Broken dream: Life as a professional footballer sounds like a sodding nightmare…

The money might be good but it’s no compensation for a life half lived as a footballer at the highest level. Also in the Mailbox: a view from a former ref, Gary O’Neil and a defence of Erling Haaland…

Get your views in to theeditor@football365.com…

Pro pitfalls
I, like I’m sure the vast majority of readers, writers and contributors to this site, spent my childhood dreaming of being a professional footballer. The glory, the adulation and getting paid for playing the game that you love. However, I look at it now, and I think it sounds absolutely awful; professional footballer is about the last thing I’d want to be.

So the money on offer for the elite level players is astronomical, but there’s nothing to spend it on. A shinier watch and a dafter coloured supercar? You can’t drink, you can’t take drugs, you can’t stay out late, you can’t travel, you can’t enjoy a meal out without hassle and the dietician being on your case; the list goes on.

To me, players seem trapped in their gilded, ivory towers, too famous to live amongst normal people, too restricted by the regiment and requirements on their diet and physical conditioning to be able to enjoy themselves otherwise. Eat (what you’re told), train (when you’re told), play (when you’re told), recover (when you’re told). Rinse and repeat for 15 years. Not only does that sound tedious, you’re not exposed to other experiences and ways of life; broadening one’s horizons is so much harder.

On top of this, I’m sure there must be paranoia about anyone new that comes into your life once you’ve made it. Can you truly trust them not to just be after your money or reflected glory? Will someone with a camera phone snap a picture of you the moment you step out of your front door?

Then, when it comes time to retire, your youth has gone and you’re left with a gaping hole where the adrenaline hit of performing in front of thousands used to be, and because you had that so young and with little other life experience, the chances are you lack the wisdom to process it well. Many players speak of it like recovery from addiction. Throw on top of that the likelihood that you’ve got a chronic condition in at least one of your knees or ankles and it doesn’t sound all that great.

Professional footballer? Not for me, cheers.
Lewis, Busby Way

Flaws in Johnny’s plan
I was quite surprised reading John Nicholson’s recent article about international breaks that he missed something so blindingly obvious about why we need international breaks in the current format.

“The only reason it doesn’t happen seems to be tradition.” Actually that’s not the only reason. The reason is that there are other countries in the world apart from England, Scotland, Wales etc.

A 4 week international break from April-May might work for England, but I’m not sure how the Japanese would feel about it given their season runs from February to December. Or the Brazilians whose league runs from April to December.

We don’t even have to go outside Europe, to find that the Swedish league runs from April to November. I’m not sure they’d be thrilled to play their entire international calendar before their league season has kicked off.

There are also enormous practical issues. I mean I’m still not 100% sure how this would work in reality. Would the qualification for World Cup 2026 take place entirely in the April-May of 2025? Without any games for a year, before the tournament kicks off? Or do we do half in 2025 and half in April 2026 so teams don’t know who is going to the World Cup until a couple of months before hand?

I get that people don’t like the international break, but I don’t really see an effective alternative.
Mike, LFC, Dubai

Read more: International football is coitus interruptus so let’s go all the way in April instead

Perfect combo
If you went by national stereotypes, you’d want a defender from Italy, a midfielder from Spain, and a striker from Germany to construct your team. With Tomori, Bellingham, and Kane, Southgate has a full hand now. Is this the moment? Just asking…
Ved Sen

Arteta assumptions
I’d just like to add a quick caveat in response to Will Ford’s article and Andy the fitness professional who agreed with him. Both of them seem to be operating under the assumption that Arteta was telling the truth.

I think the lead up to the Bournemouth game (including the carefully edited club training photos) followed by the actual team that took to the pitch showed us that we can take anything that Arteta says about injuies this season with a large handful of salt.

Anyone who follows Arsenal closely will know that Arteta has said consistently that his aim this season is to make the team more unpredictable and it is fairly obvious that manipulation of the truth during pre and post match pressers is very much part of that. With that in mind it is entirely plausible that the club’s medical staff gave Martinelli the go ahead and that the “joy of a kid” quip is just a continuation of that ruse.

It’s great stuff for scandalous, sensational headline and article generation but the reality is probably that the club are being boringly professional about this behind the scenes.
Lawrence SA

In defence of Haaland
Apologies, this is a little late. I had things to do in [what’s that thing called that’s not football again?…oh yeah] life.)

In response to Hugo. (About Erling Haaland) You say…

‘ ..February onwards he wasn’t pulling in anywhere near the same numbers…’

It’s interesting you chose February as the dividing line.
Erling Haaland goal contributions per game 22-23.

Before Feb – 1.25
February. – 0.5
After Feb. – 1.2

‘.. Haaland was invisible.

I get it. It’s odd the way his team mates don’t seem to *want* to pass to him and I can get no picture of his general footballing attributes because he spends about 3 seconds a game in actual possession of the ball!
I wonder how invisible he is to opposition defenders?

‘.. carry a player..’. [ Like having] ‘..10 men..’

A player who hardly touches the ball yet was a key player in a treble winning team feels like the very definition of team player.

‘ What does he bring to the team? ‘

So, Erling Haaland. Is he all that?
The fear he inspires and his movement means he occupies and discombobulates the opposition defenders. And some other thing beginning with g that he does..?
The situation may befuddle the likes of you and me, but I don’t profess to understand the 3 dimensional calculus of Pep’s genius.
Hartley MCFC Somerset 

Give us the audio
The thing about VAR, that no one seems to be able to explain is why any of the audio is not released. I think all the game audio should available to everyone, unedited, live, as it happens. I cannot think of any argument against it. Although refereeing is the policing of football, it isn’t actual policing, we are not talking about, robberies, assaults or murders, where you could prejudice subsequent legal proceedings. We are talking about a bloke with a whistle making a judgment call in a sport. No one dies, is slandered or the subject of potential criminal proceedings (unless of course your names Duncan Ferguson). The only reasons, I can think of for not making the audio freely available are sinister ones.

