I turned it down because I believe if you are to play full-time and make a career you need to make enough to retire at 35.
If you cannot make the money there is no point playing full-time.
That's what I have a problem with.
He was clearly expecting it on a plate. You start at the bottom and work your way up, not go off and cry when you don't get the money you want.
I wanted to earn loads of cash in IT when I was 17 so I got a support job in for £9k a year, I didn't complain and worked my way up and now I earn what I aspired to when I was younger. I didn't think "Fuck I.T, I'm gonna do something else..." and then bitch about it.
With the greatest of respect, I think you've missed the point.
I don't think he's expecting anyting on a plate. That's why he is going to train as a physiotherapist. That doesn't sound particularly easy to me, that sounds like 'working your way up' in fact.
I would imagine he's realistic enough to realise that only a miniscule amount of people get the chance to earn really big money in football and that in all honesty, he isn't good enough to get into that select group.
He has therefore concluded that his best option, long term, is to play part-time and get a proper profession under his belt.
I would also add that he has made the same decision as hundreds of other semi-pro footballers around the country who have decided they are much better off long term by playing part-time (and getting pretty well paid for it) and working full time. This is the problem facing a lot of clubs in the 4th Division in trying to sign non-league players. Signing a player from non-league looks simple in practice, you might think they would play for virtually nothing just for the 'glory' of paying league football. In practice though, it's often difficult for them to entice players away.
