Role Models - Don't make me laugh!

Ryan Giggs has made a bit of a splash recently. The tabloids, fresh from complaining about the prevalence of sexualising influences on the young, have been full of tittle tattle about the footballer's extra-curricular activities. They have been busy splashing this story around and making hay while the scent is fresh (too many metaphors - sorry!)

One of the big complaints against Giggsy is that he is a role model. The red tops have been quick to condemn his actions on that basis - that young people will be tempted to emulate the actions of their footballing hero and follow his path to the dark side. It hasn't worried them that their own papers are full of scantily clad women and 'stories' about the sexual exploits of minor celebrities. The responsibility stops at Ryan himself. He is the role model and they are blameless in the crusade to clean things up for the impressionable and vulnerable.

Still, we all know that tabloids are disgusting hypocritical rags, unfit to wipe the spotty bottoms of the most squalid curry-eating tramps. What makes me laugh is the idea that footballers are role models. How can the choices made by educationally challenged multi-millionaires, paid handsomely for kicking a bag of leather around a patch of grass, be seen as worthy of emulation by the young? Any parent who complains about the influence of footballers' pecadillos on their children has basically admitted to being a bad parent. If a worried parent feels that they have less influence on their children than shadowy figures in the media, then they have failed - big time.

Football exists on a planet of its own. The same rules that apply to the rest of society don't apply on planet football. The governance of FIFA is a well-known joke for starters. The money that these players are paid is mind-blowing. The cost of tickets that often poor fans are prepared to pay is staggering. And the general behaviour of managers, players and chairmen is an ongoing embarrassment.

At present, for instance, two clubs are arguing over a manager. The manager has just resigned from one club and another club is desperate to bring him on board. Both clubs are fighting over this man and it is all rather unseemly. In the real world, one might assume that he must be a very talented manager. He must be a real winner with a great track record. But no! Alex McLeish, until recently manager of relegated club Birmingham City, oversaw the club losing its status in top flight football. As managers go, he might just be considered a failure. But ambitious club Aston Villa cannot wait to get their hands on Mr Failure - even though the Villa fans think he is worse than useless. Goodness knows why these clubs are fighting over McLeish. In the real world, he would have been sacked by Birmingham and Villa would be laughing at the suggestion that he might manage them. But this is not a real world situation, using real world criteria. If these rules operated in the real world, I would be Prime Minister by now.

Villa fans don't want Mr Failure

So, maybe we should stop looking to football and footballers to be our role models. Perhaps parents should be telling their children to look elsewhere. Maybe it would be sensible to explain that these are just overpaid, spoiled and inarticulate individuals who operate in a different world with different rules. Just perhaps, they could just talk to their children and, you know, help them establish some standards to help them live their lives by. I always thought that that's what parents did. Obviously, I was wrong.