Social Media Whores

We like to think we're relatively cultured here at Football Circus. So this week we bring you news of crowd trouble in France, a Dane's arrest and match-fixing in Brazil. If that's not enough we also feature a certain Spanish manager's efforts to rid his German club of a mole and of course the Italian Football Story of the Week and our now regular Mario Balotelli segment. To begin though, we're going to look at the usage of social media networks by a select few footballers this weekend...

What a Bunch of Twits

The modern day footballer's propensity to use Twitter, Instagram and Facebook as a means of communication rarely fails to entertain us here at Football Circus. They use social media networks as weapons against rivals, poke fun at themselves and in many circumstances, make clowns of themselves. Following last weekend's Premier League fixtures, we were treated to a deluge of tweets, Facebook comments and Instagram photos of all natures from players.

First up with a social media post of note was Southampton's goalkeeper Artur Boruc. Boruc was at fault for gifting Arsenal the lead against his Southampton team on Saturday. His blunder led to Olivier Giroud's opening goal for the Gunners. Boruc was able to see the funny side of his error though, posting a photo of his awkward foot control along side a photo of Johann Cruyff.

Next up to the social media plate was another Polish goalkeeper involved in that same match, Arsenal's Wojciech Szczesny. Szczesny however was not reflecting on a match he had been involved in himself. Rather, he took to Twitter to mock Arsenal's North London rivals Tottenham, who on Sunday had suffered a humiliating 6-0 defeat away to Man City. The gloating Pole had the following to say on Facebook:

"Wonderful scenes at the Ethiad...".

Before the weekend came to an end Wayne Rooney wanted a piece of the social media pie and unleashed a barrage of tweets regarding Sky's analysis of his performance against Cardiff on Sunday, clearly unhappy with two individuals in particular.

Meanwhile away from the Premier League, AC Milan's Kevin Constant is one footballer you're unlikely to see tweeting any time soon. Milan's fans displayed a banner at the weekend which read:

"Constant, instead of clowning around and being arrogant, respect those who watch your embarrassing performances".

Constant clearly has not impressed the Rossoneri supporters this season and after the match was met with numerous tweets berating his performances for the side. This led the midfielder to delete his Twitter account.

Bendtner Hits, no Kicks, the Gym

Nicklas Bendtner was last week dreaming of a move to Barcelona or Real Madrid. This week he has been brought back down to earth with a bang, getting arrested after allegations were made that he and a group of friends had kicked in the doors of the gym at his apartment complex. 

The Arsenal benchwarmer moved swiftly to clarify exactly what had happened, with an essay-like explaination on his Instagram account. He wrote:

"On Saturday night after our win against Southamption I went out with my family and friends for dinner. After our dinner we all wanted a night swim in my gym so we changed to shorts and brought towels down.

"As we arrived at the gym my key fob changed the colour from red (locked) to green (open) but the door remained closed.

"We thought the door was stuck so we tried to open it and it caused some damage.

"I apologise for any inconvenience for my neighbours and I have paid in full. We had no mpart in damaging anything else in the building.

"The matter is closed with the police, and my focus is on tonight's match".

Match-Fixing Allegations in Brazil

Vasco da Gama's 2-1 victory over Cruzeiro last weekend is being investigated for match-fixing, it has been reported. Vasco are currently embroiled in a relegation battle and were in dire need of the win as they lie one point off safety. Paulo Schmitt of STJD (Brazil's superior sports tribunal) has confirmed that the game will be investigated.

Television footage is refuted to have shown former Arsenal, Real Madrid and Roma midfielder Julio Baptista, now of Cruzeiro, advising opposition player Cris to "hurry up and score another goal". Baptista denies the claims.

Schmitt told Sportv:

"What we have is a claim that something abnormal could have taken place.

"Other clubs involved in the relegation battle can rest assured that we are going to act, at least opening an investigation".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9xrgVxyxPc

Pep Wants to Whack-A-Mole

Bayern Munich may be flying high under Pep Guardiola in the Bundesliga this season, but their Spanish manager is not a happy as rumours grow that he has a 'mole' in his camp who is leaking team tactics to the German media.

The mole's antics have done little to hamper Bayern's progress, with their 3-0 win over title rivals Borussia Dortmund last weekend highlighting their dominance. Nonetheless, Guardiola was incensed at the thought that one of his players maybe acting to sabotage his good work and after Bayern's win stated:

"It does not matter who it is, heads will roll. I will throw him out. He will not play under me again".

