Flannery changes tune on soccer millionaires

Former Ireland rugby star Jerry Flannery said he doesn’t begrudge millionaire soccer players a penny of their pay packet since joining the coaching staff at Arsenal.

The ex-Munster hooker crossed over to soccer last year when he became a strength and conditioning coach at the London’s club’s academy.

The Limerick player admitted yesterday to Anton Savage on the Ray D’Arcy Show that he has a newfound respect for footballers since going behind the scenes at Arsenal.

He said: “It has changed my outlook on football, or soccer as I used to call it. I suppose being a real tough rugby man I used to see footballers diving and you hear how much money they earn and you [think] it’s a bit of a poncey sport. But I see the lads here and they graft really hard when they train and the fact is that for every guy that earns a lot of money there are so many kids who leave school at 15 and end up with nothing at the end of the day.

“It’s a real lotto ticket of a profession. The failure rate in football is astonishing. How many players getinto academies and how few of them make it into the game? There is such a massive competition to make it. Anyone that makes a living in the game I don’t begrudge them a penny.”

He explained how he ended up in the London club after completing a Masters in sports performance at the University of Limerick after retiring early due to a long-standing injury. The 34-year-old is now flying in and out of London every week to work with the Premier League giants after completing a six-month internship with his former IRFU fitness education manager Des Ryan, who is the academy’s head of sports medicine and athletic development.

Although Flannery, who also runs the website joe.ie along with his work as a rugby analyst for TG4, insists he is still a Chelsea fan despite his new role.

But he hopes Arsenal get some long-awaited silverware this year.

“Hopefully they will win an FA Cup this year,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said yesterday he is getting behind Safefood’s new campaign to tackle childhood obesity by encouraging children to get 60 minutes of exercise every day.

He said: “I hate sounding like a 50-year-old but there are a lot more computer games and TVs and tablets and people spend a lot more time on social media. Just getting out in the air and playing is so important for kids.”