[Zebrabitch]

From the Sunday Mirror. Don't normally read that rag but well said that man!

Football in crisis: Michael Calvin’s open letter to Frank Lampard
6/07/2008


Dear Frank.

We feel your pain. How dare they offer £29million for four years’ work in a job you profess to love?

It’s an insult. A slight on your professionalism, a blight on the badge you kiss so theatrically, so often.

So what if a nurse would have to work for 324 years to earn your annual salary?

Who really cares that it would take a junior fireman 339 years to make what you do in a year?

We certainly won’t waste our sympathy on the Prime Minister, who is paid 39 times less than you.

Far better, surely, to listen to FIFA president Sepp Blah-Blah and his chums in la-la land. They seethe with righteous indignation on your behalf.

And yet, Frank, something bothers us.

The quiet voice of our conscience wonders whether your search for a five-year deal “to secure my future” might be entirely wise. Has Cashley Cole put you up to this? After all, he needs someone to take over from him as public enemy number one.

Let’s be clear. You’re not making a football decision here. This is about how you will be perceived for the rest of your life.

By taking Inter Milan’s money – and camouflaging your self-interest by shifting the blame on to the Chelsea board – you are in danger of being the boy who tipped the beautiful game over the edge.

Prepare to be booed, if and when you play for England. Prepare to go through the Jade Goody experience.

You’ll be derided as fat, fickle, and fairly loathsome.

Is that fair? Of course not. But that is the warped world in which you will have to live.

In case you haven’t noticed, Frank, our economy is in meltdown. The people who pay to watch you are dealing with soaring supermarket bills, unsustainable mortgages, cars which drink money.

They resent someone who appears uncaring, self-obsessed.

You come from a family with strong values. Your Dad was the epitome of one-club loyalty. Your late Mum was renowned for her kindness and empathy. You owe it to them, and yourself, not to come across as a cliche-spouting, T-shirt-wearing hypocrite.

We understand that football – even though it encourages agents who possess the instincts of sewer rats – doesn’t have the monopoly on greed.

A friend works with a City hedge fund manager who walked out last week, days after topping up his £15m salary with a £10m bonus.

The word on the trading floor is that his new employers lured him with a golden hello of another £10m.

But loyalty is not for losers. A move to Inter Milan is not without its pitfalls, as Dennis Bergkamp testifies elsewhere in these pages.

If I’m honest, I think the die is cast. You’ll soon be reunited with Jose Mourinho. You’ll be making a big mistake.

Don’t break the bank, Frank. Count your blessings, not your cash. Give thanks, and enjoy the privilege of possessing an enviable talent.

Yours sincerely,

Mike


PANEL (IF NEEDED): Meanwhile, back in the real world:

(average annual earnings)

£175,000: The prime minister

£100,000: GP

£75,000: Hospital consultant

£60,000: Uni professor

£57,000: Backbench MP

£35,000: Plumber

£32,000: Train driver

£28,500: Journalist

£26,000: Nurse

£12,000: Hospital porter

According to the Greater London Assembly, the amount a person living in London must earn per hour to avoid living in poverty is £7.20 – equivalent to £13,100. A receptionist working at the luxury Millennium & Copthorne hotels at Chelsea FC earns under this amount, so is technically in poverty.

[Dkavtbek]

Astute letter for the Mirror.

If he wants to ply his trade in Italy and go back to work with Jose, fine, all the best to him. Just be fucking honest about it and stop being a twat. Someone needs to take that silver spoon out of his mouth and shove it up his arse

[intmarkworkk]

i honestly think he's over-rated anyway.........i think its him thats effecting gerrards england performances

[intmarkworkk]

Lampard is better than Gerrard. He's been effecting Gerrards perfomances so badly, that he was named England player of the year two years in a row a few years back... including the year Rooney hit the international scene.

As for him being overpayed, he blatantly isn't. Supply and demand, and all that. No one complains when a movie star is paid that sum for one movie.

i remember not so long ago......in a qualifier i think.......mourinho was still chelsea manager.....lampard scored after 18 minutes to put england a goal up.....he look like a world beater.....but then after the goal he went into chelsea mode.....not once after the goal did he make a forward run and every pass he made was either sideways or backwards......

i agree with the supply and demand thing to a point......pisses me off though when average players are trying to hols clubs to ransom

[intmarkworkk]

Lampard isn't average though. And "Chelsea mode" entails him being in the top 7 goal scorers from midfield.
I do understand what you mean by that though, Chelsea and England are two different teams.

He and John Terry could name their own price, even though they didn't have especially great seasons last year they've been consistantly excellent. If Ballack and Lampard and Deco can play in the same midfield there is no reason Lampard and Gerrard can't. They're our two best midfielders, so it's up to the manager to accomodate them. If it means playing a different system then so be it.

well chelsea at the time weren't exactly playing attractive football......mourinho was happy to be grinding out 1 - 0 wins......and lampard couldn't get out of that mindset

yes...terry is superb......for a central defender he possibly has it all....except perhaps a little pace,but then the rest of his game makes up for that

for some reason english players only really understand the 4 - 4 - 2 system and the playing to your strengths thing springs to mind......my central midfield for england would possibly be gerrard and barry....now i hope lampard proves me wrong because it would be good for the national team

[Dkavtbek]

Gerrard can't play international football in my view, he runs all over the shop like a headless chicken, spraying 80 yard passes into row Z.

Sure you can get away with it when you play teams like Fulham week in, weak out - but at international level if you don't have players who keep hold of the ball you get punished.