/ Dan Fitch / 06 August 2008 / 2

Dan Fitch rages against the modern transfer market where egos are unlikely to end up joining Neil Webb on the Reading post round.

This summer has depressed me and not because of the ridiculously changeable weather which sees me clad in t-shirts during downpours one day and wearing a sowester in 90 degree heat the next. I'm depressed because of the fame obsessed, ego maniacs that have been plastered over the tabloids all summer.

Such a description could be a reference to those cretins in the Big Brother house, but I am in fact referring to our nation's footballers. Every day I wake to the shock news that some other pampered, prima donna is demanding a transfer and bleating about their human rights.

These days a footballer's idea of loyalty is only cheating on their girlfriend once a week. But as annoying as the modern day footballer can be, they can't be blamed for their attitude. Tom Jones might have sung about The Green, Green Grass of Home, but he soon hot-footed it from Wales to Vegas, when he realised that it wasn't just the grass that was greener over there, but the dollars too.

Sadly, the days when a player remained loyal to one club are now long gone. There are still some one-club-men out there, but it's generally because they're not good enough to play at a club better than the one they're currently at, or like John Terry or Paul Scholes, came through the ranks of a club at the very highest level.

Take a player like Matt Le Tissier for instance. It is inconceivable that a player of his ability would remain at a club of the size of Southampton, in the modern Premier League. Back in his day the best players earned tens of thousands per week, rather than hundreds and there wasn't the sort of discrepancy in wages between the big and smaller clubs that exists today. No one is going to turn down the money on offer these days.

Legend has it that Le Tissier once signed for Spurs, but the contract was ripped up after his wife refused to leave the Channel Islands. These days the riches on offer would have had Mrs Le Tissier waving goodbye to Bergerac without a second thought. As a Spurs fan I always held a grudge against Le Tissier's wife for depriving us of his genius. I had the last laugh though, when the bone idle maverick dumped his stay-at-home missus for Marilyn from Home and Away.

These days football squads are subject to a much quicker turnaround, but perhaps that's just a consequence of following a side like Spurs that are always attempting to improve, without ever making real progress. Our most popular player is the home grown Ledley King. But chances are he'd be plying his trade somewhere else, were it not for his injury problems.

Fans love a player who has come through the ranks, or at the very least has hung around the place so long that we know how to pronounce his name. In a world where clubs are more likely to buy proven internationals than guide a young prospect through from the reserves, such players will become a rarity.

Gareth Barry is now just [1.15] to leave Aston Villa and Dimitar Berbatov is [1.35] to leave Spurs. This despite their respective clubs having the hump with the prospective buyers and not needing the money. The bottom line is that Liverpool and Manchester United can offer more money and more glory. Clubs used to have the power to keep a player until they were happy to get rid, but the Bosman law ensures that footballers quickly depreciate in value, which means that no club will keep an unhappy player for long.

But forget 'loyalty'. The biggest tragedy caused by the change in footballer's fortunes, is that it will ultimately mean the end of my current favourite TV show. Sky Sports' Where Are They Now catches up with former Premier league players, who just missed out the financial bonanza and are doing regular jobs. I enjoy seeing Garry Parker as a decorator and David Hillier as a fireman, but in fifteen years time I doubt that I'll enjoy seeing the likes of Lee Cattermole drinking champagne on his own tropical island.

Bitter? Me? Yes, I am. Just ask Matt Le Tissier's wife.

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1. Lisa | 06 August 2008

   Lol hilarious!

2. Native Guernsey | 16 February 2009

   Bergerac is from Jersey NOT Guernsey!!!

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