Premier League - Parker: Money motivates

Eurosport - Wed, 24 Sep 21:44:00 2008

Former England defender Paul Parker understands why Arsene Wenger felt it necessary to compile a motivational paper for his players - and knows what really gets the modern day footballer going.

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"Arsene Wenger's leaked 'confidential' memo to his players has caused quite a stir.

The Arsenal manager is one of the game's great thinkers and someone who is not afraid to experiment with new coaching techniques in order to get the best out of his players.

For that I applaud him. As I do for his latest idea - a motivational handout, to be taken away by his players and digested before each game.

Wenger is no mug - he realises that modern day footballers occasionally need reminding of their responsibilities. Too often these days, players forget what a privileged position they occupy - a result of the overly-pampered lifestyle they are encouraged to lead.

These days, a player's motivation seems to come from achieving short-term objectives. And more often than not that means making money.

With obvious exceptions - including the likes of Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard at Liverpool and Gary Neville and Paul Scholes at Manchester United, all of whom would die for their hometown clubs - the only thing that will get a modern player going is the thought of earning more cash.

For an example look no further than Emmanuel Adebayor, someone at whom this memo could easily have been directed. With Barcelona and Milan sniffing round him last season, he raised his game in a bid to seal a lucrative move abroad.

Ultimately he failed in that bid, but where Adebayor succeeded was in securing a huge hike in pay at Arsenal. Job done. But the question remains, where will he find his motivation this season?

Wenger has recognised this as a problem and he has addressed it with typical astuteness.

In my day, when there was nowhere near the same amount of money sloshing around the game, finding motivation did not seem difficult - you got a kick out of representing your club, and that was it.

Once it did become a problem, you got out of the game. And that is exactly the reason why I finally hung up my boots - the desire was no longer there.

But with fewer and fewer old school professionals left in the game, it is up to the managers to think how best to motivate their players.

So hats off to Wenger. It's just a shame he has been forced into taking this course of action in the first place."

Eurosport

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  1. mr parker, loose your laptop if you have one, you are­ making yourself look a right fool. go cut the grass at­ carrington, but you will probably make a mess of that­ as well.

    From TEVEZ, on Fri 26 Sep 7:51PM
  2. Very well put Alan & that is were Arsenal wealth­ will be...in the youngsters that hav come up thru the­ ranks & not in monetary wealth....
    Arsenal at his­ point seem to hav a very good foundation to work with.­ I believe Wenger is 1 of the best things that has­ happend to Arsenal.

    From dawong2003, on Fri 26 Sep 12:13PM
  3. Wednesday night showed ENGLISH talent - if this is a­ sign of things to come then England may well be one of­ te best teams in the world again - as long as these­ kids don't get paid too much. So much for this 6+5­ rule or whatever it is.... football is the most­ overpaid job in the world so all praise to wenger for­ telling the pansies that they are paid too much­ (basically)

    From signore.louis, on Thu 25 Sep 7:32AM
  4. shut the f**kd up. i've smelt some jealousy­ here...your team did not have it!! so admit it!!­
    gunners4life

    From andrei hanafi?, on Thu 25 Sep 7:26AM
  5. To ahmed.s I suggest you must be the bibgest @#$% ever­ to have written something on these pages. What a mor*n

    From Mike S, on Wed 24 Sep 10:45PM
  6. ARSENE WENGER ALWAYS SEEMS TO FIND THE GEMS
    The­ performance of the young guys the other night should­ surprise nobody. Fast forward maybe five years. If they­ mature well and his obviously gifted staff keep feeding­ more in, the depth of talent should be frightening.

