Is the life of a footballer all it's cracked up to be?

Constantly having to watch what you eat and drink. Working away from home Friday to Sunday every other week. Working saturdays and late nights.

I bet it's not all as rosey as we imagine.

 

For ten grand a week I would be a teetotal celibrate almost monk like person.

Plenty of time for sex drugs and rock n roll when you retire.

 

Is this your idea of irony?

I work away from home all the time and late night, as do many others, for a lot less than 10 grand a week.

But I think you're taking the pi55. If not, you are mental.

 

both

 

Is this a serious post??

 

It was a serious post but not taken in the way I meant it I don't think. I didn't mean that it was a hard job or that they deserve the money. I'd happily do what they do for 10 grand a week. What I meant was that we often say things like 'they only work part time' or 'it's 2 hours work on a saturday' when if you think about it it's nothing like that. It's long hours for away trips, working regular saturdays and working evenings as well. It's watching what you eat and always trying to be at your physical best. I bet it's nowhere near the easy job that we often make it out to be.

Doesn't mean they deserve the wages they get though or that it's any harder than other jobs out there but if you are to say you are a construction worker working away from home and doing A, B and C people will automatically give you credit and say you've got a hard job. Say you're a footballer and people assume you've got it easy.

 

I am a construction worker and believe me they have got it easy.

 

You might find this interesting.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23923904

 

Taking the money issue (which is ridiculous) to one side, it depends on your lifestyle. The 24/7 diet and training is something that many people (myself included) do for free or in fact I have to pay money to do. What I'm saying is that that side of a footballer's life, for some, would be a pleasure. The long trips could be a pain but so long as they're playing, I don't think footballers would mind that. Also, having lived next door to a footballer for some years now I can tell you that during the day he spends a lot more time at home than he does at work. Whilst I was still at Uni, his hours didn't seem to be much different to my lecture schedule (which were ridiculously few and far between). Rest assured, they've got it pretty easy. They're also getting paid vast amounts of money for something they love doing.

Don't get me wrong, it's not all sweetness and light. They're under pressure to perform in front of thousands every week and the career itself is very short. So they'll have to have contingency plans for after they retire or even if their career gets cut short because they can't get a contract anywhere of if they're badly injured.

 

They get paid more than enough to do it.

 

when there were some pits still open past managers took the players down there to see what the alternative was like

maybe they could get them in a call centre instead?

 

I believe that the average "working day" during the week is about 3 hours. So they have some long trips - big deal. My heart bleeds.

 

I think the worse thing about being a footballer is they never go out into the real world and therefore they never grow up.

The locker room environment they work in is just a continuation of being at school and doing PE.

This is why people like Gazza have a problem when their career ends.

 

I do my basic hours PLUS travel to Geneva and Dublin on a regular basis. I was away for 8 months of my mrs pregnancy earning brass. So no, footballers don't have it hard.

 

Yeah I bet its an absolute nightmare for them, I can't begin to imagine how hard it must be.

 

I really like how it takes you 10 times as many words to explain your own post than it did to actually write the thing in the first place. There is something pointlessly creative about that!!

 

Goal bonuses are something I find interesting, I often wonder if players that choose to shoot and miss rather than play in someone who is in a perfect scoring position have finance in mind..

 

I'm gonna get up extra early tomorrow in support of our footballers. Don't know how they do it tbh.

 

In my opinion it's a great life. Yeah there are some things they must do/not do, but most of those tend to be for the best anyway (booze, no unhealthy food etc). At the end of the day, the money, women and nature of their 'work' suggests to me that it's a dream lifestyle.

 

What is it you do mate? I can see that kind of lifestyle as being quite exciting for a while, although obviously not ideal if you've got a child.