AS PR jobs go, it’s a tricky one. Making Spurs fans fall for one of Arsenal’s most successful ever managers would stump even Max Clifford at his smarmiest.
When George Graham took over at White Hart Lane in 1998 the only way he was going to enamour himself to the Spurs faithful was trophies. Lots of trophies. Unfortunately for him though, the League Cup, which he picked up today in 1999, wasn’t enough.
Graham had been sacked by the Gooners in 1995 when it was discovered he had accepted a dodgy envelope with £425,000 cash in from Norwegian agent Rune Hauge during Arsenal’s purchase of John Jensen in 1992.
He then had to sit out a one-year ban from the FA before returning to management with Leeds United, where he would lead the Yorkshire side to fifth in the table and pave the way for Ridsdale and O’Leary to ‘live the dream’ and go wild buying over-priced goldfish and over-paying Seth Johnson.
In October 1998 Graham was the surprise choice to take over from caretaker David Pleat who had been manning the ship since Tube-enthusiast Christian Gross was sacked.
In first season Graham had led Spurs to the last ever League Cup final at the old Wembley Stadium, where they met Martin O’Neill’s Leicester City.
The 77,892 fans in attendance that day were not really treated to a classic. As the clock reached 90 minutes all the game had to show was a Justin Edinburgh red card and a Ramon Vega last-ditch tackle to prevent Emile Heskey scoring.
Just as everyone got ready for extra time Spurs’ Danish midfielder Allan Nielsen found the net with a last-gas diving header and their eight-year wait for a trophy was over.
Some Spurs fans began to get excited and believe they would become the dominant force in north London football, but a large proportion still couldn’t take Graham to their hearts and when he failed to break the top half of the Premiership he was sacked by Daniel Levy in March 2001.
History repeated itself last season, when Juande Ramos picked up the League Cup in his first season and soon fell though the managerial trap door, so by our logic, it’s a good job for ‘Arry Redknapp that he came home from Wembley with a losers medal last month.
As the ’99 League Cup final was a far too boring affair for anyone to both uploading footage onto YouTube for we thought we’d show you one of the funnier moments at White Hart Lane from this season instead. Enjoy that, see which other ex-Spurs and Leeds manager was hitting the headlines today here and make sure you’re back tomorrow for more of the same.
AS THE economy continues to contract quicker than Steven Ireland’s hairline, placing several lower and non-league clubs in genuine danger of going under, it’s back to 1992 when Aldershot FC today played their last ever game.
The Shots had been ambling around the lower regions of English football since their formation in 1926, when a Jack White, – a local journalist, not the White Stripes frontman – formed the club and entered them into the Southern League (Eastern).
By 1932 they had found their way into the Football League, where they would remain until their final days, reaching a high point of eight in the Third Division in 1974.
In 1985 the Shots came close to signing Teddy Sheringham after the young Millwall striker had impressed on loan at the Recreation Ground, but couldn’t afford the £5,000 fee.
Talking of money, this is where the story goes sour. The late 1980s had seen Aldershot return to the Third Division, but relegation and a financial crisis engulfed the club, meaning they looked unlikely to start the 1990/91 season.
In July 1990 the club were officially wound in the High Court, condemned as being “financially insolvent” with debts of almost £500,000, but were saved a week later when 19-year-old property developer Spencer Trethewy rode in on his white horse with £200,000 to keep the club alive.
As we’ve written about before here and here, the words ‘property developer’ should set alarm bells off in the head of any football fan, and Trethewy was soon found out, as the board realised he didn’t have the funds to maintain the club and told him to sling his hook three months later.
Aldershot struggled on that season, now with Brian Talbot in as player-manager, but today in 1992 played their final game, losing 2-0 to Cardiff City at Ninian Park as they couldn’t keep the wolf from the door any longer.
Shot fans didn’t take their team’s bankruptcy lying down however, creating a phoenix club, Aldershot Town in time to start the next season in Isthmian League Division Three, five levels tiers down the league from the old Division Four. At the end of last season the long road back to the football league was complete when Town won the Conference National.
See the fans celebrating promotion below and check out what other shenanigans were going on today here.
PROFESSIONAL footballers lead charmed lives: a few hours of training each day, millions of pounds in the bank and the adulation of thousands every Saturday afternoon. The lives of football managers are very different.
