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Player motivations


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With the CR saga, it got me thinking about player motivations generally and how fans react to them.

 

Ripley has a career choice to make - he might be able to stay at Boro and fight for a place that might never come (GKs are the least rotated positions surely) or move to a 'smaller' and/or lower league club and get regular football for a much lower wage.  RM could potentially move to another club, whereby he would certainly earn more money but may not be first choice.

 

What would you do in similar circumstances?  Would you uproot your family to go to another company on less money - because it might be better for your career in the longterm?  Tough sell I think.

 

 

Makes the decision that Baxter made a few years ago where he turned down a contract at Goodison and came to us all the more remarkable.

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I've been thinking about this also. At our level where wages are low (although still much more than we make but not enough to retire comfortably at 35) salary must play an even bigger factor than in Prem. Whereas players moving in the Prem for more money is just absolute greed, at our level it's also about securing your family's future. If that means sitting on a teams bench let's you retire after 10/15 years without any financial worries then it must play a part. But as supporters we obvs want to see players all wanting to play. What I hate is 20 year old Chelsea players nowhere near the first team on 20/30K a week! Why would they want to drop down a league to play and earn a fraction of that with no guarantee they can succeed and work their way back up

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Football is a short term career, they effectively need to earn a lifetimes earnings in half the years. 

Their lifestyle will also be higher than the average man, it's all well and good saying it doesn't have to be but they don't know any different and it's natural to compete with your peers.

 

i would go for the money but with one eye on the long term path.

 

Off football but if you look look at what Connor Macgregor is doing it's incredibly astute regardless of if you like him, UFC etc. He is cleverly plotting big money making fights whilst protecting future money earners. I don't doubt he will lose against Mayweather but he is still the star of UFC regardless and will go back to making big money there scot free. 

 

Footballers need to get a balance of keeping their stock high whilst picking up the biggest wage possible. The risks of dropping a level for less just don't stack up. It only takes that team having a terrible season where you are tarred with that brush and stock depletes. 

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99% of players will go for the money and rightly so in my opinion, there is now a huge gulf between The Championship and League 1 with regards to wages and a decent contract at a Championship club can literally be worth millions, in any walk of life you'd be stupid not to take up the best offer for you and your family it's not greed it's looking after your own best interests, of course there are players prepared to take one step back to potentially take two forward but these are few and far between.

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1 minute ago, lookersstandandy said:

Would you say the same about an investment banker earning millions in the city making short term decision to line his/her pocket with £millions, even if it meant that the health of the economy was risked?

A footballers choice of team/contract has no affect on the countries economy or people's savings. I'm not sure how you can relate the two, so no I wouldn't say the same about an investment banker gambling with people's money

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 Most of these players (not all) we are talking about are too young to have dependents and so only have themselves to think of in the moment. I'm not sure many will be thinking "when I get married and have kids in 5 or 10 years time I must make sure I can provide for them"

 

Therefore a bigger factor should be if they are happy doing what they are doing. If they are happy sitting on a premier league bench or worse being 3rd or 4th choice they will stay there. If they ain't and have itchy feet they will move. I've had some jobs in the past I literally could not stand. I lasted a couple of weeks. Would I have stayed had I been on decent wage? No because it got me down that much it affected other parts of my life. 

 

It all depends on how happy or unhappy they are with their current situation. If they are that pissed off they will do something about it. 

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Allow me to elaborate.

 

I had a healthy discussion with a Spurs fan t'other day, who was waxing lyrical about their new multi hundred million pound football stadium, tens of million pound footballers on £100k's per week, enough to be able to field a 3rd 11 that could compete in League One.... and so on....

 

....yet, get him onto the Free Market Economy, the City of London and the need for regulation, the ever widening gap between richest and poorest, food banks, the redistribution of wealth through higher taxation.... and so on.... and he's an entirely different animal.

 

So I asked him, do you not think the Premier League should be subject to tighter regulation and Spurs taxed more to redistribute wealth throughout the football league pyramid to ensure it didn't collapse and their wasn't  'a run on football club' through a lack of liquidIty like there was a run on Northern Rock.... and he takes a different view.

 

I'm just wondering where the hypocracy starts & ends.

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Totally agree with your statement. It's a lot harder to be pissed off at work when you're a footballer tho than some of the shit jobs we have to endure. Luckily, some players do want to play and drop down the league's in order to do so. That decision is getting tougher to make these days tho because of the vast amounts of money that can be earned by not playing! Which is a shame

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4 minutes ago, lookersstandandy said:

Allow me to elaborate.

 

I had a healthy discussion with a Spurs fan t'other day, who was waxing lyrical about their new multi hundred million pound football stadium, tens of million pound footballers on £100k's per week, enough to be able to field a 3rd 11 that could compete in League One.... and so on....

 

....yet, get him onto the Free Market Economy, the City of London and the need for regulation, the ever widening gap between richest and poorest, food banks, the redistribution of wealth through higher taxation.... and so on.... and he's an entirely different animal.

 

So I asked him, do you not think the Premier League should be subject to tighter regulation and Spurs taxed more to redistribute wealth throughout the football league pyramid to ensure it didn't collapse and their wasn't  'a run on football club' through a lack of liquidIty like there was a run on Northern Rock.... and he takes a different view.

 

I'm just wondering where the hypocracy starts & ends.

