How Man United's players took nannying to new levels on Milan trip

By David Anderson

Published 08:31 17/02/10

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It seems there is no limit to the pampering of today's top players.

Take Manchester United's stars. It has long been the case that their passports are collected off them in advance to make sure none of them forget them when they are flying out on Champions League trips.

But yesterday I witnessed a new development in the nannying of our top professionals.

They were met at check-in by a representative from their travel company who collected all their washbags from their snazy designer Paul Smith cases.

They obviously could not be expected to cope with the rules on carrying liquids in their hand luggage and so that worry was taken off their shoulders.

After seeing this it's not so hard to believe stories of millionaire footballers having their telephone, gas and electric cut off because they don't know how to pay their bills.

I know of one top-flight player who rang a friend of mine to ask how to book a taxi when we were arranging a night out.

Is it any wonder that many players run into so many problems when they stop playing and the agents who have run their lives since they were teenagers leave them?

Is it also any wonder that they are so out of touch with fans when they don't have a clue what is happening outside their cosy, little bubbles?

It's time to redress the imbalance and making the players responsible for their own washbags would be one small step.

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