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Saint Canary

The "ambition" of modern footballers

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For those amongst us who wonder just how our highly (and over) paid footballers just don’t perform how they should then we only need to look at Lucas Neill to see why.  He and our sorry lot are clearly in it for the money and have very little personal pride, they are just happy to draw their massive wages at the end of each week.

 

When you look at Neill’s choice to go to West Ham over Liverpool it is absolutely ludicrous and the reasons he gives are pathetic.  Despite Liverpool being the club he has supported since he was a boy he chose not to go there because….  West Ham made him feel wanted, offered him £70k a week and guaranteed him a starting place.  Liverpool reportedly only offered £30k (how could you live on that eh?) and would not guarantee first team football.  I just can’t understand why anyone would not want to play for one of the best clubs in the world and FIGHT for a place in the side, especially one you claim to support!!!  Why does he not want to test himself by playing with and against the best?  Where is his ambition?

 

I think Neill sums up the modern footballer well.  Football, winning, achieving something whether it be avoiding relegation from League 2 or winning the Premiership are all secondary to “How much am I getting paid?”.

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[quote user="Saint Canary"]

For those amongst us who wonder just how our highly (and over) paid footballers just don’t perform how they should then we only need to look at Lucas Neill to see why.  He and our sorry lot are clearly in it for the money and have very little personal pride, they are just happy to draw their massive wages at the end of each week.

 

When you look at Neill’s choice to go to West Ham over Liverpool it is absolutely ludicrous and the reasons he gives are pathetic.  Despite Liverpool being the club he has supported since he was a boy he chose not to go there because….  West Ham made him feel wanted, offered him £70k a week and guaranteed him a starting place.  Liverpool reportedly only offered £30k (how could you live on that eh?) and would not guarantee first team football.  I just can’t understand why anyone would not want to play for one of the best clubs in the world and FIGHT for a place in the side, especially one you claim to support!!!  Why does he not want to test himself by playing with and against the best?  Where is his ambition?

 

I think Neill sums up the modern footballer well.  Football, winning, achieving something whether it be avoiding relegation from League 2 or winning the Premiership are all secondary to “How much am I getting paid?”.

[/quote]

Long live Part time, amateur and non league football.. where they play for the love it, they might get their moment in the FA cup but they are there because the love the game.. not the money...

i sometimes wonder to myself wheter fans at that level realise how good they have actually got it.

Local clubs, Local Pride, run by volunteers with players who work 9-5 monday to friday or whatever...

jas :)

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His interview made me laugh... When he started running on about Bobby Moore & co he sounded like a school boy who''d just been caught bunking off & was trying to give the best excuse possible at a minutes notice!

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[quote user="jas the barclay king"][quote user="Saint Canary"]

For those amongst us who wonder just how our highly (and over) paid footballers just don’t perform how they should then we only need to look at Lucas Neill to see why.  He and our sorry lot are clearly in it for the money and have very little personal pride, they are just happy to draw their massive wages at the end of each week.

 

When you look at Neill’s choice to go to West Ham over Liverpool it is absolutely ludicrous and the reasons he gives are pathetic.  Despite Liverpool being the club he has supported since he was a boy he chose not to go there because….  West Ham made him feel wanted, offered him £70k a week and guaranteed him a starting place.  Liverpool reportedly only offered £30k (how could you live on that eh?) and would not guarantee first team football.  I just can’t understand why anyone would not want to play for one of the best clubs in the world and FIGHT for a place in the side, especially one you claim to support!!!  Why does he not want to test himself by playing with and against the best?  Where is his ambition?

 

I think Neill sums up the modern footballer well.  Football, winning, achieving something whether it be avoiding relegation from League 2 or winning the Premiership are all secondary to “How much am I getting paid?”.

[/quote]

Long live Part time, amateur and non league football.. where they play for the love it, they might get their moment in the FA cup but they are there because the love the game.. not the money...

i sometimes wonder to myself wheter fans at that level realise how good they have actually got it.

Local clubs, Local Pride, run by volunteers with players who work 9-5 monday to friday or whatever...

jas :)

[/quote]

Good points Saint....and spot on reply jas.

