0%Villa Sometimes These Words

[peter w]

just don't have to be said
I know how we both feel
The heart can rule the head


but anyway, I digress.

i was talking with a friend of mine on Saturday as we were chewing the cud over football, referees, players and the like. we were talking about Michael owen and his apparent happiness to sit on Man Us bench and get a wage rather than go to a lower placed club, or lower league club and fight for a place, or to have the pressure on him to score goals.

He went on tot ell me about when ex-Everton Craig Short went over to his to stay and they were having the same kind of discussion. They knew each other because they were both at Scarborough together - my mate was in the team that went up to the then Div4, not sure if Short was still there then. He said that he asked Craig Short what was the big difference for him being in the dressing-room at that level.

Craig Short said that the biggest difference was that in the days at Scarborough everybody was pulling together and all lived and breathed the game, and would fight for each other. At the highest level, he said, that wasn't the case. he said that Anders Limpar absolutely hated the game. Everything to do with football he despised. Not just the modern day take on the money and it becoming too corporate, but that he just got paid very well for doing something he cared nothing for.

It shows the dedication, I suppose, for someone to put the hard work in in training, and in games, for doing something that you really do not enjoy. having accepted that it changed my mind a little on Michael Owen. maybe football isn't his love at all. Horse racing is obviously, and gambling as well, but I wonder how many players are playing to the standard they are when not liking what they do.

Its easy to just say leave your job if you don't like it, but if you're going to do something that pays nothing in comparison that is an almighty spur. But do these players deserve more credit for being able to stay at a level despite not having the love for what we see as an emotive game, job. Is football really just a job to all players? Is it the ian Taylors that are in the minority?

[curiousorange]

just don't have to be said
I know how we both feel
The heart can rule the head


but anyway, I digress.

i was talking with a friend of mine on Saturday as we were chewing the cud over football, referees, players and the like. we were talking about Michael owen and his apparent happiness to sit on Man Us bench and get a wage rather than go to a lower placed club, or lower league club and fight for a place, or to have the pressure on him to score goals.

He went on tot ell me about when ex-Everton Craig Short went over to his to stay and they were having the same kind of discussion. They knew each other because they were both at Scarborough together - my mate was in the team that went up to the then Div4, not sure if Short was still there then. He said that he asked Craig Short what was the big difference for him being in the dressing-room at that level.

Craig Short said that the biggest difference was that in the days at Scarborough everybody was pulling together and all lived and breathed the game, and would fight for each other. At the highest level, he said, that wasn't the case. he said that Anders Limpar absolutely hated the game. Everything to do with football he despised. Not just the modern day take on the money and it becoming too corporate, but that he just got paid very well for doing something he cared nothing for.

It shows the dedication, I suppose, for someone to put the hard work in in training, and in games, for doing something that you really do not enjoy. having accepted that it changed my mind a little on Michael Owen. maybe football isn't his love at all. Horse racing is obviously, and gambling as well, but I wonder how many players are playing to the standard they are when not liking what they do.

Its easy to just say leave your job if you don't like it, but if you're going to do something that pays nothing in comparison that is an almighty spur. But do these players deserve more credit for being able to stay at a level despite not having the love for what we see as an emotive game, job. Is football really just a job to all players? Is it the ian Taylors that are in the minority?

For a lot of people football is an escape from the daily grind. So what if your daily grind is football?

[villa1]

I'd be more than happy to sit on Utd's bench, no matter how much I hated football, and pick up a fortune.

[Dave]

I thought it was fairly well documented that most players don't think of it as much more than a job.

The likes of Mellberg, Gallas and Assou-Ekotto are fairly well-known for not really caring about it as any more than a pay packet.

[peter w]

So should they be admired for the dedication that has to be shown to be able to train and play as well as they do at the top level?

[curiousorange]

I'm always in two minds when I read about a player who clearly doesn't think much of his profession. On the one hand, I like the fact that there are some who know it's a job and treat it accordingly, particularly as being a modest kind of chap myself, I appreciate it in others. But then it's not a job like most jobs, and I do like the glamour element of someone living out a boyhood dream that I'll never attain. I hate it when rock stars, for example, bang on about a daily grind. So really it comes down to if I think the bloke's a cock, I suppose.