They are under relentless pressure from all sides, all the time. Be it the directors demanding better results or getting the wage bill down, players demanding to be in the first team, agents badgering you to look at their players, the media wanting endless interviews and every Saturday afternoon thousands of people chant ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’ at you.
With that kind of stress it’s no wonder managers have suffered from health problems for years. Today in 2002 Gerard Houllier returned to the dug out after time off recuperating from life-saving heart surgery. The then Liverpool boss had walked out on to the Anfield pitch in October 2001 as his side prepared to take on Leeds United. “Looking after twenty very rich people is very bad for your health,” he said to his friend and Leeds boss David O’Leary. Less than a hour later Houllier had collapsed and was rushed from the Anfield bench to hospital for 11 hours of surgery after his aorta had ruptured massively. For a time it was touch and go.
Less than six months later he returned to Anfield for one of those European nights that Clive Tyldsley et al are always claiming are so special at the old stadium. This one was a bit special as the crowd showed their appreciation for their returning manager. His team responded by beating Roma 2-0 to put them into the Champions League semi-finals.
Houllier is far from the first manager to suffer heart problems while in the job – indeed according to Dr Dorian Dugmore, the secretary general of the World Council for Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation, almost half of England’s football managers have “significant” heart problems and their life-consuming, high-pressure jobs are a “recipe for potential disaster”.
Dugmore carried out extensive research into managers’ health after several high-profile incidents with top bosses. Most famously and tragically, Jock Stein died on the touchline during a match between Scotland and Wales. Graeme Souness and Dario Gradi have both had major heart surgery while Sir Alex Ferguson had a pacemaker fitted.
Barry Fry has had two heart attacks, the first occurred when he was pushing Barnet’s broken down team bus at Gateshead, while Joe Kinnear had a heart attack while Wimbledon boss, and has only just come out of hospital following a triple heart bypass operation.
Barry Fry explains how it feels: “Your arms go a bit numb at first. Then it’s like there’s a knife being stuck in your chest, and twisted. Then it feels like someone’s poured a bucket of tepid water on your head because there’s so much sweat. It’s horrible, a total panic. If you’ve got a collar and tie on you just want to rip it off from round your neck and get to hospital.”
“The second time, I went to Papworth. I was lying in a ward and there were people dying either side of me. And I’m lying there thinking ‘What the hell am I doing here?’
“Even when you’ve recovered it can stay with you. You get bad indigestion and you’re thinking ‘Is this another one?’ It’s frightening.”
Fry has no doubt about the cause of his problems and those of his fellow managers: “It is a very stressful job,” he said. “The media alone is ridiculous. It used to be one press conference a week, now it’s one a day. Radio stations want to talk, there’s TV, websites hammer you to death. Radio phone-ins start two minutes after the final whistle asking whether the manager should go. And I get dog’s abuse every match in the dug-out. And that’s just from our own fans!
“It’s draining, mentally and physically. As a profession it can be full of pressure, loneliness and stress.”
Although he has now moved from being Peterborough’s manager to club-chairman, back in 2005 Fry insisted that even when he was lying in hospital he never considered giving up the game. “To be honest, I didn’t,” he told The Independent. “Even in hospital I thought ‘I’m doing the job I love’. There are lots and lots of lows in this game, but you’re in it for the highs, rare as they are.” And that’s why they all keep doing it.
We will be back again tomorrow, as regular as a pacemaker, but for now, have a look at one of the most bizarre European tournaments ever conceived, and find out how Sutton United have European silverware in their trophy cabinet, right here.
FOR many years the biggest claim to fame that Tamworth, just north of Birmingham, could muster was that it was the home of the Reliant Robin three-wheeled car, favoured transport of the Trotter brothers.
But all that changed today in 2000 with a most unlikely story about a young man named Gary. Back then Gary Smith was a 33-year-old striker for non-league Tamworth FC who, at the time plied their trade in the Doctor Martens League, two levels below the Conference.
One day a fax came through to the club which Gary thought must have been a wind-up. He had received, completely out of the blue, an international call-up . . . . for Caribbean minnows St Kitts and Nevis.
