We are living in straightened times. Gone are excesses of the early part of the decade and now everyone - young and old, rich and poor - is feeling the pinch. In particular the fortunes of those who led the charge have dissipated. Bankers and brokers, formerly on multi-million pound bonuses, now also find themselves in the dole queue.
Likewise, the fortunes of two top managers have followed a similar trajectory. In 2002, during the height of the Naughties’ hyper-active bubble, Sven Goran-Erikson was the highest paid manager in the world, raking in a massive £5m per year as England boss. In the same year Luiz Filipe Scolari guided Brazil to their fifth World Cup triumph.
Six years on and how the proverbial worm has turned. World Cup winner Scolari is the current incumbent of the hot-seat at Uzbek outfit Bunyudkor; Sven, meanwhile, has become director of football role at League Two side Notts County.
Nowhere more so than football management is the old adage ‘You’re only as good as your last game’ more applicable. Whilst Sven’s reputation has been steadily - perhaps unjustly - in decline since he took the England job, it took a mere 201 days at Chelsea for Scolari to undo a career’s worth of good work.
With both men the wrong side of 60, can you blame them for opting for a cushy gig in the twilight of their careers? Sven is set to bag a cool £2m-a-year as County’s Director of Football – a role which in essence involves doing nothing and specifically staying out of first-team affairs. Scolari, on the other hand, manages one of the world’s richest clubs in a country where 45 % of the population live on less than $1.25 per day.
These men have forgone dignity and professional integrity in favour of financial reward. But, in these times, needs a must. So when you see your local bank manager wiping tables at McDonald’s, spare a thought for Sven and Luiz, football’s manifestation of the economic bust.