    From Alan H, on Wed 24 Sep 10:29PM
  7. Gerrard didnt go to chelsea when liverpool told him he­ featured in there plans.lampard held out for a bigger­ salary,adebayor was touted around europe ,but milan­ went cold on the idea,maybe they sensed a lack of­ loyalty to a club thats basically made him a better­ player

    From !, on Wed 24 Sep 9:06PM
  8. Gerrard didnt go to chelsea when liverpool told him he­ featured in there plans.lampard held out for a bigger­ salary,adebayor was touted around europe ,but milan­ went cold on the idea,maybe they sensed a lack of­ loyalty to a club thats basically made him a better­ player

    From !, on Wed 24 Sep 9:06PM
  9. Gerrard threatened to go to Chelsea got more money.­ Lampard threatened to go to Milan got more money.­ What’s the difference? Adebayor didn't need a­ Gangster to remind him of his loyalties

    From Nick P, on Wed 24 Sep 8:51PM
  10. bcoz their true fanz dosnt care bout the title, as long­ they r playing the most beautiful football in the prem­ league. dats what Mr Wenger've done.

    From Syahir, on Wed 24 Sep 8:26PM
  11. Well said

    From sappercommando25, on Wed 24 Sep 8:23PM
  12. arsenal is less rich than chelsea, manchester, and­ real, that's why they don't win.

    From jean-robin, on Wed 24 Sep 8:09PM
  13. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Arsenal never win anything so how can Mr Wenger be so­ wonderful??

    From Mike S, on Wed 24 Sep 6:42PM
  14. I think the article is praising Wenger for looking at­ new methods to motivate his players. To me the memo­ again illustrates Coach Wenger's business-like­ approach to doing his job, coaching. So long as the­ club atmosphere is high energy and they play well each­ time out, I'm happy as a fan. The players can tatoo­ flowers on their bums, whatever it takes to work­ cohesive as a group and set out to win matches.
    I­ agree, well done Wenger!

    From jaigosine, on Wed 24 Sep 6:28PM
  15. Parker does use Adebayor as an example - and that is­ the word he uses "example". So why Adebayor­ as an example rather than someone else? - Because he­ is talking about motivational techniques employed by­ Adebayor's manager!

    The same article makes­ reference to Gerrard, Carragher, Scholes and Neville­ none of which results in adverse comment. I guess some­ people just don't like the facts of an article to­ get in the way of their prejudices.

    Of course, money­ could be a very useful motivational driver for players­ if they weren't paid so much. And in my view, that­ is what is killing the game. Yes, get a reasonable­ wage but anything above and beyond is because of­ reasonable win bonuses or fees from endorsements which­ will come their way if they're good enough (and­ motivated!) The argument that it is a short career­ carries no weight with me: nobody has a job for life­ anymore and anyone could be injured and prevented from­ doing their chosen work.

    From ROY R, on Wed 24 Sep 6:22PM
  16. @#$% off parker the @#$%

    From tropan2002, on Wed 24 Sep 6:11PM
  17. we need hotmail tired of yahoo and their ignorance

    From dercute, on Wed 24 Sep 5:55PM
  18. f

    From dercute, on Wed 24 Sep 5:42PM
  19. here we go again joe stone.krauts,ities,argies ,frogs­ and so on.paul parker got more brain you ever will­ have.get this anti nation ideas out of your head use­ this bit of your brain you got left.england players and­ most of the premierleague boys are only here for the­ money.no passion and pride for their country.go back 66­ when you had players like moore,charltons,stiles,hurst­ and so on,who gave their soul away for england.look at­ our wimps now,beckham and company got only money and­ what ever you want in their mind.this comes from a­ kraut who lives in this country for 14 years and­ employes englishmen who give me a lot of pleasure and­ pride for the work the do for me.hope you get this in­ your head and get it right next time.no bad feelings­ only a sought

    From H, on Wed 24 Sep 5:34PM
  20. Motivation should be there with every professional­ footballer, so I think that each manager can use their­ own ideas to motivate them even more.
    I do agree that­ this is another very pointless article from P Parker.­ Yet again he comes of out his box like a muppet - oh­ sorry a puppet, you guys make the decision.

    From Harry, on Wed 24 Sep 5:29PM
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