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.
"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."
Comment 14 - 33 of 33
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.
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.
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)
shut the f**kd up. i've smelt some jealousy here...your team did not have it!! so admit it!!
gunners4life
To ahmed.s I suggest you must be the bibgest @#$% ever to have written something on these pages. What a mor*n
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.
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
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
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
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.
Well said
arsenal is less rich than chelsea, manchester, and real, that's why they don't win.
Arsenal never win anything so how can Mr Wenger be so wonderful??
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!
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.
@#$% off parker the @#$%
we need hotmail tired of yahoo and their ignorance
f
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
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.
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