Shock! Horror! An honest footballer says it's all about the money!

[fat old seagull]

I don't begrudge Upson his move. Yes, money probably played a part in his decision but I think it was just as much the lure of seizing, at 35, what would be his last shot at Premier League football.

No, I don't begrudge him or Wayne come to that, they both did a good job for us. But the issue really is if it wasn't for the money involved we would have benefited by their presence and they might still have been still playing....maybe.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

Sometimes people do stay put when they could really have had the choice of just about anywhere. Famous example over this way of Matt le Tissier. I'm sure there would be many others.

 

[Driver8]

I don't begrudge Upson his move. Yes, money probably played a part in his decision but I think it was just as much the lure of seizing, at 35, what would be his last shot at Premier League football.

0 appearances would suggest it hasn't gone too well then.

 

[Da Man Clay]

0 appearances would suggest it hasn't gone too well then.

Been out injured all year.

 

[NooBHA]

Haha this is VERY old news, was in the press ages ago.

A guy I work with went to school with him, he sitll turns up to their nights out in France with his Bentley. He also said when i first met him in 2009 that he doesn't care at all.

Pretty sure Zamora has said something similar, no interest in football.

Mark Bircham beats him hands down.................When at Millwall stated he was a Millwall fan and promptly get a Millwall tattoo to prove it. Then when at QPR claimed to have been a boyhood fan and I think got a tattoo to prove it.

I can only imagine he went back to Millwall because his tattoo was calling

 

[Pavilionaire]

Assou-Ekotto was a disgrace for QPR last season, I don't think he's even up to Championship standard. Full marks to Pochettino for sidelining him.

 

[Randsta]

I know where he's coming from I work in IT but its not my life!

 

[Brian Fantana]

Refreshing honesty.

Good luck to him. We'd all do the same in a heartbeat.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

Wayne Bridge retired due to injury at the end of last season.

One season at Reading...handful of games...upwards of £30k per week...nice finish.

 

[Guerrero]

Being a professional footballer is a job.Usually quite a short lived one.
Like any job some people enjoy it and others don't.
Most professional footballers,whilst getting reasonably well paid,do not earn massive amounts of money and have to prepare for 30-40 years of working life after the football is over.
Most people have to do that in their late teens or early twenties.
Simpy being good at something doesn't necessarily mean that you enjoy doing it. It is often a means to an end.
Professional footballers by their nature are suspicious,vain,self serving and greedy. Not always nice to be around.

 

[Hastings gull]

Refreshing honesty.

Good luck to him. We'd all do the same in a heartbeat.

We are all passionate albion fans and to us the club is a passion. To the playing and other staff, it is a job, and as with many folk, you would presumably move to where they paid you the most. We mustn't forget that the rivalries/jealousies/laziness/selfishness/naked ambition that we regularly see in our work environment are those that will be just as prevalent at the Albion. But as another post said, you would hope that they would develop some sort of affinity with the club and its fans, and probably many players do to an extent. Similarly, because they are "just" employees, this does not mean that they will not give 100% - or even 110% - on the pitch.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

Be honest, how many of you out there would be interested in watching a programme on TV that featured live coverage and analysis of your own job?

The bus drivers? The plumbers? The accountants?

It's not unlikely that football players don't want to watch football. Why take your job home with you?

Quite.
It always puzzles me why fans expect players to be just like them. Fans fill a lot of waking hours thinking about nothing but their club. Players need to switch off and get away from their job, like the rest of us.
Do you think that chefs go home and dive straight into the kitchen and prepare cordon bleu food for the wife and kids?
Hardly.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Not sure why this is even news. Some people love their job, others just do it for money, so surprise in that, whatever the earning level.

I've worked with city traders earning millions a year but can't wait to go home at the end of the day, and other people earning peanuts who do all sorts of hours for the love of it. It's just life.

 

[father_and_son]

Sometimes people do stay put when they could really have had the choice of just about anywhere. Famous example over this way of Matt le Tissier. I'm sure there would be many others.

I work in London for an International company that, by reputation, pays well but works you hard and expects their pound of flesh. I have to travel a lot, which I hate, and when I'm not overseas I commute into London, which I detest! But one day I month I am reminded why I do it!!
If I was offered a similar job in Brighton with the same amount of traveling, I'd take a salary cut. If offered a similar job without the overseas travel I might also take a cut (but perhaps not as not much).

They may not have explicitly created the list but I'm sure the calculation occurs for every player every time another club gets mentioned and some players will appear to chase the cash and others will appear to be loyal to a club, but in reality they are all chasing a balance between all the different things they like/dislike about a club and the cash they get to spend cheering themselves up after another frustrating week not making the team!

 

[RandyWanger]

I know where he's coming from I work in IT but its not my life!

Same, I do it for the money.

 

[Guerrero]

I love my job.I often put in extra unpaid hours,but the money is crap.
I decided to quit my job in the UK about 12 years ago and moved to Spain.
I had jobs where the money was good,but I hardly saw my wife and kids.
Money isn't everything.

 

[Mowgli37]

0 appearances would suggest it hasn't gone too well then.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Didn't know he would get injured did he?

 

[Eeyore]

I do wonder how employment law regarding poor performance and attitude could be used in these cases.

If a player was constantly unfit, could he not face formal warnings ?

 

[GT49er]

Money isn't everything.

.............except when you can't pay the rent or buy enough food.

 

[Paxton Dazo]

Thought a thread had been bounced from 2008 then.