Chelsea U18 player on £20,000 per week.

[Lady Whistledown]

I presume young aspiring professionals don't have to clean the boots of the senior players any more. Not that you'd imagine they'd get very dirty anyway, given the relative lack of mudbath pitches around, and I don't suppose cleaning boots ever made a kid a better footballer, but it must have done something to keep their feet on the ground.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I doubt anybody can really argue against wages paid to top players. As with any industry, the rewards are there for those who are at the top of their field, and having the good fortune to be world class at football is a rare talent indeed.

But the wages paid to, and cars driven by, the average footballers, the journeymen, the water carriers, tell us far more about the sport than what Wayne Rooney earns.

 

[Mowgli37]

Always thought Clarke Carlisle was a bit of a knob but this is an interesting read.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-Peter-Beardsleys-left-handle-dirty-kits.html

"They had travelled down on one of those five-star luxury coaches, and afterwards they all plonked themselves back on it with their iPods plugged in. While they settled into their seats, the skips of dirty kit were pushed along the path below by Peter Beardsley. Yes, the former England great Peter Beardsley.
Generations before me would have carried an iconic figure like Peter on to the bus, let alone push the skips themselves, but that respect isn’t there any more.
It was one of the most disheartening sights I’ve seen."

This is why our national team is failing. Talented youngsters are being turned into big-time Charlies with massive paychecks and non-stop pampering before they've even come close to making the reserve team.

This really makes me sad. A few weeks back as the Middlesbrough players got on their coach all of them bar one spent time signing autographs for fans. The one who didn't: Nathaniel Chalobah who leapt straight on the coach and is, guess what, a Chelsea youth product. He's got a much brighter future than most young players but it's that basic level of respect that is sorely lacking.

 

[Bwian]

Always thought Clarke Carlisle was a bit of a knob but this is an interesting read.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-Peter-Beardsleys-left-handle-dirty-kits.html

"They had travelled down on one of those five-star luxury coaches, and afterwards they all plonked themselves back on it with their iPods plugged in. While they settled into their seats, the skips of dirty kit were pushed along the path below by Peter Beardsley. Yes, the former England great Peter Beardsley.
Generations before me would have carried an iconic figure like Peter on to the bus, let alone push the skips themselves, but that respect isn’t there any more.
It was one of the most disheartening sights I’ve seen."

This is why our national team is failing. Talented youngsters are being turned into big-time Charlies with massive paychecks and non-stop pampering before they've even come close to making the reserve team.

There will always be better players belittling lesser talents but that excerpt is truly depressing. Too much too soon is never a good combination.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

This really makes me sad. A few weeks back as the Middlesbrough players got on their coach all of them bar one spent time signing autographs for fans. The one who didn't: Nathaniel Chalobah who leapt straight on the coach and is, guess what, a Chelsea youth product. He's got a much brighter future than most young players but it's that basic level of respect that is sorely lacking.

I was by the players' entrance at the Amex after the QPR game when their players came out to board the coach post-match. All of their players stopped to sign autographs for those who wanted them, or pose for photos, including Joey Barton, Richard Dunne and Jermaine Jenas. The only one who strode, surly expression on his face and giant headphones clamped over his ears, was (former Arsenal graduate) Armand Traore.

Traore has achieved relatively little in football, and is hardly a big name so it struck me as decidedly off that he felt he was too important to give a moment to those supporters (some QPR, some Albion, some seemingly just professional autograph-hunters) who'd waited patiently for the team to emerge.

 

[The Truth]

I bet Leon Knight was a lovely lad when playing at youth level.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

When they won it in 2010, for the first time in 49 years, Chelsea were convinced that Jeffrey Bruma, Josh McEachran, Fabio Borini, Gael Kakuta and Patrick van Aanholt would soon be filling first team berths.

A team which also included Rohan Ince at centre back.

 

[Pavilionaire]

It is totally conceivable for a player who hasn't quite made the grade to retire on the income he has earned from football before the age of 21, if he so chooses.

 

[Stat Brother]

Always thought Clarke Carlisle was a bit of a knob but this is an interesting read.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-Peter-Beardsleys-left-handle-dirty-kits.html

"They had travelled down on one of those five-star luxury coaches, and afterwards they all plonked themselves back on it with their iPods plugged in. While they settled into their seats, the skips of dirty kit were pushed along the path below by Peter Beardsley. Yes, the former England great Peter Beardsley.
Generations before me would have carried an iconic figure like Peter on to the bus, let alone push the skips themselves, but that respect isn’t there any more.
It was one of the most disheartening sights I’ve seen."

