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)