Bright decade for football. Bright? Let’s see the other side. Criticism was mounting and everything optimistic was also highly negative. Point by point in reverse, then.

This collage of Gerd Muller tells one thing: players think only of money and don’t care about the sport. Football is the last thing in their minds.

Becoming blown-up public face, the football player is more and more preoccupied with business activities having nothing to do with his profession. Advertisement contracts go well beyond the acceptable. Players are ready to do everything for money.

The acceptable advertising – sports products, clothing, shaving cream…

Gerd Muller posing with naked model. This photo brought heavy criticism from every possible quarter, including Bayern Munich. This was not acceptable. Ironically, Muller was not a playboy, but his image confronted the ‘values of the game’. Players had to be humble… yet, flashy.

Beppe Savoldi ‘bought’ Naples – his transfer from Bologna to Napoli in 1975 was considered almost insanely inflated. Players were becoming unreasonably rich.
Beckham’s Palace… unlike Savoldi’s, this one is real. The transformation started in the 1970s – from models of castles to real ones, so to speak. There is no football ground in Savoldi’s model and no football ground on Beckham’s property – critics were perhaps right? The new player cares for everything else, but football.