...to think being a Premiership Footballler is one of the best jobs in the world?

Yes, he did well.

I just couldn’t be ‘on’ all the time. Every game you have to go out and play at your peak. It’d be like having to report to the Board for a grilling on a different projects or strategy that’s behind every day!

I disagree, I think if you're a footballer you want to play football. Sitting on the bench for multiple games drives them mad and makes them unhappy. Look how happy players get when they go out on loan and can actually start after being benched for seasons (eg Grealish last season)

A reasonably close family member is a former Premier League* footballer. Not a very famous one who you'd know much about unless you're quite a big football fan or he played for your team but definitely a first team regular. Along the lines of say Nathaniel Clyne now.

He really loved doing what he loves, every boy's dream etc. But did miss a lot including every weekend and lots of weekdays with his young family. And injury is devastating. Also in terms of earning really well it's a 10 year career (ish) so you have to have skills and a plan which many don't. The intrusion is huge, he said not so much for him (wore a cap any cracked on most of the time) but with the bigger stars who essentially couldn't go out in public without being mobbed. Some loved it others didn't. And he said it's a horrible feeling to play badly and get booed & feel you've let the team down. Which you don't think about but it is quite mad to have a job where you get booed for making a mistake! Also there's the health issues which come in older age which do concern a lot of players albeit more in rugby.

So on balance I think I would prefer a more anonymous job with less booing. Maybe the third most senior owner of a football club.

• "The Premiership" hasn't existed since 1992!

Bernie Taupin is my version of this. Or some other songwriter like Diane Warren. All the money and lifestyle, the satisfaction of hearing your work listened to by millions, but you don't have to do the work of performing it and going on tour, and you don't get hassled in Tesco as no one has a clue what you look like.

Personally, I think they should be embarrassed at the amount they earn.
They are all now simply cogs in the advertising world. They know they have a finite lifespan; before they are replaced by someone younger and more marketable.
I suspect most of them couldn’t even tell you that football was invented to help poor kids. They are so dazzled by what they can personally gain!

I’m old enough to remember, right up to the 2010’s they swanned about thinking they were Billy Big Balls, and were untouchable.
Too many of them were (allegedly) up to their eyes in bad behaviour scandals: drink driving, drugs, cheating on partner’s/wives, fighting in nightclubs, and sexual assault & rape accusations.
Their clubs spent thousands on court fees to defend them, while giving them stupid slaps on the wrist like “a 3 match ban” for drink driving. All to save the reputation of the club.

F1 drivers were not usually as prolific in the media, but the same logic applies. Overpaid & self indulgent/important.

Yet, we have doctors, nurses, hospital staff teachers, firefighters, ambulance staff etc. fighting for a decent wage rise - to be able to live and pay their bills. These people actually save lives and make a difference. If your mum had a heart attack - would you prefer your favourite footballer turned up? Who actually has more worth to our society?

So, no, I don’t think it’s the best job in the world, unless you are utterly self centred and tone deaf. In which case, you should move into politics when you get a serious injury, e.g. your own head truly cannot be removed from your own sphincter.
I believe that’s the entry criteria..

DH used to work at a PL club. Obviously the pay is huge, but it’s a weird life, as I witnessed it — quite limited and dull. Outside of actual games and rest days, they were in for training at 10 am, had lunch together at the training ground and then went home by 2 or so. And they didn’t have a whole lot else going on. In the season, they can’t really drink and go out on the tear, their weight and fitness is carefully monitored, they’re encouraged to marry young to ‘settle down’, so all they mostly did was game and work out. Foreign players often had limited English and were homesick. Some UK players’ families didn’t live near the club because they didn’t want to uproot the children every time they transferred. Even in the summer, at least at this club, if they put on more than about a kg, they had to return early to pre-season training (‘fat camp’) to lose it, so they still led pretty quiet lives. The George Best days are long gone.

And even though the kids at the academy had access to a good education while there and were required to keep up a certain set of grades, they were generally very clear on needing to engage with that education, or taking it seriously, meant you were a ‘loser’.

It’s not a life I’d want for my child.

No.

Money doesn’t equal happiness.

They miss out on so much. Their kid’s births and birthdays. Their family’s birthdays. Weddings. Christenings. Christmas with their family (if they’re living abroad). They hardly get paternity leave.

