Back in the day, professional footballers would have had no option but to study for another living that they could turn to if their sporting career didn’t work out or ended prematurely. The likes of Sir Trevor Brooking and co studied in alternate professions before and during their careers so that their life after the beautiful game would be sustainable and quite often achieved a degree or qualification that would be crucial in their later years.
The main reason for the extra hard work was the measly wages that previous generations of players received, which is a far cry from today’s millions. Even some modern day footballers feel the need to pursue a second life after football which in my opinion is extremely credible. Numerous ex-players become heavily involved in charity work, continue a career in football or in Dion Dublin’s case, become an inventor.
However, the wages in twenty first century Premier League football have risen so rapidly that the need for work after football is obsolete. Players such as Yaya Toure, Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney have wages bordering or in advance of £200,000 a week this year that would have been unthinkable 20-years ago. Earning millions of pounds a year to play football is completely farfetched but the players are not to blame for this.
The introduction of the multi–billion pound foreign owners to the Premier League in the past 10 years or so has seen a rise in wages to fight off competition from rival clubs. Take Manchester City for example, they have brought dozens of players to the club since their takeover and the majority of the players signed will have received a significant wage rise. One of the main beneficiaries of the influx of foreign ownership has been Wayne Bridge. Chelsea signed the England left back just a month after Roman Abramovich arrived at Stamford Bridge and the former Southampton player doubled his wage overnight. Six years and 87 league appearances later Manchester City; now under the ownership of Sheikh Mansour; signed Bridge for around £10million, once again boosting the left back’s wages.
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what has this got to do with liverpool?
@Karim.Thank u.Exactly what i was going to say.’what’s d meaning of all these’ of all d things happenin at Anfield.wasn’t even patient enough to read it all.
I’m sure English owners were ramping up players wages long before foreign owners entered the league. Typical xenophobic pointless article. Hope your wages haven’t been inflated because the article goes out to the foreigners you clearly disdain. Pro-atheletes are the same all over the world, they want, as they should, their share of the pie for as long as they get it. As long as fans, TV, and advertisers pay their money, why shouldn’t the talent share in it?