I heard an Aussie talking about why the England cricket set up is so appalling these days...and he put it down to our modern British culture of viewing defeat as a "positive"....and reducing victory to a kind of "embarrassing thing to do to someone else".

Our youngsters now are almost "conditioned" to be good losers, rather than winners. I''ve seen it with my own kids and the teachers have pretty much dealt with ambition as a personality flaw. It''s now coming out in the present generation of players....and it is set to get much worse. There will always be exceptions of course (and thank God for that)...but losing is no longer allowed to be unacceptable......and there lies much of our problem.

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS again...................

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you can often find positives in defeat and use them to garner a victory... howeer the attitude should be to play to win! if ur not out there to win whats the point in playing?

jas :)

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[quote user="-.-. .-.. ..- -.-. -.-"][quote user="jas the barclay king"][quote user="Saint Canary"]

For those amongst us

who wonder just how our highly (and over) paid footballers just don’t

perform how they should then we only need to look at Lucas Neill to see

why.  He and our sorry lot are clearly in it

for the money and have very little personal pride, they are just happy

to draw their massive wages at the end of each week.

 

When you look at Neill’s choice to go to West Ham over Liverpool it is absolutely ludicrous and the reasons he gives are pathetic.  Despite Liverpool being the club he has supported since he was a boy he chose not to go there because….  West Ham made him feel wanted, offered him £70k a week and guaranteed him a starting place.  Liverpool reportedly only offered £30k (how could you live on that eh?) and would not guarantee first team football.  I

just can’t understand why anyone would not want to play for one of the

best clubs in the world and FIGHT for a place in the side, especially

one you claim to support!!!  Why does he not want to test himself by playing with and against the best?  Where is his ambition?

 

I think Neill sums up the modern footballer well.  Football,

winning, achieving something whether it be avoiding relegation from

League 2 or winning the Premiership are all secondary to “How much am I

getting paid?”.

[/quote]

Long live Part time, amateur and non league football.. where they

play for the love it, they might get their moment in the FA cup but

they are there because the love the game.. not the money...

i sometimes wonder to myself wheter fans at that level realise how good they have actually got it.

Local clubs, Local Pride, run by volunteers with players who work 9-5 monday to friday or whatever...

jas :)

[/quote]

Good points Saint....and spot on reply jas.

I heard an Aussie talking about why the England cricket set up is so

appalling these days...and he put it down to our modern British culture

of viewing defeat as a "positive"....and reducing victory to a kind of

"embarrassing thing to do to someone else".

Our youngsters now are almost "conditioned" to be good losers,

rather than winners. I''ve seen it with my own kids and the teachers

have pretty much dealt with ambition as a personality flaw.

It''s now coming out in the present generation of players....and it is

set to get much worse. There will always be exceptions of course (and

thank God for that)...but losing is no longer allowed to be

unacceptable......and there lies much of our problem.

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS again...................

[/quote]

-.-- .- .-- -.

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There should be a wage cap in football and it should be low i.e no more than £4,000 a week for the premiership £2,000 for the championship etc if it can''t be a worldwide wage cap then just do it in england, yes most of the best players would sod of and play in europe but these are precisly the people just playing for money who we don''t want in the game anyway. The premiership would no longer be the greatest leauge in the world, our teams would do shit in europe, attendances for the bigger clubs would invaribly decrease and there would generally be less money in the game. But, it would get us back to watching people play for the love of the game with passion and whilst games might not be as technically pleasing we''d at least get teams who tried their all it''d be like rewinding the clock 20-30 years. Also it would drastically reduce the ever growing gap between the premiership and the championship returning to a time when it was possible for a team like city to dream that they could maybe one day win the league. No more £9 million wage bills mean less debt for clubs and cheaper tickets for us.

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[quote user="jas the barclay king"]

you can often find positives in defeat and use them to garner a victory... howeer the attitude should be to play to win! if ur not out there to win whats the point in playing?

jas :)

[/quote]

 

that is true but all too often this season when we have lost people have been positive about the performances.  After the southend game I heard a fan respond to critisism with the phrase ''At least we got a point!!''

