[TiptonThrostle]

just for fun and sort of prompted by the decision by Barry to reject Albions contract offer, i know he is not an albion fan but...

if you were a professional footballer and had the offer to remain at your boyhood club of Albion at 10k a week in the  championship say, or £80k a week at a club like Everton/Spurs/Arsenal, what would you do?

[ronnie_allen]

just for fun and sort of prompted by the decision by Barry to reject Albions contract offer, i know he is not an albion fan but...

if you were a professional footballer and had the offer to remain at your boyhood club of Albion at 10k a week in the  championship say, or £80k a week at a club like Everton/Spurs/Arsenal, what would you do?

Part of it probably depends on the other half. Likelihood to move onwards; particularly if bringing up a family and there maybe a push to head towards London or the like. If I was more free and single I may struggle a bit more (with my agent trying hard to persuade me to move I am sure), but the career potential and money would be hard to refuse.

[Atomic]

I'd stay at Albion, no question at all.

It's not as if me and mine would ever starve on the wages Albion pay.

No way would I go anywhere else unless the club gave me no choice.

[smethwick2]

just for fun and sort of prompted by the decision by Barry to reject Albions contract offer, i know he is not an albion fan but...

if you were a professional footballer and had the offer to remain at your boyhood club of Albion at 10k a week in the  championship say, or £80k a week at a club like Everton/Spurs/Arsenal, what would you do?

Although it pains me to say it, if someone offered me 70k per week more (3.64mil per year) then I would struggle to refuse that.

[tuamigos]

Although it pains me to say it, if someone offered me 70k per week more (3.64mil per year) then I would struggle to refuse that.

So would anybody else with any gumption

[bradleysrocket]

just for fun and sort of prompted by the decision by Barry to reject Albions contract offer, i know he is not an albion fan but...

if you were a professional footballer and had the offer to remain at your boyhood club of Albion at 10k a week in the  championship say, or £80k a week at a club like Everton/Spurs/Arsenal, what would you do?

without a doubt I’d leave. You’re playing football as a job you’ve got all your retirement to get a home and away season ticket.

[smethwickw]

I'd play for anyone including the Dingles if the money was right.

[Mikkyk]

I'd play for anyone including the Dingles if the money was right.

This is absolutely where I would draw the line. Wouldn't play for the dingles or the vile unless pay was about 100x

[OldburyWBA]

I'd play for anyone, paying bills and making sure my family are sorted are more important. If those 2 clubs were the only ones interested then why miss out on a possible career and settled wages just because you're an Albion fan ?

[wbarenno]

I'd stay at Albion, no question at all.

It's not as if me and mine would ever starve on the wages Albion pay.

No way would I go anywhere else unless the club gave me no choice.

I bet lee Hughes said the same thing before the money came rolling in.

I’d have no loyalty me, who ever paid the most who ever gave me the best opportunities and who ever was best for my family. Whether that was villa wolves Albion Madrid Barca etc

[AlbionFan]

I think you have to distinguish between a fan and a job of work to try and understand the motivation.

As a fan without a hope of earning a living playing for the Albion, of course I would elect to be ruled by my heart and choose Albion.

As a professional player with a career that could last, say 15+ years or be blighted and ended prematurely by a serious injury, I’d go for the money.

Fortunately, it’s a dilemma non of us will ever be faced with, thankfully.

[johnny Cash]

I'd like to think if I came through at the Albion I would give them a few years, behave correctly and move on with everyone's blessing. I don't think as fans we begrudge anyone doing the best they can for themselves if they do it the right way.

I'd be delighted to have a few ex-albion kids go on to win titles but it would be great to see 2,3,4 years at the start of their career.

Even as an Albion fan, you owe it to yourself to be the best you can. If id been at Albion from 10-22 and made over 100 appearance and done well, even if a Barca offered the same money (and Albion got a decent fee) I'd go and I would hope to leave with the fans respect.  Which I think you would.

[Standaman]

I think there is a point when you cross a line between civilian and professional. At the point you realise that the club will quite happily let you go if you don't make the grade and even at 16 you will seen any number of kids dropped from the programme then well you make the best arrangement for yourself.

