In my line of work (nowhere near as exciting as being a professional sportsman), I am constantly monitored, assessed and reviewed to ensure I am doing my job properly and to a good standard. Any slips or lack of knowledge and I am in the firing line for not receiving a pay rise or bonus. Why can this not be applied to the world of sport?
Take David Warner currently one of the brightest stars in the game for example. In the coming year he is due to play up to 11 Tests, 26 ODIs and 12 Twenty20 internationals (up to 93 days of play) for Australia. I am sure he is getting paid a pretty penny for this and I for one don't begrudge this if he continues his fine form. Indeed a number of England's batsmen should take note of his actions given their recent horrendous performances.
David Warner - A run and work machine
I also don't begrudge anyone making good money for doing their job well. Sportsmen and Women at the end of the day are for the most part very well paid entertainers, certainly better paid than yours truly. And whereas they can suffer a temporary blip in form any longer term poor performance should be met with a pay cut in my opinion.
The clubs they play for want to make money by drawing the crowds in. If the players and team aren't playing well then the crowds are less likely to come. Therefore these clubs need to sit up and give these players a kick up the backside if they are not performing if they want to keep the punters coming through the turnstiles.
Football as well as Cricket is another classic example of this. Teams in the Premier League pay hundreds of thousands of pounds a week to players that turn up for training and then sit on the bench on a Saturday.
The majority of players outside of a team's first XI don't even play for their reserve teams so are technically being paid to train, sit on their backsides and maybe do a 20 minute warm up before the game which I for one struggle to comprehend.
The managerial side of the game also seems to be one of the only careers where you can basically be terrible at your job and get paid millions of pounds (Benitez I'm looking at you) when you're sacked, provided you have the right contract and a crafty agent. You then a few weeks or months time walk into another club and repeat all over again. In the current climate that this country finds itself in I find this all a bit criminal.
The introduction of performance related pay, i.e. 'you have to score more than 1000 runs, make 500 successful passes etc.' in my mind could only be a good thing and surely would get a lot of players out of their very protective bubbles and performing well. Sure the pressure may get a bit intense but there are far more stressful occupations in the World.
So what will be done? Most likely nothing as this is just my opinion for all it's worth and something I fancied getting off my chest, but hopefully it may have got you thinking..
'Don't worry KP, your cheque is still in the post'
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