Money Over Loyalty?
Thursday, November 27th, 2008
The question was asked in one of the comments yesterday “Wonder what it’s really like being part of these teams where money is no object…. Do you really have any loyalty to the team, does the team (team owners) have any loyalty to the players or are they just commodities?” Naturally I don’t have the slightest of clues what it is like playing for a team where money is no object. The second part of the comment is best looked during the saga between Luis Figo, Barcelona and Real Madrid.
A book could be written about the events that transpired in 2000 when Figo became public enemy number one with Barcelona fans. The coles notes version goes something like this. Luis Figo coming off a year where he was the front runner for the Ballon d’Or asked to have his contact renegotiated. Only one problem with that request, Barcelona had already re-worked Figo’s contact the year before and were unwilling to do it again. In an attempt to strong arm Barcelona, Figo struck a deal with Florentino Pérez who was looking to become Real Madrid new president. Perez would give Figo the contact he was looking for and with Figo on board Perez was soon elected president. Perez lived up to his word and met Barcelona buyout figure of 65 million euros for Figo’s services. A figure that to this day stands as one of the highest transfer fees ever paid. With Perez living up to his word Figo now had to live up to his as there was a reported 30 million euro penalty if any party broke their word.
Football as in most sports is built about passion. Without that passion or fanaticism sports wouldn’t be a central part of our culture. With that being said it also clouds judgment. People seem to forget that football players are still people with the same basic human emotions. While the amounts of money are on a different scale the same issues remain. If you are working an office job making 40k a year and seeing the guy across the street working the same office job making 50k a year. Guess what you are going to want a larger slice of the pie. People who say x amount of money is enough are usually people who doesn’t have that amount of money. Just like the middle class wishes to get richer, the rich also want to get richer. The same goes with football, if a player looks around and notices another player making more then him well he is going to want a new deal. I do believe that people should live up to their contracts but I’m not going to sit here and say that I can’t understand someone’s desire to be paid more if they deserved more.
Luis Figo as in most players know they are a commodity and the window to make the most money in return for their services is small. The idea of loyalty is nice but if that was the case Figo would of never left Sporting Clube de Portugal, the team he supported as a boy. Being loyal or not the end result when ones career comes to an end will be the same. Roy Keane was loyal to Manchester United but it still ended in a pink slip when United no longer wanted his services. The likes of Paolo Maldini are very rare in this era. Despite all that I do believe most players still do play for the shirt and want to win for the fans who support them.
This idea of loyalty is also a two way street. It would be in a player’s best interest to get the most out of his services while playing because no one is going to be looking over you once you are unable to preform on a football field. It would also be in a player’s best interest to realize while cold hearted the value of a player to a football club is directly tied into performances on the field. Once the player is past their prime the football club is well within their right to look for a replacement as Luis Figo found out when after his six year contact expired in 2005 and Real Madrid were not interested in resigning him for further years.
