Alexis and Armfield are worlds apart

WE LEARNED last Monday of the death of the legendary English footballer, Jimmy Armfield, and how when he built a garage for his first car, a black Morris Minor saloon, at the end terrace house owned by his employers, Blackpool FC, that he discovered an extra deduction from his salary in addition to his weekly rent.

‘You’ve got a garage now,’ club secretary, Fred Jones informed him, ‘… that’s ten bob extra!’

In fact, we learned an awful lot about the great man, who broke his toe in England’s last friendly game against Finland before the 1966 World Cup finals, and had to forfeit the captaincy to Bobby Moore.

Hour by hour, on the Irish Daily Mail sports desk, news feeds told us more and more about Armfield’s life and times, but Monday last was one of those really head-spinning days when, also hour by hour, we learned more and more about the excesses in the life of the highest paid footballer in the English game, Alexis Sanchez as he became the property of Manchester United after his transfer from Arsenal.

Armfield… Sanchez… Armfield… Sanchez, the stories kept coming, until we had totted up the maximum weekly wage the Chilean could muster for himself (£350,000 basic salary + £100,000 image rights + £150,000 bonuses = £600,000 per week).

Alright, so Sanchez (above) did have to go barefoot on the football field for a while as a boy because his mother could not afford a pair of boots.

That won him some bonus points in our overall estimation of him as a footballer and as a human being, but repeatedly the revelations about Sanchez were thankfully obliterated by evidence of Armfield’s loyalty and patience, and all round decency as an individual.

He played for no other club but Blackpool, whom he represented 627 times. Meanwhile, when England lifted the Jules Rimet trophy in ’66, Armfield and the other players not in the match day squad did not get to join Moore and Co on their joyous lap of honour, but instead went back to the dressing room to wait for their heroic teammates.

His England pay slip for the tournament was £248, which included match fees at £30 per game, his daily allowance and his return train fare (second class) from Blackpool.

Armfield had to wait 30 years for his World Cup winner’s medal after the FA persuaded FIFA that all of Ramsey’s squad should be treated equally.

And the day he passes away, alas, he has to share it with one giant-sized spoilt footballer.