Like most of us as a kid I would have died to play for the club and the neighbourhood where I grew up there were plenty that made it onto the books of the local clubs in the 1980's. One such kid was Paul Moss who along with his younger brother Craig who I went to school with played for Wolves and then dropped down to the semi professional ranks at Worcester City. He worked with my mother and I met him when he was in mid 20's and rather naively asked him how he could be giving up on football to be an accountant, his reply was quite revealing "all sorts of reasons but mainly because I'm knackered"

The game chews you up and spits you out if you are lucky enough to make it to the professional level you will know that and while the money that these youngsters now make should set them up for life they will be all too aware that it won't be there for ever and the only thing that is guaranteed is your current contract. 

[TheJacko2000]

Would leave in a heartbeat for 8x my earnings. I'd play for Wolves at 80k over Albion at 10k

[Albion79]

I will always be an Albion fan but had i made it as a footballer i would of gone somewhere paying me 8 x more!

Most kids dream of being a footballer, but the reality is its the tiny minority who even get close, let alone make it, its almost like a pipe dream so things like how much money can i earn, etc dont really come into because you know its not going to happen, you just dream one day it might.

Most lads are signed up fairly early into the academy system, not always staying with the same team but once your in the system you do lose that love for the game. It was schoolboy and YTS when i played, but even at 17/18 i had seen enough to lose my love of football a bit.

Nowadays kids are with clubs from 5 or 6 years old, their whole school years are dictated by football, they cant do this and they cant do that, and come 14 or 16, most are released. I have a few mates whose lads are in those positions, they have been at Albion, Villa, Wolves, Bristol City, Derby until they are 12, and then go to a Walsall, Cheltenham, Port Vale or Shrewsbury til they 14,15, 16 and two of them by the age of 16 no longer play or have any interest in football, its ruined them. The other lad who is 14 has been offered another year with Cheltenham and as yet doesnt want to sign as he has fell out of love with football, said previously mentality is huge in football.

Once your in the professional setup at whatever age, your love of playing football isnt the same and so when it comes to career earnings, your not doing it for the love anymore, your doing it because its your job/career and your hardened to the industry.

(I think Gareth Bale said a few weeks ago he no longer likes football as he did as a kid and thats why he was in no rush to leave Madrid, he wont get much sympathy on £600k a week but it goes to show what a brutal industry it is when somebody like Bale, a world superstar has seen enough to say he doesnt like the game anymore)

[kc56wba]

I worked on the Albion groundstaff back in the70's and was earning £12 a week was offered a job at Birmingham City for more money turned it down because of loyalty. Only lasted about another 2 years then left to work at Longbridge , more money and Saturdays off which meant I could go to away games which I could not do very often on the groundstaff.

[zippyandbungle]

Weekly earnings
Of say 10-40k a week, some one else offers 10-15 extra a week I'm off
Above 50k a week then I'd probably stay unless someone offered double

[geoff]

How can anyone expect a kid or his parents to turn down the kind of money being bantered around this kid to sign for them.
Adults pros just walkout so why shouldnt he.
The FA should look at the laws that alow this to happen without sufficient compensation to the acadamy which spent years training him.

[wbarenno]

How can anyone expect a kid or his parents to turn down the kind of money being bantered around this kid to sign for them.
Adults pros just walkout so why shouldnt he.
The FA should look at the laws that alow this to happen without sufficient compensation to the acadamy which spent years training him.

Think this is the nail on the head mate , you cannot blame the kid for wanting to go to some of the biggest clubs in the world. He may never get the chance to go to these clubs again . Not just for footballing reasons but for a better way of life out there. I’d be gone like a shot and if my son wanted to stay at Albion I’d give him a clip round his ear 

But the club that’s brought him up since the age of 6 should be compensated massively , deals should be made with percentage sell on clauses , if they play so many games , depending how successful they are the club who have put most the hard work in should
Be financially compensated. Something needs to be done about this otherwise we might aswell just close our academy, what’s the point of it? 

[paulosull]

FA and eufa don't give a pooh about clubs like ours never have and never will.