Level of unemployed footballers on the wane

The
number of unemployed professional footballers has dropped for the first time in
two years.

According
to the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), 499 players are now
available for work, a fall of 87 on last year’s figure, and an improvement on 2002,
when 562 players were looking for clubs.

However,
there are signs that the numbers of unemployed players are falling because many
lower-league footballers have re-negotiated contract deals at lower rates.

PFA
spokesman Simon Barker told the Press Association: “There will always be a
situation in the summer where players are out of contract and clubs are
changing their squads.

“It
is a big time for those clubs as they restructure their finances. Obviously
they can only release players who are out of contract. Sometimes they try and
bring them back in again for less money.”

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Among
those available and listed on the PFA website are former internationals, such
as Teddy Sheringham, Darren Anderton and Tim Sherwood.

By Daniel Thomas