Ironically, Guardiola's comments were given to newspaper 'Bild', who themselves had published the team's tactics prior to the Dortmund match.

Bayern chariman Karl Heinz Rummenigge told Sky TV in Germany:

"We will obviously not bring in the NSA to find out who it is.

"I advise the person concerned to put an immediate stop to his activities, otherwise he will have a serious problem, not only with Pep Guardiola but with the whole club".

It would not be the first time Bayern have had to deal with such problems. Legends Franz Beckenbauer, Lothar Matthaus and Rudi Voller have all been rumoured to be 'moles' for Bild in the past.

St. Etienne Fans Not So Nice

The days of Hillsborough and Heysel scale crowd tragedies are thankfully behind us but sadly, injuries are still sustained by supporters in a handful of fixtures every year. Last weekend, Nice hosted St. Etienne at the Allianz Riviera Stadium, where the away fans threw seats at the home fans. The riotous St. Etienne fans injured nine of the travelling Nice crowd.

Ministries in France offered the following statement about the incident:

"Manuel Valls, the ministry of Interior, and Valerie Fourneyron, the sports ministry, condemn with severity the serious incidents that occurred before the Nice v St Etienne Ligue 1 game kickoff and during which nine were injured".

French League president Frederic Thiriez also warned that a "systematic ban" on away supporters may have to be enforced should a resolution to such supporter behaviour not be found.

What's Mad Mario Upto This Week?

A penalty miss against Genoa was Mr. Balotelli's first headline maker this week. The match finished 1-1, though had the penalty been converted, Milan would have gone 2-1 up. The miss certainly did not go unnoticed and AC Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani had the following to say about it: "Balotelli's missed penalty was the key. If he had scored we would have won".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pq4c2o93g4

Sunday evening saw Balo tweet 'this is the end :-)', a tweet which caused fans to go into overdrive in their attempts to deciphere its meaning. A Milan exit? Hours later though he follwed that up with another tweet, this one reading: 'Go on Milan, no matter how and forever'. Perhaps Balotelli had jumped the gun with the first tweet and had a change of heart. Whatever the meaning of the tweets, if rumours are to be believed, all is not so rosey for Mario at Milan and the media have linked him with a move to either Chelsea or Monaco in the January transfer window.

Galliani however moved quickly to quash the rumours of Balo's Milan exit on Monday, along with talk that the striker had been turning up late for training. Galliani told the press:

"I don't know anything about it. Training was at 11.30, he got there before 11. I don't know what time they were supposed to meet up, you'll have to ask the coach. Is Balotelli unhappy? He will stay, I'm 100% certain about that. He's our centre forward, it's just one of those moments".

Next on the menu for Mario was an appearance on an Italian cooking show, Buon Appetito. While on camera, Balotelli said:

"I have never cooked before in my life because my mother is so good at cooking that there was never any need for me to cook. Milan have given us a diet plan, but it is not all the players that are following it".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsfDZCxSEAk

And Mario Balotelli wasn't the only one making Mario Balotelli related headlines this week. Lazio's seventeen year old winger Mamadou Tounkara has disappointed his team's fans with his new haircut - A pretty outrageous mo-hawk style barnet with the number 45 shaved into the side of his head in tribute to none other than Balotelli.

Balo went on to face Celtic in the Champions League on Tuesday and netted the final goal in his team's 3-0 victory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0PVmJ50hi4

And Frimpong?

Hardly a surprise to regular readers of the blog, Emmanuel Frimpong has played very little football this season and seems to spend the majority of his time posting Instagram pictures. This week, he uploaded a photoshopped movie poster, entitled 'Denchfellas' (the midfielder has a clothing brand called 'Dench').

Italian Football Story of the Week

- Ancelotti Names All Time Eleven

Carlo Ancelotti seems to be in reflective mood in recent months. As we reported not so long ago, he released a book wherein he discussed the Christmas tree formation that his teams so often adopt. Now, in an interview with the Times, he has named his dream team of players that have played under him.

The Italian is currently Real Madrid manager but refrained from naming any of his current crop of stars in the dream team, most likely to ensure that he doesn't tread on any particularly sensitive toes.

Having managed Parma, Juventus, AC Milan, Chelsea and Paris Saint Germain, Ancelotti was spoiled for choice. Only three of his fellow Italians made were named in the starting eleven, though a further three were listed as substitutes.

