Is anybody else feeling completely disillusioned with the way football is at the moment?
If I'm honest, it isn't going to stop me watching it, or being a fan - but I think the money involved is just totally unacceptable. Especially when you consider what is happening in the real-world that we all live in (mortgages/rent shooting up, people can't afford food or heating, people living on the street).
The money footballers receive has been daft for a long time. £10,000 a week, then turned into £100,000 a week, which has then turned into £200,000 - £300,000 a week becoming the norm for a top players salary (this is before their contracts with Nike/Adidas etc). But now (though he is unlikely to go there) Mbappe has been offered £1.9m A DAY, to go and play in Saudi Arabia! £58m a month! It is just not right, and they shouldn't be allowed to even offer it. If the Saudi's have that sort of money available to just give away, why aren't they doing something good with it in the world!? Instead of giving it a footballer. All they are paying for is his name and image - at £1.9m a day, where is the incentive for him to actually play well?
Transfer fees don't bother me too much (though they are ridiculous too) but at least they stay in the football system for a while and the money gets passed down to the lower leagues eventually. But, I guess it still ends up in the players pockets in the end!
I went to watch Manchester Giants Basketball last year, and couldn't believe how good the players were after the game. Kids were allowed onto the court to have their photo taken with the players - who were more than happy to hang around and do so. In football, the players are ushered off by Security and you have to hang around for 1-2 hours after a game if you wanted to see them, and even then there is a barrier and security - and the best you can do is wave at them.
I even had to unfollow all the City players on Instagram over the last few weeks as I couldn't bear to look at the photos and videos they posted of them hiring luxury yachts for a week, or staying in huge Villas without a care in the world for how much it actually costs - whilst I'm sat at home getting anxious about my mortgage going up a few hundred quid a month.
I know I'm ranting - and I completely appreciate that for them to earn this amount of money they also have to train and work very hard, and accept being scrutinised by thousands of people every week, and have very little privacy when they step out of their house etc. But, I still don't think this warrants the amount of money they receive.
I'm also probably jealous, and obviously wouldn't turn it down if it was offered to me - but I would certainly give away/do some good with a large part of it, because lets be honest, who really needs that much money per week? I'd give my right bollock to get £100k a year!