They’re under so much pressure. Receive a lot of abuse from fans in person and online. Racist abuse. Threats. Their homes and cars are targeted for burglary/robbery. Lies and gossip is printed about them in the media.

If they sign for a team abroad- that means packing up their whole life, and if they have children- packing up their children’s lives. Having to make new friends, learn a new language, navigate a new country. Feeling isolated.

Then if they’re injured badly young - their career is cut short.

Then retirement in their mid-late 30’s. Then what? The money can’t and won’t last forever if they continue with the lifestyle which is all they’ve known since being a teenager/early 20’s.

A lot of them struggle after retirement. Football is the only job they’ve had. They have no qualifications beyond GCSE’s. No real work experience for anything. Not all of them are good enough or have the personality to go into coaching or punditry.

The money and excitement might be nice for them
in their prime, but all the extras? No way does it equate to being the “best job in the world”.

Agree, being a 2nd or 3rd choice keeper would be great. All the fitness, camaraderie, and decent pay, without much of the pressure of actually playing

And they don't 'see the world' they see airports, hotel rooms, training facilities and stadia.

Yeah. A lot of them have also had horrific death threats/online bullying etc. You're quite a public target and it's a lot of pressure.

I think it sounds like an awful job!

As I’d rather watch paint dry, than football, I don’t consider it the best job in the world!

Specifically Scott Carson! He hardly played, he was a sub goalie, he’s still got massive pay and has championship medals and I think a champions league medal

And the risk of injury/ death of course.

Google Clarke Carlisle if you aren't familiar with him. A gifted player, 'Britain's smartest footballer', lovely family, liked by fans but still ended up at the very lowest ebb.

F1 driver - live in Monaco, travel the world. The downside is not being at home much.

There's a brilliant true story of a Brazilian footballer...well he wasn't actually any good as a footballer. But he wanted to be one so he had a friend write some false stories in a paper as he he'd been playing abroad. He got signed, but was injured in training. He became mates with good players so when he was released without ever played they'd talk their manager into signing him...but oh he got injured.
He lived the life for years and never played. Eventually someone worked it out...after he'd been a pundit for years after "retiring"

Honest to god it's a true story...that's the players want to be

I’d agree.

There are downsides of course - huge amount of travel, away from your family. But the financial rewards are obviously enormous, even for your bog standard, run of the mill players.

Its also hugely competitive. So many young players are cast aside and never make it.

low education levels due to focus on football

My nephew was in a (premiership team) academy and they had a rigorous focus on education. You had to study and hit academic targets or you were out. He got a career ending injury at 16 but was able to get a degree in finance because the academy made sure he had a plan B.

I had a friend who was a biotechnologist. She worked in a cake factory looking at ways you can convert making cake in a kitchen to making it on a factory line.

She got as much free cake as she wanted!

Football career ending but not career ending. They can just go on to do something else. They'll also have huge insurance pay outs if a career ends due to injury so they'll be set up for life financially too.

Low education is bollox. That's a choice thing. They have so much free time that the ones with intelligence will often use it to study.

The rest is true though, there's a lot of moronic football fans around.

About 20 years ago I had a friend who had the best job in the world. We were in our late 20s at the time.

He fixed computer systems on super yachts. His life basically consisted of flying out to somewhere gorgeous like Monaco, spending 45 minutes diagnosing the problem, then waiting 3 days in a nice hotel with a generous allowance for the replacement part to be flown out to him, at which point he'd fly to the next place.

He spent about 4 months a year at home, in dribs and drabs, and was minted by the time he quit at 33 to start a family.

Have you considered WAG?

💯 this. And the now year round pressure to be playing. Very little time off. Huge amounts of travel. Risk of being your “true self” in a macho culture. Being too young to know yourself and how to manage all the expectations and media attention. Having every moment of your life, your food, your sleep, tracked and planned by your agent. Not being able to speak freely because of your sponsors or club owners.

Couldn’t pay me to have that lifestyle. it’s not the dream job, it’s a gilded cage.

Yeah but that’s just until you are 30 - 35 tops. And you know it.
All that flexibility is easy as a 20 year old especially if you know you’ll be minted at the end.