Hello. I would like to make a serious thread about something i'm starting to feel very strongly about. It seems like the more i get to know about footballers the more i dislike them, when i began to watch football i liked nearly all of them and now i don't, whether its on the field antics or off the field. Contract negotiations Nightlife Attitude Sexual relationships Selfishness Things they try and hide Treat you in the press like you will always believe them Now their is only one footballer who i know alot about who i still like and he is David Beckham I would like to know if others also feel like this and if they managed to overcome it. Thankyou for reading my thread and please reply as soon as possible or if you can, i promise to reply to all poster's who quote me or who have not been replied to in this thread, i will be back around tea time(4.00pm) here which a know is five hours before you guys. P.S The first person who replies(if you do) i promise to give three positive reps to as close together as i can. Thankyou, zippy85.
Re: f]Footballers and my changing feelings, a mixed up world. Well, I'm glad you finally came around to it. It's been no secret that this is a reality and it's very much a generational thing. Similarly, athletes in the United States are the same. They've got the rock star attitude, a disrespect for traditional values (and this doesn't mean they can't party of "have a good time" but everything is in excess. Even the youngest players are spoiled brats. Ulli-Hesse Lichtenberger's latest article (which I posted in the other team's threads) talks about the exagerrated hype by the media, and that has a lot to do with young player's attitudes. England is quite possibly the worst in Europe in this context. Every young player is hyped up to be a big deal and not only is that not true in most cases but it results in swollen heads. Most teenagers in developed counries are already rotten with their mtv's, video games and drug culture and it's quite easy to see how a few positive comments here and there can result in an ego-boost. I'm not quite sure how to resolve this issue. In the past rebellious acts used to have political connotations, nowadays every kid just seems like a brat or a punk that deserves a good beating. Perhaps the only way to reform these attitudes is to return to more traditonal values.
Re: f]Footballers and my changing feelings, a mixed up world. I don't really see one has to like footballers, i mean to me I watch them for what they do on the feild, not what they do privately. Its like i don't go to a movie cinema because of which actor is dating who and what country they're adopting from, I see a film because of the quality of the film and the acting within it. One thing i find people forget is that Footballers/Actors/Musicians are all people too, quite often young people who are under alot of pressure. Most 'normal' people would be able to get away with ******** ups that for them end up in the daily news. I just don't see a need to 'like' footballers for the person they are, just the player.
Re: f]Footballers and my changing feelings, a mixed up world. It's true one doesn't have to neccessarily like a player but when you become a professional footballer or actor, or musician you put yourself in a very public role where you have an effect on millions of people, especially children who will look up to you. It just comes with the job, and at that point you have a certain responsibility. It's obviously the player's choice whether to follow that or completely kick it to the curb but ideally the former would suit this world much better.
Re: f]Footballers and my changing feelings, a mixed up world. I agree, greed is a hell of a thing. None of your business. Agree DEFINITELY none of your business...u mad you're not the faceless girl they're fondling? On the pitch? Sometimes it's warranted. Their life isn't an open book, they don't have to tell anything unless it jeopardizes their club. Que?
Re: f]Footballers and my changing feelings, a mixed up world. Don't make people you don't know your heros or put them on a pedastal. We're all human, so when you find out they're no better than you or the next guy you shouldn't feel bad about it.
Re: f]Footballers and my changing feelings, a mixed up world. I am not really sure why you have come to this conclusion only now rather than ages ago. I don't care what they get up to..I am only interested when they are playing. If I hate a player it is because of what they do on the pitch rather than their off-pitch activities. In fact the only time I think about what they do off the pitch is when I want to take the mick while they are on the TV.
Re: f]Footballers and my changing feelings, a mixed up world. I find that there are a few players who I really like based on their off-pitch personas. Evra is a great example of that; I've never heard of him doing anything I wouldn't do and I find him immensely likable in interviews. And there are several others. On the whole though, most celebrities (and the entire public culture of greed and voyeurism) are pretty disgusting, but then so are many "normal" people. I think that having too much money corrupts almost anyone, and very young men suddenly making millions of dollars and simultaneously having their egos stroked and their every move examined are generally not going to react very well to those bizarre circumstances. In short, the bad ones don't really bother me, but I appreciate the good ones.
Re: f]Footballers and my changing feelings, a mixed up world. Thankyou. I think that it is worse for footballers because they come from working class backgrouds, i just find that the more i know the less i like, the worst one i think are the sex stories, i know its none of buisness but i just cannot forget, its really turning me off football in general, its strange though because the footballer i know most about i still like(Beckham), the exception that proves the rule, Kaka is another one which is famous and still liked by me.
Re: f]Footballers and my changing feelings, a mixed up world. Zippy... seriously, how old are you? If you don't know by now this world is a messed up place then I put you in my prayers because your in for a rough ride kiddo. Like I said, people and athletes don't need to be put on pedastals. We are no better than you and your no better than any one of us. If you were looking up to them as more than what they are and are hugely disappointed, then sorry man, Asi es la vida.