NOT BLOODY GOOD ENOUGH

 

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[quote user="Saint Canary"]

For those amongst us who wonder just how our highly (and over) paid footballers just don’t perform how they should then we only need to look at Lucas Neill to see why.  He and our sorry lot are clearly in it for the money and have very little personal pride, they are just happy to draw their massive wages at the end of each week.

 

When you look at Neill’s choice to go to West Ham over Liverpool it is absolutely ludicrous and the reasons he gives are pathetic.  Despite Liverpool being the club he has supported since he was a boy he chose not to go there because….  West Ham made him feel wanted, offered him £70k a week and guaranteed him a starting place.  Liverpool reportedly only offered £30k (how could you live on that eh?) and would not guarantee first team football.  I just can’t understand why anyone would not want to play for one of the best clubs in the world and FIGHT for a place in the side, especially one you claim to support!!!  Why does he not want to test himself by playing with and against the best?  Where is his ambition?

 

I think Neill sums up the modern footballer well.  Football, winning, achieving something whether it be avoiding relegation from League 2 or winning the Premiership are all secondary to “How much am I getting paid?”.

[/quote]

I don''t think the Lucas Neill example is anywhere near as bad as you seem to think. It''ll be the last big move of his career and he won''t want to run the risk of not playing regularly, Steve Finnan is obviously very much part of the setup at Liverpool. Also Neill hass played for a London club before and has commented in the past (way before it was ever mentioned that he''d leave Blackburn) that he didn''t like the area he was living in - so maybe he fancied a move back to London. West Ham are also a fairly big club and in the grand scheme of things they''d still be considered a bigger club than Blackburn who he has left. So add a massive wage packet to that and I don''t think he''s done too much wrong.

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Not as rude as I expected Spat........[;)]

Nice to have someone to play with all the same..............[Y]

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[quote user="GJP"]

I don''t think the Lucas Neill example is anywhere near as bad as you seem to think. It''ll be the last big move of his career and he won''t want to run the risk of not playing regularly, Steve Finnan is obviously very much part of the setup at Liverpool. Also Neill hass played for a London club before and has commented in the past (way before it was ever mentioned that he''d leave Blackburn) that he didn''t like the area he was living in - so maybe he fancied a move back to London. West Ham are also a fairly big club and in the grand scheme of things they''d still be considered a bigger club than Blackburn who he has left. So add a massive wage packet to that and I don''t think he''s done too much wrong.

[/quote]

Sorry but I disagree with just about every word of that.  West Ham are a fairly big club I agree but Liverpool are massive.  One is fighting relegation, the other qaulifies for the Champions League every season.  In the last decade Liverpool have won the FA Cup and two Eurpopean tophies.  West Ham have won jack and spent two years in the Fizzy league.  Add in the fact that Liverpool are the club you have always supported and the move to West Ham seems more and more motivated by money and nothing else.

You mention Finnan is a fixture at Anfield but he is hardly a world class player and Neill should be able to win a place there, he just doesn''t want to.  He is not up for a challenge, he wants the easy life of a promised starting place and more money.  He could have gone to Liverpool and won something, instead he has gone elsewhere for a quick buck.

I also cannot agree with the last big move theory either, if West Ham go down you watch him activate his "release clause", or do you think he will stay because he wants to live in London? 

What I will agree with is that he has done nothing wrong.  What he has done though is added to list of reasons why fans are being turned off Premiership football because it''s all about money and football is secondary.

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[quote user="Saint Canary"]

[quote user="GJP"]

I don''t think the Lucas Neill example is anywhere near as bad as you seem to think. It''ll be the last big move of his career and he won''t want to run the risk of not playing regularly, Steve Finnan is obviously very much part of the setup at Liverpool. Also Neill hass played for a London club before and has commented in the past (way before it was ever mentioned that he''d leave Blackburn) that he didn''t like the area he was living in - so maybe he fancied a move back to London. West Ham are also a fairly big club and in the grand scheme of things they''d still be considered a bigger club than Blackburn who he has left. So add a massive wage packet to that and I don''t think he''s done too much wrong.

