On 16th May Anfield bade farewell to Steven Gerrard. The fanfare was tremendous. The praise glowing. The tears flowed. Soon after Frank Lampard said goodbye to the Premier League. Then Rio Ferdinand. An era ending.
The Next Big Thing
When a great sportsman retires it leaves a hole. The tributes paid to Gerrard had the air of the eulogy, the epitaph, the obituary. Fans are left bereft, with a desperate need to fill the space left behind. Jordan Henderson is the captain apparent. Jordan Rossiter is the local lad central midfielder emerging from the Liverpool youth setup. Both will be compared to Steven Gerrard, for better or worse. Fans and the media will hunt for the next Steven Gerrard. It is inevitable. Our instinct is to try to fill the void. Some accept that the void will never be filled. Some search forever.
For many years football searched for the next George Best. Eventually that moniker was bestowed with some satisfaction on Ryan Giggs. The pressure on Giggs was immense, but he somehow managed to cope. Fortunately he was not quite Best and managed to avoid most of Best’s controversy (the odd girlfriend issue aside) and had a long, distinguished and brilliant career. Peter Marinello was less fortunate. Though Marinello did not play for Manchester United the press were keen to mark him out as the man to fill George Best’s boots. He did, but not on the pitch.
Other sports have had the same travails. English cricket’s desperate search for the next Ian Botham took in many cricketers. David Capel, Phil DeFreitas, Chris Lewis, Craig White, Dominic Cork and Derek Pringle were all pegged with the mark of the next Ian Botham but none could match the influence or impact of the great all rounder. Eventually Andrew Flintoff was able to fill the role of Botham, bringing balance to the team, bold character and the ability to perform at key moments. Yet, even Flintoff’s numbers do not quite stack up with those of Sir Ian. Now it will be Ben Stokes’ turn. Will he handle the pressure?
Pressure can be damaging. All that potential crushed under an ocean of pressure. Jermaine Pennant admitted that it is what happened to him. Arsenal spent £2million to make Pennant the most expensive teenager in English football. He never quite fulfilled that potential. The constant spotlight playing a role and leaving Pennant having to rebuild his career. Arsenal may have repeated the dose with Theo Walcott. There have been highs with Walcott but he is still considered as a player with great potential. At the age of twenty-six. You can not trade on potential forever. Has expectation held him back? The label of the next big thing weighing him down? There are countless other cases of players who have had this early pressure and never quite coped.
Between 2003 and 2009 AC Milan proudly boasted one of the best players in world football, the Brazilian Kaka. He signed for Milan aged 20, not unusual for a Brazilian heading to European football. In the midst of Kaka’s success Milan sought to replicate it with another Brazilian forward. In 2007 they signed the 17 year old Pato. Pato initially shone but as the focus and expectation shifted from Kaka to Pato he was unable to handle it. Injuries did not help. In 2010 alone three hamstring injuries hampered his progress. There followed a number of thigh injuries. At 24 Pato returned to Brazilian football, a shadow of the player he was.
The United States national team has had it’s great hope. He has been known to the world for over a decade and the world has waited. And waited. And waited. Freddy Adu made Jermain Pennant look like a veteran, signing a professional contract at the age of fourteen. Adu is now 26 and has played for eleven clubs. Bouncing from the heights of Benfica and Monaco down to KuPS (A Finnish side). A fourteen year old boy with the expectations of the USA following him. Following him around the world in the hope that the move will be the move that ignites what they saw twelve years ago.
“Prediction is a very difficult, especially if it’s about the future,” – Nils Bohr.
There are so many variables. So many possibilities. How can we predict, with any confidence what someone will become?
The Next Messi
Kids love to pretend. It’s fun, it’s freeing, it’s what kids do. Scoring a goal and running off screaming “Lineker”. The names may have changed but the action and emotion hasn’t. Coaches create sessions based on the great names to hook into the connection kids feel towards their heroes. Or even villains. Newcastle United academy once created a session called “Vialli’s” after Gianluca Vialli, whilst playing for Chelsea, too the Newcastle defence to school. Pass like Xavi and Iniesta. Shoot like Ronaldo. Dribble like Messi.
But this is fun and meant that way. To entertain and engage. For some it isn’t.