The team was named as follows:

Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Buffon
Defenders: Cafu, John Terry, Thiago Silva, Paolo Maldini
Midfielders: Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo, Zinedine Zidane, Kaka
Forwards: Andriy Shevchenko, Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Substitutes: Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, Alessandro Nesta, Gennaro Gattuso, Clarence Seedorf, Didier Drogba, Filippo Inzaghi

Football Recommendation

- Case Rebelde - The very existance of this shop has gotten us rather exited at Football Circus. Visit their online shop or drop into them in Temple Bar if you're in Dublin. Their current shop window display, as seen below, is also a thing of em...wonder.

http://casarebelde.com/

Non Football Recommendation

- The Ugly Duckling - Great new cafe/restaurant in Dublin city centre. The pulled pork sandwich is only whopper.

https://www.facebook.com/uglyducklingdublin

Song of the Week

- Civilian (Wye Oak)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mssm8Ml5sOo

Don't forget you can follow us on Twitter @footballcircus or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Football-Circus/418804204906352

You can also contact us at footballcircus@gmail.com

Arrogant Footballers Shocker

This week's Football Circus looks at drunken fans, Fergie's book and Bendtner, Ibrahimovic and Ronaldo all loving themselves. Meanwhile, our Italian Football Story of the Week features a football love story. N'awww!

Referee Injured...Team Nominate Drunk Fan to Take Charge

The FA Trophy is perhaps not the most prestigious competition in English football. Nor did it receive much attention last weekend as international football and World Cup qualifiers stole most of the headlines. One particular controversy from the weekend's fixtures in the cup competition did earn some column inches though. The match between Altrincham and Colwyn Bay was ended after 83 minutes after an injury to the referee and had to be replayed on Tuesday.

With Altrincham 2-0 up, the referee picked up an injury and could not continue. With 83 minutes gone and seemingly home and dry, Altrincham were desperate to finish the match. With no other officials available to referee the end of the game, an announcement was made requesting someone step forward to take over. A fan who was a qualified referee nominated himself to take the reigns, but away side Colwyn Bay rejected his proposal on the basis that the fan had been drinking in the club house at half-time.

Colwyn manager Frank Sinclair, speaking to BBC Radio 5, said:

"You can't just have any Tom, Dick or Harry come in and finish the last 10 minutes of the game.

"There was no-one on our side that had any officials' badges. One of their staff said he would see the rest of the game out with no qualifications. It's human nature that if there was a big decision to make, we wouldn't have got it.

"I've been within my rights to not agree to carry on."

Fergie Book Selling but Rife with Inaccuracies

Sir Alex Feguson's autobiography, creatively titled "My Autobiography", has been under scrutiny this week as fans have noted 45 inaccuracies throughout the book. Some such errors include getting Ryan Giggs' age wrong, claiming that Jaap Stam was sold to Roma (he was in fact sold to their city rivals Lazio) and the length of time Roy Keane served the club (Ferguson says in the book it was eleven years, it was in fact twelve).

One fan in particular was unhappy with the mistake-laden autobiography and wrote to publishes Hodder and Stoughton to complain about the matter. CEO Jamie Hodder-Williams responded to the fan with the following:

"We did in fact go through several stages of fact-checking with this book, with a reading from within Manchester United as well as from a specialist football fact-checker.

"Although a very large number of corrections were made we plainly did not pick up everything.

"Possible corrections that have so far been helpfully pointed out are being checked and will be included in future reprints.

"I am sorry that you feel that your expenditure on the book was not worthwhile. If you would like to send the book to me at our head office address, stating where you bought the book and at what price, we will refund your expenditure and postage".

Ferguson is unlikely to be too bothered by the oversights however as "My Autobiography" has become the fastest selling non-fiction book of all time in the UK.

Bendtner Targets Barcelona or Madrid Future

Nicklas Bendtner is quite simply, given his comments this week, a man with his head in the clouds. Never short of self-confidence, the Danish striker has this week told Danish newspaper Politiken that he wishes to play for Barcelona or Real Madrid.

Bendtner was last season loaned out to Juventus where he had little game time and failed to score. In fact he played just nine games for the Turin giants. As was reported on Football Circus at the time, Juve's club shop were alleged to have not sold a single jersey with Bendtner's name on the back. Cue his return to parent club Arsenal this season where, unsurprisingly, he has had little game time and failed to score.

