Manchester City midfielder Stephen treland had no phone box to change in, so he dropped his shorts to reveal the inspiration for his winning goal in a 2007 match – his Superman underpants.
After volleying City to a 1-0 win over Sunderland at the Eastlands Stadium he revealed to laughing fans blue underpants with a Superman logo. Even the English FA saw the funny side and took no disciplinary action, although an official said: «We will be reminding him of his responsibilities.»
Italian midfielder Benito Carbone was adamant about his commitment to unfashionable Bradford City in 2002 – well almost. On 2 February he said: «I love Bradford; I signed for four years and I want to stay.» On 4 February he added: «There’s no problem to play here for two years.» On 6 February he moved to Middlesbrough.
A struggling law student was left with a £6,000 legal bill in 2007 because her football legend father sued her for the return of his trophies. Ex-Everton and Wales goalie Neville Southalll gave his FA Cup medal, his MBE and a number of international caps to daughter Samantha when she was ten. But nine years later after splitting from Samantha’s mother, Southall told a court he never intended for his daughter to keep the trophy collection worth £55,000. The teenager sobbed as a judge at Liverpool’s civil and family court ordered her to return the memorabilia to her father and pay £6,000 costs. The law student said: «I am devastated – I idolised my dad. I don’t know how I’ll pay.»
Player Rannord Jones was charged with assault and terroristic threatening in Newark, Delaware after allegedly biting on the chin the referee who gave him a red card in 2008.
Everton keeper Neville Southall stayed in his goal for the whole of a match at Goodison Park in 1990 – including during the half-time break. The first match of a new season opened with hope and expectation until Everton went 3-0 down. After his miserable first half against newly promoted Leeds United, Wales international Southall refused to join the rest of his team-mates in the changing rooms at half-time. Instead, he propped himself up against a post and sat disconsolately for the entire duration of the interval. His sit-down protest almost worked as Everton rallied and, although they lost, the score was only 3-2.
An argument between team-mates was not just a quick, passing thing. The pair started arguing during the first half of a 2000 game and carried on their disagreement into the dressing room and through half-time. It was verbal until they came to the dressing room where the pair of strikers actually came to blows. It ended when one player refused to come out for the second half. It can’t have been big-match tension that got the pair so worked up because the incident was at a reserve team match in front of a sparse crowd.
South Africa were thrown out of the inaugural Africa Cup of Nations in 1957 for refusing to play a multiracial team. Proposed opponents Ethiopia were given a bye to the next round and reached the final.
Hertha Berlin star Bartosz Karwan was fined after it was found he was not wearing a team shirt – just as he wås going on as a substitute in 2003. Only wearing a plain white t-shirt the Pole was ordered back to the bench by incensed coach Huub Stevens.
Liverpool team-mates Steve McManaman and Bruce Grobbelaar famously fell out during a 1993 Merseyside derby that left midfielder McManaman feeling choked. Goalkeeper Grobbelaar, always a vocal presence in his penalty area, was indignant when McManaman hit a weak clearance that gifted Everton the lead and told him what he thought in no uncertain terms. Macca, one of the group of cheeky young stars at the club, yelled back at the keeper. The 6-foot 1-inch, well-built Grobbelaar grabbed his slighter-built team-mate by the throat and pushed him away. McManaman wisely decided that enough was enough and walked away from the confrontation.
Charlton Athletic’s twin strike force were a formidable team until an on-pitch difference of opinion split them. Derek Hales and Mike Flanagan were sent off for brawling during an FA Cup third-round tie against lower-league side Maidstone at The Valley in 1979. The problem came with five minutes to go and the game level at 1-1, over a ball played through to Hales by Flanagan. Hales was ruled offside and furiously told Flanagan in no uncertain terms that he had wanted the ball played a lot earlier. The riposte by Flanagan, who had scored Charlton’s equaliser minutes earlier, which got tempers flaring was that he had been doing that all season but Hales had been too slow to take advantage.
Police in ltaly believed they foiled a plot to kidnap and ransom Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho in 2010. Four members of a Macedonian gang were arrested after police found evidence that the movements of Mourinho and his family were being closely monitored. It was believed a gang specialising in taking celebrity hostages was planning an operation at Mourinho’s Lake Como home. In an undercover operation police found photographs and video footage of the coach, his wife and their two children. Mourinho, the seif-styled «Special One», was high profile for his managerial style and his outspoken comments. His security had to be beefed up in 2009 when his comments about Ramadan affecting a player’s performance sparked Muslim death threats.
