All for the money - The Secret Footballer

[ant london]

don't know how many of you read this column in the Guardian but if you don't I would very much recommend it.

Interesting one re "mercenary footballers" today.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog ... h-trophies

I know what the Birmingham City players would have been thinking during their Carling Cup lap of honour and I also know what many of them would have been thinking when they were relegated three months later.

The League Cup has long had its detractors but none of the natives on the blue half of the divide at Wembley were complaining after Birmingham's win over Arsenal in the final last season. Yet the sterile reality of football is that for many of us players winning a trophy is a bonus.

Since the inception of the Premier League, silverware has been monopolised, to a certain extent, by three or four of the biggest clubs. Breaking that stranglehold has never been harder but it isn't impossible. Recent Carling Cup finalists have included Blackburn, Middlesbrough, Bolton and Wigan before Birmingham's triumph last season.

But hard facts are hard facts. Relegation from the Premier League has cost Birmingham financially and almost all of the side that won the cup only a year ago have had to be sold. But then ask this question: what will the Birmingham fans remember and talk about in years to come? The fact that the team finished ninth in the Premier League in 2009-10 and were financially stable without being spectacular, or beating Arsenal in the dying moments of the Carling Cup final last season? As a player I would love to say the latter, which would be the supporters' response, but that would be a lie. Nice though another medal in the cabinet would be, football is a job and the best place to ply your trade is in the Premier League.

I have sat in the changing room before games at Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge and the Emirates knowing that if all the stars in the sky are lined up and the opposition put in their worst performance for a decade and in turn we produce a herculean effort, then we may just, if we're lucky, snatch a draw. The standard manager spiel in such circumstances is to trot out the tired line "just enjoy it". After one of these games in which we'd taken a good hiding I approached our manager on the team bus, someone I thought I'd built up a good relationship with, and said: "Why do you say: 'Just enjoy it,' before we go out? How is chasing the ball around for 90 minutes, being beaten four or five nil and being made to look shit on TV in front of everyone supposed to be enjoyable?" He turned to me and, raising his voice so the whole coach could hear, said: "What do you want me to say, that you're not even half the player Paul Scholes is? Fuck off to the back of the bus and shut up."

The point that my manager was trying to illustrate is that we really didn't have any chance of winning the league, or even a cup competition, but as long as we kept working hard and "did the right things" we could all earn a living and not upset too many people. For our owners, our manager and the players, it was all about Premier League football. At least I think that was the point because otherwise he just thought I was crap.

Wembley is a nice day out but the Premier League is a cash cow. Craig Bellamy gave an interview ahead of Sunday's final that was about as candid as you are ever likely to hear and reflects what I know most players, among themselves, would agree is somewhere very close to the truth. Bellamy said: "Honestly if I win, I win, if I don't, I don't. I won't lose one second of sleep over it. I've had a great career and enjoyed it but is it defined by trophies? No – and it never will be. I don't even know where my Scottish Cup medal [won in 2005 with Celtic] is." A few years earlier, Tottenham's Benoît Assou-Ekotto dared to go further: "I don't understand why, when I said I play for the money, people were shocked. Oh, he's a mercenary. Every player is like that."

The mindset of a player has changed dramatically as TV money has swelled our pay slips. Every player knows the retired professional who has spent all his money and has had to find a regular job. Financial managers have ensured we squirrel away a high percentage of our earnings and, as a consequence, our career decisions are, to a certain degree, influenced by how much money we need to earn and for how long. The biggest mistake I ever made in football was moving clubs for more money. I vowed never to do it again, until I realised it was too late and that I had arrived at the point where my career would for ever more be only about how much money I needed to earn. It's regrettable and makes me cringe when I put it in writing but I promise you it is the same for a huge number of professionals.

Last week I had dinner with a friend I grew up with. We used to dream of playing at Wembley together and lifting the FA Cup. Unfortunately for him he never fulfilled his ambition of playing professionally and, in what feels like an attempt to make himself feel better and knock me down a few pegs, has been asking me questions where the only possible answer proves that I am a greedy footballer that has sold his soul.

Towards the end of the meal he asked me what I would choose if I were offered an FA Cup winner's medal or another season in the Premier League. The answer, as I told him, is another season in the Premier League. Sell out I may be but stupid I ain't.

the whole series is here.....http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/series/the-secret-footballer

Follow the Secret Footballer on Twitter @TSFguardian

The Secret Footballer will be appearing in a live Q&A as part of the Guardian's Open Weekend on 25 March. For tickets and further information go to guardian.co.uk/open-weekend1

[Ted Hughes]

Amongst all the stuff about money, the comments about a manager saying 'just enjoy it' & he & his players effectively writing off any chance of a result v the rags, is conclusive proof of what many of us have been saying on here.

I would add; which managers are most likely to say 'just enjoy it' when they take their sides to OT ? Imo, the very blokes we, on here, have accused of doing that. Would Sven or Mancini, tell their players those instructions, however outclassed ? Not a chance; they would try their damndest to implement a plan.