Gary had only visited St Kitts twice so it was something of a surprise. He said at the time: “A fax arrived from St Kitts a fortnight ago but I just thought one of the lads was taking the mickey. I was shocked. Me, at the ripe old age of 33, going to play international football?”
A telephone call from the St Kitts and Nevis manager Cec Podd, who played 494 games for Bradford from 1970-1983, confirmed it was no wind-up.
“It’s just unbelievable,” says Smith. “I went over there at Christmas to visit my family for a couple of weeks. I needed to try and keep fit and one of the lads from the national side, Keith Gums [who had a trial at Hull], invited me to play in a National XI versus a Foreign XI game. I played with the foreigners and we beat them 6-2, and I scored twice. It was just a kickabout. There was no intention to impress anybody.”
But unbeknown to him Podd was watching the match and spoke to him after the game, although Gary had no idea who he was at the time. “He kept saying to me, ‘Stay fit, stay fit’,” he said. “I just thought, ‘All right mate, I’ll stay fit. Calm down.’ Then the fax arrived telling me I’m in the squad. It’s unbelievable.”
The call up meant he would be unavailable at his club for the best part of a month – losing players to international duty was not common for the then Tamworth manager Paul Hendrie, father of Sheffield United’s Lee. “It’s very flattering for the lad. We’ll miss him, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, something he’ll have forever.”
“The gaffer’s wrapping me in cotton wool,” Smith says. “He’d hate for me to pick up an injury. Mind you, he can’t leave an international out that much; if he does I’ll be knocking on his door. How many of the others have got a full cap?”
“I’ve had the wind-ups,” he added. “The lads tell people not to talk to me because I’m an international, but everyone’s been great. The manager’s chuffed to bits – he’s never coached an international before – and my mum’s so proud. To get this chance at this age is a great honour.”
Today in 2000 Smith got his wish when he lined up at the National Stadium in Basseterre in front of 853 fans to face the Turks and Caicos Islands in a 2002 World Cup qualifier. “I’d never heard of them,” Smith admitted before he flew off. “But I doubt they’ve heard of Tamworth either. I’ve been looking up on the internet to see how St Kitts rank against them and we’re miles ahead; we’ve got to beat these guys. If we win we could play Jamaica, Mexico or USA. Can you imagine? Playing in the Aztec in front of 100,000 people; I think I’d just run out and collapse.”
When he crossed the white line that day he made history as Tamworth’s first ever international player, and he lived up to expectations by getting on the score sheet as his team won 8-0. He scored again in the return leg – this time just a 6-0 win.
Alas Smith’s dreams of playing in the Aztec were dashed when St Kitts were paired with St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the next round, where they were beaten 3-1 over two legs. Still, it’s more international football than most of us will ever get to play, so hats off Gary.
That’s all for today gang, but we’ll be back tomorrow with more as usual. Until then, can you guess which pioneering Dutch football club was founded on this day? No? Well find out right here.
“INSIDE every fat man, they say, there is a thin man trying to get out. In the case of Maradona, it seems, there is an even fatter man trying to get in.” Martin Amis
Today in 1991 marked the beginning of the end for Amis’ favourite rotund player, as he tested positive for cocaine after Napoli’s match against Bari.
El Diego was then slapped with a 15-month ban, which brought to an end his seven-year spell in Naples that had seen more ups and downs than… well a night on the town with the man himself.
Napoli fans had never had too much to shout about before the arrival of Maradona. Two Italian Cups was all that they could boast in the trophy cabinet, so when the suits shelled out a record £6.9m for the world’s most exciting player, the Neapolitans had reason to celebrate.
Around 80,000 fans turned up at Stadio San Paolo to welcome their new signing, with 253 journalists and 78 photographers also in attendance,as this clip shows. This set a precedent for a media circus that never really died down.
Maradona ushered Napoli through the most successful period in their history, winning two Serie A titles, one Italian Cup, one Uefa Cup and an Italian Supercup. The diminutive Argentinean was in his pomp during this period, as he would also go on to lift the World Cup in 1986.
The city of Naples went barmy for him, and urban myths circulated such as the fact that over 25% of babies were named ‘Diego’ or ‘Diega’ following their 1987 title triumph and that 20,000 voters in a local election simply marked their ballot papers with ‘Viva Maradona’.