Speaking to Politiken though, the striker made it clear that he is not happy to sit on the bench:

"It is the sport that is most important. I'm going somewhere where I know I can be happy to play, on a team where I can score goals and preferably to win something.

"I do not want to sit on the bench, staring. I love playing lots of games".

Bendtner was then asked where he would like to see himself playing, to which he answered:

"If I could decide: Real Madrid or Barcelona".

Something tells us that the Dane may not realise that particular dream any time soon.

Cristiano Ronaldo Building Museum Dedicated to...Cristiano Ronaldo

Self-confidence must be in the air this week. In a week where Nicklas Bendtner declared his desire to line out for Barcelona or Madrid, Zlatan Ibrahimovic also referred to himself as God (an interview with Swedish channel TV4 played out as follows: TV4:" Who will win the qualifier?"; Ibra: "Only God knows"; TV4 : “It’s kind of hard to ask him"; Ibra: "You’re talking to him now"). All that pales in comparison however to Cristiano Ronaldo's rumoured self-congratulating. For the Portuguese forward is said to be working on a museum in his hometown of Funchal, Madeira, which is dedicated to himself.

Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias have reported the story and claim that Ronaldo is funding the project himself. The museum will showcase the Read Madrid star's achievements from Premier League, La Liga and Champions League medals to Ballon d'Or and Golden Boot trophies.

The newspaper has been quoted:

"The initiative came from Cristiano Ronaldo and his mother [Dolores Santos] and it is Ronaldo himself who is to covering the costs of the museum.

"Ronaldo’s mother is very proud of this initiative. When the museum is a reality, the whole family will feel honored by his accomplishments

"The museum will be very important for the region because it will bring tourists from all over the world. Who would not want to see in person the Ballon d’Or and the Golden Boot, which are among many trophies that Ronaldo has already won".

Of course both Ronaldo and Ibra may feel justified in their self-worship after this week's match between Sweden and Portugal, where the pair dominated both the game and the headlines that followed.

What's Mad Mario Upto This Week?

Coming under fire from Italy teammate and goalkeeper Gigi Buffon, that's what. After Italy's 1-1 draw with Germany last week, Balo bemoaned the lack of protection given to him by the referee and cut an increasingly frustrated figure as the match played out.

35-year old stalwart Buffon however has found himself unable to defend his international teammate, telling Gazzetta dello Sport:

"I see no prejudice against Mario. It's just that now the way games are refereed has changed to prevent them becoming bogged down. Referees tend to whistle less and let the play run more - and I agree with that."

Later in the week Balotelli came out to defend himself against a perception in the media that he is a bad boy. Speaking at a charity event in Milan he said:

"I'm a good lad. I'm as normal as anybody, just I'm in a situation where being normal is not permitted.

"You've got to be a man, you've got to be big and you are not allowed to get distracted in my surroundings. People are watching me, but I'm not bothered by it. I have a good character so I'm relaxed. I'm no longer like I was when I was younger".

He also found it was time to speak out against criticism he has come in for in light of his recent form in front of goal. He continued:

"I've not scored for four or five games, but it's not true that I've been doing badly," he said. "In fact, I played better in these games than in those I scored in".

Italian Football Story of the Week

- Icardi Tweets Sweet Nothings

Footballers usage of Twitter is often the source of mockery and disdain here at Football Circus, but we can't deny the fact that the odd tweet does draw us in.

Take a recent tweet this week by Inter Milan's Mauco Icardi aimed at Argentine model Wanda Nara. Nara is the former wife of Maxi Lopez, who in turn is the former teammate of Icardi.

Icardi tweeted Nara:

“I love you, it is not simple to say how I feel, because I discovered that those two words carry with them one feeling without limits!"

Deary me...Awwwwkward. Whether Icardi's love is unrequited, or whether something may have gone on while Lopez and Nara were still together is anybody's guess. However Icardi was Lopez's strike partner at Sampdoria last season. Nara, has reportedly had an affair with Diego Maradona prior to her marriage to Lopez and has also appeared in a porn film.

