I normally am quite pointed in ‘defending’ footballers and their right to maximise their earnings whilst they still can. Their earnings being relative to lifestyles and familial/generational upkeep most simply don’t consider when comparing them to the layman as people are wont to do, for some unknown reason, but those 2…?
You surely have to ask a question of when it becomes sheer avarice. Complicity in human rights violators by eagerly taking their money; fiddling taxes to keep even more of their earnings; being who some rate as the 2 best players to have step foot on a pitch, yet having financial grace even Platini can only step back in awe of… one’s almost certainly a full-fledged narcissist, but the other is painted very differently, almost angel-like in comparative terms, and yet financially they’ve both shown there’s no stoop too low - if the bag’s right, they’re both in their feet first in a manner that is anomalous to such an elite grouping as they belong… right?
Is it that the opportunities to be so Gollum-esque in the pursuit of money were not so prevalent in the times of a Pelé, Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Maradona or Ronaldo, or are these two just different gravy with their conduct? I’m sure in the end, few will care how they saw out their careers, but it is absolutely scummy… isn’t it… or do you think not? Should they be afforded the same rights as anyone else to maximise their earnings irrespective of where it takes them or who they’re paid by, or does it have you see them in a different light, at least as personas, or even as people? The money on the table for them is indeed obscene - very probably a window of opportunity to double entire career earnings in a couple of years, even, but should they be doing it? Is it any of our business or should it be seen for what it is?
This exact topic was brought up in the boxing thread; any boxer who can get that kind of bag is holding out and spoiling until those fights are made in lieu of fights for less elsewhere, “integrity“ of the sport be damned, so it’s a broader discussion than just these two.
You surely have to ask a question of when it becomes sheer avarice. Complicity in human rights violators by eagerly taking their money; fiddling taxes to keep even more of their earnings; being who some rate as the 2 best players to have step foot on a pitch, yet having financial grace even Platini can only step back in awe of… one’s almost certainly a full-fledged narcissist, but the other is painted very differently, almost angel-like in comparative terms, and yet financially they’ve both shown there’s no stoop too low - if the bag’s right, they’re both in their feet first in a manner that is anomalous to such an elite grouping as they belong… right?
Is it that the opportunities to be so Gollum-esque in the pursuit of money were not so prevalent in the times of a Pelé, Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Maradona or Ronaldo, or are these two just different gravy with their conduct? I’m sure in the end, few will care how they saw out their careers, but it is absolutely scummy… isn’t it… or do you think not? Should they be afforded the same rights as anyone else to maximise their earnings irrespective of where it takes them or who they’re paid by, or does it have you see them in a different light, at least as personas, or even as people? The money on the table for them is indeed obscene - very probably a window of opportunity to double entire career earnings in a couple of years, even, but should they be doing it? Is it any of our business or should it be seen for what it is?
This exact topic was brought up in the boxing thread; any boxer who can get that kind of bag is holding out and spoiling until those fights are made in lieu of fights for less elsewhere, “integrity“ of the sport be damned, so it’s a broader discussion than just these two.
