England fans' reaction to the team is all about money

as is the reaction of fans up and down the country at club level.

In the past when footballers were just well paid rather than obscenely paid, fans never used to give players such levels of abuse. Sure, there was the odd boo here and there, but now the genuine vitriol sweeping down from the stands is down to one factor and one factor alone - money.

When I was about 10, because of my dad's job, we knew some of the players like Keith Robson, who lived in a small house in the middle of an estate in Brundall. We would drink in the Yare pub on a Sunday lunchtime with him, Graham Paddon, Kevin Keelan and a few others. They were down to earth ordinary blokes who were well off but not massively removed from the fans they played for.

They cared about the club and fans connected with them. They were loved and admired and they had come up through football the hard way as apprentices cleaning other players' boots.

Over the past decade fans' wages have increased by pretty much the rate of inflation while players' wages have rocketed by heaven knows what rate above that. With an average Championship player earning £5k a week and driving a Ferrari (if he so chooses) there is little connection left between players and fans even at that level. There are exceptions, like Hucks, Iwan and Flem, all level-headed blokes who are popular because of the 100% effort they put in and what they've done for the club.

But as soon as anyone drops below that level they get slaughtered in a way they never would have before purely because of the money they're on. These they HAVE to perform to 100% effort levels every week simply to justify their ridiculous wages. Fail to do so and the passions in the stands from people earning in a year what they earn in two or three weeks will overflow into what seems like genuine, if short-lived, hatred.

Go a step higher to the Prem and international level and the hatred and contempt is multiplied (probably in direct proportion to the wages they get paid). It can be overcome only by every player being seen to be putting in 100% and playing consistently to a level that their talent should allow them to. If they want to be paid as well as Hollywood film stars then they have to take the criticism which would attract a Tom Cruise flop - the only difference being they get it first hand at live events.

In a nutshell, fans don't really care how much players get paid...unless and until those players hint that they're not committed or their performance drops below a certain level. Then it's open season and the fans - at all levels - simply won't accept mediocrity.

Posted By: duke of york on March 29th 2007 at 13:51:32

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