What Footballers Have To Put Up With

Not a week passes without a footballer, or three, appearing in the news after an altercation in a night club, on the seamier side of some town or other. This week it is Micah Richards of Manchester City (pictured) who is in the news, and it’s not for the first time either. Last week it was a young up-and-coming star from Rangers who found himself in a bit of bother in a night club. A couple of weeks ago it was Steven Gerrard of Liverpool. A month or so ago, it was Neil Lennon, the Celtic assistant manager who was beaten up in Glasgow by two toe-rags who are now in prison and rightfully so.

So who would have thought they would have found the v-neck pullovered Gerrard in a sleazy bar on the outskirts of Liverpool at 2am? And why did Neil Lennon give the ‘middle finger’ to two obviously troublemaking Rangers fans when he knew there’d be a bit of bother and why was he out of his own house on a Monday afternoon? And what was Micah Richards doing enjoying himself in Hale, Manchester, on Xmas Eve anyway? He’s unmarried and earns £50,000 a week. He should have been at home with his mum!

But why should he? Why should Neil Lennon, a guy who admittedly could start a fight in an empty house, not be allowed to walk the streets of Glasgow or drive his car in the City without getting some aggro?

I know their managers would dearly love to see these guys wrapped up at home on the sofa watching telly with the wife and kids, but footballers have a life too. You are 20 years old and good looking. You earn a fortune and drive a Lamborghini. The girls fall over you when you hit a night club. Which young footballer in their right mind is going to stay at home watching Coronation Street when you can pick any one of a dozen blonde, heel-tottering, bare-midriffed wag-wannabees in your Ferrari at the local night spot?

The problem generally, is jealousy. In Glasgow it’s religion but that’s another story in it’s own right. So Micah Richards is in a nightclub having a good time with his mates. He’s parked his Bugatti Veyron outside the club and the girls are swooning round him. After all, they’ve already read about his sexual prowess in the papers a couple of years ago. He’s splashing the cash and generally having a good time. Like all guys he has to go to the toilet. In there, some geezer, who is on the dole and only getting a couple of hundred a week in benefits, looks at him having a pee and laughs and then it all starts. He should walk away (after doing up his zip) but they never do? It's a 'man thing'.

I know from my own experience what these guys have to put up with. A few years back in BT, we took a couple of really senior bankers to Wembley for an England v Scotland game. We’d paid an absolute fortune for the tickets which included pre and post-match hospitality. We arrived at the stadium and found to our horror that the tickets were for the England end (we were all Scots). No problem we thought – Scotland never score so there’ll be no real issues. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Scotland did score – the only goal of the game – and the four of us erupted in joyous, and totally unexpected celebration. Within seconds we were surrounded by a seething, snarling mass of West Ham (English) supporters who made it quite clear that they were going to tear us limb from limb. The police stepped in and removed us from the stadium for our ‘own good’ and off we went to the post-match dinner, albeit 45 minutes early. Well, there was nothing to do there except drink the unlimited and ‘free’ booze on offer whilst watching the remainder of the game on telly. When the game ended and the hospitality crowd arrived they were accompanied by a couple of really famous players who had graced Ibrox Stadium, where my team, Rangers, play.

I went straight up to them and made it quite clear, in my rather inebriated state, that they were my absolute heroes. After about 10 minutes of over-the-top adoration on my part, they were clearly getting bored and made it known that the ‘conversation’ was over but still I persisted. After another 5 minutes of glorification they were on the point of having me removed and dealt with when I was ‘rescued’ by a colleague.

You see it happens all very easily. A drop of booze, a famous face, a wrong word……