BIG-HEARTED Sunderland soccer star Niall Quinn, who is handing over the estimated £1m he will earn from his forthcoming testimonial match to charity, highlights just how much football has changed over the past few decades.

Footballers, even in top clubs, used to earn a fraction of what today's stars bring home, with salaries subject to maximum wage restrictions. The purpose of testimonial matches then was to provide a pension for footballers at the end of their short-lived careers. Without this testimonial windfall - which was, and still is, tax-free - many found themselves on the scrapheap at 30, uncertain of what the future held.

Today's highly-paid professionals are already nicely set up for old age. Quinn, who says he has abused the privileged life he has led as a well-paid professional, feels that giving his testimonial money away, to hospitals in Sunderland and Dublin, is about "repaying my debt".

Generous as his gesture is, Quinn is big enough to admit this is money he doesn't need. Players in the 1960s didn't have that luxury. So why do today's super-rich stars still enjoy such a tax-free perk? Quinn, who says his eyes were opened when he visited a children's hospital and met youngsters with just days to live, would be the first to admit footballers like himself are hardly charity cases.

A GROUP of former Celtic football players interviewed for Channel 4's 100 Greatest Sporting Moments at the weekend revealed just how far footballers have come since the 1960s. The 1967 stars, who beat Internazionale of Milan 2-1 to become the first British team to win the European Champions' Cup, were pale, scrawny youngsters on the field. When the final whistle blew, they all ran to their goalie - to retrieve their false teeth. "There were so many teeth, we had to work out which was which," said one. I wonder how many pairs of false teeth there are in the Premier League today?

MEN like Britannic Assurance chief Danny O'Neil, who has given up his £300,000-a-year job to spend more time with his children, should be applauded. With Prince Charles announcing he is ditching some of his duties to spend more time with 17-year-old Prince Harry, this is fast becoming a trend. Of course, women sacrifice their careers all the time, yet no one bats an eyelid. And it is interesting to note Mr O'Neil's oldest child is off to university, while his youngest, triplets, are nine years old and at school. It may be difficult for Mr O'Neil to become a hands-on parent after so many years working long hours in the office. And how will his children react? When Homer Simpson tried to become a more involved father, Bart was not impressed: "Sorry, Dad, but your half-assed over-parenting is much worse than your half-assed under-parenting."

FOOTBALLERS' Wives actor John Forgeham admits he has signed up with an agency to find a Filipino wife. He wouldn't be the first 60-year-old British man to search out a beautiful young bride keen to do everything she can to please her wrinkly old husband in return for a roof over her head and square meals. But the agency Mr Forgeham is using insists Filipino women aren't subservient, just "non-argumentative". A subtle difference.