Sammy Ameobi

[TrentEndGaribaldi]

Obviously the whole situation is bleak.

But I was also struck by the fact he was on his way to his new job as an apprentice earning £22k a year, having earned approx £6m across his career.

I would’ve thought a championship career nowadays would be plenty to live off…

 

[TrentEndGaribaldi]

Obviously the whole situation is bleak.

But I was also struck by the fact he was on his way to his new job as an apprentice earning £22k a year, having earned approx £6m across his career.

I would’ve thought a championship career nowadays would be plenty to live off…

"When quizzed the former Premier League footballer who earned an estimated £6.4m during his career claimed he was in a ‘’panic’’ because he had just started a new job as an apprentice earning £22,000 a year - and was in a hurry to get to work."

 

[Baronvon]

He was an attacking midfielder on loan under Hughton who half this forum wanted us to drop £5m on to land on a permanent despite being really underwhelming.

Holy shit, that guy.

I'd forgotten all about him.

 

[Rzar]

Obviously the whole situation is bleak.

But I was also struck by the fact he was on his way to his new job as an apprentice earning £22k a year, having earned approx £6m across his career.

I would’ve thought a championship career nowadays would be plenty to live off…

It's obviously a lot for the average person but it's not as much as it sounds if you want to live a flash life. Half the 6 million due to tax - so 3 million, you could assume a chunk of that will go on living over his 10-15 year career. Then factor in if you spend money like people assume footballers do then that money goes fairly quickly - loads of footballers end up skint a few years after retiring.

Hell, even Sven (RIP) ended up millions in debt even with his mega money jobs.

If you are player that floats between League One the chances are you end up skint because they don't earn enough to live a good lifestyle for their entire lives, only during their football years. What I will add though... he is on apprentice money but that doesn't mean he is skint, he could be just picking up a trade.

I did like Ameobi, I hope all ends up well for him

 

[king_congo_red]

Obviously the whole situation is bleak.

But I was also struck by the fact he was on his way to his new job as an apprentice earning £22k a year, having earned approx £6m across his career.

I would’ve thought a championship career nowadays would be plenty to live off…

Money soon disappears when footballers careers are over and they don't get into coaching or punditry. Even those who haven't been particularly flash with it have probably lost a chunk in bad investments.

 

[Templeton]

Obviously the whole situation is bleak.

But I was also struck by the fact he was on his way to his new job as an apprentice earning £22k a year, having earned approx £6m across his career.

I would’ve thought a championship career nowadays would be plenty to live off…

Problem is many a player will live their life with their head in the clouds that the kind of wealth they are earning every week will carry on forever, then before they know it no club wants them and they've wasted the majority of the fortune they've earned over the years.

 

[Baronvon]

Also worth noting that Ameobi probably didn't expect his career to end so soon.

After being released by us, he signed a one year deal with Boro - only to get immediately injured without making a single appearance and having to subsequenty retire.

This was a few years ago and he's only 32 now.

Hopefully he gets his life on track again - was a good player for us.

 

[Statto]

He was an attacking midfielder on loan under Hughton who half this forum wanted us to drop £5m on to land on a permanent despite being really underwhelming.

He wasn't that bad.

Linked up well in the middle with James Garner. But as we saw the year after how much Hughton held that side back, in the sense that simply replacing him with Cooper resulted in basically the same squad getting promoted, it's difficult to say what Krovinovic might have done in a setup which was more progressive.

Tactically that season we were very disjointed attacking and putting even someone like Haaland up front in that side wouldn't have scored many.

So I'm not sure - though he did have a low influence in terms of G/A, how much of that was down to his ability or simply the system.

 

[Statto]

Obviously the whole situation is bleak.

But I was also struck by the fact he was on his way to his new job as an apprentice earning £22k a year, having earned approx £6m across his career.

I would’ve thought a championship career nowadays would be plenty to live off…

If he has an expensive house with a large mortgage pay back and also a car probably on credit for example not working would go down quickly.

And it isn't always practical or easy to be able to reduce these straight away by moving out to somewhere more manageable.

We also don't know how much he was spending relative to his income as a player. If it was all going on flash holidays in the Caribbean and he was writing off sports cars every few months then even the salary of a 2nd tier footballer could go down quickly, if he hasn't accumulated any capital. Or he's done gambling it away or been advised to invest in things which have not returned...

 

[Baronvon]

He wasn't that bad.

Linked up well in the middle with James Garner. But as we saw the year after how much Hughton held that side back, in the sense that simply replacing him with Cooper resulted in basically the same squad getting promoted, it's difficult to say what Krovinovic might have done in a setup which was more progressive.

Tactically that season we were very disjointed attacking and putting even someone like Haaland up front in that side wouldn't have scored many.

So I'm not sure - though he did have a low influence in terms of G/A, how much of that was down to his ability or simply the system.

Didn't we have Knockaert that season too?

Regularly one of the best attackers in the Championship but most likely hamstrung by Hughton's less than adventurous tactics.

 

[Statto]

Didn't we have Knockaert that season too?

