Parker: money ruining game
Former England defender and eurosport.yahoo.com resident expert
Paul Parker is fast becoming disillusioned with the huge sums of
money involved in football and believes the game is under threat as
a result.
With the recent report stating that by 2010, the Premiership will
have its first £10 million-a-year player, alarm bells have started
to sound loud and clear as football edges closer to a complete
meltdown.
The sums of money involved in football these days are frankly
ridiculous. And the thought that a Premiership player is earning
more in just one week than most people do in years of hard work is
quite a scary one.
But the bad news is that the escalating levels of money in the game
are showing no sign of levelling off, with global interest at an
all-time high and TV rights worth billions worldwide.
The current state of affairs comes as no surprise when you consider
the amount of people out there who are willing to pay to watch
their favourite team play, or to buy the latest club shirt or duvet
cover, or invest in any number of the multitude of other
club-endorsed spin-offs.
It's simple for me; as long as there are people who want to pump
cash into the game, there will be money circulating in the
industry.
But such grotesquely high levels of money are threatening to ruin
the game, from the very top, right down to grass roots level.
At the top end, Premiership footballers - some of the most highly
paid athletes in the world at the moment - and their spiralling
wages are damaging the fabric of what football is all about.
These days, it only takes an average Premiership player to become a
millionaire, whereas 15 years ago, when I was a player, to reach
that level of income, normally you had to play for a top side as
well as your country, and have a few personal endorsements on
top.
Today, you do not have to have endorsements or a boot contract to
make your money. You don't even need to worry about playing in
every single game, or scoring so many goals in a season because you
are guaranteed enough cash to live a lavish lifestyle from your
weekly wage alone.
And that affects how the modern player approaches the game. There
is no longer the same desire to stretch or push the limits anymore
simply because there is no need. Players do not have to worry about
missing a game or rushing back from injury - they will be looked
after whatever.
The hunger of the modern player has been changed by money and there
does not seem to be the same appetite to play as there was in my
day. Rarely do you see 22 totally committed players out on the
pitch these days, and that affects the paying fans' enjoyment of
the game.
It is these fans who are lining the players' pockets, but for me
they are getting terribly short-changed on their outlay.
Long gone are the days when a supporter could relate to his hero on
the pitch and it is sad to see that the link between fans and
players has all but disappeared. Very few Premiership players want
to speak to the people who pay their wages these days - just look
at how they all rather mysteriously have to take phone calls just
as they are getting off the team coach and have to walk past their
adoring fans - and rarely does a player stay behind for a drink in
the players lounge after a match anymore.
With ticket prices reaching record levels, fewer and fewer people
are able to afford to watch their heroes in the flesh, and that
cannot be good for the long term health of the game. Speak to the
majority of Premiership players now, and they will tell you they
were inspired to succeed by standing on the terraces as youngsters,
marvelling at their idols just metres away from them. Where will
the same inspiration come from if the only people who can afford to
go to matches are corporate executives?
And I would even question the suitability of today's players as
role models for youngsters these days. The frequency with which
debauched stories involving top flight players have hit the front
pages of the British tabloids this season has been ridiculous, as
more and more players succumb to the vanities of fame and fortune
at younger and younger ages.
In a way, it is not their fault - they are given too much too soon,
and they do not know how to deal with it. But wherever the blame
lies, football's reputation has been given a battering this
year.
The only solution I can see is just to wait until the bubble
bursts. Because it will; it has to. There has to be a downturn
before things can pick up again. There needs to be more logic
applied and more common sense used to the amounts being spent in
the game before the game can rediscover its glory.
And once the bubble bursts, players will be able to reassess why
they are playing football in the first place - and that should be
for the love of the game, and not for the love of money.
