Yet, unabashed, the merchants of doom are it again. The panic argument of the new century is that the moment footballers are allowed to hand in their notice, then the likes of Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Real Madrid will be unable to turn out half-decent teams a week later. Ignore the interminable wrangling over infinitesimal points of contract by Gordon Taylor's domestic and Continental players' unions and the governing bodies of European and world football. Forget, for a moment, that when it comes to metric weights and measures, the curvature of the common banana and how we are supposed to eat our daily meat, the European Union is as ridiculous as Betty Boothroyd in a bikini. All that needs to be remembered here is that footballers are human beings.
Footballers endure the same pressures, insecurities and anxieties as anyone else.
They share everyone's hopes and aspirations. They want to win and they want to be loved and respected. They know how quickly success can turn sour. They have wives and children who like where they live and have no desire to keep being uprooted. They make friends at work and they forge bonds with their local communities.