I think its sad from a supports perspective. All you want is to see a team stick together and take out a comp. You want to support a team that feels like a bunch of mates. It helps us somehow relate to the club or team. We're all a bunch of mates.
Most of these footballers are plucked from high school around what, grade 9 or 10 and football then becomes their life.
I know we hear several players educate themselves and some clubs put players through education but just how much and what quality is it?
Just say 1/20 of these kids makes the big time, with no education and nothing else in their life appart from football, football, football its 'make money as fast as you can you've got 10 years'.
Now I'm not saying there's no possibility for these guys after football but i dare say many of them are in that situation of football is over, what now? Its like they are 16 again, starting over. Many probably needing to go back and do their senior school again.
What was going for blokes back in the day were that most of them had jobs, football was what you did outside the job. You played with mates to win a premiership. Now days this is their job and many have nothing else.
To play for a ring over your own wellbeing in such a short lived career, in a such a relatively low paying sport would be foolish and I'm sure every player manager out there is advising these young kids its about the bucks, you've got 15 years at best to do what you do best, take the $$$ before its too late. If not for the managers gain as well 🙁