8. ‘Money talks’
Imagine sitting around the Christmas dinner table while your nephew tells you about his new job. Bigger company, better prospects, twice the salary: you’d congratulate him and tell him he’d done well for himself.
Put a football shirt on him and suddenly he’s a mercenary. The same decision that would be celebrated in virtually any other profession becomes an accusation, delivered with a knowing shake of the head: “Money talks.”
Yes, of course it does. Footballers have careers, families and a limited period in which to make the most of their ability, and wanting to improve their circumstances is hardly a character flaw. We all understand the appeal of better pay until the person being offered it happens to play for our club.
A player can give everything for Lincoln City, create memories we’ll treasure forever and still want to move when a better opportunity comes along. Those things can all be true at once. We are supporters for life; they are employees, however much affection develops along the way.
It particularly irritates me with managers. When Skubala went to Bristol City, “money talks” became a convenient way of dismissing a career decision without engaging with any of the reasons behind it. Better facilities, greater resources and professional ambition apparently disappear the moment somebody mentions a salary.
Meanwhile, if a manager stays out of loyalty and loses the first six games, plenty of the people demanding that loyalty will be calling for his dismissal. His next opportunity might then be further down the ladder, with less money and less security. We’re asking people to turn down advancement while reserving the right to demand their sacking a month later.
Be disappointed when someone leaves. I certainly can be, but using financial ambition as an insult in an industry this precarious is ridiculous.
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