Body & Soul0 min ago
Ungentlemanly Footballers
To the long list of the modern footballers faults, can we add ungentlemanly.
"I am only thinking of Chelsea and want to play there."
Robinho on sunday. 24 hours later, he is a Manchester City player.
Then there is the stitching up of Tottenham.
Manchester United and Tottenham have been playing out a bitter tug of war for Dimiti Berbatov. Then surprisingly, Manchester City made a last day offer for Berbatov, and he is given permission to go and talk with them. Instead of being met by Man City Manager and ex-Fergie player, Mark Hughes, he instead heads for United, and signs for them. Very dubious ethics.
All very bad for the games' reputation.
Time to rethink the whole transfer circus?
"I am only thinking of Chelsea and want to play there."
Robinho on sunday. 24 hours later, he is a Manchester City player.
Then there is the stitching up of Tottenham.
Manchester United and Tottenham have been playing out a bitter tug of war for Dimiti Berbatov. Then surprisingly, Manchester City made a last day offer for Berbatov, and he is given permission to go and talk with them. Instead of being met by Man City Manager and ex-Fergie player, Mark Hughes, he instead heads for United, and signs for them. Very dubious ethics.
All very bad for the games' reputation.
Time to rethink the whole transfer circus?
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You cannot blame the players, these are mostly ordinairy people from ordinairy backgrounds who have a talent that people are prepared to pay them millions a year for.
Lets be honest, if somene walked into your work and slapped a contract down on your desk for �40,000 (or more) a WEEK for 4 years I bet you would sign it quick before they changed their mind. I bet you would leave your current job without a seconds thought.
The problem is the money coming IN to football.
Countries are falling over themselves to pay the Premier league for the rights to show their football on TV.
I remember reading about a Premier match on TV last year that was expected to have a worldwide TV audience of many millions.
Shady character like Abramovich and Thaskin at Man C have taken over clubs and seem wllling to spend millions of pounds on players transfers and wages.
I am in my late 50s and have loved football all my life, even when players were earning �20 a week, but I hve to say I dont like the way it is going.
On the other hand I love my soccer "fix" on a Saturday afternoon (or Sunday if it is on TV!)
As long as the money comes pouring in to football the players will always try to go to the clubs who pay the biggest salaries.
Lets be honest, if somene walked into your work and slapped a contract down on your desk for �40,000 (or more) a WEEK for 4 years I bet you would sign it quick before they changed their mind. I bet you would leave your current job without a seconds thought.
The problem is the money coming IN to football.
Countries are falling over themselves to pay the Premier league for the rights to show their football on TV.
I remember reading about a Premier match on TV last year that was expected to have a worldwide TV audience of many millions.
Shady character like Abramovich and Thaskin at Man C have taken over clubs and seem wllling to spend millions of pounds on players transfers and wages.
I am in my late 50s and have loved football all my life, even when players were earning �20 a week, but I hve to say I dont like the way it is going.
On the other hand I love my soccer "fix" on a Saturday afternoon (or Sunday if it is on TV!)
As long as the money comes pouring in to football the players will always try to go to the clubs who pay the biggest salaries.
if you worked for company a and company b came along and offered you 90k a week and then company c came along and offered you 120k a week what would you do?...football is all about money and no footballer is worth the money they are sold for or earn.agents have ruined the game,yes i love football but it is more money orientated than ever and it is no longer the working mans game.....
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People involved in top flight football (including many followers as well as participants) seem to inhabit a kind of parallel universe, where normal rules, conventions, customs and etiquettes do not apply.
The players' participation in what is essentially a tedious game includes downright cheating (which they are allowed to get away with), intimidation of match officials to a degree which would lead to lengthy bans in any other sport, and behaviour outside of the game which is often criminal.
Their managers engage in the buying and selling of players (usually involving breaches of contract which would not be tolerated on such a widespread scale elsewhere) and the fees involved have reached alarming levels.
For their part many of the spectators perpetuate all of this. They moan and groan at the price of a pint of milk or a loaf of bread. They take their children to the zoo and moan that it costs a tenner each to get in. But then they happily fork out fifty or sixty notes to sit in the rain and watch eighty nine minutes of tedium perhaps punctuated (if they are lucky) by a minute or two of near excitement. The matches they do not see, of course, they catch on Sky Sports (�36 per month). They all know how to run the Manchester United team better than Sir Alex Ferguson and they all believe that next time England will win the World Cup.
The clubs themselves defy normal business conventions, in particular by paying out in most cases more that 80% of their income to their playing staff.
The government loves it because of the revenue it brings in. VAT on player �transfer� (i.e. breach of contract) fees and enormous sums each week from VAT and excise duty resulting from vast hordes of fans moving about the country. (No worries about their �carbon footprint!)
Like I said, it�s a parallel universe and it is pointless trying to understand it in normal terms.
The players' participation in what is essentially a tedious game includes downright cheating (which they are allowed to get away with), intimidation of match officials to a degree which would lead to lengthy bans in any other sport, and behaviour outside of the game which is often criminal.
Their managers engage in the buying and selling of players (usually involving breaches of contract which would not be tolerated on such a widespread scale elsewhere) and the fees involved have reached alarming levels.
