If You Throw Enough Shit Then Some Will Stick

Welcome back friends and settle in for a few paragraphs of me. As I said last week I will be attacking random categories of people and this week I have chosen one close to my heart. I would like to call to the stand – the modern day footballer. It was bound to happen in one of my blogs and I guess this one is as good as any. For those of you who don’t watch football, there are still issues that may have made you angry in the past so let’s hope I cover those.

When I say the word “football” to anybody it brings a different reaction every time. I look at this subject as someone on the inside looking out, but I see professional football totally differently. The media give football this dark and seedy look most of the time, with stories of adultery, corruption and misbehaviour. I will never accept that all professionals act the same way and so I will not generalise the sport. In fact it is only the small minority that bring the reputation down. One does wonder in the back of their head how they would react to suddenly being thrust into the limelight with sponsorship deals, interviews, ridiculous sums of money, women throwing themselves at you and paparazzi eager to buy stories about you from anyone that brushes past you. I would like to believe that I wouldn’t be so stupid as to wrap a Bentley around a lamp post due to the 150mph I was doing previously round a sharp corner. I would like to think I am not so idiotic that I would rent a hotel room out and wake up in the morning surrounded by white powder and hookers. I would also like to think that as I am a well paid and respected athlete, I wouldn’t take pictures of my knob and send it to a page 3 girl behind my more attractive wife’s back.

In truth I just don’t know how I would cope with the fame and fortune that comes from being a pro-sportsman. What’s more I can’t really judge from my position the correct way to conduct one’s self in the public eye. That doesn’t mean I can’t shake my head every time I wake up, switch on Sky Sports News before work and hear that another player is in custody under suspicion of rape/battery/being a dick or all of these. I understand that some women lie in order to make a quick quid off the bank account of a rich, young and naive airhead footballer, but if you throw enough shit then some will stick.

I haven’t bought or read a newspaper in over a year and I refuse to. They twist the facts so much to support their own opinions that it’s laughable sometimes. The back pages are filled with constant bandwagon criticism and scandal that I cannot stomach reading any of it. For example if a reporter hears in an interview from a manager of a top club that the ref made the wrong decision. The headline would read, “Manager says death to all referees.” Or if a player says he is flattered by interest from another club the headline would say, “Player is unhappy with life at club and wants to move.”

Another massive issue is the amount that some modern day footballers get paid by their clubs. Some grab as much as £250,000 a week. You don’t need me to tell you that’s a lot of money for one person to possess. I think that most of you will agree with me that these clubs should be giving that money back to the dedicated people that support the team, not spend every last penny pampering their stars. I know it is a cliché but how much do doctors make a week? How much do the brave men and women of our armed forces make risking their lives on the front line in hostile terrains? When you put it into perspective the game has grown beyond any control or boundaries. The issue has festered for far too long for there to be a quick fix, but that doesn’t mean it should be ignored.  

Football is enjoyed throughout all age groups. Some boys and girls as young as three years old start to join local clubs on Saturday mornings and really embrace the spirit of the game. You would like to think that these youngsters have good role models in which to aspire to be. Like I said though, it is a small minority of players and I believe football does far more good than harm in local communities. From day one I loved playing football, in the local paddock where I grew up the field was always occupied with kids playing a game. Football helped me to stay where the drugs and crime weren’t. There were a few groups of kids that got involved in that near where I lived, but I was too busy playing football to ever be tempted by smoking or under-age drinking. It is a shame that some people never got that choice but I did and I’m glad that I chose not to get involved.

I do apologise if you were expecting something funnier, normal service will resume in the next blog, thanks for reading...