I can only really see potential positives. Firstly it would do away with all the none sense conspiracy theories that this causes, but additionally it would show human beings doing human things, making good and bad decisions, but would allow improvements to be made so much more quickly. VAR has been in use for SEVEN years and it is a shambles.
Dale Marlow

Life as a ref
I’ve written before about my experiences as a grassroots referee. I’ve been spat at, assaulted (5 year ban for player), had my kids abused by spectators and my car vandalised. Despite all of this, I continued to referee for many years and never took a match fee (I did it for some personal fitness and to try and give back to my local community). Eventually I would only officiate adult football as the parents/coaches in youth football too often behaved like feral animals.

Various folk suggesting that if only referees clamped down on dissent, it would stop. That may well be true if everyone did it simultaneously, but I eventually gave up my refereeing career when I heard a County FA official describe a fellow referee as ‘a bit rulebook’ because he had abandoned a match after a player assaulted him. The referees who get promoted through the system have been conditioned not to make too much fuss, don’t upset the Neanderthal players and certainly don’t prioritise your personal safety above completing a match. This is why most PGMOL officials duck the big decisions and talk about ‘game management’.
Name Witheld

Ref’s retort
Tom, somewhere else’s mail did bring a wry smile to my face. MANY years ago I was part of a pretty crap Boy’s Brigade football team. The one thing we did have going for us was that the Dad of 2 of the kids (hi Ben, hi Carl) was Alan Wilkie who would later get an unwanted 15 minutes of fame by sending off E. Cantona at Crystal Palace that one time.

A few years previous to that incident, Mr. Wilkie was refereeing a game (in his own time, with no compensation) and taking dogs abuse from a father of the opposition for being sh*t and not knowing what he was doing.

At half time, he walked over to the guy and pointed out that a couple of weeks earlier he’d been linesman in the European Cup Winners Cup Final, in front of tens of thousands of people, so that yes, he did actually know what he was doing.
RS

Criticise for the right reasons
Paul, Dublin – you have used a lot of big words and clever-sounding sentences backed up with legal terms to make your point about VAR. Problem is, your point is wrong. VAR did not ”extend its powers to then cancel an awarded goal” as you claim. VAR thought the goal had been given, checked it and agreed with what they thought was the on-field decision i.e. a goal awarded. They didnt look at the situation and go ”ok, goal awarded….quick check….looks fine….nah bugger it, rule it out.” It’s an entirely different kettle of fish.
I’m not having a pop at you (I know it may seem like it), I actually agree with a lot of what you’ve written recently. Thing is, if we want the PGMOL and the referees to improve (VAR is NOT the problem, its the humans operating it) then we (clubs, media, fans) have to be near-perfect when criticising them, or those criticisms/accusations will be dismissed.

We all know the PGMOL doesnt want to listen or admit their flaws and they certainly don’t want to do anything that might upset the balance of their old-boys-club, so they’ll use anything they can to deflect. Which includes using incorrect accusations to weaken their detractors’ positions.

I’m with you, things need to change and referees need to be accountable for thier decisions (also praised for things they did well). Maybe we should collaborate on a letter to Webb, or even start a movement?
”What do we want?”
”Better referees!”
”When do we want them?”
”2 weeks ago at Spurs!”
Clive (LFC)

…No matter how many times Paul, Dublin, writes in, his ‘Ultra Vires’ argument about the Diaz goal isn’t going to take. He’s trying to make it sound like the VAR team actually stepped outside the law in acting how they did. Just off the top of my head, I’m thinking about that Brentford goal that should have been disallowed against Arsenal last year. By his logic, the VAR had ‘no jurisdiction’ to give that goal and the game should have been replayed. In both cases, it was human error that lead to the wrong decision, nothing more.

The real ‘ultra vires’ would have been to stop the game once restarted and award the Diaz goal. They weren’t able to do it by the letter of the law. No amount of tortured legalese is going to change the fact that this was just an embarassing breakdown in communication.
Pablo, MUFC, Dublin

…Not sure Paul in Dublin has been paying attention. The Diaz ‘goal’ was originally given offside by the Asst Ref, so VAR erroneously confirmed that decision. It didn’t “cancel an awarded goal”.

Weird. I thought that everyone knew every single detail about this by now. This is now beyond tedious.
Rob (not that one)

The VAR Show 
The simple fact that we now have to have a TV show dedicated to explaining VAR decisions is the living proof that VAR is not working in its current form.
Makes it even worse to choose Michael Owen to front it.
PeterB

G’wan GO’N
After finally getting over the excitement of the last two weeks results, i just wanted to drop a mail about Wolves.

Before the city game I was getting worried at times about our new manager we were putting in some performances but at times players were running around like headless chickens

Cue the city game
Wolves were outstanding from start to finish, at the end of villa lucky to keep a point but the game could have gone either way. Credit to oul Gary, he came in just before the season started which must have been tough, we were favourites for relegation and all. Am happy things are coming together for him now looks like he could be a great asset for the team for the future
Irishwolf, Dublin

Double standards
I’m no defender of the Celtic board. I live in Glasgow and support the other team in Glasgow who’s fans have for years also sang bile about events throughout history from William the orange to the Irish potato famine but to be fair the Celtic board were most likely trying to throw an arm around their player Albada an Israeli footballer who plays for the club. Imagine what he must of been feeling when he saw that banner from a small minority of idiots who support the club a matter of hours after the harrowing attacks in Southern Israel on Saturday morning.
Best
Neil, Glasgow