Football Recommendation

- Livescore - Up to the second live scores from matches across the globe and available to download as an app.

http://www.livescore.com/

Non Football Recommendation

- The Walking Dead

http://www.amctv.com/shows/the-walking-dead

Song of the Week

- Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space (Spiritualized)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB7E1D_3Na4

Don't forget you can follow us on Twitter @footballcircus or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Football-Circus/418804204906352
You can also contact us at footballcircus@gmail.com

Bets and Popes and Rock and Roll

Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the 35th installment of Football Circus. This week we report on a Red Hot Chili Pepper feuding with Brazilian football fans and pose the question: Is football fan Pope Francis a thief? We will also attempt to mislead you with headlines such as "United's Giggs to play for Sierra Leone?". We're sneaky like that. But hey, it's a dirty industry, we have to lure you in somehow.

United's Giggs to play for Sierra Leone?

No not that one. There are strong rumours this week that Ryan Giggs' younger brother Rhodri has been contacted by Sierra Leone officials about playing for their national team. Rhodri, now aged 35, qualifies to play for the African side through his grandfather.

Currently playing for FC United, the younger Giggs brother is thought to be open to playing for the country as he has never played international football previously and is highly unlikely to be afforded the opportunity again at this stage in his career.

It is believed that Irishman John McKinstry who was recently appointed caretaker manager of Sierra Leone and is in fact seven years younger than Rhodri, is behind the move.

Chili Peppers Drummer hopes Flamengo Beef is Water Under the Bridge

Brazilian club side Flamengo have found themselves a rather peculiar new rival - Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith.

The drummer was on stage in Belo Horizonte in Brazil and produced a Flamengo jersey to garner some positive reaction from the crowd. This seems to be a common method of forming a bond with a local crowd and many big name musicians have been seen to don the jersey of a local football team in recent times, despite having no real connection with the side. Unfortunately for Smith, he seemingly failed to do his research.

On producing the jersey, Smith was met with a chorus of boos. Upon realising the crowd were clearly not Flamengo fans, the drummer attempted to make amends for his actions and pretended to wipe his, well, behind, with the Flamengo jersey.

Smith obviously knows very little about Brazilian football as his jersey antics demonstrated. His ass-wiping gesture gave rise to an onslaught of abuse from Flamenco fans. The few Flamengo fans that actually were present threw objects towards the stage, while he also received death threats after the appearence.

The Chili Pepper has moved swiftly to put the matter to rest by tweeting:

"I want to apologize for my inappropriate antics at the drum clinic,my joke about team rivalries went too far. Flamenco fans...I'm sorry".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRCXptxWnr4

Football Manager Illegally Downloaded...By the Pope?

A fortnight ago Football Manager 2014 earned our 'Football Recommendation' of the week accolade. Indeed, the popular franchise is a huge hit amongst football loving gamers. So much so that illegal downloads of the game are rife throughout the world. Nothing out of the ordinary there, given how popluar online piracy has become. What may raise an eyebrow however, is the fact that Football Manager has been illegally downloaded by someone in the Vatican City.

The Daily Mirror has reported that Miles Jacobson of Sports Interactive (Football Manager developers), revealed to the London Games Conference that 10.1 million individuals illegally downloaded the game on May 12th after it was leaked online.

3.2 million of the culprits were based in China, Jacobson confirmed, while one download could be tracked back to the Vatican. With a population of around 800 people, there is therefore, an 800-1 chance that the illegal downloader was the Pope himself. Given that Pope Francis is known to be a big fan of the beautiful game, those odds may narrow again.

Ugandan Fan Bets his House on Arsenal...And Loses It

There's belief in your team and then there's stupidity. Unfortunately, this is a tale of the latter. Ugandan newspaper The Observer has this week reported on Arsenal fan and Ugandan native, Henry Dhabasani, who staked his house on a Gunners victory against Man United on Sunday.

Dhabasani foolishly got into a heated debate in his home town of Iganga with United diehard Rashid Yiga. Dhabasani insisted league leaders Arsenal would get the victory while Yiga favoured the Red Devils.

This was not your average football talk in the pub between rival fans though. Both fans were so confident that their respective team would taste victory, that they decided to put a little wager on it. Dhabasani would hand over his house if United won and were Arsenal to win, Yiga would part with his Toyota Premio car. Oh and his wife as well.

The obsessed pair went as far as to sign documents in front of other fans and local leaders. United went on to win the match 1-0. Far from dismissing the bet as pre-match banter between friends, Dhabasani would not be let forget his gamble. The Observer reported:

"Dhabasani, married to three wives with five children, fainted at the end of the match on realising Arsenal had lost the game 1–0.

On Monday, several Manchester United fans stormed Dhabasani’s home and threw him and his family out".