However, we all know where this story is going. It was becoming more and more evident that Maradona enjoyed the high life (quite literally, as it happened). In 1989 pictures were published show him in a jacuzzi with members of the Giuliano family that ran the Camorra, Naples’ branch of the mafia.
Ever since his Barcelona days Diego had used cocaine and Napoli bosses would later admit that if Maradona had not managed to stay clean in the days before a game, they would switch samples before testing was carried out.
His form in the 1990/91 season had dropped and by the time he failed his drugs test he had only netted six times that season, all of them penalties. After being given his 15-month ban, Maradona quickly hot-footed it back to Argentina where he would spout all manner of conspiracy theories.
Maradona claimed that the whole of Italy had it in for him after he had played such a crucial part in knocking the Azzurri out of the 1990 World Cup in their own backyard and also argued that as cocaine wasn’t exactly performance-enhancing he shouldn’t have received such a ban.
Without their star player Napoli began a rapid decline, especially after their talented young playmaker Gianfranco Zola left for Parma in 1993. After a few seasons of yo-yoing between Serie A and B they were declared bankrupt and demoted in 2004, although, this being Italian football, they were back in the top flight by 2007.
Maradona meanwhile attempted a comeback with Seville after his ban, but would again fail a drugs test at the 1994 World Cup. After returning with his beloved Boca Juniors he called it a day in 1997.
We never get bored of watching showreels of the greatest ever player, so have a look at another one below then check out what else was going on today here. Until tomorrow, you stay classy.
GENERALLY speaking, Sheffield United versus West Brom isn’t the kind of match that troubles the excitement levels of the neutral too much.
However, chuck in a few horror tackles, a punch-up, a host of red cards and a scheming manager and you have ‘The Battle of Bramall Lane’, which the two sides served up today in 2002.
The Baggies visited Yorkshire hoping to maintain their play-off ambitions in this Frist Division clash and were handed a boost when United goalkeeper Simon Tracey saw red after only nine minutes for handling outside the box.
Sub ‘keeper Wilko de Vogt could do nothing about Scott Dobie’s opening goal ten minutes later and West Brom looked to heading to a routine three points when Derek McInnes lashed home a 20-yard drive with half-an-hour remaining.
Blades’ manager Neil Warnock had other ideas though, as he made arguably the biggest impact substitution since Fergie threw on a couple of strikers in the 1999 Champions League final.
Georges Santos and Patrick Suffo were introduced on 64 minutes and lord knows what Warnock’s instructions were, as two minutes later the pair were both heading for an early bath.
Santos and West Brom midfielder Andy Johnson had a spot of history, as Johnson, then at Nottingham Forest, had broken the Frenchman’s cheekbone with a flying elbow the previous season. Therefore, it was of no great surprise that Santos’ first contribution was to go in two-footed on him and receive a straight red.
This sparked a mass brawl involving all 21 players, with Suffo being sent off for head-butting McInnes, leaving the Blades with only eight men on the pitch and no substitutions left.
A cynic would say that this gave Neil Warnock an idea. After the melee United captain Keith Curle went over to the bench to receive instructions from his gaffer and over the next ten minutes two of his team-mates, Michael Brown and Robert Ullathorne went down with injuries, reducing them to six men, with the score now at 3-0 thanks to another goal from Dobie.
Referee Eddie Wolstenholme was forced to abandon the game, leaving West Brom boss Gary Megson fuming: “I’ve been in professional football since 16 and I’m 42 now. I’ve never ever witnessed anything as disgraceful as that.
“There is no place for that in any game of football, let alone professional football,” he ranted. “There will be no replay. If we are called back to Bramall Lane we shall kick-off and then walk off the pitch.”
The FA waded in and sided with Megson, letting the 3-0 result stand. United were fined £10,000 and Warnock, who escaped punishment, transfer-listed Santos and Suffo immediately and the pair never played for the club again. West Brom, meanwhile, would finish the season in second place thanks to some final-day heroics and were spared the ignominy of having to return to Bramall Lane the next season.
See who else was feeling the strain today here and make sure you’re back for some more bad behaviour tomorrow. In the meantime, why not get on the Twitter bandwagon and follow us here.
