It must indeed be funny ‘in a rich man’s world’, and who can deny that todays elite footballers live in a rich man’s world. With truly mind-boggling sums, being offered to Kylian Mbappe, as much as £15m a week, if recent reports are to be believed, Jordan Henderson’s reported £350,000 a week, seems like a mere drop of dirty oil, in the enormous ocean of Saudi Arabia’s petro-economy.
Amongst the Liverpool fan base, opinion has always been split on Jordan Henderson. His commitment to the club, his desire to succeed, and perhaps above all, his capacity to represent the values of his adopted club, both on and off the field, could surely though, never be doubted. Or at least, they couldn’t be, until confirmation that he’s the latest to muddy his legacy in the interests of what must already be, a bulging bank balance.
For those of us, for whom £750,000 over a decade, would be unattainable, such sums for a week’s employment, are surely beyond the dreams of avarice. Further, he’s getting paid for playing football. A game we love with a passion out of all proportion to its importance. Not just playing football for anyone, but for eleven years, playing for our club, lifting every major trophy as its captain, proudly campaigning on behalf of the NHS during the pandemic, and most specifically, being the face of the rainbow campaign during the Qatar World Cup.
That rainbow campaign, an attempt to draw attention to the discrimination against the LGBTQ community across the Middle East, and to highlight the need for sexual equality, has now been trashed. A multi-millionaire footballer, for whom principle and integrity seemed to matter, has sold his principles to turn his multi-millionaire lifestyle, into a multi-multi-millionaire lifestyle.
Now there’ll be those who say, well, who can blame him? It’s a huge sum of money he’s being offered, and it will secure his family’s financial stability for generations. Who amongst us, irrespective of what we may have previously said and done, wouldn’t do the same? Why should it rubbish his legacy?
Well, it’s quite simple really. Jordan Henderson reportedly received £250,00 a week whilst having the privilege of playing football. That’s £13m a year. Even assuming he was just on half of that for ten years, that’s another £70m. A total approaching £85m throughout his career at Liverpool. If he paid £35m in tax over that period, that leaves £50m. I’ll write that again, £50m. You’d have to be beyond stupid or a total shopaholic, or both, not to already have enough money to do as you please, and to ensure the financial stability of your family and future generations. There’s literally nothing on this earth he’ll be able to do with tens more millions, that he cannot do now. It’s pure greed. He was hardly suffering a cost of living crisis, unlike so many of us who find the money to support our club.
In taking the Saudi cash, he’s simply demonstrated, that the stance he previously took, was simply performative. That nothing matters, if you get enough money. That the human rights of millions don’t matter. That oppression and discrimination can be ignored if the pile of money is high enough.
Protest is meant to be hard, but it’s made so much easier if you’re rich. Jordan Henderson was already rich, and will now be a little bit rich. Tragically, his greed, makes so many others, all the poorer.
