Jul 04 2008
The Sad Tale Of Ben Collett
Ben Collett is a name you may not have heard before in the football world. He played on Manchester United’s reserve team back in 2003, and that same year at age 18 Ben suffered a horrific tackle from a Middlesbrough player, one Gary Smith. Ben’s leg was broken in two places, and as a result he could never play professional football again. Sad story.
What is sort of crap about it, is that Ben Collett is now suing Middlesbrough for £16million, stating that had his career been able to continue he would have become an A-list player. Even bringing in the opinions of Gary Neville and Sir Alex Ferguson to vouch for the young boy’s talent. Which I call crap.
I hate this story, because yes I feel bad for some poor lad who’s career was cut short in an unfortunate incident. Yes Middlesbrough are responsible in some respect, as even the club admitted the tackle was harsh on Collett. But £16million in asking, saying that you would have been a top earner without even playing one game in the Premiership. Seriously?
Career’s get cut short through injury, it’s an unfortunate circumstance of the game. Not everyone remains healthy enough to break all time appearance records like Ryan Giggs, because most of that is luck. The good fortune to stay healthy, and avoid the career ending iffy tackles. But you don’t get to sue when something goes wrong. Especially not saying that you had what it took to compete in the top-flight without having ever played a game.
So it disgust me to some extent. But even as a professional athlete, you know your career isn’t going to be that long, so you have to have a contingency for when your sporting career is over. Collett should have had a reasonable one, understanding that the dream of playing football for a living is always just one bad tackle from being taken away.
Don’t get me wrong, Boro should have to pay something for ruining the poor boy’s career. But I don’t think £16million because of what might have been in his career is quite accurate.
the 16 million he is claiming is only based on earning 13,000 a week if he plays until he is 35 which is nothing compared to most of the premiership and definately nothing if he was to stay at united…..
I think u have a point 16m is just outrageous
i partially agree with you, but if you think about it £16 million isnt so much for a football club like middlesborough,
secondly, players are becoming more and more expensive and who knows maybe this guy could have gone on to become the next pele (even if it is somewhat unlikely) in that case £16 million really doesnt seem that much.
oh fack orf you cant. my old man says follow the van and dont dilly dally on the way.
What a load of rubbish. Of course the lad deserved it. He was the best player of his age at United at the time, and even if he’d dropped down a division to play in the Championship, he’d have had a professional football career lasting him until he was in his thirties.
The idea that he can be chopped down in a game by what must have been an outrageous tackle, and left with nothing, beggars belief.
Two notes:
One: Middlesborough and their insurers admitted liability.
Now, in football it’s notoriously difficult to prove a player deliberately harmed another player. For example, Paul Elliott sued Dean Saunders but couldn’t prove that Saunders meant it - even thought most football fans could tell just by looking at the replay.
So for Boro and their insurers to admit liability, it must have been BAD. Like cast-iron proof, it was a terrible tackle and intentional too.
Two: He was claiming £16 million.
But he was awarded £4.5. When you apply for compensation, you start high, then work down. That’s just the way it works.
Unfortunately his career was stolen from him, and while this is common, players at all levels are insured and deserve to be protected in case their whole career ends.
They might be able to start a new career, but it’s unlikely to be anywhere near as lucrative as football.
I found out today that the insurers are appealing - I hope they don’t succeed.
No-one knows just how good this lad could have been.
Btw - I’m not a United fan.
Is it relevant to point out that this lad was only playing his first ever game in the reserves at the time? So not an established reserve team player at 18 years old.
Also , he was still at united while he recovered, then he did carry on playing , at some team in New Zealand for a year, then in Holland I think for a year after that. THEN he retired.
Now I understand it was awful for him to end his career, and that at the time he was voted youth player of the year. Same as Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Wes Brown, and Phil Neville. Oh, and also between thosethe time roughly when that famous four won it and Ben Collett did, so were Lee Martin, Bojan Djordjic,Alan Tate and Paul Tierney, among others.
It doesn’t guarantee success..
I don’t want to say he doesn’t deserve to get something, but it is the large amount and the way Alex Ferguson’s verdict on who will be a top class player is accepted as fact in court that just don’t seem right to me.
And why choose to sue the club (Middlesbrough) and not the player if it was that bad a tackle? Or is that because he isn’t able to pay that much and they can?
(Not advocating suing at all here.. I have played football, and if i thought I had to worry about being sued if someone got hurt every time I made a tackle, well, it is unthinkable..)