Most male adolescents on this side of the Atlantic grow up with aspirations of one day becoming a professional footballer. The profession is widely regarded as a dream job, which as the BBC have shown is a bit of a fallacy.
The life of a professional footballer can be a rough existence, and that goes across all levels of the game. Even players in the academy's of top tier clubs are not guaranteed a future in the sport.
Injury or lacking the requisite talent to make it at the top level are not the only reasons why a player's career can be cut short. There is also a disproportionate amount of footballers who have been lured into a life of crime. A startling number of players are currently incarcerated and have committed offences.
Pictured above is former West Ham hot prospect Josh Payne. He broke into the Hammers' first team squad at 18 but was released a year later. Payne served a six-month stint in jail for actual bodily harm and assault. He now plays part-time for Woking FC.
Michael Branch came up through the ranks at Everton. After failing to make it at the Toffees, the former England U21 fell down the leagues before finishing his career with non-league side Burscough. He is currently serving a seven year jail sentence for serious drug offences including possession of cocaine and amphetamine.
Gavin Heeroo (above) was a youth player at Crystal Palace. He was released in 2004 and developed a gambling addiction. He has since overcome the habit and now runs his own business but at the peak of his addiction he claimed to have gambled £20,000 on single bets.
[BBC]
