1/6 of footballers, are
losing their jobs every season
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your
affiliations, there is only one Cristiano Ronaldo.
For most players, negotiations over multi-million pound
transfers have never been mooted, let alone turned into a
summer-long pantomime.
In a see-saw transfer tale which has dominated the back pages,
the Manchester United winger had looked set for a world record move
to Real Madrid until, this week, the 23-year-old declared he would
be staying at Old Trafford for "at least one more season".
The likes of Ronaldo, Gareth Barry and Emmanuel Adebayor may
have spent the close season outrageously flirting with various
clubs in a manner which would have put Jessica Rabbit to shame. For
those blessed with a little less magic in their boots, or whose
prowess on the pitch has been withered away by Old Father Time, the
summer has consisted of seemingly endless trials and hopeful phone
calls to chairmen, managers and old team-mates in a bid to find a
new club.
High-profile casualties include Freddie Ljungberg, Ivan Campo
and Patrik Berger, but mixed with those illustrious names are
veteran journeymen, aspiring teenagers and twenty-somethings
desperately trying to make a living.
Julian Joachim was released by Darlington at the end of
last season and according to the 33-year-old former Aston Villa and
Leicester City striker the search for a new club gets more
difficult with age.
Joachim, who just over 10 years ago moved from Filbert Street to
Villa Park in a £1.5m deal, told BBC Sport: "At the end of the
season you want to relax and switch off, but you've got to be
fresh, go on trials and try to prove you're good enough.
"It gets harder and harder as the years go by, especially around
the smaller clubs." The League Two club had a year's option on his
contract, but Joachim was told he had no future at the Arena and is
now preparing to ply his trade on a part-time basis in the Blue
Square North with King's Lynn.
"Basically, the budget at Darlington had been slashed by half
and they took me into the office to tell me they couldn't keep me
because they hadn't got the funds," explained Joachim. "They talked
to me about their situation; I talked to them about my situation
and it was best for both parties that I got out. I knew King's Lynn
were interested and the club is in an ideal location as it's near
home in Boston."
The average footballer, according to Mick McGuire, primary
deputy chief executive of the Professional Footballers Association
(PFA), leads a "precarious existence". Around 500 players were
released from their clubs at the end of last season, and McGuire
told BBC Sport: "About 15 to 20%, that's 1/6 of footballers, are
losing their jobs at the end of every season.
"If you or I were in an industry with a turnover that high then
we'd be seriously worried. Adding to the insecurities players face,
they are also increasingly being given short-term contracts, and
not two-year contracts like they used to."
To help players get back on football's conveyor belt, the PFA
keeps a register of available players called the Player Transfer
Directory. It is a bit like a dating service for managers looking
for that special someone. In fact, the directory outshines the
average matchmaking website.
Not only does the directory provide the customary picture
profile, age, height and nationality, but it provides information
on the players' favourite positions and a brief history on their
previous dalliances: seven clubs in five seasons (possible
commitment issues); season-long loan (strangely given permission to
play away).
Walsall manager Jimmy Mullen believes the directory is
invaluable for clubs working on a shoe-string budget in a sport
where money no longer talks but deafens. "If you look at the
standard of League One and League Two, it's becoming higher and
higher," the former Sheffield Wednesday and Cardiff City player
told BBC Sport. "You've got clubs like Shrewsbury spending £170,000
on players so it's becoming tougher to get the right calibre of
player."
While Mullen sympathises with those players who face an
uncertain future, the beautiful game has, according to the League
One boss, become an unsentimental rat race, with clubs scurrying
around to cobble together a promotion-winning squad. Mullen said:
"Telling a player he is no longer wanted is something that you get
used to. I think the player usually has an idea so it's not that
difficult. When it catches a player by surprise then it's a case of
explaining why, but life goes on.
"It is not a nice thing to tell people but it is a necessity.
You've got to do it because football is a rat race. It is a
results-orientated business. "If a manager doesn't get results then
he gets the sack, so if a player does not do his job then he has to
go and someone else has got to come in. It is a vicious circle,
but, unfortunately, that's the way football is."
Some decide to step out of the circle, but others persevere.
Former Wales and Cardiff City defender Jason Perry believes players
need to be "mentally tough" if they are to stay in the game. Perry,
who for the last four years has been running a football academy in
South Wales, focusing on educating youngsters as well as honing
their football skills, said: "Nearly 99% of boys want to become
footballers so when they walk through our doors you've got to tell
them the truth: not everybody makes it.
"You've got the be in the right place at the right time. The
boys come in and they're very negative in the way they play because
they worry too much about making mistakes. It's a case of changing
their thought process. "Football is about opinions, someone else's
opinion might be different so you've got to be mentally tough and
stay positive." <!-- E BO -->