Changes in management/ownership

[Dillspur]

You hear footballers going on about how speculation about the future of the manager/ownership affecting the performance on the pitch.

These footballers are paid a staggering amount of money, more in a week than most people earn in a year, why does this affect their performance so much? It's not like a normal job where if there's rumor of current management selling up then everyone could be out of a job! If a new manager comes into Liverpool he's not going to sack every player and bring in 20+ new players! I think it's a very poor excuses for crap performances, the players on the pitch need to man up and take the blame for their performance and stop blaming outside influences!

Rant over!

 

[Kendall]

Money really does have nothing to do with it, a salary cannot buy a hole in your brain you can just push things out of, it's natural to feel uneasy about potentially big changes in your working environment which could have an effect on your immediate career.

All jobs require you to be settled and focussed to ensure optimum performance, for sportsmen, it's even more so.

 

[Dillspur]

I could understand the fring players being a little worried but players like Gerrard/Torres etc are very nearly worldclass and this should not be effecting them, even if they did decide to leave they can pretty much chose where they'd want to play

 

[SpurSince57]

And yet it obviously does. It doesn't matter how much you're paid (and I really doubt that enters most players' heads when they're actually on the pitch)—if you factor in serious uncertainty, it's going to be nagging away at the back of your mind and breed anxiety. Performance is going to suffer. Football players and managers are not automatons, any more than the rest of us.