Lay-offs ‘could lead to more part-timers in future’

AXED Bradford defender Robert Molenaar believes that football’s wholesale redundancies could mean more part-time players in the future.

The 32-year-old Dutchman is one of 586 professionals whose contracts have expired in England alone and was left facing an uncertain future in a sport suffering extreme financial hardship. Fortunately for Molenaar, he has now got himself fixed up and will return home to sign a two-year contract with top-flight outfit RBC Roosendaal. Although he is not as badly off as some, having spent five seasons in the Premiership with Leeds before moving to Bradford in 2000, Molenaar has seen the effect of excessive spending at first hand given the Valley Parade outfit’s flirtation with extinction following their demise from the Premier League.

And while he does not feel young players will be put off trying to secure a career in football, he thinks their dreams might have to be tempered by a large dose of reality.

“The apprenticeship system in England means players come from school at 16 and give football everything without really thinking about what happens if they don’t make it,” he said. “In Holland it’s always in the back of your mind and even when I was last playing there in 1996 there were players in the top league who also had other jobs. That has changed now and I don’t expect to see part-time players in the Premiership either, further down the league ladder I’m sure it will become more common. When people talk about professional footballers, they immediately think of the highest profile players who earn a lot of money. But the large majority don’t earn anything like the amount most people would visualise.

“They have mortgages to pay and families to feed just like everyone else. Nearly 600 people losing their jobs in any profession is a huge number, especially when you consider there are a lot of 25 or 26-year-olds who haven’t done anything but play football since leaving school.” Among the big names to suddenly find themselves out of work are Alen Boksic, Keith Gillespie and Fabrizio Ravanelli whose big reputations have failed to secure them extended employment with Middlesbrough, Blackburn and Derby, respectively. It is a sure sign of the frugality now sweeping the game, which Molenaar believes could have one positive spin-off. “A lot of people in England have complained about the number of foreigners who have come here who many believe are no better than the home-grown players,” he said.

Meanwhile, Everton are at the forefront of two major moves which could dramatically change the Premier League’s transfer system.

At the league’s summer conference later this week they will propose that transfer fees will in future be paid over the length of a player’s contract.

The current system is that 50% of any fee has to be paid upfront, with the rest in the next 12 months.

An alternation of this kind will clearly help the less well off clubs in the top flight .