New Years Revolutions

Happy New Year to you all. Let’s hope for brighter things in 2013.

Amongst the New Year messages on Twitter, I see that Rio Ferdinand has inadvertently upset a few people with a jokey comment that has been taken the wrong way. I’m not a United fan so it pains me to say it but I actually like Rio. I think he’s one of the few footballers that does make an effort to interact with fans and make a difference so I was disappointed to see the backlash.

I think his tweet did help to once again highlight the huge void between the working class and the super rich. Rio’s one of the privileged few to do something they enjoy and get paid ridiculous money to do it. Would I want it? Certainly. Do I begrudge him? No.

I think that the majority of footballers would still play football even if they earned less than the minimum wage – just through a love of the game. Society, media and the endorsement companies are to blame for the rise in salaries so why should the players be penalised for doing what they enjoy?

You can’t ignore the reality of life though. If I were lucky enough to receive a lump sum equal to that of a Premiership footballer’s weekly wage, it would set my family and I up for life. It would mean that I could finally put a deposit down and buy a house. It would mean the kids could finally have a bedroom each in a house that we own and it would give hope to a more promising future where we can provide for them completely and help towards their future.

I think that’s where the general resentment comes from. There are those of us who work full time but still struggle to provide the basic fundamentals that make a family secure. We’ve effectively been priced out of the game, the Premiership mid-table teams who are just happy for the lucky cup run. I’m not poor, but I’m not rich. We have nice things but not the nicest of things but then I don’t have to worry about feeding and clothing the kids so are a lot more fortunate than some in this country.

Whilst provisions and help are in place for those who don’t/can’t/don’t want to work, there’s nothing there to help the inbetweeners like me. What’s to say that today’s inbetweeners won’t be tomorrow’s poor? The sad truth is that most of us live in hope for that lottery win that will never come so we can have the things that a generation before took for granted.

Most people want to just get on and work, buy a house and raise a family. A celebrity lifestyle, a mansion and a Ferrari would be nice but I’d be just as happy with a 3 bedroom end of terrace.

History has always shown that there will be rich and poor. Today’s footballers are yesterday’s industrialists, land owners and aristocrats. A minority will always begrudge them. What makes me laugh is how all of a sudden people are saying Britain’s "broken". I don’t think it was ever “fixed”.