ABSTRACT
Professional footballers, like members of other occupational groups, may be seen as pursuing a ‘career path’ that involves a series of complex interactions between themselves and their employers, the football clubs, centring on the negotiation and the subsequent fulfilment of contracts of employment. In addition, players and clubs can also be said to formulate ‘psychological contracts’, implicit agreements based on mutual expectations relating to the exchange process involved. For example, a player may expect that he will work hard, always do his best and live up to the requirements of his manager and the club as a whole, and that in exchange the manager and the club will work to provide him with opportunities to make progress, to be rewarded appropriately for his efforts and to be given satisfactory working conditions. Where these expectations are not met by either party serious consequences may follow. For example, the player may become less committed to the club and less focused on working for the team, and the club may decide to relegate the player to the reserves or, at the end of the season, choose not to retain his services.