AFTER yesterday’s story about a great triumph for Arsenal, today we are looking at perhaps their lowest ebb, but more than that, it was also the greatest day in the history of another club: Swindon Town.
Today in 1969 Swindon and Arsenal lined up against each other at Wembley for the League Cup final. Despite not having won a trophy for 16 years, the Gunners were heavy favourites for the tie. They were riding high in Division One and were beaten finalists the previous year, while Swindon, the plucky underdogs from Wiltshire, were all the way down in Division Three.
No one gave the Robins a hope against the Gunners whose team included Bob Wilson, Frank McLintock and Bobby Gould.
But before kick off there were already signs that the footballing gods had taken a shine to Swindon. First of all the Arsenal camp had been hit by a flu bug, putting eight of their first team squad out of action. And there was also the state of the Wembley pitch. Having hosted the Horse of the Year Show the previous week the turf was badly cut up and certainly not conducive to a neat passing game.
The match started well enough for the London team as they set out to take the game to Swindon but it was the Robins who drew first blood when an uncharacteristic mix up between Bob Wilson and his defence saw Peter Noble take advantage and lay the ball off to Roger Smart who scored. He could hardly believe it and neither could the thousands of Swindon fans in the stands but the Third Division side was in front.
And so they held on, agonizingly until the 86th minute when Peter Downsborough, who had performed heroics in the Swindon goal all afternoon, came for a ball he was never going to get and Bobby Gould headed in the equaliser. It was heart break for Swindon who had been so close to the trophy.
The Gunners may have been expected to push on and win it now but in extra time it was Swindon who were posing the greater threat and it paid off in the 104th minute when Don Rogers srambled the ball into the net from a corner.
Arsenal finally poured men forward, perhaps now genuinely worried they would lose, but it merely left space at the back and with ten minutes left to play Rogers found himself on the ball with only Bob Wilson for company in the Arsenal half. He drove forward and took it round Wilson as cool as you like before slotting home the winner.
“I always considered one-on-ones to be the best part of my game,” said Wilson. “But Don Rogers shaped to do something and then just dipped his shoulder. I was all over the place and the ball was in the back of the net.”
Swindon had done it. They had won the first (and so far only) major trophy in their history and Wembley erupted as their fans went crazy.
Wilson said: “After the match I felt absolute, total deflation at having lost. It was 16 years since the club had won any major trophy and it had started to become a real millstone.”
Frank McLintock was equally flabbergasted. Years later he recalled the moments after the final whistle had gone: “To be honest I didn’t know where I was. I was totally devastated. After 16 years with Arsenal not winning a trophy I thought this was going to be the one. We were massive favourites to win the game but it turned out to be a wonderful day for Swindon Town.”
“I’m not attempting to make any excuses because I thought Swindon were terrific on the day,” he said. “But six of us had flu and it didn’t help that the pitch was cut up so badly. I certainly don’t think the game would have gone ahead today. I performed very strongly for the 90 minutes but then when it got to extra-time my legs just went completely.”
The papers the next day were full of praise for Swindon, and full of venom for Arsenal. Alan Hoby of the Sunday Express wrote: “Arsenal, slaves of their own system, methodical but utterly predictable, were finally unhinged by the individual brilliance and flair of the Swindon stars – the small town Cinderellas whom cynics expected to lose to the North London favourites by a bucketful of goals.”
Under the headline ‘The Shame of Arsenal’, Desmond Hackett of the Daily Express wrote on the Monday following the game: “By the time you are reading this, the football prophets – and none so unprophetic as myself – should have been on the long penitents’ crawl to Swindon. There to apologise to one of the best teams seen at Wembley.
“Let us get this straight. Swindon made this Football League Cup Final. Their fighting spirit, their fitness, and their pride were a rebuke to a once-famous team called Arsenal.
“Do not look to the frailties of Arsenal as an excuse for the splendour of Swindon. Look with admiration at these heroic athletes from the Third Division who reduced the traditions of Arsenal to a miserable myth.”
The day after the match the Swindon team returned home to a heroes welcome as thousands turned out in the town centre to greet Arsenal’s conquerers. Even today the triumph is remembered fondly. Swindon Town historian Chris Scott, 75, said last month: “I think that day was the most important in Swindon’s history. Others would say it was when we won promotion to the Premier League but for a Third Division team to beat a top side like Arsenal in a cup final was unheard of.”