[damon loves JT]

Football is an utterly trivial business and I can see how an intelligent person could be bemused at earning so much money to do it.

For them it's just a knack, only the really stupid ones can go through their whole career without finding it all a bit absurd.

[adrenachrome]

Every game is difficult.

The ball is round.

[dave.woodhall]

I'm always in two minds when I read about a player who clearly doesn't think much of his profession. On the one hand, I like the fact that there are some who know it's a job and treat it accordingly, particularly as being a modest kind of chap myself, I appreciate it in others. But then it's not a job like most jobs, and I do like the glamour element of someone living out a boyhood dream that I'll never attain. I hate it when rock stars, for example, bang on about a daily grind. So really it comes down to if I think the bloke's a cock, I suppose.

When you have to do it every day, it can be a grind. There are probably billions of people for who yours and my lifestyles are as much a dream as playing football is to us and can't believe that we can moan about such trivialities as having to catch a crowded train to earn tens of thousands of pounds a year.

[curiousorange]

I'm always in two minds when I read about a player who clearly doesn't think much of his profession. On the one hand, I like the fact that there are some who know it's a job and treat it accordingly, particularly as being a modest kind of chap myself, I appreciate it in others. But then it's not a job like most jobs, and I do like the glamour element of someone living out a boyhood dream that I'll never attain. I hate it when rock stars, for example, bang on about a daily grind. So really it comes down to if I think the bloke's a cock, I suppose.

When you have to do it every day, it can be a grind. There are probably billions of people for who yours and my lifestyles are as much a dream as playing football is to us and can't believe that we can moan about such trivialities as having to catch a crowded train to earn tens of thousands of pounds a year.

True, true.

[hawkeye]

being a pro footballer is a pretty shallow life, and i dont think it is as much fun as it was twenty + years ago. if i had been good enough i would have done it, i allways feel sorry for the guys that dont quite make it and give up any other sort of career to earn a mediocre wage just to play and end up with nothing at the end

[KevinGage]

Never heard that Mellberg didn't particularly care about the game.

He certainly didn't play as if he didn't care.

It was mentioned on here (a few weeks before he joined) that someone was doing work at James Collins' house and tried to engage him about general football chit chat, asking him if he watched the game last night. Collins was apparently polite but admitted that he didn't really follow the game outside of what he absolutely needed to know. Just no interest in it.

There was another lad (funnily enough also from West Ham) a few years back who was asked about his favorite player growing up in one of those magazine questionnaires. He said he didn't follow football growing up, just played it and was good at it.

There are probably quite a few players that applies to, we've most likely got some on our books. I seem to recall Gabby being interviewed the day after the Everton 1-1 game back in MON's first season, the main thrust of the interview being it must have been a joy for him to score at the end where he used to watch his heroes. He didn't play along. His response?  "Nah. I didn't stand there. I never watched football."

In Owen's defence I'm sure I've read various reports that he was an Everton fan growing up. But yes, for many I'm sure it is just a job.

[damon loves JT]

The players who baffle me are those like Keown and Lee Dixon who avoided the media like the plague while they were playing, then afterwards want to re-invent themselves as pundits.

'model professionals' you can count on the fingers of one hand. People who played with honesty and sincerity at the very top, and stayed long enough to have a positive influence on the game.

Sid Cowans. Ryan Giggs. Errr...

[WikiVilla]

I'd be more than happy to sit on Utd's bench, no matter how much I hated football, and pick up a fortune.

But if you had as much talent as Owen surely you'd want to play

When he's older and his career is over, I'm sure he'll look back and regret he missed so many games

[KevinGage]

Owen has said himself in recent years that he'd rather be playing 20+ games in all competitions for a club like Man U rather than playing 40+ games for a struggling side.

The 20 games part is realistic on his part, owing to his fitness and place in the pecking order.

For me, that's not as bad as a Winson Bogarde, Hassan Kachloul, Wayne Bridge or even Habib Beye being quite happy to pick up their pay packet and not play at all, rather than someone who wants to feature in big games for a big club -even if it is only a bit part role.