There is no word as yet on whether Dhabasani will be putting any of his three wives up for grabs for Arsenal's next game.

Samba Beat Stops as Brazilian Footballers Protest

Brazilian football came to a halt this week as the 'Common Sense Football Movement' protest took place. The movement was set up by footballers in the country, who believe the domestic football calender is too long. So on Wednesday, the players stood with their arms crossed at the beginning of numerous fixtures in the Brazilian league. Fans and TV pundits joined in.

The Sao Paolo versus Flamengo match saw the teams kick the ball to each other and waste time after the match had gotten under way.

One of the leaders of the movement is Corinthians defender Paulo Andre. Andre had the following comments to make after Wednesday's actions:

"We will escalate the protests if the federation doesn't respond to our demands. This is historic for Brazilian football. Players know what they are doing and they know the importance of this movement. They are engaged.

"We understand the problems in the 2014 calendar (with the 2014 World Cup taking place)and we accept making a concession there, but if nothing is done for 2015 we likely won't be playing that year. It makes no sense to go against this movement. The only thing they can do is punish all 20 team and all players. This is important for football, everybody knows that things must improve."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN9iQagclJI#t=84

What's Mad Mario Upto This Week?

Well not a whole lot as it happens. His poor form has resulted in both Corriere Dello Sport and Tuttosport newspapers linking him with a move away from AC Milan. Corriere claim Paris Saint Germain are set to swoop for the striker and will make a €30 million move for him, while Tuttosport believe Balo may head for the San Siro exit door as early as January.

Meanwhile, Italian coach Cesare Prandelli has put Balotelli's loss of form down to a lack of confidence. Ahead of Italy's friendlies with Germany and Nigeria, Prandelli stated:

"Great champions have to make their team win. They have something more to give but they have to be included in the game plan.

"You have to arrive to games mentally prepared. Mario is going through a strange and delicate time, but if one has character, then you can gain more strength from this.

"He knows how to play football, he just has to get his confidence back."

And Frimpong?

Frimpong has, oddly enough, not been making headlines with through his Instagram offerings this week. There was another social media outlet that he took to however to embarrass himself.

Frimpong played in Arsenal under 21's 4-2 victory over Aston Villa this week and took to Twitter to proclaim he had scored his first Arsenal goal:

"First goal for Afc today. Glad we won great team spirit by the lads".

Which is all well and good. Only Frimpong scored for Arsenal's reserves (now the under 21's) in a 4-2 win against West Ham in January 2010.

Italian Football Story of the Week

- Strange Goings On in Salernitana and Nocerina Match

Poor old Nocerina must be cursing their luck. Either that, or the club has been getting upto some serious mischief. We'll let you make up your own minds...

Salernitana hosted Nocerina on Sunday in one of Italy's Lega Pro derby matches. The match was shrouded in controversy before a ball was even kicked though as Nocerina fans had been banned from attending. As such, they had requested for the match not to be played. That request was of course denied and the Nocerina team made their not so merry way to Salrenitana. 

En route to the stadium, players were attacked on their team bus. Their own fans then issued death threats to the players, feeling betrayed that the players would carry on and play the match without their presence.

The match was subsequently delayed by 40 minutes. League officals eventually managed to persuade the away players to take part in the match. But it was after the kickoff that proceedings really took a turn for the bizarre.

Within two minutes of kickoff, Nocerina used all three of their permitted substitutions. During the seventeen minutes that ensued, five players Nocerina players had to leave the pitch 'injured'. This left Nocerina with just six players remaining on the pitch and the referee with no choice but to call a halt to the farcical match.

Afterwards, the board of directors of Nocerina all resigned and the club are now face an investigation by the league to ascertain exactly what they were upto.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD7_PZlPn_g

Football Recommendation

 - Dave Will Online Store - Whether you're a Liverpool fan or not, you will surely appreciate the artwork of Dave Will who designs Liverpool post-match postcards.

http://davewill.bigcartel.com/

Non Football Recommendation

 - Dublinwalls.com - Like the football recommendation this week, the non football recommendation comes in arty farty form too. Some very impressive street art to be seen here.

http://dublinwalls.com/

Song of the Week

- Psycho Killer (Talking Heads)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O52jAYa4Pm8

Don't forget you can follow us on Twitter @footballcircus or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Football-Circus/418804204906352
You can also contact us at footballcircus@gmail.com