not sure if anyone's seen this? - http://www.cafc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10267~2579996,00.html a benefit dinner for Jonathan Fortune. great idea and all but really? key point that annoys me is : "My agent said 'why don't you do a benefit dinner?'," explained Jonathan. "For the last six months, I've been out of contract and not been able to get paid.". He's been a pro footballer for over a decade now. He's been paid thousands per week and now he needs a bit of cash. For me, it'll take 35 years to pay off my mortgage and the house is only worth.... well not much. if he hasnt sorted himself out financially by now and needs to do stuff like this then thats his own problem isnt it? he cant say he dont have a house by now? or he's skint? another example of living beyond your means? really p's me off as no doubt he's probably seen a million quid pass through his hands at some point (in weekly/monthly bits) and he still aint financially sorted? great servant et al. but i hate it when players plead poverty.
Yeh have to admit I agree with you especially when the plead poverty. For the majority of his career he was on Premiership wages so wasnt like he was being paid what our current crop of players are on, even then they probably earn in a week what I get in a month
This annoys me. I like JF and he was a good servant but he ought to catch a fcuking grip!!! I was unemployed for a year a couple of years ago. It wasn't easy as anyone who has been there will know. I was very fortunate in that my pay out from my previous job (just about) kept me for that year. But I didn't claim any benefits and certainly wasn't able to pay the mortgage off (in fact it has got bigger!). Unfortunately what I thought was a nest egg went to keep me and mine through difficult times. But I sure as **** didn't have the luxury after six months of saying "tell you what I'll just ask my previous customers/employer to bang me some bunce cos I used to be a good and faithful servant". I was indeed a good and successful employee but I got paid to be so (i suspect rather less than JF) Now I'm getting on with if again, mercifully re-employed Just occasionally footballers suck! So thanks for the memories John. I wish you well but you'll forgive me if I decline.
I wonder why the club stopped doing testimonials? I think the last one was for Super Clive, who has fallen on hard times and seems to be receiving a bit more sympathy that Forts. Then you would just pay your tenner and hopefully see a decent game of football into the bargain. These dinners ( I think Rufus had one as well) are strictly for the better-off fans, it would seem a bit odd for someone on a modest income to pay out to support someone who had been earning big bucks. Incidentally Mendonca was one of those who queued up to pay his tenner for Robbo's testimonial, which says a lot for the type of character Curbs had in his squad.
To be fair I don't think we are invited anyway! It's for his fellow players to cough up to attend, and they can certainly afford it! Quite a starry list of players mentioned. We haven't had testimonials, as nobody has been here long enough, with the occasional exception you normally need to be at a club for 10 years to get one, which usually was one of the pre season friendlies rather than an additional fixture.
i dunno, at minimum he'd have been on 2k a week /8k a month. thats approx 3-4 times more than me over the course of a year.. by all accounts they also get to eat at the club if they want so thats one less expense. how'd they end up skint i never know.
Maybe he should do what we all have to during times of financial hardship: tighten the belt and perhaps sell some assets. It's a tough old world, Forch.
When you think of some of the great footballers of the past, including lest we forget, Super Clive that have had to sell memorabilia to make ends meet, this story leaves a very bad taste.
His agent has made a suggestion to him for a money making scheme and to Forts it probably seemed a good proposition, in translation to supporters, who are far lower paid than Forts was and struggling to keep their own jobs, perhaps it doesn't look so good. An error of judgement perhaps rather than Forts being a bad man? If people are happy to pay for tickets and get value for money from the night then fair do's.
But as I said, the only people attending are close football friends and former Charlton colleagues, at no stage was he trying to make money out of supporters - the event was last night, and the story appeared on the OS in the afternoon as a news item (a rare day when we're not buying another striker). It's basically rich footballers coughing up for a slightly less rich footballer!
I'm surprised at the hostility this has received. His career has likely been cut short through injury whilst playing for us. Rightly or wrongly we have always as a club supported players unfortunate to have suffered career threatening injuries through their rehabilitation. I for one am proud of the fact that the club has agreed to host this. Not knowing him personally it's hard to say whether he has safeguarded any of his finances for the future, but at no-point has the club or him asked for any money from anyone of us. It appears to be a who's who of famous footballers that he may have had a conversation with agreeing to attend a benefit dinner. There's a lot worse going on in the world right now.
Footballers do get paid when they're injured right as they are under contract and aren't their wages sufficiently high enough to see them through difficult periods anyway without needing or expecting more whatever the club whoever the player. What they do with their money is their own business but when you read about stories of gambling and frittering money away they can be their own worst enemies. I have just come across someone who has worked for the NHS for over 20 years relatively little time off during that period and then diagnosed with a serious health condition and off sick on half pay after only 6 months on a relatively low salary. Yes there is a lot worse going on in the world right now and this is just one example. Those on lower incomes have to suffer.
The fact that fellow players not fans were asked to contribute is irrelevant, its the fact it appeared on the club website which leaves me feeling quite annoyed, especially with the line "I've had a career before so I've got by OK" or something to that effect. In this current climate, fans are feeling even more hostile towards the wage packets of footballers. For ten years he's presumably been earning between at least £2k and £8k a week, thats between £104,000 and £416,000 a year. Do football fans who on average earn £20,000 a year really want to read an article pitying a player who has been living their dream and been payed 10times the average wage to do so, but has been unemployed now for a few months?
true. over ten years he's then earned between 1m and 4m. if he's skint thats his own problem. i'd retire if i won a million.
The OS post was just a news story, if he had had a meal with a long list of former Charlton players, Curbs, Ashley Cole, Zamora, Defoe etc and it hadn't been mentioned on a slow news day, people would have screamed about the OS witholding information...
