Michael Owen was last night offered £21million to stay at Newcastle. Owner Mike Ashley has handed the England striker a three-year contract worth a whopping £140,000 a week. It would make Owen not only one of the Premier League highest-paid stars but also one the world richest. The ex-Liverpool and Real Madrid ace, 28, is currently earning £100,000-a-week. (what an increment, how come the corporate world does not have the same rate?)
What is your initial thought? Thinking about sending your kids to football academy instead of piano and ballet lessons? Or change career and become a football agent?
Majority of the workforce will never earn this obscene amount of money in their lifetime. I will not go into the debate if they are overpaid and overrated. (We, football kakis, can debate until the cow comes home). The interesting point to note is being a sportsman is no longer a pastime. It is a profession. It is a sunrise industry and it is attracting huge amount of money. The income stream is no longer limited to tickets sales but so many innovative ways to get big bucks. There are TV broadcasting revenue (think ESPN channel), sponsorship rights, advertisement fee, jersey and merchandise royalty, property and facility rental, investment income and even the right to name the stadium (how about finding a Petronas Stadium in London?).
The recent Malaysia Olympic case study is a good example. RM1 million was dangled to reward the gold medalist plus lifetime pension money! (Throw in a Datukship!)
The stakes are so high that many are willing to cheat including doping. However the flip side is that their career span will probably last till late 30s. Once retire, most will prefer to remain in touch with the game, returning as coach, pundit, punter etc and continue to earn a living. Some highly publicized cases wasted their riches and, sadly their lives away – spent on the booze and bees. These were the ones that do not know how to handle the riches and were surrounded by free loaders. The classic example of rags to riches and back to rags – the most exciting heavyweight boxer, Mike Tyson!
On the one end of the chart, one of my favourites, Robbie ‘The God’ Fowler – Owen ex-strike partner -who is at the tail-end of his career has divested his money into good use mainly investing in properties all over UK. He wrote in his autobiography that he was blessed with a good financial planner who guided him into making wise investment choices. Instead of buying the flashiest car to celebrate a new contract, which is the norm, he has an eye for property in prime location!
They are human after all. No matter how much we earn, we need to save and plan for the retirement years. We need to set aside for the rainy days. Without money we are in hope business. Hope the kids don’t get sick. This negative hope is a miserable way to live!
C’mon let start teaching our kids – when the teacher ask what is your ambition? It is no longer cool to answer doctor or teacher. The in answers should be footballer or golfer. Or maybe a weightlifter?
*Money is option. With money you have many options. Without money, you have very few options!*
pic - pa said forget about dancing. Got to start running. Don't like it, it's hot out there. Anyway, gotta listen to pa. Target Olympic 2022.
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