We could start with Corbyn saying that " no name" recruitment procedures must be implemented whilst simultaneously ignoring that to appoint  his son to be Mr Mac Donnells chief of staff ?  Just saying

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3 minutes ago, Corazzin19 said:

Totally agree with your statement. It's a lot harder to be pissed off at work when you're a footballer tho than some of the shit jobs we have to endure. Luckily, some players do want to play and drop down the league's in order to do so. That decision is getting tougher to make these days tho because of the vast amounts of money that can be earned by not playing! Which is a shame

Very true, one of our own spent more time than any other PL player on the bench last season, for his trouble he was paid anywhere between £500,000 and £1 million. 

 

Question is would he of been better off staying with us and earning £50k - £100k and playing every week or roughing it out watching Burnley play every Saturday?

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15 minutes ago, Corazzin19 said:

Lookerstandandy, I've stopped watching premier league football....

 

....you & me both. It could however be argued that you are defending one of the symptoms of this broken system..... that it's a football players right to preference a contract that would rarely see him play competitively in favour of more £ notes, thereby taking money out of the system while at the same time contributing very little back. A la a greedy banker.

Edited by lookersstandandy
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Whatever yo think about what they get paid, I think it's shocking that the aren't better educated/advised on how to save/invest the money they make. They should be set for life but a mjority of them are anything but. Apparently 60% of Premier League players go bankrupt after retirement.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/a-reason-to-feel-sorry-for-premier-league-footballers-three-of-five-players-declare-bankruptcy-after-8519908.html

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48 minutes ago, lookersstandandy said:

...the Free Market Economy...

 

Carry on, I'm nearly there...

 

51 minutes ago, lookersstandandy said:

...the City of London and the need for regulation...

 

...whoa, what are you doing?!

 

52 minutes ago, lookersstandandy said:

...the redistribution of wealth through higher taxation

 

Oh great. Thanks for nothing.

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Ripley had an outstanding season last year.  This coming season will be his "second album" and could he repeat the same placing him firmly in the sights of Boro and the first team or a Championship team.

 

If some of the rumours were true and he favours a season with OAFC then I can understand his motives - he knows the club, knows the defence in front of him and can simply carry on from last season.  

 

Key factor is money and contracts.  He's in his last year at Boro so does he play out on loan leaving on a free next summer or make a short-term move, which Boro would obviously prefer as they can cash in now.  

 

Sentiment aside, he could do better than us money-wise in the short-term before making the next big move next summer.  However depends on the defence and tactics around him to make him look good.  It's more probable he'd perform better and quicker with us and familiar surroundings.

 

From an OAFC angle, securing Ripley is a no-brainer and if Corney does have backers then it's a matter of convincing them to invest now for a return in 12 months.  Only risk is if last year was a one-season wonder and Ripley concedes more goals.  I doubt that would happen as he's quality and if the club invested c£750,000 as an example (£500k signing and £5k a week plus bonuses) then it's almost definite that they'd recoup that by selling him on for c£1m in a year's time when the lad is in his prime.

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1 hour ago, philliggi said:

 Most of these players (not all) we are talking about are too young to have dependents and so only have themselves to think of in the moment. I'm not sure many will be thinking "when I get married and have kids in 5 or 10 years time I must make sure I can provide for them"

 

Therefore a bigger factor should be if they are happy doing what they are doing. If they are happy sitting on a premier league bench or worse being 3rd or 4th choice they will stay there. If they ain't and have itchy feet they will move. I've had some jobs in the past I literally could not stand. I lasted a couple of weeks. Would I have stayed had I been on decent wage? No because it got me down that much it affected other parts of my life. 

 

It all depends on how happy or unhappy they are with their current situation. If they are that pissed off they will do something about it. 

Good post by OP, and I think I am corrct that Connor has got a young family, so I am sure that will feature heavily in his mind and so for him I doubt it is just a football decision unlike many footballers, as you say have no dependents.

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I'm assuming Ripley is persevering with Boro for reasons beyond football, because I can see virtually no logic to him remaining there to dream of the bench and be released at the end of the season. If it's not for personal reasons it's a sad indictment on the game if he doesn't find a club before the end of the window.

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2 hours ago, Corazzin19 said:

Lookerstandandy, I've stopped watching premier league football because I feel so disconnected with the players and their wealth. I say tax the # out of the players and clubs, all this money is coming out of our TV, phone and internet bills etc. 

When did you last watch a Premier League game?

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Truthfully, I was watching Leicester's games at the end of their winning season. Don't think I sat through a full game last season (may have seen the odd one coz it was on in the pub). Even people who hate football are having to pay ever increasing sky/bt bills so they can recoup the stupid money they have paid for premier league / European football

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Whichever way you look at it Ripley needs to be playing football this season and not sat in Middlesborough's reserves at 24 he's too old for that now. If he were to sit out the remainder of his contract in Middlesborough's reserves then 12 months from now he would likely be released they already have a first and second choice and at 25 he would be potentially harming the progress of younger keepers by sticking around. If he were to be released then the best he would do would be league 1 as that's the only level he has really proved himself you could argue he's championship standard now but a year in the wilderness would put off any suitors at that level.

 

Even if he goes out on loan this year the worst he would do would be to put himself in the shop window for next summer where he would get a better deal financially and from a football perspective aswell. Footballers have a far greater market value when they are playing regular football and after a successful loan move his value will be high and that's why whether its permanent or a loan move its in his best interests to move this transfer window. A year in the wilderness will be extremely damaging to his career.

Edited by GlossopLatic
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