The oft-stated wisdom we always hear when a player leaves this club for money these days is that it’s a short career and you have to grab it whilst you can get it. This is true in some ways. A player in his 20’s has, on the surface of it, got 15 years in front of him … but not all of them get that.
Fifteen years is not, however, a “short career.”
Many of us will have many different careers in our time, and since most footballers are out of the game in their mid thirties that actually leaves a lot of years in which to drift into other fields.
Coaching affords opportunities. Management. Punditry. If you’ve pulled on an Ibrox top you can always get something at the BBC. Some become agents. Some have gone into the players union or advocacy on behalf of footballers. Those who are careful with their money can go into business.
There are no shortage of careers after the game.
So even if football is a “short career” it doesn’t have to be The End Of It All, and that makes the short-sighted attitudes of many a young player, in chasing the money early, nearly impossible to understand. It is a peculiarly modern problem.
We’ve lost another youth player this week and there’s no real secret as to why. This is not really about first team football, it’s about money.
I don’t know if reports are true that he’s getting £25,000 a week – I don’t know how anyone would know that – but he will certainly be on many multiples what Celtic would have paid him. If anyone is going argue we should have paid him an astronomical sum to stay I would suggest they think again.
That has to be justified. It has to be earned at Celtic and good performances in the Lowland League don’t get you to that salary level.
Let me say this; I have no issue with a kid who grabs the money.
Every one of us entitled to do that as they see fit. But I would rather be spared cryptic nonsense which insults our intelligence. I would prefer people just be honest about what their motivations are. That requires self reflection too though.
And I can’t help but think in the “grab it ” mind-set there lies an unwillingness to think beyond the here and now, and self reflection might act as a hindrance to that. There are two reasons why this attitude is foolish,
First, it advertises you, early on, as being purely money oriented.
As ridiculous as this will sound, for a lot of professional athletes and for football players in particular, that’s not the goal. They want to win things. They want to be in winning teams. They have a will to win and a will to be the best that has nothing to do with financial incentives.
Multi-tournament winning teams are not built on the back of mercenaries.
Players who go to the Manchester City’s and Real Madrid’s do not go there just for the money; these guys will never be short of a few quid.
Listen to them talk about what Real Madrid and City are; trophy factories. Harry Kane was a boyhood Spurs fan and has as much money as a person could spend. He wanted to win something. The irony is that he still hasn’t been able to do it.
One English boss – it might have been Howard Wilkinson – once talked about walking into a “dressing room full of millionaires” and not knowing how to motivate them; he wasn’t reflecting on his own failure but on theirs. If that’s all they care, if their motivation is to cash a pay cheque, you’ll never mould them into winners. Nothing a manager says is going to impact them.
It’s not jus that the reputations of those players precede them, it’s that they lack the drive to reach the level they otherwise could anyway.
The second element of their short-sided attitude comes from taking the cash too soon.
No young player with only a handful of first team games has really justified that sort of money, and if they don’t hit the ground running those pay cheques will be the biggest they ever have in their careers.
With a four year deal that won’t trouble people too much.
But I would recommend that anyone in that position not get too used to the big money, because if the next pay cheques are a lot less you would not want to be mortgaged up to the hilt or remiss in paying the tax man or whoever.
The problem is this; if your attitude is grab it whilst its on offer the odds are pretty good that the other half of the mind-set is spend it whilst you have it; the discipline it takes to wait and perfect your talent and aim for the real prizes down the line isn’t present and we can assume impulse control isn’t your strong suit.
That can bring a world of problems with it, including substance abuse, alcoholism, gambling addiction and a host of others.
It is more common than people realise.
Also, having the money that early can be a disincentive.
Once you start earning that a lot of players assume they’ve made it, that they’ve got things locked down and they can talk themselves into thinking they are better than they are and therefore having nothing left to prove.
That’s why the comedown can be a crash down for some of them when they realise they aren’t worth as much as they thought.
Celtic would have been a better place for these kids to make their way in the sport.
Those who are good enough would have made it. Those who aren’t would have cycled out in due course, to make whatever of their careers they could. A lot of people will say it’s a mark of self-confidence to leave Celtic behind and chase the money in England; I actually think it’s the opposite.
It’s saying you have given up thinking you can crack open the door here. It’s an admission of defeat, and that’s not strength but weakness. If you’re good enough to actually earn that kind of salary it’ll be yours, with everything else, in due course.
A dressing room full of millionaires, then, and it must be nice to be one of them.
If that’s what motivates you then fair enough.
You aren’t cut out to be a winner, and Celtic will never have enough of those.
