‘Priesthood’ that prays big bucks

IT’S great to see Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Joey Barton put their reputations on the line by moving into management. For years we’ve moaned about an English coaching brain drain due to top-class players foregoing the dugout for the TV couch. It’s especially welcome after a season in which the same old British faces such as Alan Pardew, Sam Allardyce and David Moyes replaced sacked managers at top clubs, only to be fired themselves by the end of the season. Patrick Vieira (below) is another midfielder of that generation in his early days as a manager, inspiring Arsene Wenger to warn him “a great coach means a man in great suffering as well. It’s a priesthood, a sacrifice of a life.”

Maybe, but I don’t hear of many priests leaving their church with £6million compensation before turning up for a payday in a different pulpit a month later.

Too much emphasis is put on the pain of this cursed job by rich, middle-aged men who can’t wait to be cursed again. It’s time for some young priests to spread the gospel.