Yes it is. I get that. Its also a very privileged one as far as wages are concerned. Well I've come up with a revolutionary idea.......... Wait for it........ Get another job. Yes its groundbreaking. Yes its tough. You're in your early to mid 30s. We're all grafting for the time you've been on this planet. Just play football. Like it and then finish. Go get a£30k a year job. Work 40~50 hours a week. Anyone who goes down the 'its a short career" route is deluded or rich.
True, but if you had the chance to retire at 35 handed to you on a plate how easy would it be to say no? Not very I'd wager.
I get your point, I genuinely do. But this is the modern money game now where the aim is to retire as a millionaire so it's a race to the top to climb the salary ladder. Jim Dobbin works for nPower, Allan Clarke wound up at a print works, Lee Butler trained as a plasterer in his 30s etc... But these were players from an era where the money in the game was 'quite good' rather than the ridiculous it is now. I, like most, used to actually PAY TO PLAY football (subs, travel costs, pitch hire etc) because we loved playing. So, yes, to actually get paid to play football is a total privelage. But I still can't begrudge Potts climbing the salary tree, nor did I Hecky.
But it's like folk feel sorry for them cos it's a limited career. I'm not saying don't take the coin but ffs it's not the end of the world. Get another job. Bank your monies and get in the real world.
I agree feeling sorry for them is daft, but I can't fault the players for following the money because I have a family and I know I'd do exactly the same thing, as would practically anyone else. It's just the way football works that has become broken. I wouldn't be against a FIFA cap on player wages, but sadly it'll never happen
I don't either. My point is, Even tho it may not have come across like it that fans on a shitty wage still use the 'its a short career' angle. Brainwashed. I've today got an ex military blowk who's done 8 tours a delivery job. Been in forces is also a short career. Boils my pass.
I don't disagree. Modern football is ****. But please don't anyone use the short career thing. Just finish and get another job like 99.99 percent do
There’s always a name that springs to mind when I hear arguments like this: Kevin Kyle. When I was working in the Shetlands on a gas plant I was stopping in some digs where Kevin Kyle (10 caps for Scotland, played for Sunderland and Wolves) was working as a cleaner. The mans only 37 and he’s ended up working at a cleaner on some rocks north of Scotland ffs. It is a luxury based but short career being a professional footballer and if you don’t look after yourself in regards to money and contracts then you’re gunna get to your mid 30s and not working for the rest of your days won’t be an option.
The other problem as well is the risk from injury. Watson (and Wardle and others) both had career ending injuries while playing for us. These injuries can also make it difficult to do many jobs, as can the progressive effects of smaller injuries (mobility problems due to athritis, etc). How would you manage if you went to work tomorrow, had an accident and could not do your job again? - you can retrain or start again in another field, but it can be difficult to go back to minimum wage.
What annoys me more than the "it's a short career" argument is fans pretending they wouldn't take the money. We all would. At the end of the day it is a short career and footballers are generally not well educated as football has been their sole focus since their early teens. During their football career they have the opportunity to earn amounts which vastly outstrip what they will earn when they stop playing. That opportunity is, however, very fragile and can be curtailed at any point by an injury or loss of form. So when presented with a chance to double their wages or even better (and then have the opportunity to prove they deserve further increases) of course they snap their hand off.
Why should retiring in your mid thirties be an option for anyone? Did you ask him what he'd wasted all of his money on?
Just found an interview with him. He was on £150k pa at Hearts and in 2012 he went to Rangers and was on £100k plus £1k appearance fee. Three year contract. Where's all that gone?
It shouldnt be an option but as others have said in this thread if the chance is there to set yourself up for life of course you take it. Its just struck me that football has gone the opposite way to most of the rest of the country. Seeing the comments about ex footballers working with proper jobs once they finished contrasts sharply with the rest of us. My Parents both retired at 55 and have had a long retirement - coming up to 30 years now. I am 56 next month and no way can I contemplate retiring for a good few years yet, but if in my 30's I'd had a chance to move jobs to do the same thing on a much higher salary - I would have done. In fact I did in my 20's - I had the option to stay in the (defence) company that gave me my first job and given me training and get small pay rises and maybe gradual promotions or change to a commercial company that would give me a 50% pay rise and a lot more responsibility. Of course I moved. Just unfortunately the numbers involved were nothing like those for footballers