Regularly one of the best attackers in the Championship but most likely hamstrung by Hughton's less than adventurous tactics.

Yes we did but the fact he wasn't doing much when we got him and has done little since indicates that could be more the player, but not necessarily.

 

[Rubics]

Yes - we had Knockaert and he was about as good as harry arter was here!

 

[Statto]

Yes - we had Knockaert and he was about as good as harry arter was here!

Same tactic of signing players who scored against us when we were shit and then being surprised that they were shit.

Didn't we get Arter because of that crazy goal he scored for Fulham against us in the end of that season we nearly made the play offs under Lamouchi, and then expect him to be some MGW style all action AM when actually he was more of a 6 or an 8 at best?

 

[Frank Clark’s Tash]

If you can't get by, having earned in excess £6m before you're even 30, then I have very little sympathy to be honest.

Plenty of people have to get by on far less than £20k/year, many of whom will have faced far greater struggles in life to date, with absolutely no safety net at all as afforded by being a pro footballer for decades.

 

[TrentEndGaribaldi]

If he has an expensive house with a large mortgage pay back and also a car probably on credit for example not working would go down quickly.

And it isn't always practical or easy to be able to reduce these straight away by moving out to somewhere more manageable.

We also don't know how much he was spending relative to his income as a player. If it was all going on flash holidays in the Caribbean and he was writing off sports cars every few months then even the salary of a 2nd tier footballer could go down quickly, if he hasn't accumulated any capital. Or he's done gambling it away or been advised to invest in things which have not returned...

Agreed it’s easily done.

The bleak part is how short sighted it is when for 10 years they have it all

 

[Statto]

Agreed it’s easily done.

The bleak part is how short sighted it is when for 10 years they have it all

Let's be fair here. Though I agree there's a bit more context to add.

Most of us on here don't fit the typical footballer stereotype, including the one who was an academy player.

I'm not too sure Sammy and his family do either. By accounts they are quite religious and Sammy got good exam results at school. Though you occasionally do see this (and perhaps maybe more so recently with City, Chelsea and Palace independently educating some prospects, including CHO who went to Whitgift, and there's always the likes of Fin Back and Joe Gardner in our Academy and that Albino and Bamford who are also independent school) it's still an exception (and I still think Cole Palmer and Phil Foden are a bit stupid lol).

Most of them are young lads, who are living their dream, and part of that dream is the WAG, the big house, the flash car... but they are not world sensible enough to realise necessarily that it's a short career, very few earn serious money before 21ish, and very few play much into their mid to late 30s. So we're probably talking 15 years tops on them earning that serious money.

It must feel at the time like they are the poor family on something like Rich House, Poor House because at the click of a finger they have more money than they know what to do with. But they are presumably being badly advised because that money is basically to set them up for life - whilst coaching, management, punditry etc will earn them money, it won't be anywhere near (it must be one of the few examples where a manager earns less than the staff they manage). But the interest on the flash car payments, the mortgage on the massive house, may well be absorbed on their wage but crucially not when they finished playing.

In Sammy's case, he is still only 32 (born May 1992) and left us in Summer 2021 at 29. He didn't play for Middlesbrough for the whole next year as he was injured before playing for them and was released the year after at the age of just 30. Even when he was playing, we got him after 2 years in a Bolton side which struggled in the 2nd tier then got relegated and basically imploded financially at the same time. Year before that he was on loan from Newcastle and they were in L1. So he wasn't really much more than a prospect from a PL side who never really made it there loaned out a few times then signed for a struggling side and retired very early. Looking at it that way, there isn't much of a gravy train for him.

I think looking at this specific incident Sammy probably realised he was wrong to drive off, but probably made a (wrong) snap decision to make it into work, when the reality is most sensible employers would understand. That he is on an apprenticeship shows he's getting stuck into his life outside football. It was a silly mistake, but one which he will learn from.

 

[Captain Sinister]

Are we buying him again?

 

[Forest65]

"independently educating some prospects, including CHO who went to Whitgift"

Once drove all the way from Leeds to photograph a climbing wall at Whitgift. Long way for a couple of shots of an empty wall.

 

[Statto]

"independently educating some prospects, including CHO who went to Whitgift"

Once drove all the way from Leeds to photograph a climbing wall at Whitgift. Long way for a couple of shots of an empty wall.

Seems a bit of a waste of time when there was presumably a climbing wall in Leeds, if they really needed that particular one couldn't they have got someone there to take the shots and send them up?

 

[Forest65]

The company was based in Leeds, I did all their photography. That was a nice easy one. Sports centre in Darlington they had me in a harness on the end of a rope in mid air to get the shot they wanted.

 

[John robertsons socks]

If you can't get by, having earned in excess £6m before you're even 30, then I have very little sympathy to be honest.

Plenty of people have to get by on far less than £20k/year, many of whom will have faced far greater struggles in life to date, with absolutely no safety net at all as afforded by being a pro footballer for decades.

when me eldest was born in 1999 my take home pay was 174 pw no top ups from the state either