changes a little. On a pro-rata basis the £6.2M pool that "the City's players split following their thrilling last-day-of-the-season triumph was worth" £11,742 ($18,400) per player per appearance. Joe Hart was the only City player to play in all 38 league games, earning him £446,221 ($699,700) (INDEPENDENT, 7/31).