Fat Sam ? "Just enjoy it ".

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

That's exactly how I've always thought average middle of the road footballers approach the game. It's bullshit to say everyone is like that though. Most of the very best players in the game are true winners who'd hate their guts tolose any game never mind trophy. That attitude is what separates top players from rest.

Oh, and manager who said that is either Fat Sam, Elephant man or McCarthy. Fucking loser thing to say in professional football.

Any guesses on identity of footballer? Judging by how he writes he has had decent formal education and is close to/over 30. Oh and he is obviously a midfielder.

[Nigels Tackle]

That's exactly how I've always thought average middle of the road footballers approach the game. It's bullshit to say everyone is like that though. Most of the very best players in the game are true winners who'd hate their guts tolose any game never mind trophy. That attitude is what separates top players from rest.

Oh, and manager who said that is either Fat Sam, Elephant man or McCarthy. Fucking loser thing to say in professional football.

Any guesses on identity of footballer? Judging by how he writes he has had decent formal education and is close to/over 30.

danny murphy

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

That's exactly how I've always thought average middle of the road footballers approach the game. It's bullshit to say everyone is like that though. Most of the very best players in the game are true winners who'd hate their guts tolose any game never mind trophy. That attitude is what separates top players from rest.

Oh, and manager who said that is either Fat Sam, Elephant man or McCarthy. Fucking loser thing to say in professional football.

Any guesses on identity of footballer? Judging by how he writes he has had decent formal education and is close to/over 30.

danny murphy

That's a good shout actually.

[Crossie]

Someone who played for Birmingham until as recently as last season??

Someone dropped for a game vs Scum ?

If any is bothered they could work it out.

[Ted Hughes]

Sounds a bit Bartonish to me.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Also the player has played for good team at some.stage because he talks so casually about Wembley but has also experienced relegation battle of some sorts.

Have to think about this.

[Ted Hughes]

Also the player has played for good team at some.stage because he talks so casually about Wembley but has also experienced delegation battle of some sorts.

Have to think about this.

I'm not sure I see anything in that which suggests he's played for a top team, just that he knows people who have played in big games.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Sounds a bit Bartonish to me.

Nah. That's not pretentious like Barton's bullshit and he has no cup final experience.

[Crossie]

David Dunn?

[Ted Hughes]

Sounds a bit Bartonish to me.

Nah. That's not pretentious like Barton's bullshit and he has no cup final experience.

Does he say he has though; is he talking about himself or in general ?

He mentions two moves where he moved 'for money' once earlier & once later in his career, & the big mistake being moving in the 1st place. Barton left just before Frank came in.

[Dubciteh]

Sounds a bit Bartonish to me.

Nah. That's not pretentious like Barton's bullshit and he has no cup final experience.

Does he say he has though; is he talking about himself or in general ?

He mentions two moves where he moved 'for money' once earlier & once later in his career, & the big mistake being moving in the 1st place. Barton left just before Frank came in.

Barton wouldnt be able to keep this a secret, he would just say all this on his twitter as opposed be a secret footballer, we all know what hes like...

[ant london]

If you go back over all the old columns I think it's obvious that he has played for a top team at some point. Can't recall if he references playing for a national team but certainly in another column he does talk about having been at a club which had severe financial difficulties and the players helping the club staff out etc.

There is certainly likely enough there to work out who it is if you could be arsed.

Its a very good column though

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Sounds a bit Bartonish to me.

Nah. That's not pretentious like Barton's bullshit and he has no cup final experience.

Does he say he has though; is he talking about himself or in general ?

He mentions two moves where he moved 'for money' once earlier & once later in his career, & the big mistake being moving in the 1st place. Barton left just before Frank came in.

I don't think he'd dare to say "Wembley is a nice day out" unless he really had some experience of it.

I haven't read his earlier colums but it intrigues me who would put his neck out like that and the fact that he actually writes pretty well (assuming that it hasn't been "ghostwritten"), a fact that narrows it down quite alot.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Honestly, I hadn't been reading these before but going through his old columns now and there's some excellent stuff. I mean, feller is quoting Rudyard Kipling and shit. It's fair to say that this is not your middle of the road professional footballer.

[Blue Since 76]

Honestly, I hadn't been reading these before but going through his old columns now and there's some excellent stuff. I mean, feller is quoting Rudyard Kipling and shit. It's fair to say that this is not your middle of the road professional footballer.

Appears to be well educated, can read, write and put together an articulate argument in English. He's clearly a foreigner.

[carl_feedthegoat]

The manager sounds like twitchy Redknapp..hes the sort of shit house to say that to a player.

[Dubciteh]

NIcky shorey?

http://www.whoisthesecretfootballer.co.uk/

[Ted Hughes]

The manager sounds like twitchy Redknapp..hes the sort of shit house to say that to a player.

Many of the typical 'good ol boy' British managers are like that when they go to OT I'm sure.