Footballers are easy targets. They lead such high-profile lives, they earn so much money, it is very easy to criticise their every move. Today, again, they are in the spotlight, this time because a large proportion of their pledges to give a day’s wages to the nursing profession has gone unpaid.

Quite frankly, I think this criticism is a touch unfair. I chuckled to myself when I read the story, not because I thought it was funny but because it is just so typical of a footballer. Not typical that they have apparently broken their promises – which I am sure is not the case, anyway – but typical of the way in which most of them lead their lives.

I think we all know that players do not live in the real world. When I played, I didn’t. It is like living in a world in which you never grow up, where everything is done for you and you rarely have to think of how to sort out the most basic of needs. It is mollycoddling to the nth degree, especially for the younger lads. It is as if they never really grow up. Or are allowed to.

And this, I would suggest, is the real reason why the nurses have yet to be paid. Not mean spiritedness. Not a nasty refusal to honour their “debts”. It is simply a case of them having forgotten or their gaggle of agents, assistants and “gofers” having forgotten. Or simple laziness. A case, albeit regrettable, of out of sight, out of mind.

If it was a new car they were buying, they would be down the showroom, selecting the latest flash black 4 x 4, choosing all the extras and paying up straight away. Because it is directly related to them and will be used on a day-to-day basis, it gets done. But other stuff such as charity work and presentations, even personal administration, can get pushed down the list. Know how hard it is to get a child to do his homework? You have to keep prodding and prodding until they do it. And even then reluctantly.

I was as bad as the modern-day players. I was once turned down for a Marks & Spencer card because I had been credit blacklisted. I was earning very good money at the time but I had missed a payment on my mortgage and, for that, I had the black spot on me. Members of my family, earning a tenth of what I was, could get an M&S card but, no, not me. And all because I had forgotten.

Footballers do get a lot of requests, too. Can you do this? Can you do that? Some are little more than begging letters, others touch a nerve. At times, it is like being on the receiving end of a flood of junk mail. You can only do so many events, accept so many invitations. And, believe me, if you take on too many, they can be tiring and time-consuming.

But players do it as much as they can. I remember one telling me how he went round the dressing-room of a top London club and asked his teammates for contributions to help the Irish homeless. He did not get a particularly polite response but, as in many a dressing-room, it was just banter. In the end, they all chipped in.

Footballers are always willing to help worthy causes – I don’t see a lot of other sportsmen and women doing it on such a regular basis – but, unless someone else is there to remind them about it, it can disappear off their radars. It’s hard for them to pay a utility bill let alone a charity bill.

I’m sure that this is what has happened with the Mayday for Nurses charity. The adverse publicity should serve as a timely reminder to the players and they will pay up soon. The cheque really is in the post.