Football Loco: 'Loathsome' Cole can find good company in Germany
EVEN before his supreme efforts at White Hart Lane this week, there could be little doubt that if a vote was taken then Ashley Cole would run away with the title of 'Most Loathsome Footballer in Britain'.
Being married to the best looking member of Girls Aloud (and then cheating on her), screaming at referees that he won the ball, waving imaginary yellow cards...Cole is a classic example of all that is wrong about the Premier League today.
With this in mind, Cole might feel a twinge of sympathy for a certain Mark Van Bommel (right). The eternally-whinging Bayern Munich midfielder has just been voted the most hated man in the Bundesliga.
German daily 'Bild' ran a fan's poll to decide 'Der grösste Stinkstiefel' -- which translates as 'The biggest stinking boot' -- and the Dutchman won 25.28pc of the vote, which is a staggering achievement when one considers that his team-mate is Oliver Kahn.
'Mad Ollie' didn't even take the runner-up spot. He was edged out by Karlsruhe defender Maik Franz on 13.66pc compared with Kahn's 13.36pc although Franz had actually topped a different poll as the man whom other players and coaches hate the most.
He has been the subject of massive vocal criticism this season and got under the skin of Stuttgart striker Mario Gomez so much that he insulted Franz in a live TV interview.
While Van Bommel has yet to comment on his 'award' we'll leave the last word to Franz who, when asked if he was going to change his robust playing style, responded in fine fashion: "Shoves and insults are part of the game. They can have all the tissues from me that they want when they start crying."
Memories of Franco in Sevilla
THE reverberations from last weekend's bottle-throwing incident at the Real Betis v Athletic Bilbao game are being felt all around Spain, and nowhere more so than the Spanish football federation.
The match was abandoned with 18 minutes to go after Athletic 'keeper Armando Ribeiro was struck on the head by a bottle from a Betis fan behind the goal.
As Athletic were leading the game 2-1, the Basque club insisted they should be awarded the match. Betis claimed the remaining 18 minutes should be played at another date.
On Tuesday it was decided that the score should stand, while Sevilla club Betis were also given a two-game stadium ban. The decision has provoked outrage at Betis, with club president Pepe Leon launching a venomous attack on federation president Angel Maria Villar.
"We want to say that this is a savage act," blasted Leon. "They are going against us. Villar wants to send us to the Second Division -- I haven't seen such a persecution against Betis since the days of Franco."
Number of goals scored by the four players who Roy Keane dropped for the clash with Chelsea, just two goals short of Sunderland's tally for the season so far. Keane cited lack of effort in training for leaving the players out but it's not on thetraining pitch that teams earn points.
QUOTE-UNQUOTE
"It's true that Hleb saw Vigorelli and they left the hotel but it's not true that they went to talk to Inter. They went for an ice-cream. -- Vicenzo Morabito, an associate of Alexander Hleb's agent, Claudio Vigorelli, after claims that Hleb met with Inter officials to discuss a move to Italy.
"He said that I will not come back to play. I am happy that he said this. It is well known that whatever Pele forecasts, the exact opposite comes true." -- One Brazilian legend takes a swipe at another Brazilian legend after Pele cast doubts over whether Ronaldo could ever properly recover from his injury.
And finally . . .
A LIVERPOOL supporters' club which was set-up to try and force
out the club's current owners has finally settled on a name after
changing it twice.
Sons of Shankly was the name chosen for the group until female members protested. So, the name was changed to Sons and Daughters of Shankly but that was also changed when it was pointed out that the initials spelled out SADOS.
The group has now finally settled on Spirit of Shankly, which should be just fine as we can't see Liverpool being involved in a relegation battle anytime soon.
- Brian Carroll
