When Eastham won his court case against the maximum wage in football it seemed a good thing. Why shouldn't players be allowed to earn what they can and why should they be slaves to clubs? But from then on we started to lose the relationships that we had with the players we watched week in and week out. My dad used to tell a story about Billy Liddell in the 50s. Apparently he'd been waiting in the rain for the 6 tram to take me home. When it arrived the tram was full and we were soaked. Liddell was siting on the bench seats and immediately gave it to me Dad who was carrying me (2 yr old). My dad told me it was Billy Liddell and tried to repeat what I heared but came out with "Biggy Liggle". Liddell replied with "Aye lad" and ruffled my hair. My Dad was so proud. What chance does a kid these days of having that type of experience with a top player? Now at the time of that story the best players were getting 2-3 times the wage of the average working man. In those times that was a decent screw. However, they were still part of the community that lived and played in. Now they are remote super-stars and live in mansions miles away behind large iron gates. For a game that still likes to portray itself as The People's Game that is very sad. The Bosnan Ruling didn't make matters any better. It probably made it worse.
Nice story and a point well made. Things will not change for a while I feel though. There is too much money in football now, and players have too much power. Everyone knows we need massive changes, but powerful business now have a say in all this.
Agree with all the points you've made. The money players earn is ridiculous and it has to stop. I believe that it will take some BIG clubs to experience massive financial difficulties before the clubs realise that they need to sort the finances of their respective clubs out.
I agree, although players don't make themselves superstars and even the most dedicated players can't go out in their community without risk (Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher), and its why these players have large iron gates surrounding their houses. I would have loved to live at the time when it really was a community game though.
Dave. Did you know that King Billy was a part-time footballer,full-time accountant.Unlike Rooney,who is a part-time footballer,full-time moron.
I read somewhere that Liverpool signed him initially on ameteur forms and his parents insisted that he only train two nights a week so he could continue his studies.He later signed pro and worked as an accountant.When his playing career finished he was also a justice of the peace. Reports that he was a marriage registrar are however wide of the mark.
He was discovered playing for Lochgelly Voilets by part-time Liverpool scout and full time Liverpool skipper Matt Busby.Busby also discovered a teenage right half playing for Bishop Auckland in 1939 called Robert Paisley.
He was offered the Liverpool assistant managers job in 1945,but he turned it down,because like at most clubs,the directors picked the team,the manager coached.This didn't really change at Liverpool until 1959 with the arrival of ''The Messiah of Merseyside'' aka Bill Shankly.