Today is also an important day in the history of another great club. Click here to find out more. Otherwise, until tomorrow dear reader, until tomorrow.
ARSENE Wenger is frequently cited as one of the men ruining English football with his policy of signing gifted young players from abroad and therefore stifling the development of homegrown nippers, but English football actually has a lot to thank the Frenchman for.
In the 1990s Alex Ferguson and Manchester United were threatening to turn the Premiership into a one-horse race (no, that’s not a Ruud Van Nistelrooy joke). After Leeds won the title in 1992, the only club to interrupt United’s winning streak was Blackburn Rovers in 1995.
Then Wenger arrived at Arsenal. No one knew anything about him except that his previous job was managing in the J-League in Japan and he looked like a maths teacher. Surely no threat there to Fergie’s steamrollering of the top-flight? Wrong.
In 1998 the boot was on the other foot for the Old Trafford club. Going into March United had a 13-point lead over Arsenal and it looked like they would once again wrap up the title with ease. Even Ferguson said afterwards: “It was a foregone conclusion until we came to the beginning of March.”
But then injuries began to deplete the team and Ryan Giggs, Gary Pallister, Peter Schmeichel and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were all struck down with one complaint or another.
Then, on this day, Arsenal visited Old Trafford for a match that would have a defining impact on the title race. United started without Nicky Butt, Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs, and were forced to play Paul Scholes even though he was nursing a broken toe.
Arsenal were largely on top during the match, with Keown and Adams strong at the back, while at the other end, Overmars, Bergkamp, Petit, Wreh, and Anelka all caused huge problems for Manchester United.
A tense game was brought to a crescendo with just ten minutes left when the Dutchman Overmars latched on to Anelka’s flick to score past Schmeichel in the bottom corner and send the visiting fans wild.
United pushed for an equaliser and even Schmeichel went up for a corner, but it came to nothing and to make matters worse he tore his hamstring on the run back to his goal.
Arsenal had taken points off their rivals and in their own back yard. As well as the crucial points it was also a huge psychological blow to United, just as it was a boost to Arsenal.
After the match Arsene Wenger still thought United were in the driving seat. “I think United have still got a small advantage, because we have to take the points from the games in hand. But we have closed the gap, and it makes it very interesting for everybody until the end,” he said.
Match-winner Marc Overmars agreed: “We have a few difficult away matches, against Blackburn and Liverpool, but we are going well now. This was a great result for us. But you don’t win the Premier League against Manchester United; you have to beat the other clubs,” he said.
Meanwhile Fergie tried to downplay the result. “They played well today but I don’t think they are as good a football team as us, though they looked strong and determined,” he said. “If they win their games in hand they will go ahead of us, but they will find out they start dropping points towards the end of the season, there’s no question about that.”
But they didn’t. The Gunners continued to win match after match, eventually wrestling the title from United with a home win against Everton in May – with Overmars again scoring the crucial goal. Arsenal won their first title since George Graham was boss back in 1991 and it got even better when they beat Newcastle to win the FA Cup – with Overmars scoring yet again. It was a League and Cup double in Wenger’s first full season in charge, and Fergie now knew he had a serious rival in English football.
Have a peek at some of Overmars’ best moments in an Arsenal shirt below, including the crucial goals in that 1997/98 season. We’ll be back tomorrow as usual, but until then check out what else happened on this day right here.
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Diouf Diouf
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Diouf Diouf
Sha la la la la la la la
Diouf Diouf
El Hadj Diouf will spit on you
As terrace chants go, this ode to El-Hadji Diouf, sung to the tune of Tony Christie’s Show Me the Way to Amarillo isn’t a bad one.
Today in 2003 the Senegalese wild-card made great strides in getting his phlegmy reputation going when he spat at a Celtic supporter during their Uefa Cup tie with Liverpool at Parkhead.
Diouf had arrived on Merseyside at the start of that season following a starring role in Senegal’s World Cup quarter-final run in Japan and South Korea for a fee of £10m, but found the going a bit tougher in the hustle and bustle of the Premier League.
Liverpool and Celtic were drawn together in a battle of Britain clash in the Uefa Cup last-16, with both sides bigging-up the ‘special atmosphere’ that started when Gerry Marsden led a rousing version of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.
