Footballers' calls for strikes are empty, futile noise - they should point the finger at their clubs' obsessive and self-defeating lust for money, writes IAN LADYMAN A number of high-profile players have called for strikes due to fixture schedules By Ian Ladyman Published: 12:00 BST, 19 September 2024 | Updated: 12:07 BST, 19 September 2024 e-mail View comments They took it in turns to sit on the stage behind the microphones and rail against the system, the schedule they feel is pushing them towards injury, exhaustion and burnout. First the Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker, in Milan, and then the Manchester City midfielder Rodri , at his home stadium. It felt as though it was a little pre-planned.
Maybe it was. It doesn’t really matter. What was a little ironic was the setting.
As they sat at official press conferences before the first games of an expanded and bloated Champions League season, the manifestations of modern football’s ugly, obsessive and self-defeating lust for money were all around them. Behind them the names of the tournament sponsors were plastered on the hoardings. In front of them on the table were bottles of one of those awful energy drinks.
Not for drinking, you understand. But to satisfy yet another commercial obligation to a UEFA partner. Inside the San Siro before kick-off, meanwhile, Alisson didn’t seem to notice Amazon’s Gabby Logan and Clarence Seedorf broadcasting just a yard or so from the dressing room door.
I wonder how much Amazon pa.