For their part many of the spectators perpetuate all of this. They moan and groan at the price of a pint of milk or a loaf of bread. They take their children to the zoo and moan that it costs a tenner each to get in. But then they happily fork out fifty or sixty notes to sit in the rain and watch eighty nine minutes of tedium perhaps punctuated (if they are lucky) by a minute or two of near excitement. The matches they do not see, of course, they catch on Sky Sports (�36 per month). They all know how to run the Manchester United team better than Sir Alex Ferguson and they all believe that next time England will win the World Cup.
The clubs themselves defy normal business conventions, in particular by paying out in most cases more that 80% of their income to their playing staff.
The government loves it because of the revenue it brings in. VAT on player �transfer� (i.e. breach of contract) fees and enormous sums each week from VAT and excise duty resulting from vast hordes of fans moving about the country. (No worries about their �carbon footprint!)
Like I said, it�s a parallel universe and it is pointless trying to understand it in normal terms.
It did happen 20 years ago (well, 19), when Mo Johnston joined Rangers after being star striker for Celtic.
It wasn't about money. It was about principle. The manager Graeme Souness was determined the end the sectarian transfer policy. And they did.
Good on them.
Then there's Dennis Law of course (Man City and Man United). And Peter Beardsley (Liverpool and Everton). And Pat Jennings (Spurs and Arsenal).
I do think the transfer window needs a rethink though. You end up with these bottlenecks twice a year where players make decisions they'd otherwise think twice about because otherwise they'll spend six months on the bench (Owen to Newcastle for example).
It wasn't about money. It was about principle. The manager Graeme Souness was determined the end the sectarian transfer policy. And they did.
Good on them.
Then there's Dennis Law of course (Man City and Man United). And Peter Beardsley (Liverpool and Everton). And Pat Jennings (Spurs and Arsenal).
I do think the transfer window needs a rethink though. You end up with these bottlenecks twice a year where players make decisions they'd otherwise think twice about because otherwise they'll spend six months on the bench (Owen to Newcastle for example).
There have been a surprising number of transfers over the years between pairs rival clubs in Manchester, Liverpool and North London, yet no direct transfer activity between Liverpool and Man United since Phil Chisnall ("who?" - a nation) in 1964 (Paul Ince went via Inter Milan).
As for the Robinho saga, it just reminds me why I have such distaste for Real Madrid. Whinging and moaning about Chelsea trying to unsettle him - isn't that exactly what they did many times over to Cristiano Ronaldo? Hypocrites!
Still chuckling that someone should dare turn Abramovich down though. ;-)
As for the Robinho saga, it just reminds me why I have such distaste for Real Madrid. Whinging and moaning about Chelsea trying to unsettle him - isn't that exactly what they did many times over to Cristiano Ronaldo? Hypocrites!
Still chuckling that someone should dare turn Abramovich down though. ;-)
Thanks for the compliment Quinlad. It�s a long time since anybody has recognised me as a curmudgeon (despite my best efforts) and I�m flattered.
I don�t have a particular aversion to football, or indeed any other sport. I have no particular opinion of many sports � I can either take them or leave them, and mostly I leave them.
What I do have an aversion to is the ridiculous hype that surrounds some of them. I have a lot of friends who are followers of football. They roam all over the country watching their teams play. Then I meet them for a drink. All they do is simply moan about their team�s performance, the results, their unsuccessful forays into the �transfer� market, the referees, the facilities, the clubs, the �opposing� spectators, the price of the beer or the pies, the cost of travel to and from the grounds, the price of admission, and just about anything else connected with �the beautiful game�.
So, I think to myself, �glad I�m not bothered about any of that�. It must be a terrible game to follow.
Then I open the paper or turn on the TV. If I was not so well read I would believe that no other sport (or indeed any other activity) took place anywhere in the country. Page after page of drivel during the summer about who was or was not being sold to whom. Then the season starts. Thirty eight matches to play. Two down and there is talk of relegation, qualification for the so-called �Champions� League� (a misnomer if ever there was one) and management sackings. It must be a popular game � and indeed it is. But the people I know who follow it clearly cannot stand it.
Then there�s the radio. Nine in the morning - �Match Day Travel� and �Match Day Weather�. As if all I am interested in are jams on the M6 getting to Manchester, or torrential rain at �The Stadium of Light�.
I�m sure you get my drift by now.
I don�t have a particular aversion to football, or indeed any other sport. I have no particular opinion of many sports � I can either take them or leave them, and mostly I leave them.
What I do have an aversion to is the ridiculous hype that surrounds some of them. I have a lot of friends who are followers of football. They roam all over the country watching their teams play. Then I meet them for a drink. All they do is simply moan about their team�s performance, the results, their unsuccessful forays into the �transfer� market, the referees, the facilities, the clubs, the �opposing� spectators, the price of the beer or the pies, the cost of travel to and from the grounds, the price of admission, and just about anything else connected with �the beautiful game�.
So, I think to myself, �glad I�m not bothered about any of that�. It must be a terrible game to follow.
Then I open the paper or turn on the TV. If I was not so well read I would believe that no other sport (or indeed any other activity) took place anywhere in the country. Page after page of drivel during the summer about who was or was not being sold to whom. Then the season starts. Thirty eight matches to play. Two down and there is talk of relegation, qualification for the so-called �Champions� League� (a misnomer if ever there was one) and management sackings. It must be a popular game � and indeed it is. But the people I know who follow it clearly cannot stand it.
Then there�s the radio. Nine in the morning - �Match Day Travel� and �Match Day Weather�. As if all I am interested in are jams on the M6 getting to Manchester, or torrential rain at �The Stadium of Light�.
I�m sure you get my drift by now.
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