FOOTBALLERS lead a charmed life: a couple of hours training a day, match on a Saturday, fame and fortune, and the top players earn thousands of pounds a week.

It is therefore difficult to understand what these cosseted individuals could have to be unhappy about professionally, let alone what would drive them to strike action.

It was on this day in 2001 that a strike called by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) was due to start with Manchester United’s clash with Chelsea the first high profile casualty.

The PFA was after a bigger slice of the increasingly large amount of TV money the Premier League was raking in and PFA chief Gordon Taylor went all Arthur Scargill and called the strike after negotiations between the two parties broke down.

While it would at first seem like a bloody cheek for footballers to be doing a miner’s impression, the story of the highly paid Premiership stars is of course only the most visible tip of a football shaped iceberg.

The PFA was after more cash for the extensive work it does with its members in the lower leagues. While Premiership players earn plenty to keep them in mock-Tudor mansions and Bentleys should a Roy Keane-based injury force them to retire, their counterparts in the lower leagues are not so fortunate and it is these guys the PFA is concerned with.



David Wier was Everton’s PFA representative at the time. “The issue was nothing to do with how much players earn,” said Weir.

“There is only a very small percentage of players who make a fantastic living out of the game.

“That wasn’t the issue. It was about helping players who have not made much from the game.”

Despite 99 per cent of PFA members voting to strike, the Premier League’s chief executive Richard Scudamore was going all Margaret Thatcher on their ass and claimed the action was illegal. He said: “We will have to take all the steps necessary to prevent what we consider to be illegal action.”

Eventually a compromise was reached and the strike that nobody thought would happen didn’t, although Taylor and the PFA did have to settle for less than they wanted.

Famous revolutionary Gary Red Nev Neville had this to say: “The agreement will ensure that the union can carry on doing the work that it does for people who aren’t as privileged as some of the players who play the game.”

As always, there will be more historical antics from the world of football tomorrow so be there or be square folks.

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