In terms of the United side of it, I think your career has to take priority. Later down the line who knows you might be able to get a similar job with Arsenal with this on your CV. Or at least another club closer to where you want to be living.
How much requirement is there to be at the place? Is it something you could consider the train/car for? I.e one day a week, or two days but you could stay somewhere overnight?
If it was me that’s what I would choose until I’d been there a little while (unless of course you need to be there most days).
In terms of the evenings/weekends part, I guess that’s only the minute by minute commentary? You said you never wanted to do evening/weekend work, but I’m assuming this is only for a few hours at a time, and only for 1-2 eves/weekend days per week?
And the other thing is whether you enjoy doing it, and would be watching some of those matches anyway? A job is obv a lot easier/nicer when you enjoy it.
The house situation is tricky if you did need to move to Manchester. You could ask if your mum would be happy to sell as well? At least the bathroom should help increase the sale price if you did decide to sell
You only live one life and have one shot at a career, who knows what kind of opportunities this could lead to.
And if you don’t like it after 6 months or a year or whatever, just move back. You just don’t want to kick yourself when you’re older and looking back for not taking a big opportunity.
Ah see, I used to hate this, comparatively speaking.
One of my first contracts was relief working where I’d be rota’d in every other Saturday. Having a random Tuesday off in the middle of the week to make up for that meant I didn’t know what to do with myself seeing as all my mates were at work lol.
First impression is it sounds like there’s enough doubts that this might not be for you right now if you weren’t even looking for anything like this.
If they’re happy with your work potentially you might be able to try and push for more remote or carry on freelance for a bit longer?
I don’t know how well your current work is going but I’d have thought freelance over proper job was probably a lifestyle choice too? I don’t know how much more money or stability would help.
Depending on how long you’ve freelanced you could probably blag the “good name on the CV” anyway since you’re already doing the work directly for them so I wouldn’t worry too much about that, although being somewhat on the inside of football would potentially be interesting.
My current company is based mostly in Manchester and they seem to all like living in/around it. If I was a bachelor without much to lose I’d probably have moved up there for a change of scene.
I got a job at Cosmopolitan. Which was a childhood dream. But I bloody hated it. It was like Devil Wears Prada. Cliques and all that. I was too much of a Tom Boy to fit in. One girl even said I pretended to like sport just to pull guys. I know more about some sports than a lot of guys.
I felt bullied. I went to the toilets one time and I heard two girls talking about me, “pretty sure she is wearing a top from Oasis”. So bloody what?!
Also, my boss had a go at me for working too fast. I was like “is there something wrong with my work?”. Nope. It was good. So then I finished my work and just looked at cat videos on YouTube for an hour before handing it in.
Sorry for rant. But think that sums up why I quit and just went freelance.
Just think of it this way, winter is nigh for you guys. Weekend working isn’t so bad, then. Summer is a bummer (inconvenient rhyme ) but if it gets to November and the weekends are taking the piss, you can always “up sticks”, or whatever that saying is (although I appreciate changing jobs is far easier said than done)
If you have as many reservations as you do then I can’t see any reason as to why it’s a good idea. Outside of being Manchester United you’re effectively giving up something you’ve worked hard for which is a lot more autonomy over your time.
Personally, if the pandemic taught me anything it’s their employers are much more desperate for us than we are for them now.
If it pays extremely well (comparative to whatever freelance pays on average over the course of a tax year) that’s something to definitively consider but it sounds to me like you have too many reservations about this.
No doubt it’s an amazing opportunity though. But if you don’t feel the pros are overwhelmingly overriding the cons then I’m not sure it’s for you. It’s not like you’ll be short of work otherwise.
I would go back with a counter offer - say the opportunity really appeals to you but you can’t move to Manchester so there needs to be more flexibility around remote working. Maybe you stay overnight there for a block of 2/3 days every fortnight, or you get the train in once or even twice a week.
If they want you enough, they should hopefully be open to alternatives.
Ultimately, it sounds like you don’t want to move because of the hassle and the autonomy you’d have to give up. Only solution is that you meet in the middle(ish) somewhere, but perhaps 70/30 in your favour.
Yeah I guess that could work. One part of the job is going to matches, a lot of away matches will be in London. And if I have to work a weekend day, I get a day and a half off in the week. Maybe there could be some flexibility. I could defo do it from home. It’s mainly just managing Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
If I take the job and do the tweets, do you think I’d get away with “Maguire’s own goal gives Arsenal the lead. LOL”?
) but if it gets to November and the weekends are taking the piss, you can always “up sticks”, or whatever that saying is (although I appreciate changing jobs is far easier said than done)
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