Further…
…to this story from a couple of weeks ago it looks like Watford’s Alhassan Bangura is set to be deported from the UK.
Attempted rape, mutilation and witchcraft
Not exactly your run of the mill Championship footballer.
Watford’s Alhassan Bangura on his struggles to stay in England and avoid deportation to Sierra Leone. Can you imagine how far Ashley Cole would have swerved off the road if this sort of thing was happening to him?
Blind Leading The Blind
So FIFA is to work with the FA with regard to the West Ham/Tevez debacle.
Expect swift and decisive action. And no hints of corruption. From anyone. Anywhere. Nope.
Middle aged billionaire leaves wife for younger, hotter woman
Roman Abramovich, billionaire owner of Chelsea FC and former BFF of Jose Mourinho, is divorcing his wire Irina. If you’re into the whole family-values thing, that’s the bad news, especially as it is becoming increasingly obvious that that split was preciptated by Roman enjoying, um, carnal knowledge of ex-model Dharia Zukova.
If you’re into cosmic justice, though, the good news is that the ex-Mrs Abramovich is looking to walk away with about £1 billion. Not bad, considering that the most one of us mere mortals usually walk away with post break-up is an awkward hug, before hiding in the loo to cry and curse God.
A cursory amount of digging reveals that Ms Zukova’s dad is a bit of a bad-ass, and was alleged to have been a key player in a Russian mafia group which ran guns to Croatian warlords in the Bosnian conflict. He beat the charges, though, so maybe he’s just a very nice man who got rich fair and square in post-communist Russia—just like Roman. *cough cough*
Apparently, Roman met his new ladyfriend at a Barcelona match, and they have been spotted at various locations all over the world, including Chelsea home matches.
This proves why the rich are different than us: They can do whatever the hell they want. Your affairs are carried out through furtive text messages and guilt-ridden, drunken gropes in the back of crap restaruants. Meanwhile, Abramovich brings his mistress to work with him. Awesome.
‘So, Roman, is this your, um, friend?’
‘Noooo… it’s the chick I’m banging. I’m pretty sure I told you about her—double-jointed, likes it a bit freaky?’
‘Uh…’
‘Yeah, can’t wait to trade in the wife and make this the full-time gig. By the way, how’s the time machine coming, so we can sign Best and Cruyff for next year’s title race? Need some more money?’
A Very Good Idea
One thing we can all agree on, is that Premiership footballers are, on the whole, grossly overpaid for the job they do. It’s easy to point the finger at players like Ballack on £130,000 per week, but when a fairly average player can be paid £20,000 for 7 days work, more than a nurse can get in a year, something has to be done.
That something is mayday for nurses. It is a scheme designed to get Premiership players to donate one day’s salary to a fund which will be distributed to nurses in financial hardship. So far the woman running the scheme, Noreena Hertz, has signed up 11 players, with Thierry Henry also about to chip in (something he’s not done too well in front of goal this season).
Sign up too, don’t worry you’re not signing away your money, and help to pressure on your clubs players to part with 24 hours worth of cash.
The FA/Sky
Arsene Wenger has been raging in the last week about the treatment that Arsenal get from officials - I’m not going to go into that specifically, but…
About three years ago, I did some work at the FA in Soho Square. This meant going round the whole building and visiting each and every office/department. What was most notable was that EVERY office, including those of Sven and David Davies had big tellies showing Sky Sports News all day. The Legal and Compliance Departments were just sat with their feet up, watching the screens all the time I was in there.
For me, this speaks fucking volumes about how the game is run.
Arsenal ban national flags
It seems the football world has gone PC mad. Some weeks ago a man flew a Turkish Cypriot flag at Ashburton Grove. A large number of people, Greek Cypriot Arsenal fans in particular, complained to the club.
In the light of that they have now decided to ban all national flags from the ground. This is a real shame. Part of the tradition of groups of Arsenal fans that travel from all over Europe to support their club was to bring a flag from their country. It has always been part of the atmosphere and a sign that Arsenal had fans from all over the world.
Obviously there’s a political issue if someone flies a Turkish Cypriot flag so given that Turkey aside, all foreign governments and the United Nations recognise the sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus over the whole island of Cyprus, why couldn’t Arsenal simply have banned that particular flag from the ground?
It seems a massive overreaction and opens the floodgates for more PC nonsense to take over the game. There will always be something to offend somebody. Do we just need to complain now to have it taken away or can’t we cope with anything at all.
As well as that the decision to ban flags has been seriously questioned when Arsenal run advertisements for the state of Israel all over the hoardings each match day and in the programme. See here for more.