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

[Piknik]

Men's Premier League specifically.

Ridiculous pay
Comraderie and strong bonds and friendships formed with team mates
Superb fitness levels
Access to best medical/mental health teams
Travel in style/stay in amazing hotels
See the world
Opportunity to be a role model for younger generations
Early retirement and the funds to do have a complete second career doing something meaningful and fulfilling

I know it's the job that kids aspire to, but I'm a middle aged woman and I really fancy it... Can't think of a better job to be honest!

And the risk of injury/ death of course.

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

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

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!

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

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

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”.

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.

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..

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.

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!

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)

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!

Yes, he did well.

There’s also a huge amount of uncertainty. There are obvious examples of players who started off premier league but who then drifted to the lower leagues, spending 12 months here and there, short term contracts, journeymen playing up and down the country. It’s still solid pay in the lower leagues but difficult to put down proper roots if one season you’re playing for Carlisle and the next you’re playing for Plymouth.

No amount of money would be worth having my life, face, mistakes, family, address and privacy out in the public domain

Not to mention sleeping with some publicity hungry vacuous reality star.

It’s a shame that footballers are so revered and overpaid for doing their ‘job’

We love playing 'shit town bingo' either when a new player joins our club or at away games with someone featured in the programme. While some players are snapped up by fancy big name clubs at 9 many have taken a path through a few places that are less than glamorous.

Yes and no. On the surface, it is amazing. Underneath, I'm not so sure.

It's brutal - and injury or a bad run can really be a threat to all of that. You are only as good as your last run. You essentially start your journey very, very early- if it doesn't work out, it can be very difficult; if you do, then when you retire in your early 30s, you are may not know anything else.

When you retire there is no guarantee of anything. After years of adulation and praise, substance abuse and depression rates are high. Unless you are advised well on your next steps/investments etc whilst you are learning, you can end up with very little...

How are they overpaid?

Premier League football clubs can have incomes of millions of pounds. Even the lowest team gets about £100 million from the TV deal alone. Add on ticket sales, merchandise, sponsorship etc. They have a huge income.

All because people want to watch the football, and by extension, the footballers.

They are the ones who are generating this money. Why shouldn't they get paid well to do so.

Why do you think they are overpaid?

Have you seen the haircuts they make you have? No thanks.

Because they kick a ball about. They aren’t saving lives! The whole industry is out of hand

Film stars aren't saving lives either. All they are doing is saying words written by other people. Do you feel the same about them?

My son started on this path at 18 but dropped out. The club expected you to work/train for 5 days a week, play on Saturdays all over the country, so only one day a week to relax. Yiu aren’t allowed to do any other sport and all they offered for education was a Btec which wouldn’t have been enough at the level they offered to go to university if the apprenticeship didn’t work out. So after a few months he dropped out, did A levels, went to Uni, then played non-league for a few years alongside his job. The chances of making it big are very slim.

Hm I'm not sure I'd fancy it - a friend of ours has an extremely sought after job (although nowhere near the wages of a footballer). There's very much an environment of put up and shut up, because there are a hundred people behind you wanting your job.