Kris Boyd’s snub to Scotland boss George Burley is the latest example of a player turning his back on his country, following Paul Parry’s recent walkout on Wales. In both cases, the stated reason is that they felt rejected by the current managers. In both cases, I suspect money - or the relative lack of it in the international game - may have been part of the reason.
Boyd is not even a regular in the Rangers team, yet he felt he should have been given a chance against Norway on Saturday, rather than Burley plunging debutant Chris Iwelumo into the action as a second-half sub when the goals just wouldn’t come. In retrospect, Boyd may have had a case after seeing Wolves striker Iwelumo miss one of the easiest chances of all time - from less than three yards in front of an untended goal.
And yet the margin between success and failure when it comes to the World Cup is so minute that had Iwelumo’s effort gone in, both he and Burley would have been heralded as geniuses - and Boyd’s case for inclusion completely negated.
In Parry’s case, the Cardiff City forward had apparently just had enough of being overlooked by John Toshack, even though the Wales boss insists he would have started in the crucial qualifier against Russia in Moscow four days after his walkout. As a Championship player, Parry doesn’t earn the massive wages forked out by Premier League clubs - but I guarantee he gets more than the cash-strapped Welsh FA can offer its international players.
In fact, Parry probably earns more than any top doctor or lawyer - while I have no doubt that Boyd, as a Rangers squad member, is right up there in the super-wage stakes.
That's the ridiculous situation in a loopy society where playing top-class club football is arguably the most lucrative profession on earth. Compared to the English Premier League, for example, representing England, Scotland or Wales offers paltry financial rewards, which could be why some players seem to find the international scene readily dispensible.
Unlike the continentals, who ooze pride and passion every time they don an international jersey, playing for one’s country is no longer a big deal for many British players. That’s why England stars are so often accused of lacking passion - and why no home nation qualified for this year’s European Championship finals.
It’s a great gesture that England’s players have agreed to pay all their match fees to charity between now and 2010. But doesn’t it make you wonder just how much those match fees are? How many weeks’ club salary would that represent for the Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool brigade? OK, how many days' salary? Hours, anyone…?
I’ve not heard of any players donating vast amounts of their club wages to charitable causes. I know that doesn’t mean they DON’T do it, I just question the figures that are bandied about. A week’s wages for John Terry or Steven Gerrard represents more than five years’ earnings for many folk - and that has to support their families, too.
Money has a lot to answer for in football. I’m sure players are aware that they are vastly overpaid for what they do - but no-one’s going to shove the golden egg back up the goose, are they? I don’t blame them at all, I blame the system. A system that fleeces the public for all it’s worth and drains the passion from those who would once have given ANYTHING just to pull on their favourite team’s jersey and play for nothing.
Maybe the answer to the Boyd-Parry scenario is to pay players £100,000 for every international appearance. I guarantee those two would not then have walked out - even if Burley and Toshack left them on the bench forever!
Such a pay structure would earn the England players more than £1m in international fees by 2010. Would they have given all of that to charity? I’ll leave the reader to decide...
It’s a great gesture that England’s players have agreed to pay all their match fees to charity between now and 2010. But doesn’t it make you wonder just how much those match fees are? How many weeks’ club salary would that represent for the Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool brigade? OK, how many days' salary? Hours, anyone…?
I’ve not heard of any players donating vast amounts of their club wages to charitable causes. I know that doesn’t mean they DON’T do it, I just question the figures that are bandied about. A week’s wages for John Terry or Steven Gerrard represents more than five years’ earnings for many folk - and that has to support their families, too.
Money has a lot to answer for in football. I’m sure players are aware that they are vastly overpaid for what they do - but no-one’s going to shove the golden egg back up the goose, are they? I don’t blame them at all, I blame the system. A system that fleeces the public for all it’s worth and drains the passion from those who would once have given ANYTHING just to pull on their favourite team’s jersey and play for nothing.
Maybe the answer to the Boyd-Parry scenario is to pay players £100,000 for every international appearance. I guarantee those two would not then have walked out - even if Burley and Toshack left them on the bench forever!
Such a pay structure would earn the England players more than £1m in international fees by 2010. Would they have given all of that to charity? I’ll leave the reader to decide...
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