Football Food For Thought / Frank Gregan / 16 July 2009 /

With summer tournaments and lucrative pre-season friendlies now a big part of modern-day football, Frank Gregan looks at how footballers work harder to earn their corn than in yesteryear.

Exactly 35 days after playing for England in a World Cup qualifier against Andorra, Steven Gerrard was back in action for Liverpool against Swiss side St Gallen last night in a pre-season friendly. It is difficult to feel any sympathy towards a top class footballer given the rewards and the quality of life that they enjoy, but their schedule these days really is manic.

Gerrard is one of the lucky ones, some of his Spanish team mates took part in the Confederations Cup and played their final game just two and a half weeks ago when they overcame South Africa in extra time to secure third place in the tournament.

They have wisely been given a little bit of extra time to re-charge their batteries by Rafael Benitez but they still face a gruelling season ahead, which will culminate in next year's World Cup Finals. Steven Gerrard will have had a few weeks off but will now not get a break until after the 11th July next year - if England make the World Cup Final. Bearing in mind that he has been back at work for a couple of weeks that means he could work for over a year without a break. No matter how great the lifestyle, that is one heck of a working schedule.

Football is non-stop these days and the players do have to look after themselves better than any of their predecessors, but still there is something in the English culture that puts our players at a disadvantage.

Their "body is a temple" mantra is probably true but the home grown players are much more likely to fall off the rails than their foreign counterparts. The damage done on a two week bender can be shaken off during pre-season in the short term but in the long run it will have an effect on the longevity of a career.

A classic example that the Brits conduct themselves differently to their European team mates was given by one of England's brightest prospects, Manchester City's Micah Richards, who contracted Swine Flu whilst on holiday in Cyprus. During an interview Richards admitted that at first he thought he might be suffering from 'Alcohol Poisoning' - can you imagine a confession like that coming from Cesc Fabregas or Fernando Torres?

Pre-season used to be about projectile vomiting and meaningless friendlies against non-league and Scottish sides. These days there is no need to 'run 'til you drop' because so little time elapses between the end of season and pre-season beginning. Pre-season games have also become much more important events with the inception of money-spinning tournaments played in front of large crowds. The easiest way to determine if a game is meaningless or not is to watch the player's reaction when they score. Back in the day celebrations were unheard of during pre-season games, these days goals scored in these mini competitions are greeted like Premier League match winners.

There are some interesting friendlies coming up at the weekend and there are match odds markets available on them. Arsenal have kicked off their season in recent years with a trip to Barnet and will do so again on Saturday. Arsene Wenger always takes a strong side and odds of [1.3] should be available on the Gunners, which should turn out to be an absolute steal. Take your winnings from that market and move on to Monday's game between Shamrock Rovers against Real Madrid. Christiano Ronaldo is likely to make his debut against the Irish side that were beaten 3-0 by managerless and clueless Newcastle last week so a match in the region of [1.2] should be a license to buy money!

Cesc Fabregas seems unlikely to takes the field on Saturday against Barnet, having been allowed to return later than his Arsenal colleagues who reported back on 7th July. If he does play it will be less than three weeks since he last played and he will be looking at a full year ahead without a break. Tough work, but I doubt there are many that wouldn't swap places with him!

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