Coaching discussions are filled with debates about the role of parents. Some parents are too involved. Some too distant. Some are a dream. Some a nightmare. Some, ambitious, excessively ambitious. Some want their child to be a professional footballer more than they have ever wanted anything in their life.
There are people who are freely slapping next Messi tags on their children. Digital media is filled with videos of the next Messi. Who has made these videos? Is it the children? The coaches? Or the parents?
On YouTube there are almost over 1.5million videos labelled the next Messi. Almost 2 million labelled the next Ronaldo (although a lot of those seem to be about FIFA). There is no doubt that these children are exciting little footballers. These are very good 5,6 and 7 year olds who may think it is fun to have a next Messi video. These kids are at the very least 10 years away from playing their first game of professional football. Ten years of carrying a millstone around your neck. Ten years of the fun getting serious. Ten years of “I’ve seen your video, next Messi, eh?”. Add in all the variables and the odds are not that they have the next Messi but that they have the next Freddy Adu.
We should question the true motivation for creating these videos. The internal motivation behind the external motives. No doubt that for many the videos simply come from pride, showing off the ability of the wonder kid. The prodigy. What type of pride is this though? Does the child then become something to show off, like a new car? Very often motivation is impure. True motives can be complex. How many people have gone to university because it is what their parents wanted? Or become a doctor because of familial expectation? How often does this come from not having managed it themselves? Sure, university is ostensibly a good thing, sure a doctor is a fine thing to be, but when you don’t allow people to make their own choices you are not allowing them to choose happiness, contentment or, in the extreme, mental health.
What if these videos are not for pride? What if they are advertising?
Morality and football. Scruples and football. Principles and football. Sadly it is very easy to point the finger and say that these things are absent from the game. At all levels. At all ages.
Everyone can see the money that is on offer in football. It is available at a very early stage. The contracts of Adu and Pennant would not have been insignificant but these can not match up to the wages being paid to Martin Odegaard. When the 16 year old Norwegian signed for Real Madrid reports suggest that he is receiving £80,000 a week. At the age of sixteen. Many sixteen year olds do not see £80 a week. In some parts of the world they will not even see £8 a week. It is easy to understand why people chase the footballing buck. Financial success and security stand there, within reach. Security, not just for the player, but often for the whole family. Odegaard is one of many players who has their father represent them as their agent. Which leads on to the uncomfortable question.
Are kids cash cows? Are all the next Messi and next Ronaldo videos designed to fill bank accounts? Most people will have read stories about children signing professional contracts when they are eight. Our eyebrows shoot upwards, heads are scratched, this is a child. Parents are being put in difficult positions. Money being waved at them and promises made about what their son will achieve with professional guidance. That is going to be very hard to turn down. All the pitfalls of having too much too soon. The risks of creating a fixed mindset and hindering all those developmental promises. That pressure. The people making these videos may be seeking this out. They see the glory. They see the money. The next Messi is not a child anymore.
The next Messi becomes a product of a culture of fear, temptation and greed. The fear that football clubs have of missing on out a great prospect. The only thing that they know how to do is throw money at the problem. The top teams have money by the bucket full, offering a 15 year old £20,000 a week is a drop in the ocean. The temptation that this money places on even the most upright of citizens. The greed of many who desire financial well being to the detriment of moral well being. The perfect storm is cooked up. An environment were the chance to succeed was the intention, instead the world has created an even bigger chance to fail.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/gallery/2015/may/16/anfield-says-goodbye-to-steven-gerrard-in-pictures
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&ved=0CEgQFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fsport%2Ffootball%2Fteams%2Fmanchester-united%2F9901250%2FRyan-Giggs-was-never-going-to-be-the-new-George-Best-at-Manchester-United.html&ei=23eKVePPE6uGywPB_LnYBQ&usg=AFQjCNHgUxKx-E-FopF8MqFNK5dji9-5dg&bvm=bv.96339352,d.bGQ
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2592020/Peter-Marinello-I-George-Best-lost-ended-stranded-Butlins.html
http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/248047.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Pato
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddy_Adu
http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2015/05/13/jermaine-pennant-i-didnt-handle-pressure-of-being-arsenals-next/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/real-madrid/11364503/Real-Madrid-have-set-Martin-Odegaard-up-for-failure-with-80000-a-week-contract.html