FT Weekend has a
nice column by Simon Kuper and his disillusionment with football. I met him once during a Sport Economics workshop at IESE, where he was one of the panelists.
He says "A
friend who supports Manchester United told me he believed United’s
long-serving players Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs loved United. I asked
him if he loved the bank where he worked. Obviously not, he said. Well,
Scholes and Giggs don’t love United either. They just have happy
employee-employer relationships."
Indeed, very few players today seem to have that "old school" feeling that they would play for the club for way less money just out love.
Indeed as I get older I get less excited with football. Of course there are big moments and matches, but indeed there seems to be an excess supply on offer that makes even the big matches less special than when I was a kid.