This is why our national team is failing. Talented youngsters are being turned into big-time Charlies with massive paychecks and non-stop pampering before they've even come close to making the reserve team.

I was struck by another take on that, after reading it.

What are their parents doing? (I guess milking the gravy train)

If I was so far up my own arse having proved nothing, there wouldn't be any room for my head, because my dads boot would have taken up permanent residence in my back passage.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I presume young aspiring professionals don't have to clean the boots of the senior players any more.

I guess senior players at Chelsea probably have a daily fresh pair of boots provided by their sponsor these days? And I have read that John Terry has JT embroidered on his; what a cock.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I was struck by another take on that, after reading it.

What are their parents doing? (I guess milking the gravy train)

If I was so far up my own arse having proved nothing, there wouldn't be any room for my head, because my dads boot would have taken up permanent residence in my back passage.

Starstruck parents, one would assume.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

But the wages paid to, and cars driven by, the average footballers, the journeymen, the water carriers, tell us far more about the sport than what Wayne Rooney earns.

Very much this.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Very much this.

I tend to keep coming back to him, not because I think he's an idiot or anything, but: Lewis Dunk. Aged 21. Fringe player at the Albion. Drives a pimped up Range Rover Sport (or something like that).

These start at about £60k.

Doesn't make him a bad person I know, it's just a reflection of the earning power of the ordinary, within this game we love.

 

[WATFORD zero]

I tend to keep coming back to him, not because I think he's an idiot or anything, but: Lewis Dunk. Aged 21. Fringe player at the Albion. Drives a pimped up Range Rover Sport (or something like that).

These start at about £60k.

Doesn't make him a bad person I know, it's just a reflection of the earning power of the ordinary, within this game we love.

Much as i like Dunk, that is outrageous for being a substitute for a second division team

 

[GingerBeerMan]

I tend to keep coming back to him, not because I think he's an idiot or anything, but: Lewis Dunk. Aged 21. Fringe player at the Albion. Drives a pimped up Range Rover Sport (or something like that).

These start at about £60k.

Doesn't make him a bad person I know, it's just a reflection of the earning power of the ordinary, within this game we love.

Lots of these cars are hire cars, not bought. I know a few of the (ex) development squad who were offered deals for cars, and it was cheaper than the insurance on a bought car would have been. I have no idea why they get offered cars so cheap, it's hardly good advertising for the company.

 

[BigGully]

I tend to keep coming back to him, not because I think he's an idiot or anything, but: Lewis Dunk. Aged 21. Fringe player at the Albion. Drives a pimped up Range Rover Sport (or something like that).

These start at about £60k.

Doesn't make him a bad person I know, it's just a reflection of the earning power of the ordinary, within this game we love.

I am pretty sure as a member of the PFA Dunk like all professional footballers have access to targeted deals that probably translates to him paying a monthly amount similar to what you and I would pay for Ford Mondeo.

Its not surprising then that he and others choose something a little flashier at a greatly reduced price.

Its more a reflection on those companies wishing to target footballers for their brand rather than any reflection on any players wealth.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

It really wasn't meant to be a criticism of Dunk. Who can blame a young lad for wanting the flashest motor he can afford?

I just find it intriguing that clubs are willing to pay a player at his level the sort of money required to buy/ lease/ insure such a car. And that these leasing/ sales companies are so desperate to be associated with average footballers. That's all. Can't help feeling a lot of them (the salesmen) are parasites desperate for the associated prestige of knowing a few footballers.

 

[father_and_son]

Ironic that he's at one of the worst clubs for bringing through youth players. Any 1st team regulars from youth set-up since John Terry?

It says volumes about the club and the PL in general that its not about having that youth player come up through the ranks and make it to the first team, its about STOPPING that player coming through the ranks and making the first team of their opponents!

The lad has, in effect, sold his potential future footballing career by agreeing to be paid ridiculous amounts of money now to NOT PLAY FOOTBALL.

 

[Horsham Gull]

Ironic that he's at one of the worst clubs for bringing through youth players. Any 1st team regulars from youth set-up since John Terry?

And yet they still produce gems like Liam Bridcutt and Rohan Ince

 

[nwgull]

I guess senior players at Chelsea probably have a daily fresh pair of boots provided by their sponsor these days? And I have read that John Terry has JT embroidered on his; what a cock.

I don't see a problem with John Terry having his name on his boots. Like him or not, he's a player who has achieved a lot in his career.