With just the slightest tweak of the mind-set, you could have been a contender.
What must the young players think when lawwells fill the place with projects that will probably get more chance of first team football than they will , I don’t blame them for leaving, why would they stay under those conditions, the junior set up is an embarrassment, world class in everything we do is lawwells mantra , well the proof is walking out the gate year after year , Darren odea , mc manus and others, jobs for the boys,
farcical, even Hayes and mulgrew were being touted , even still more players will continue to walk away even if it means just to set themselves up with cash for a couple of decades , who can blame them , they’ve no chance of first team football under this shambles.
See this sort career stuff, it really bugs me.
If 25 grand pet week is true then in 20 weeks, 22nd November 2024 then the kid has pocketed half a million, half a bloody million!
It’s 12 years till I reach retirement age and I won’t have earned that kind of money, and that’s working hard for it.
I wonder how much game time the kid will have in the next 20 weeks?
They might be done playing by their mid 30’s but they get paid well for it, so forgive me if I get annoyed at the short career stuff.
James. It’s a bit lowbrow but still worth a watch in my view. The Fraudster Footballer on STV player. It’s about some guy called Medi Abalimba who has conned his way through other people’s wallets to the tune of 7 figures. He did a stint at Hamilton Ackies and ripped off Mickael Antoine-Curier for 14K. He wasn’t best pleased about that, old Mickael.
Abalimba’s driver is the lifestyle that even mediocre footballers can enjoy. Mayfair nightclubs, Love Island bunk-ups, top hotels, top cars. This is all that matters to these people. I have to admit, if this boy is getting paid 25K per week then I am not sure I can blame him with all the peer pressure that goes on in these times of social media lunacy. They want that Instagram dream “best life”, as shallow as it is.
It sounds to me like his dad thinks he is not ready for that kind of level. But who is to say that his dad is the main influence in the decisions he makes?
It’s hardly a body blow to Celtic. It might sting a bit if he does make the big time. But my guess is he will not be the “mentality monster” you need to be to make it at that level. It’s either that or you have to be red hot. I doubt he is that either or Brendan would have started him by now.
James
I read this article with interest and whilst I tend to agree with what you say I am no wiser as to the young player this refers to. I think you should reference the player in question to give context to the article. However, much as we all know chasing the money early in a career invariably leads to disaster in the long term I challenge anyone to say they would reject the pounds dangled in front of them for the sake of staying, developing as a player and maybe winning trophies. Fatal as it can be to the long term career almost anyone would take the money whilst it’s on offer. A career can end at any time with an unfortunate injury.
JS.
JS
James I mind you saying 18 month ago if he was good enough he would have been in the squad more,if it’s money rather than playing for a prestigious club then he’ll slap it into him ,that saying I wish him well ,but better the house you live in ,it’s a big bad world out there.
You’re implying he’s not got a winning mindset at the end of this article – how do you know?
Selective spin here – 15 year career followed with the option of punditry, coaching etc – reality is injury ends some careers early, those other rolls are given to experienced good careers in the game ex players. The reality is it is a short career for overwhelming majority in terms of earning life changing money. An Aberdeen player be lucky to earn 2k a week averaged across a career.
The difference between 8k and 25k a week is huge. It would be demotivating to show up to a bench or lowland league for 17k per week less than you had been offered. Ambitious winners take the money, play at a better level, and look to earn more.
Pure tosh this article
I agree James, however I think there are other factors involved.
If a club develops it’s young players through it’s academy system, then the laws of the game must be much more strict in protecting the club from losing those players so cheaply. The parent club must have greater power than any club trying to poach those youngsters away. The pressure from the poaching club’s agents and perhaps the parents must make the young player’s decision difficult. If the laws can remove that difficulty then it will be a more natural situation for the youngster to face.
James we have a cheek to talk about greed just look at our board want top dollar for every player we sell but dont want to pay going rate for anybody else no wonder we cant get signings in
To be quite honest, after all the speculation about his future in the last couple of seasons, I’m glad to see the back of him, for it was getting tiresome.
I wish him well though.
Would counter that there is more chance of a mistimed career ending tackle in the Lowland League with poorer surfaces and players with less talent. We need a better set up where our young players can play at s decent level
Harry Kane was actually a boyhood Arsenal fan but I understand the point you are making. It’s a shame Rocco has departed especially taking into account his fathers service to the the club.
I think more & more the people around players don’t have the players best interests at heart. They want to make the money off the players movements. Even free transfers the Agent is getting a package from the new club. How much does he get for signing a new contract I wonder.
I think very few players have good advisors around them these days because people want to make money off them not see the best for the players career.