SO Michael Owen lost £20,000 playing cards at the World Cup.

Big deal many might say.

For a player who earns in excess of £60,000 per week, £20K could hardly be considered big money.

Admittedly for a manual worker on Merseyside it would probably be in excess of a year's earnings, but Owen is not the average man on the street.

It would be the equivalent of a Bootle docker blowing £150 on the horses.

A problem if he was doing it every day, but bad news as opposed to life-threatening.

Michael Owen, or 'Lucky' as he was affectionately known by his card-playing colleagues, can afford to lose £20,000 at poker or black jack, or even happy families if that's his game of choice.

He could afford to lose £200,000 at cards without really worrying.

When it comes to Eidur Gudjohnsen running up £400,000 debts in a London casino, then it starts becoming a problem.

Top players in the Premiership today are earning so much money that they simply don't know what to do with it - or so it appears.

Owen may be a father-to-be but his disposable income is probably enough to purchase a three-bedroom semi in Liverpool every week of his playing career.

It may be an obscene amount of money to 'blow' on the turn of a card to the average punter, but that's what the modern-day professional does.

Sven-Goran Eriksson had warned his England squad not to get involved in any high-stakes gambling - following the furore that surrounded betting during Kevin Keegan's tenure - but what exactly does the Swede expect 21 men couped up together to do.

The needlework class set up by David Seaman during last year's sojourn in Japan and South Korea just didn't take-off.

And as for cooking with Gareth Southgate, the less said the better.

British footballers gamble and British footballers play golf - that's what they do.

They have plenty of free-time on their hands, and in the 1970s and 1980s they used to spend that sinking pints.

Are we saying that we would prefer our top sportsmen to be knocking back lager after lager rather than trying to bluff their way with Jack high?

The most worrying thing about this 'revelation' appears to be that Newcastle United's Kieron Dyer - and yes he was at the World Cup - was the main beneficiary.

Judging by his non-performances against Sweden and Brazil it confirms a theory that he left his best form at the poker school.

The real fear about the gambling was that it might dent the harmony in the camp, with players owing each other huge sums.

But the players became more united after the mauling they received following the Sweden draw in the first game of the tournament - and the card games would have helped.

Nothing unites better than adversity. Remember how the Euro 96 squad came together when they were pilloried for their dentist chair antics on a Far East tour before the big event had even begun.

There's no doubt there were card schools then, as there probably were among the boys of 1966.

It's the way certain players unwind, and no footballer has ever been seriously injured playing cards. Don't bet against another school ahead of next month's friendly against Australia.