FOOTBALLERS' LIVES
Tuesday 23 August 2005 10pm-10.35pm
In the last 40 years money and fame have transformed footballers from working class heroes to multi-media icons. Time Shift explores how this change has come about and asks if today's lower league players aren't worse off than before.
As a life-long Manchester City fan, the writer Colin Shindler is better placed than most to comment on the ups and downs of professional football over the last 40 years. As the presenter of our Time Shift exploring the huge changes that players' lives have undergone since the PFA fought and won the right to remove the maximum wage in 1963, Colin brings an authority and passion to reflect on a familiar tale of greed, excess and media manipulation.
As he reflects, for the cream of the current premiership crop, being a local hero comes a long way behind crafting and maintaining an endorsement-friendly public image. But, following the collapse of ITV Digital, for players in today's lower divisions there's a chill wind of recession blowing with many facing cancelled contracts and enforced pay cuts."
