footballers are pop stars...

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so maybe it's time they were properly 'protected' as such. this means they'd be required to spend a sensible chunk of their vast wages on more bodyguards/minders and advisers and such security measures could even be integrated into their contracts - possibly mandatory for players earning over a certain amount every week? seems like this already happens but clearly not regimented enough to keep people like Jody Morris (who could still walk down most streets unrecognised granted) out of the headlines for the wrong reasons. like successful pop stars these young men are earning far too much money for them to be able to deal with and it's no wonder a few of them get into the problems they do. the way i see it pop stars seem to be far better protected, perhaps to a stifling degree at times but there's good reason for it - groupies, fans and critics hassling them excessively being just one of them. footballers may actually cope better in that situation as they tend to not be as grabby for limelight off the pitch, so having someone tell them or even stipulate in their contract that whilst not completely forbidden, alcohol, gambling and boozy nights out with glamour models is strongly discouraged by their employers as it puts the reputation of all at great risk might be a good idea. if they can't abide that then maybe they should do another job? liberty infringement? a top footballer moaning that he can't go out and have a good time if he wants to would surely fall on deaf ears considering the amount of people who do much less enjoyable jobs and can't do that much for financial restrictions alone.

inspired by Stan Collymore's recent suggestions - encouraging stuff from the man who's had a lot of negative press himself over the years.

would these suggestions benefit or hinder ultimately?

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 13 October 2003 12:12 (twenty-two years ago)

One key difference is that the nature of a pop star's job involves a lot of evening work, surely, which is the time most of the footballers who get into trouble get into it.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 13 October 2003 12:26 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm not sure it's that much of a difference, considering the amount of evening matches players are required to take part in, and the amount of publicity work, recording and stuff pop stars are required to do in the day. it seems pretty balanced really.

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 13 October 2003 12:46 (twenty-two years ago)

and if some footballers or pop stars get into some mess then it tends to happen to both at night when they're not working thus 'partying'.

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 13 October 2003 12:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I think a lot of it has to do with the somewhat unholy combination of British drinking culture, and modern European style youth training systems, which basically mean that from, say, 12 years old, the player doesn't live in the real world at all. Combine these two together, and you're just asking for trouble.

(And it can't be of any coincidence that the best two teams of the past ten years (United and Arsenal) have managers who damn near fully reject any notion of drinking culture amongst the players (Wenger and Ferguson are both teatotal, aren't they?))

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 13 October 2003 13:32 (twenty-two years ago)

yeh i think the continental influx has actually helped things and all we're seeing is an intensity of the media on player behaviour. whereas star players seemed to be lauded years ago for decadence and debauchery there's been a transition in recent years based on the notion that such attitudes will not win stuff for English football like it does for European teams and players with more professional attitudes. Gazza used to be the icon for a lot of kids and adults ten years ago despite behaving pretty badly. now it's Beckham. i think that may say a lot about how things have 'improved' generally in that respect (say what you like about Beckham but he is a fantastic role model as is Ryan Giggs, thanks largely to the way Ferguson wrapped the latter up in cotton wool through his inaugural years in the Man U regular XI - he was impeded when it came to protecting Beckham because he'd met and then married a Spice Girl, but this in turn stabilised Beckham remarkably well considering the stature of the two of them).

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 13 October 2003 13:40 (twenty-two years ago)

bloody hell i think i'm turning into Patrick Collins :(

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 13 October 2003 13:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, does the debauchery of, say, Frankie McAvennie match up to that of (another random name) Dwight Yorke?

Footballers in the 70s and 80s seemed to have slightly more shady private lives, but they were shady private lives on a budget (getting a new suit was a treat if you won the FA cup, remember?). The money scale nowadays allows them to basically push the envelope futher than they would have in the 70s.

Tangential question: who was the first modern footballer? George Best? Kevin Keegan? Frankie McAvennie? Jason Cundy?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 13 October 2003 13:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Trevor Francis!

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 13 October 2003 14:04 (twenty-two years ago)

two years pass...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=froJ1-uqvRk

― Rebel.yell.For.Internet.cakes (nordicskilla), Saturday, 26 August 2006 03:52 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

The world's best paid players:

http://www.forbes.com/business/2008/04/30/best-paid-soccer-biz-soccer08-cx-cs_0430players_intro.html

Also includes a slideshow of the top 20 and their cars.

― dan m, Thursday, 1 May 2008 15:22 (seventeen years ago)

The deal launched with a series of ads showing Beck proactively posed in only the designer's drawers.

Bold type mine. Spell-check gone astray? Amuk?

― Laurel, Thursday, 1 May 2008 15:31 (seventeen years ago)

I just kind of liked that Del Piero drives a tiny Fiat, though I suppose he is owned by the company more or less.

― dan m, Thursday, 1 May 2008 15:39 (seventeen years ago)

(Wenger and Ferguson are both teatotal, aren't they?)

lol ferguson teetotal.

― or something, Thursday, 1 May 2008 18:03 (seventeen years ago)

yeah come on! his face tells a more vivid tale of alcohol abuse gone by than 100 foamy pint glasses

― Ronan, Thursday, 1 May 2008 20:35 (seventeen years ago)

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