[/quote]

Sorry but I disagree with just about every word of that.  West Ham are a fairly big club I agree but Liverpool are massive.  One is fighting relegation, the other qaulifies for the Champions League every season.  In the last decade Liverpool have won the FA Cup and two Eurpopean tophies.  West Ham have won jack and spent two years in the Fizzy league.  Add in the fact that Liverpool are the club you have always supported and the move to West Ham seems more and more motivated by money and nothing else.

You mention Finnan is a fixture at Anfield but he is hardly a world class player and Neill should be able to win a place there, he just doesn''t want to.  He is not up for a challenge, he wants the easy life of a promised starting place and more money.  He could have gone to Liverpool and won something, instead he has gone elsewhere for a quick buck.

I also cannot agree with the last big move theory either, if West Ham go down you watch him activate his "release clause", or do you think he will stay because he wants to live in London? 

What I will agree with is that he has done nothing wrong.  What he has done though is added to list of reasons why fans are being turned off Premiership football because it''s all about money and football is secondary.

[/quote]

Steve Finnan is not a world class player but he is a very consistent player in what is a pretty tight back 4. He never lets Liverpool down and I''m sure he''s a very valued part of the team. Therefore I don''t think Rafa would be particularly keen to mix things up just because Lucas Neill is available. I''m sure if Liverpool really wanted Neill then they would have got him. West Ham clearly really really wanted him and they''ve got him.

The Premiership is pretty much the best league in the world so I can''t see why money issues would stop a real football fan watching it. Just because Lucas Neill is pocketing £70k a week isn''t going to stop me watching Ronaldo, Henry, Rooney, Essien and the rest.

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well I always wanted to work in  waste management so I''ll take the thirty thousand a week !!!!!!!!!!!

Well put Ulf - there aren''t many of us who would take the lower option.

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Yeh but when West Ham get relegated...that £60k per week will most likely become £15k per week.

Or did he get a clause written in saying he could leave for next to nothing when they go down?[:@] Then he can join Liverpool and get £30k per week. Or am i just being too cynical????

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[quote user="Ulf Ottosson"]

So then, you get offered two jobs one giving you £30,000pa the other £60,000pa with a better benefits packages which one would you take?

[/quote]

We are not talking pa figures of "normal" workers though are we?  Of course most would take the bigger salary but we are talking about football.  If £1.5m a year is not enough for the modern day footballer to go play for the club they support in the Champions League and possibly win some trophies then there is something wrong.

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Maybe West Ham had to pay twice the weekly wage offered as any amount up to that he would have signed for Liverpool for less money. Either that or West Ham have made an error, and should only have paid a few 1000 more a week.

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The ambitions of the modern footballer??

Easy

Big house, Flashy Car, exotic holidays and women chasing after them.

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Once Bosman came in this sort of thing was always going to happen. ie average players holding the trump cards and holding clubs to ransom.I''m not saying the previous system was perfect,but any system that allows the likes of the (very) moderately talented Mr Neill to act like this won''t last for long.

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can I just say that I currently have chosen the 6kpa job rather than

the 12kpa job I was also offered, and the 24kpa career that I could

have got if I wanted to be bored silly.

Damn dreams.

I bet Neill will be a liverpool player in the summer.

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Saint Canary

I think you''re being overly harsh on Lucas Neill. While I was shocked (and a little disgusted) at the size of his weekly wage packet (West Ham had better not get relegated!), if I was him I would''ve signed for West Ham over Liverpool given the difference in money on offer. I''m sure he was a little tempted to join Liverpool, as I would be if I was him, but the gurantee of being a big fish in a small pond, and the opportunity to help West Ham improve and achieve might be what motivates him.

As an analogy: In my industry, I am well paid for what I do, but I don''t work for the firm in my industry with the biggest reputation (or even the biggest turnover). And should I ever want to move on, I would go to whoever paid me the most, in the most appropriate geographic location. While I might want to work for the ''best'' for the prestige, or better projects, I''d happily forgo that opportunity for more money and accept a different challenge - improving the fortunes of those who dearly want me. And never unestimate the value of someone who dearly wants you - they look after you so much more!

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