Your 85th Football Circus is a varied edition indeed. This week we bring you everything from beard bans in Turkey to bum pats in Honduras. We also take a look at an Alvaro Recoba tattoo, a cat-related excuse for missing training and Mario Balotelli, who has had another bad week. If you're looking for just the right amount of football nonsense, you've come to the right place...
Football Circus Clown Quote of the Week
"At 28 or 29 years old, Rooney is hitting his peak. As I say, new sets of curtains open up for you as a player".
- Glenn Hoddle on Wayne Rooney's career...or home decor.
Beard Envy in Turkey
Well this is a bit of an extreme measure. Chairman of Turkish Super Lig club Genclerbirligi, Ilhan Cavcav, has announced that he is so fed up of seeing players sporting beards that he is banning beards at the club. The frankly ridiculous ban means that should Cavcav spot any of his players with a beard, he will them 25,000 Turkish Lira.
The moustached Cavcav attempted to convince Turkish Football Federation chairman, Yildirim Demiroren, to introduce a countrywide ban on the beard. However Demiroren quite rightly informed the 80 year old that he had no intention of enforcing such a ban.
Speaking to the Dognan news agency, Cavcav moaned:
"I am 80-years-old, and I shave every single day. Man, is this an imam-hatip school?
"You are a sportsman. You should be a model for the youth.
"He told me that they could not impose such a restriction because UEFA would not let them do it.
"I am fed up with this UEFA. I wish we had some other place to play our football".
Referee Makes an Ass of Himself
A referee in Honduras has made headlines for one of the strangest officiating decisions made this side of 2015. Back on October 12th, the referee of the Real Socidedad-Marathon match, sent off Marathon goalkeeper Junior Morales...for patting an opposition player on the bottom!
The ref only took the decision to show red to Morales after consulting his linesman who confirmed a bottom patting had taken place. Morales, shocked by the decision, refused to leave the pitch. As Marathon players protested, the referee then decided to abandon the match and awarded all three points to Real Socieded.
Despite their best efforts by way of appeal to the Honduran FA, Marathon were unable to have the decision reversed. The went on to miss out on a playoff spot by two points, which in turn will cost the club around $120,000 in sponsorship and gate money.
This week, the club's director of football Rolando Pena spoke out against the decision. He told Reuters:
"It’s the strangest decision I’ve ever seen in football, it’s totally absurd.
"The world is laughing at us and at the referee".
Teammate Has Recoba's Face Tattooed Onto Arm
When we happened upon this story this week, our initial reaction was one of surprise as we discovered that 'El Chino', Alvaro Recoba, still plays football. The ex Inter Milan man and former Uruguay international had all but left our thoughts, a distant memory of what typified Serie A in the late 90's / early 2000's - an overpaid footballer who was capable of flashes of brilliance. Once we had gotten over the initial surprise that he still plays, we were wholly unsurprised to find that the now 38 year old Recoba was still scoring goals like this:
That particular goal proved to be the winner for Recoba's team Nacional who defeated rivals Penarol 2-1. In fact it came five minutes into injury time and Recoba himself had only come on with twenty minutes of normal time left.
We then reverted back to our state of surprise when we found out that Recoba's goal had had such an impact on 19 year old Nacional player Gaston Pereiro, that he immediately took a trip to his local tattoo parlour and had Recoba's face permanently etched onto his arm.
Speaking to Tenfieldigital, Pereiro delighted:
"I found no better way to honour my idol than taking him everywhere with me forever.
"I am still screaming about his goal on Sunday.
"When I showed the tattoo to El Chino, he could not believe it.
"I started laughing and he joked: ‘Thanks for making me with hair and everything!'".
Forssell is a Scaredy Cat
Former Chelsea striker, Mikael Forssell, this week was late for training as...there was a cat standing beside his car. No, really.
The 33 year old Finn who now plays for Bochum, tweeted that he could not leave his house as there was a feline beside his the wheel of his motor. Forsell explained that he was was allergic to cats and that the kitten was "rubbing against the rubber". The tweet came complete with a photo of the offending cat but it was clearly a photo taken from the safety of Forssell's house, as he daren't have ventured outside for fear of what the cat may do.
Since joining Bochum in the summer, Forssell is yet to start a game. If his dedication to training carries on in this ilk, his appearance record is unlikely to improve.
What's Mad Mario Upto this Week?
It's been a truly awful week for Balo. No sooner had the striker been recalled to the Italian national team by Antonio Conte, than he was leaving again. Prior to Italy's European Championship qualifier against Croatia, Balo was forced to travel back to Liverpool after injuring his hamstring. The Liverpool man will not have been encouraged either, by comments by Conte in an interview with Raisport, which suggested the manager will not be losing too much sleep over Balotelli.
Said Conte:
"I'm not so arrogant as to claim that I'm different from the great coaches, but the past tells us that they failed to change Balotelli.
"It'll be up to the player, but I don't have much time and I need certain things".
Even Roma striker Francesco Totti was on Super Mario's back this week, telling Gazzett dello Sport:
"I wouldn't give advice to Balotelli. Everyone tries to, but he doesn't listen to anyone".
Though Balotelli may be fit for Liverpool's game against Crystal Palace at the weekend, we fear the big man may not want to get out of bed given the week he's had!
Italian Football Story of the Week
- Mazzarri Ousted as Mancini Returns to Inter
Within 24 hours of last week's Football Circus being published, which in fact featured some rousing words from Giovanni Trapattoni commending Inter Milan chairman Erik Thohir for standing by manager Walter Mazzarri, Thohir had fired Mazzarri. A few hours later, he announced that Roberto Mancini would be returning to the club that he guided to three Serie A titles and two Coppa Italias.
Stated Thohir:
"Today I made the difficult decision to dismiss Walter Mazzarri as head coach. It was a decision that I reached in conjunction with my management team.
"It was a difficult decision because he has been continuously supportive of the direction that we have wanted to take the club, and he has worked tirelessly and selflessly for Inter, with both belief and passion.
"I would like to thank him sincerely for his efforts. However, our goal is to regain our rightful position as one of the very top clubs in Europe and that’s why I am so happy to welcome back Roberto Mancini.
"His track record both at Inter and elsewhere speaks for itself, and his experience and hunger for success will drive the team to the next level".
So it would appear that it's out with the old and in with the older for Inter.
Artist's Impression of the Week
- 'Won't be in Today Gaffer'; Forssell's feline fear causes training absence.
Football Recommendation of the Week
- Adrian Doherty: the lost star of Manchester United’s class of 92 (Daniel Taylor, the Guardian); It's not often that we recommend an article for the Football Recommendation of the Week (in fact from recollection we may have never done this before). However Daniel Taylor's piece on Adrian Doherty, the forgotten man of the 'Class of 92', is fascinating, albeit laced with tragedy. A very worthwhile read.
Non-Football Recommendation of the Week
- Mikeharvey.co.uk; Taxi Photography Exhibition; Ever think about all the faces and stories a taxi driver experiences on a day to day basis? Well you may not have but Mike Harvey, a taxi driver from Swansea, felt his customers were so varied and interesting that he's taken photos of them and set up an exhibition displaying the results.
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