The announcement by John Terry at the weekend that he was leaving Chelsea was typical of the man. Unnecessary, unwarranted and unapproved by his club, it was just another in a long line of incidents that has made him a disliked individual for many football fans. Even Chelsea fans – those with a moral compass – must agree that in many ways he is not the soundest individual. And it’s not just his footballing activity that is hateful. While donning his full kit to celebrate a Champions League win he played no part in was a sign of his lack of self-awareness, his racist taunting of Anton Ferdinand; his assault case; parking his Bentley in a disabled parking space; and alleged affair with a team-mates wife, all point to a fairly nasty individual. A magnificent player, but in my eyes, he epitomises the slow descent of the modern footballer into the gutter. And he’s far from alone. Here’s a few of the worst:
El Hadji Diouf:
Nasty nasty El Hadji. As a Liverpool fan he brought me nothing but shame. Spitting at Celtic fans while wearing that jersey was simply unforgivable.
Ashley Cole
Alongside Terry in the most despised (and most successful) Mourinho inspired Chelsea defence, everything he touched turned to rage. Remember why we called him “Cashley Hole”? It was the extract from his autobiography in which he stated he nearly crashed his car when he heard he had only been offered €55k a week to play football. Now watch him absolutely hack into the Spurs player below and then do his, and Chelsea’s, trademark petulant, aggressive harrying of the referee. Screaming at the injustice of it all. How could Ashley be booked for this? He deserved a red.
Mario Balotelli
A nightmare. An out and out nightmare. Useless at Anfield and clearly not liked by his team-mates, evident from the lukewarm response to his penalty goal in the Champions League game against Besiktas. He took the ball off Jordan Henderson to take it. Why always you? Is it because you’re an arsehole maybe?
Diego Costa
Another Chelsea player. Another one who epitomises the vulgar side of football. Look at the stamp on Emre Can at about 0:35 below. A reason to turn the football off and watch something else.
There are more out there. Gary Neville, just for being so damn Manchester United; Suarez, not just for his racism and biting, but also for that celebration in the tunnel against Ghana in the 2010 World Cup; Roy Keane for his abuse of referees and for Saipan; Joey Barton; Craig Bellamy; Arjen Robben. The list goes on. And on.
While we all need an enemy, and there’s a lot to be said for it, I often wonder would football be a better place without these characters. They’re not dirty players. They’re just a bit nasty. They dive; they pull jerseys; they stamp; they chase refs; and they sometimes spit and bite. Personally I think we could survive without them.
And we’d be better off with more like this man:
18 goals. 4 penalties. 13 from outside the box. 2 from inside his own half. A football genius.
A Yard of Grass 