Due to a complete lack of anything interesting in the news regarding Manchester United, I might as well pick up on something that Gary Neville brought up in the last couple of days: Pampered Players.

Gary Neville was basically saying how many Premiership players are completely pampered these days to the extent that they even have to ask their agents to buy them a fridge, because, I suppose, they don’t know how.

The life of a top footballer has always been something I have wondered about because it is hardly a “normal” life.

Many of the stars of today will have been groomed since the age of anything from six to ten years old.

Once many reach the age of around sixteen, they will be given the bad news but the elite will be taken on to the next level and then they either make it to the really top level or they are just left to make their own way at whatever level their ability dictates.

But we are concerned only with those top, top players here. The ones who are told when they can go for a night out (and even these rare occasions come with all kinds of restrictions and warnings), when they can go on holiday, what they should eat, how much they should sleep etc etc (and this comes from the Manager, not the agent).

It is hardly what you would call a “normal life” and so much control is taken away from them that you can hardly be surprised when some are unable to make a “normal life” decision when the need arises.

Gary Neville is one of the exceptions to the rule as he is a man who has not only been able to juggle life at the top of the footballing tree with some semblance of control in his personal affairs. The last I heard, he was living in a farmhouse that he has renovated in Bolton which is now worth an estimated £8 Million. This has been brought about largely due to some astute decisions he has made since buying the run-down old property.

Whilst I agree totally with what Neville is saying (and his comments were made in support of something Alex Ferguson has mentioned recently) I do have some sympathy with the players.

I mean, if I were earning around £100,000 per week and giving away anything between £5,000 and £15,000 of that to someone (apart from the taxman) then I would probably want that person doing far more than buying me the occasional fridge.

Damn, I’d want him feeding me grapes and doing the funky gibbon whenever I clicked my fingers.

I think the lesson to be learned here is getting value for your money.