Stephen Hunt tells of his spaghetti hoops existence

[T Fearon]

Countering recent criticism of the obcene wages earned by Premiership players Stephen Hunt has spoken to how hard he has had to work to get to where he is and his days as a young apprentice with Crystal Palace, when the landlady scrimped on the club allowance and fed hm spaghetti hoops morning noon and night.

Brought the tears to my eyes.

Can't wait for the match programme for the next Ireland home game. No doubt another sponsor will appear on the ever growing list somethin like

Heinz: Official Spaghetti Hoops supplier/partner of/ to the FAI

[ziggysego]

Republic of Ireland international and Star Sunday columnist Stephen Hunt has blasted the British Minister for Sport following his attack on Premier League players and the wages they earn.

Gerry Sutcliffe picked on John Terry, Chelsea, Manchester United and professional footballers throughout England and labelled what they earn as 'obscene'.

But Reading star Hunt, writing in Star Sunday today, said: 'This life I now enjoy isn't an accident. This Premiership profession I find myself in didn't just click into place like a lottery win.

'I didn't just wake up one morning with a big pay packet in the post and a shiny new car outside the front door of my detached house in Berkshire.'

He added: 'I have worked bloody hard to get here just like John Terry and every other player in the Premiership.

'For every John Terry there are a hundred kids out there with shattered dreams, kids who never made it. Mr Sutcliffe wasn't around when I was stuck in digs near Crystal Palace, homesick and consigned to a diet of Spaghetti Hoops every day by a landlady too mean to spend the club allowance on proper food for a growing teenager.'

Sourced RTÉ.ie: http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2007/1104/hunts.html

I guess Doctors and Nurses don't work as hard as the soccer players to get to where they are....

[ziggysego]

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill harks back to his playing era when 'average players got average money', but defends 'top quality' players who are, in his opinion deservedly highly paid.


Real Player: http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/sol/newsid_7070000/newsid_7075600/7075658.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&nol_storyid=7075658&news=1

[Evil Genius]

The point about Stephen Hunt is not that he had to work hard to get where he has, nor that doctors and nurses etc have to work harder, in a more responsible job etc, for less money. Both reflect the way society works, they don't shape it.

What people might consider that when Hunt was starting out at Crystal Palace, there were probably ten other Stephen Hunts at the club who never made it at all in football. That is, having invariably left school at 16 to follow a career in the game, the great majority will have been discarded by the time they're 20 or 21, with few qualifications (if any) and not knowing what else to do.

A few will have got a little further perhaps - making a living at the likes of Brentford, Hunt's club after Palace. That is, they will have an average of 10 years as a professional (I think the average career ends at 28?), with a peak of two or three seasons on maybe £100k per year. However, the majority will be earning on average not much more than the national average wage (if that). During that career, they'll have moved clubs maybe three or four times, often to different parts of the country, maybe dragging their family with them. As such, their partner's career may similarly be disrupted, making it hard even to get a mortgage, never mind accumulate a pension to see them through the next 40-50 years life expectancy.

Which is not to say that we should feel any great sympathy for them - it's their choice and a better outcome than more important but worse-paid jobs than, say, hospital porter. However, we should not be blinded by exceptional cases like John Terry. Much more representative is the example of someone like his brother Paul, who is almost certainly taking at least a year to earn what John pockets in a week at Chelsea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Terry_(footballer)

[Balboa]

EG i would say "JT" as people maddeningly refer to him, sorts the brother out with a few coppers.

[From the Bunker]

All well, but don't be kidded that a Degree or Good Education which most of these lads missed out on will guarantee you a good job for 35+ years. Many who took that route also ate their fair share of Spagetti and worked hard.

[Evil Genius]

EG i would say "JT" as people maddeningly refer to him, sorts the brother out with a few coppers.

I'm sure he's prepared to, if asked, but I wouldn't necessarily assume that Paul Terry has ever sought even "a few coppers". I daresay that Paul is just as dedicated to his trade as John; the fact that he earns perhaps 2% of what John is on, without their falling out, would appear to say something for both of them.

But the gutter press (or the originator of this thread, for that matter) never seem to focus on any of that. 

[Snowed Under]

If people are mug enough to pay for several satellite stations to watch their team grind out a 0-0 or 1-1 draw; fair play to these players racking it in.

[Norf Tyrone]

If people are mug enough to pay for several satellite stations to watch their team grind out a 0-0 or 1-1 draw; fair play to these players racking it in.

Snowed under....that's it in a nut shell. There is little point complaining about the money going out, if we as supporters continue to put in via tickets, merchandise, SKY etc.
The money earned is grotesque, but so is shelling out £40 plus to watch a game, buy a jersey at £50, and pay ~£40 a month for SKY.

[muppet]

Arguing that football leaves loads of failed footballers on the breadline doesn't justify paying huge wages to the chosen few (that Hunt thinks worked hard).

[deiseach]

Arguing that football leaves loads of failed footballers on the breadline doesn't justify paying huge wages to the chosen few (that Hunt thinks worked hard).

True, but it's within the power of politicians like Gerry Sutcliffe to do something about it, i.e. put up their taxes. If they're too cowardly to do that - and they are - they should keep their traps shut.

[rosnarun]

why is it obscene for a soccer player to earn millions and no onw passes comment on pop stars like bono and van morrison  enya ect to earn even more which they will do for the rest live not retieing at 33 like soccer players .
if the money is not payed out  in wages does any one really think its going to be spent on charity or buying bally feck reanfger a new football or playing kit . not the mixture of russian/american.english scumbags that own english soccer would just add it to their pile

[Mentalman]

why is it obscene for a soccer player to earn millions and no onw passes comment on pop stars like bono and van morrison  enya ect to earn even more which they will do for the rest live not retieing at 33 like soccer players .
if the money is not payed out  in wages does any one really think its going to be spent on charity or buying bally feck reanfger a new football or playing kit . not the mixture of russian/american.english scumbags that own english soccer would just add it to their pile

I was going to make a very similar point myself Rosnarun. This was just another politician jumping on the populist bandwagon. Premiership soccer is by and large in the entertainment business, so why only pick on footballers? To my mind the answer is in part to do with old fashioned classism - these lads are by and large, by choice of their profession and skills, seen as uneducated and an easy target, especially when taken with the behaviour of a minority of them. The reaction of some of the public to just go along with this line being spun to them instead of engaging the brain is as usual disappointing. The vast majority of pro players earn the industrial wage, or less, and apprentices, as in any trade, are used as canon fodder.

[his holiness nb]

If people are mug enough to pay for several satellite stations to watch their team grind out a 0-0 or 1-1 draw; fair play to these players racking it in.

100% spot on, people are throwing money at them, I dont blame them for taking it.
More fool the people playing megabucks to see them every week on top of jerseys, sky sports etc etc.

[Galwaybhoy]

why is it obscene for a soccer player to earn millions and no onw passes comment on pop stars like bono and van morrison  enya ect to earn even more which they will do for the rest live not retieing at 33 like soccer players .
if the money is not payed out  in wages does any one really think its going to be spent on charity or buying bally feck reanfger a new football or playing kit . not the mixture of russian/american.english scumbags that own english soccer would just add it to their pile

Good point.

By the way sports stars get paid WAY too much money, but it makes me laugh while everyone complains about that you never hear people talk about actors who get millions for a film to act out a few scenes...ya sport is a lot tougher than that.