A frenzied first-leg match resulted in a 1-1 draw thanks to early goals from Henrik Larsson and Emile Heskey, but it was Diouf’s late oral contribution that left a sour taste in the mouth.
Diouf was seen by television cameras to clearly spit in the face of two Celtic fans after he had fallen into the crowd. The Celtic fans naturally said they were just trying to ease him back onto the field of play, with supporter Anthony Cosgrove saying: “The Celtic fans tried to help the player up and lift him back on to the wall.
“Some of them gave him a pat on the back as they helped him up. He then turned round and spat into the crowd.
“One young lad, about 16, got the brunt of it in the face.”
Diouf, along with two Celtic fans that ran after him onto the pitch following the incident, was arrested and he would later be pulled up in front of Glasgow Sheriff Court, where he was fined £5,000. This came after Liverpool fined him two weeks wages, thought to be around £47,000, immediately following the incident.
Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier was quick to defend his man though, saying: “The boy has made a mistake. He knows that. We all make mistakes in life because we are all human.
“I am not going to make excuses for him but the boy is young and I can tell you he is devastated by what has happened.
“It is sad this has overshadowed a great night’s football.”
Whether he would share this view a year later when Diouf became the first ever Liverpool number 9 to fail to find the back of the net in a season is debateable.
After 33 appearances and 14 months without a goal and the arrival of new gaffer at Liverpool in the shape of Rafa Benitez, the striker was dispatched on loan to Bolton. Controversy has continued to dog his career and he can now be found back in the north west as part of Big Sam’s Blackburn survival project.
See El-Hadji upto some of his usual tricks below and if you were wondering what happened in Scotland today in 1873 then it’s time to get very excited and click here.
WHAT’S the first image that comes into your head when you hear the redundant phrase ‘respect the ref?’ For us here at OTFD Towers it’s a beleaguered man in black being surrounded by John Terry, Ashley Cole and their Chelsea team-mates. Sorry guys, it just pops straight in there.
One referee that certainly didn’t receive any respect from anyone in the Stamford Bridge hierarchy was Swede Anders Frisk who retired today in 2005 after receiving death threats in the wake of his stewardship of Chelsea’s Champions League tie with Barcelona.
The tie at Camp Nou had finished 2-1 to Barca and then-Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho was not a happy man, taking exception at Didier Drogba’s second-half red card. Jose claimed that he had seen Frisk heading into Barca manager Frank Rijkaard’s office at half-time and that “when Drogba was sent off I didn’t get surprised,” in his typically understated and sensitive manner.
The debate over what had happened in the Camp Nou tunnel rumbled on over the next couple of weeks as the British tabloid press refused to let the story die down, especially when it emerged that Frisk and his family had received death threats from angry Chelsea fans.
A bad-tempered second leg of the last-16 tie saw Chelsea progress 5-4 on aggregate, but that match too would be marred by a fracas between players and staff from each team, with a Chelsea steward being accused of racist behaviour towards Samuel Eto’o and the Catalans allegedly smashing up the visitors dressing room at Stamford Bridge.
A disillusioned Frisk, who had previously refereed the Euro 2000 final, announced his retirement following the second leg and football’s most dashing referee, with his blonde locks and dramatic flourishes with the cards, had been forced out of the game.
“I am disappointed to have to quit my post because of the attitude of people who have no respect for human values and for Fifa’s “my game is fair play” slogan,” he said, professional to the last with his crowbarring of some top Fifa marketing speak into his resignation letter.
The president of Fifa’s refereeing committee, Volker Roth, placed the blame firmly at the door of the Special One, saying: “People like Mourinho are the enemies of football”. A touchline ban soon followed.
Poor old Anders can’t really be blamed for wanting to get out of the game as six months earlier he had been hit by a missile thrown by the crowd as he left the field at half-time during Roma’s clash with Dynamo Kiev, leaving him with a nasty head injury.
Rather than show you Jose fuming at Frisk’s performance have a gander at a moment of genius from the tie below. One of football’s more eccentric characters has reason to celebrate today, so check that out here. We’ll be back tomorrow for more hazy looks back to the good ol’ days, but in the meantime check out our musings on Twitter here.
