June 28 – Cookie’s Spanish Adventure

AFTER putting up with Mohammed Al-Fayed’s rantings for four years while he was in charge of Fulham, Chris Coleman decided he could do with a spell in the sun, so took the top job at Real Sociedad today in 2007.

The Basque club had just suffered relegation from La Liga and turned to the Welshman after he was recommended by his compatriot and former Sociedad gaffer John Toshack.

After a strong start in Spain Cookie hit the headlines for the wrong reasons when he turned up 90 minutes late for a press conference, claiming that his watching machine had broken and flooded his flat.

“My Spanish isn’t great, so when the plumber came it took longer to sort it out,” said a somewhat bleary-eyed Coleman when he finally arrived at the press conference.

This excuse didn’t wash with the gaggle of grumpy Spanish hacks, who sent their spies out to find the truth.

The next day the tabloid newspapers were in a spin with rumours that Cookie had been seen out at 5am partying at student disco. Time for the former Swansea defender to come clean: “I was out until late in a place where I should not have been,” he ‘fessed.

“The other day I gave you an excuse, above all to take the pressure off the club. Tomorrow I will talk with the president and I have already apologised to the players before the game. I have to ask for forgiveness from the fans and everybody connected with the club because there are no excuses. I have given ammunition for people to damage the club. It was a mistake.

“I have been at the club for just five months and it is the first time that something like this has happened.”

Coleman managed to ride out the storm, but when Inaki Badiola was elected preseident in January 2008 Coleman quit the club, despite them sitting in fifth place in the Segunda Division and having lost only one of their last 11 games.

These days Cookie can be found bothering plumbers in the Coventry area, having taken the helm at the Sky Blues a month after returning from Spain. For some referee-based tomfoolery from today click here and we’ll be back tomorrow to help banish those Monday blues.