Ben Collett was at one point supposed to be The Future Guy for Manchester United. Even before The Gelled One, he was going to run rampant down the Old Trafford wings and dazzling the crowd. But before he could even get a chance to fulfill that promise, his career was effectively ended by a brutal tackle which broke his leg. Worse yet, it happened in his first ever game for the reserve side after graduating from the youth setup. He’s played a couple seasons since in New Zealand and Holland, but it’s quite clear the end of the road has come.
Well, both the player, Gary Smith, who committed the tackle and his club, Middlesbrough, admitted liability in the case which opened the door for some damages. Those damages came in the form of a record £4.3m payout after testimony from those in the know (doctors, experts, Fergie…Gary Neville) saying he stood to earn a little over £16m during his career.
Now, I’m happy for Ben, because this is obviously a very minor consolation after having his dreams shattered (he’s now in college), but the question becomes: How was he a sure thing? In fact, is there even anything which could be considered a sure thing? Overly hyped phenoms fail miserably every single single year despite the praise and backing of some of the sport’s greatest minds. Maybe it’s the pressure or the trappings of the pro athlete lifestyle which fail their talent, something you can’t account for when anyone is simply a prospect with promise. Lots of wiggle room here.
The payout is only a fraction of his once potential “future earnings”, but it seems like a lot of this is based on speculation, which is strange. Obviously Boro admitting fault kicked this off, but one must wonder how these judgments can be so definitive when the potential prospects of athletes are anything but.
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