What Ever Happened to the Good Ol' Days?

Believe it or not, there was once a time where Sir Red Nose dreamed of winning only one league title, where there was no such thing as the "Big Four" (in any of England, Spain, or Italy), where transfers didn't cost gazillions of Euros, and most importantly, where players played football for the love of it and not for the money.

Yeah sure, they wanted money. But it was a distant second, Now fast forward to this day and age, and you'll see that quite naturally, things have changed.

Sir Red Nose won yet another league title that not only defined him as a legendary manager, but also put Man United in the history books for another good reason. The big four in all the leagues have been having a bad time (not too bad anyways), transfers cost ridiculously stupid numbers we never knew existed, and worst of all, players are in it mostly for the money.

An example to this statement are the likes of Adebayor and Ronaldo. The latter won player of the year, the Champions League and the Premier League. He then acted like a 6-year-old saying he wants out of Old Trafford and to go to the Santiago Bernabeu.

After apologizing and saying that his Madrid dream is dead and that he wants to emulate Ryan Giggs and stay a Red Devil for life, guess what he said after Man United lost the final this year? He said (and I quote), "I don't know where I'll be playing next season, but I'm sure I'll be in many more finals in the future."

(Forgive me for changing the topic for a moment folks).

Dear Ronaldo,

You did not make Man United, they made you. You might have scored 30 goals in the league last season, but half of them didn't make a difference since the score was in Man United's favor in the first place (Ex: Hat-Trick in Newcastle, but the match already ended 6-0).

I'm not a fan of Man United, but even many of the Man United fans don't like you.

(Sorry about that folks.)
 
And then the likes of Greedybayor, the fact that he earns 80,000 (after renegotiating his contract) and not do anything is an insult to every Arsenal legend like Adams and Dixon who earned less, but did so much more. And also an insult to Van Persie and Bendtner and the other players who were fighting for the team and not earn half of what he earns.

What happened to the likes of Adams, Baresi, and Maldini? The only loyal young players I could think of are Gerrard, Ledley King and Xavi (They're not that young anymore, they're 29).

True, there are also Carragher, Scholes, Giggs, Totti, Puyol, and Raul and a few others, but they were all born in the 1970's. Name me 10 players born in the 80's that have stayed put in one club for four to six years, let alone spend their entire career in it.

The only four I came up with were Casillas for Madrid, Valdes, Iniesta, and Messi for Barcelona, these are the only players I found to have a chance in emulating the likes of Maldini.

As an Arsenal fan, it hurts more because every season, someone leaves the club and say that Arsenal would ditch them once they reach 30, when most of them leave at the age of 25, and for the money as well.

Many people think that Barca's success came only because of their strength, it came because of the player's commitment and love for the club. They have five players in the starting eleven that have spent their entire career in Barca.

That is also one of the reasons behind Man United's treble in 1999, back then they had six players who were at the club all their life. They were players that weren't concerned about the transfer market or how much more can they earn, but on what they can do for the club.

What happened to loyalty in football?

No doubt the crazy spending is the main problem, but what could FIFA do? Even if they make a roof for the money spent on the transfer market, they can't make a roof for the salaries the players earn. If players get a chance for a higher salary they'll go on strike or play terribly on purpose (like Dwight Yorke did with Aston Villa).

Baresi's generation never had such inflated prices and salaries, so they never cared about moving from club to club. The one obvious thing is that once a rich businessman buys a club, he contributes in ruining the basic principle of football.

Passion for the sport first, money should be a distant second.