Some pretty funny quotes from Alex Song today (translated from the French using Google translate, I don’t speak French):
“When I arrived at Arsenal, I signed my first professional contract and I was on £ 15,000 / week, I was so euphoric you imagine, a young teenager who goes from 4000 to 15000… And so I wanted to rub to the big ones because I could do the shoppings anyhow, crazy parties etc … I arrived at training then I saw the king arrived (Thierry Henry) with a car but damn, the car was a jewel and so I said to myself that I needed the same car at all costs and, you know as a footballer you go into the house you sign papers and we give you the car, we take your wages… it’s like that I had the same car as the king (Thierry Henry) but I swear that after two months I had the car returned, all my money was going to fuel and I told them give me a Toyota , your manchin (“maison” in French, I think it means both mansion and expensive car) is too much for me… when I got to training Titi asked me but son where is the car I told him big this car is not at my level…
Most young footballers live beyond their means, you know I made 8 years at Arsenal but I swear that it is during the last 4 years that I can say that I started to earn a good living, because the salary had climbed considerably and I understood that I was a waster… during 8 years and I hadn’t even been able to save £ 100,000 in my bank account ie people thought that I was a millionaire but it was actually on paper on paper…
When the FC Barcelona contract arrived and I saw the amount I was going to receive I did not think 4 times, I thought of my wife and my children, it was necessary that after football there was a comfortable life for them… and there I received the sports director of the barca who told me that I was not going to play much, I did not care, I knew that now will be a millionaire.
I always say, a young man of 20 who drives a Ferrari, is poor, because at 20 you haven’t done anything yet but a man of 50 who rides in a Bentley is a man to be respected.”
Song was speaking to his friend on an Instagram story and it reminds me of a little-known Arsene Wenger quote from 2009 – a then 21 year old Alex Song’s breakout season. It feels like Arsene Wenger is talking directly too Alex Song:
“You have talent then motivation and intelligence. Take a player at 20 and then at 25 and there will be a huge gulf with ones who don’t have motivation and intelligence and the ones who do.
“The most important thing in our job is to understand early what’s important in life. If you don’t understand how to live at 20 you are finished.
“You can go out on Thursday and Friday with all the girls or stay in and have a fantastic game on a Saturday. It’s not easy.
“I can tell about a player when they are 18 or 19. People are the same where motivation is concerned at 19 at 55 and at 75. They have the same motivation.
“You have to have the inner drive and not be in the comfort zone they are always pushing themselves. Those who have the inner drive don’t accept mediocrity but very few people have that. It’s in the genes. Successful people have a high level of motivation.”
Like Adebayor, if the player’s motivation is money then that will show in their career.
Song was a gifted footballer with a unique physicality and I loved watching him play football for Arsenal. I was there at Anfield when he assisted Robin van Persie for the winning goal.
But when he was sold to Barcelona I can’t remember being too upset. There were rumors that he was disruptive in the dressing room and that he wasn’t practicing as hard as some of the coaches wanted. He claims above that he went to Barca for the money but from what I remember Arsenal wanted to be rid of him just as much as he wanted to plunder their booty.
And in exchange, Arsenal landed Santi Cazorla, rebuilding the club after the acrimonious departure of Robin van Persie. Arsenal won the FA Cup the next season, thanks in large part to the Spanish maestro and his direct free kick goal which sparked the Gunners back to life.
Thanks Tim for reminding me of two things. One is that just about any Arsene Wenger quote, on the surface may be about the game, but always applies to life beyond soccer. Second, no matter how much talk there is of Ramsey’s winning goals in the FA cup, it all began with Santi and that free kick. That goal is as important as any in those title winning runs. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of A A Ron but I love me some Santi.
I liked Song for his ability to shield the ball while under challenge better than the Hollywood 40 yard balls that made the highlight reels.
Too bad his head wasn’t screwed on right because he had the talent to become Arsenal legend.
Santi was another player who could keep the ball against aggressive press but for a different skill set – out of this world trickery rather than Song’s robustness.
Song and Santi were Arsenal’s last two midfielders able to keep the ball when things got hairy.
“The same old song “ could also be the title of any football analysis as to why football clubs usually struggle.
Arsenal got 29 goals and 25 assists from Nasir, Fabregas, and Song in the 2010-11 season – probably the second best midfield around or just as good as Barca’s that year.
