Jonjo Shelvey played for major Premier League clubs and also for the national team, but he’s now winding down his career in the United Arab Emirates second division, having moved out of England earlier this year.
The reason: the rising petty crime rate in England.
The former Liverpool, Newcastle United, Swansea City and Nottingham Forest midfielder – after “doing nothing for two months” – now plays for Arabian Falcons and though the money doesn’t compare to what he earned during his heyday, Shelvey has no regrets, despite being well settled on Tyneside when he decided to move.
“If I’m honest, I don’t want my children growing up in England any more. We’re very lucky that we lived in a nice part of the UK but where I’m from, originally, you can’t have nice things in my opinion,” the footballer hailing from Romford in east London was quoted as saying by BBC Sport.
“I’d never wear a watch in London any more. You can’t have your phone out in London, in my view.”
Shelvey and his wife Daisy Evans have two daughters and a son.
By various accounts, London has been described as the phone-snatching capital of the world. According to the Metropolitan Police, about 80,000 mobile phones were snatched in the British capital last year.
Also, 2009 Formula One world champion Jenson Button and wife Brittny had a case filled with £250,000 worth of valuables snatched outside London’s St Pancras station in February.
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The law enforcers say crime rates are down this year, but Shelvey doesn’t want to take any chances with his family’s safety. The current polarised political environment in Britain, as is the case in many Western countries, also contributed to his decision to move out.
“I’m not massive on reading politics,” the 33-year-old said. “I just see some of the things that go on. I see people getting arrested for tweeting and, then, all of the flags and ‘taking back the country’.
“I’m not going to sit here and comment on things like that because I’m not clever enough to, and I’ll get myself into trouble if I carry on, but I just feel that the UK isn’t what it was 10 to 15 years ago.”
Despite having played at some of the biggest football arenas in England, doing so in front of sparse crowds in the UAE doesn’t dishearten Shelvey as he says he didn’t make the move to boost his bank balance.
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“It doesn’t bother me. I’ve since seen a few things like ‘he’s gone there for money’. I’m thinking ‘what money? There’s no money in the UAE Second Division League’.
“The ballpark of the standard wage here is £2,000-a-month for a footballer. In terms of what I’ve earned throughout my career, that’s nothing. My brother earns more working in a hotel in London, so it was never about coming here for the money,” he adds.
