ALAN SHEARER and Gary Lineker have revealed just how low their wages used to be in comparison to the modern day footballer.
The pair were discussing their salaries alongside Micah Richards on their podcast The Rest Is Football.
And when recalling their weekly wages from their first contracts they left Richards and listeners alike in shock and the comparatively low level of money.
Shearer lifted the lid on his first deal at Southampton that he earned after bagging a debut hat-trick against Arsenal.
He said: “My first one [contract] was at Southampton. As soon as I’d scored my hat-trick, four days later I signed a pro contract.
“And bare in mind I had been as a youth player on £27.50 per week for a couple of years.
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“When I signed my pro contract a few days later I had suddenly gone from £27 per week to £225 a week and I got a £6,000 signing on fee.”
The former Newcastle star recalled the money landing in his account and immediately heading out to buy himself a new motor.
“I went out straight away and I bought my first car. [For] £3,995 Ford Escort in Red. I thought I was a multi-billionaire.”
And if Shearer thought his salary was low, it was still plenty compared to Lineker’s first payslip at Leicester in 1977.
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The World Cup golden boot winner said: “My first paycheque, and this is how things have changed a little bit,
“My first paycheque was £16 in an envelope with a separate envelope with a fiver in it for my mum.
“Because I was a local lad, most of the players that had joined the club came from far away so they were all in digs so therefore they got all the food free,
“So you got an extra £5 if you were local, but my mum never took it.”
He went on to reveal how is pay increased over his career.
“I signed my first professional contract and I earned £100 a week and that was in 1978.
“I had that contract for about three years and then signed a new one when I though I was really rich when I was put up to £400 a week and that’s what I was earning when I left Leicester at 24.”
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