Re: f]Footballers and my changing feelings, a mixed up world. Older than you probably, its just football players are worse than other celebs, they are just not very nice people.
Re: f]Footballers and my changing feelings, a mixed up world. Trust you to completely disect my post, agree with the none of my Buisness but i still don't forget.
Yes but if you watch the interview with the girls they said he was gentle, a little shy and was the only one to give them a kiss and a thankyou, he was just going with the crowd, i would bet money it was'nt his idea.
FWIW, I don't think there is such a thing as "traditional values". I think there have always been good parents and parents who didn't do a very good job. And IMO good parenting doesn't consist of beating your kids into submission either--it's much more complex and difficult than that. Now a lot of the younger footballers now have basically been raised not by their parents but by the academies where they live from a young age. In a lot of poorer countries, the pay these kids get virtually makes them the breadwinners in their families, so its not difficult to see why they get big heads from the start. If I was 12 years old and having to support my parents, I might not think much of adults either. England and pretty much every Western country, as well as many other countries, have the "celebrity train wreck" culture. We all say we're above that, but we still can't look away when it happens, whether its a musician, movie star, or athlete who breaks down. Athletes rarely have boundaries when they sign professionally. By that time, they've been convinced by countless people that they are the "next big thing", and that fame and fortune are right there for them to take. Part of the strength of a manager like SAF is that he creates these lines and isn't afraid to get rid of players who cross them and refuse to change. Most managers just can't be bothered though, especially with the axe impending for them seemingly after a few weeks of poor results. For the most part, we as fans need to remember that a lot of these players shouldn't be considered as any kind of role models. The less attention we pay to their shenanigans, the better. That said, clubs also have a certain social responsibility to raise these young men as people, and not just brainless footballers who know little outside the game other than good times with booze and women.
I must be the only person who just doesn't believe things just because I read it in a paper....one of the papers that I see in line at the supermarket says that Pres. Bush and Laura Bush had a big fight and has a picture showing a scratch on Pres. Bush's face as proof. I believe the fight was over his excessive and continued drinking, btw. Probably not completely true, I suspect.... wrt to English football players and their personal life....I presume that the unfortunate person who's being talked about can't exactly go to the paper and say, "Uh, we didn't really do that. All we did was xxxxx, so please stop saying we did yyyyyy." Unless they want to spend their entire career in the newspaper office's discussing every move they make. There are those people who apparently like to film themselves...that's another situation entirely.
See now I am lost. You are complaining about the way these players act, the sex stories that come out about them yet when asked why you have the avatar you do, your reply is that the player in your avatar was involved in a sexscapade but he was gentle to the girls and gave them a kiss and said thank you. Are you acknowleding that he was involved in the same kind of behavior you profess to hate but is being given a blind eye by you?
I know tons of people who do much worse then the average footballer. I don't know why some people wanna hold people up on a pedestal for more then what their talent (in this example Football talent) is. No body is perfect, get over it. Sure some go overboard but why let it bother you when it comes to watching them play your not watching them to be potential friends your watching them for Entertainment and more importantly getting the job done. (Insert Ronaldo-Hookers-Job Joke here)
Reading what everyone said... The days of bumping into your football hero at the pub are long gone. The working class heros of yester-decade has passed the way of the dodo bird. Sorry!!! Growing up my heros were soccerplayers...and for the right reasons... Now with the money being thrown around in the game the idols I admired have made way for superstar brats... Among all the negativity..you can find bits of inspiration. A story has it that Ronaldo was touring Africa and came accross a soccer camp being run for kids who had had their limbs blown off by mine fields and such...Ronaldo promised that he would get his sponsor to build a proper field for them and decent facilities...Story ends with the facilityup and running within months....someone correct me if Im wrong !!! Maybe theres more stories of soccer stars doing some good!! Simon Allen
Maybe I'm reading into this too much or giving the players too much credit but IMO, that little escapade by Ronaldo/Anderson/Nani is exactly the type of decision that may improve them as players. Quick, efficient and no relationship stress added. So hypothetically, while a player like Rooney might sit at home wondering why the hell his Lindsey Lohan wannabe fiancee just spent 20 thousand dollars on new clothing or why this same fiancee needs to spend 100 thousand dollars on their next birthday party, Ronaldo and Co. can relax and enjoy themselves like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAXhncinVsQ
How touching. Seems like you were very moved by this. At least enough to contradict your whole thread with your Anderson avatar. Just out of curiosity, do you work in the sex trade industry?
Wrong. Watch MLS. These are the good old days. Underrated and underpaid players doing it because they love the game. You say you're a Galaxy fan - for how many seasons did Kevin Hartman risk his neck for a blue-collar paycheck? Go to an MLS game and every fan is appreciated by the players. They'll sign autographs for an hour after the game, then at your kid's birthday, then see you at the pub. All so they can keep playing soccer. Seriously, go to HDC to watch somebody besides Beckham, some nobody who might be the next Ryan Nelson, Brad Friedel or Clint Dempsey. Or, keep tossing the salads of the sooooooperclubs.