Two seasons later all three were gone.
Sad.
Nasri
For comparison Barca’s Iniesta, Xabi , Busquets output that season was 15 goals and 36 assists in more competitions and matches , and with Messi scorching the competition with 53 goals and 24 assists.
good stuff, brother. i missed the weekend so i’ll start with the dortmund game. i loved it, first because i’m a dortmund fan and i hate schalke, but before i’m a dortmund or an arsenal fan, i’m a football fan. that’s why i loved the game. it was good football. i don’t need the fans or the sponsorship signs or the emotions or any of that…just good football, and that’s what we got to see. i understand your points on exploitation by the people in power and that’s fair enough. i simply love the game more than i hate the people that run the game.
second, emery’s a clown. a boss’ failure to accept any responsibility for his team’s play is the biggest tell of a loser in charge…very much in the mold of the american president. the irony of this interview is that if you were to go back and read the things he said about psg when he got to arsenal, it’s an eerily similar rehash. he moans about not having club support. he talks about players like their robots. the only difference was instead of it being neymar, it is ozil. in fact, i challenge you to find anyone else, player or manager, who has said anything bad about neymar other than emery. dude is an assclown.
the song piece was interesting. it’s so scary. i’ve heard so many great coaches say that talent alone is not enough but you need intelligence and motivation. wenger is so right that you can tell it in a player at 19 years. song had the talent but his motivation was money, not becoming a great footballer. what he didn’t realize is that if he chased greatness, the money comes with it. shameful. he sure knew how to get the ball to the goal scorers. he assisted rvp with a very similar ball against everton as well, not to mention assisting eduardo’s outside the foot volley and henry’s goal on his return to arsenal. he was a #8 but wenger was determined to make him a central defender. he was a better two-way player than ramsey.
Sometimes we forget that a player has history;
when Fabregas plays well he might think of being the best in his twenties because he hasn’t been exposed to economic suffering, certain things aren’t really as important to him.
When a Song plays well his motivation is to have enough money to get the quality of life and stability a Fabregas enjoyed when he was younger and is motivated by pay Cheques. He never realizes it but he’s motivated by never being poor anymore.
This in not an excuse just some context to give some perspective into some people’s motivations. And this does not hold for everyone.
Thanks for the post Tim. Whether we like it or not football is a business for both players and management. Most players have a very short time period in their lives to play football and earn a lot of money. Most players have been footballers all their lives and don’t have another skill that can come close to the earning power they have while they are playing. As song points out many young players are not smart enough to start saving in their teens and early 20’s. Once they get married and start a family they want to take care of their families for the long term and have as much money as possible in their bank accounts when they retire because they know their earning power is extremely short lived. I suspect almost all of us would have similar motivations. Players won’t admit it but I strongly suspect the main motivation for most of the high profile departures from Arsenal over the years including Vierra, Henry, Fàbregas, Hleb, Nasri, Adebyor, Song, RVP etc etc was the chance to get a larger paycheck.
Spot on.
Larger paycheck while still involved in what you are passionate about.
No wonder players still go to funny leagues where there is rampant match fixing after they are past their due date to make money for two or three more years.
I think BBC did some article two or three years back on how most footballers end up flat broke 5 years after retirement.
I’didn’t mention Ashley Cole, Flamini in 08, Alexis Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey in that list of high profile departures where I suspect by far the strongest motivation for leaving was a bigger paycheck. The last 3 of those went from being critical players at Arsenal to part time players who are mostly on the subs bench at their new teams.
Obviously I don’t know the exact numbers but Arsenal had a contract offer for Ramsey for a long time before they finally pulled it off the table. For discussion sake let’s say our final offer was $250,000/week. If rumors are true Ramsey’s weekly paycheck at Juve is close to $400,000/week. At the end of his 4 year contract Ramsey will be 32 and given his injury history probably ready to retire. He certainly won’t get another big money contract at age 32. If you do the math using those numbers Ramsey will make close to $30 million more over the course of his 4 year contract by signing with Juve. The numbers are probably not as big with Alex Song’s move to Barca but the reality is that I suspect almost any player and most of us would be more then willing to go from being a critical player to a team where he sits on the bench under those circumstances. Like it or not football is first and foremost a business for the players and they all have agents who will frequently remind them of the real priorities