And the Fans go Wild!

It Thursday and that can only mean one thing - your brand new Football Circus is here. Right in the middle of World Cup season too - you lucky ducks. We've no shortage of stories to bring to you, with fans rather than players dominating Football Circus this week. We tell you about the sleep deprieved Chinese fan, the Spaniard who got lucky from his team's failure and the Irishman who is World Cup jersey crazy. We also look at a run in between Zlatan Ibrahimovic and a US reporter, check out our World Cup fantasy team's progress and of course provide your usual Mario Balotelli and Italian football news. Before we kick off, we're giving a special shout out this week to 12 year old Esker Celtic player Leo Finan from Lucan in Dublin - our newest and possibly youngest fan! We hope Leo and the rest of you scallywags enjoy this week's edition...

Chinese News Agency Blame World Cup for Death of Fan

A Chinese football fan has died this week and according to news agency Xinhua, it's all because of the World Cup.

Xinhua claim that the fan had stayed up for two consecutive nights to watch the World Cup live from Brazil. The twenty five year old man from the town of Suzhou near Shanhai, was allegedly found dead in front of his television by neighbours after the Spain-Holland match took place. Doctors have reportedly claimed that his death could well have been resultant from sleep deprivation. However they also claimed a heart attack may have been the cause of death - In which case, Spain's defence may have a lot more to answer for than they first thought. Remarkably, another Chinese fan died back in 2012 during the European Championships after going ELEVEN nights without sleep to watch the tournament.

In other Chinese-related World Cup news, the South China Morning Post has reported that some insurance companies in the country have sold 'drunk insurance' for the the World Cup, whereby the policyholder's medical fees will be covered should they be found to suffer from "acute intoxication". We can only imagine that insurance companies in certain other countries would go bust within weeks were they to introduce such frankly insane policies!

Spaniard Cashes in on National Team's Humiliation

Not many Spanish fans were in buoyant mood after their incredible 5-1 defeat against the Netherlands in their opening World Cup game. But there was one Spaniard who was cheering - 56 Jacobo Rios-Carape from Valencia. Rios Carape, an architect by trade, entered a competition run by a petrol company in Spanish newspaper Marca a number of weeks prior to the tournamnt kicking off. The premise of the competition? Simply predict the correct score and win €100,000 worth of free fuel. Little did he think that his pessimistic 5-1 prediction would net him the prize.

Rios-Carape, who is unlikely to ever need to pay for petrol again, had the following to say to the newspaper after his somewhat embarrassing victory:

"I was hoping that Spain would win, of course. I thought that if Holland were to beat us, it would be big, so I came up with the 5-1 scoreline, but I wasn’t convinced.

"Actually after, I thought it was outrageous and wouldn’t come true.

"Watching the game, I could not remember if I had guessed 1-4 or 1-5, so when we conceded the fifth I thought I had screwed up the ante. But I hadn’t, thankfully".

The fan, perhaps a little overcome by guilt and maybe even superstition, now said he would be betting in Spain's favour before their next match:

"It will be my personal revenge for the defeat to Holland.

"Tomorrow I’m going to fill up and I’ll bet that Spain beat Chile 5-1".

Hmm...did you really put that bet on Jacobo?

Zlatan Ibrahmiovic 1, TMZ 0

We made be wrought with regret that Football Circus regular Zlatan Ibrahimovic failed to make it to this year's World Cup, but alas, we can take solice in the fact that he's such grade A legend that the media won't leave him alone regardless.

Spotted outside Boa Steakhouse in L.A. where he was presumably holidaying and trying to unwind, American celebrity website / leeches TMZ approached the big man and tried to get a few words from him. What they got, was an entirely unimpressed Ibra and a few grunts to boot.

The reported began the interviewer in carcrash fashion, calling Zlatan, "Islan". Looking like he was ready to tear the reported a new one, Ibra refrained from answering TMZ's idiotic first question: "Is it hard watching the World Cup not being in it?". He then told the reporter that Landon Donovan's omission from the US squad was "his problem" when questioned about the matter. Finally, a clearly irritated Ibrahimovic was asked "Who do you think is gonna win the World Cup?". Walking away, Ibra sarcastically tells him "USA" but clarifies that this is a "big joke". 

The Zlat. Don't mess with him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx15r7py2Uw

Football Jersey Enthusiast goes all out for World Cup

His home nation may not have qualified for the World Cup but Republic of Ireland man Kenneth McCoy has not let that fact dampen his World Cup spirits. The Dubliner has decided to go all out with his support for the 2014 World Cup...by donning a different jersey for each day of the tournament...for the group stages at least.

McCoy supports Aston Villa as well as own national team of course but loves the sport of football so much that he does not limit his jersey wearing to the jerseys of the Villains and Ireland. Charting his World Cup jersey escapades on his own Facebook page, McCoy has thus far stayed true to his 'jersey a day' word, displaying jerseys ranging from Brazil to Cameroon to USA.

The football fanatic claims to own jerseys for as many as 27 of the teams involved in the World Cup. He also states that he has a jersey representing a team that will be playing on every day that the group stage of the competition - And we may not be mathematical geniuses here at Football Circus but we're pretty sure that puts him in with a good chance of being able to wear the jersey of a team that's playing on every day of the competition in its entirety. McCoy has abundance of Dutch jerseys, seven in fact, but when asked by Football Circus to pick a winner of the competition, he plumped for Argentina.

You can follow Kenneth's progress on his Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/kenjay12/media_set?set=a.755908394447308.1073741825.100000844645106&type=1

What's Mad Mario Upto this Week?

In case you've been living under a rock for the past week, Balotelli has been making headlines for the right reasons for a change. Balo scored the winning goal in Italy's World Cup encounter with England, rising to meet teammate Antonio Candreva's cross to head the ball into the English net and silence some critics who may have faulted his enigmatic style. The goal, and by virtue the victory, put the Italians into a strong position in Group D and Balotelli and co. will be confident of progressing to the next round.

Since the match, Balotelli has been a busy boy, constantly posting new social media messages and photos. He made sure to thank both teammates and fans after his performance against England, with the following two tweets:

"Forza azzurri ! Continuimo così! Man of the match today so happy!A big Thanks to my team mates!".

"For all those ones that always support me, believe in me, and understand me. This is for you all! Thanks…".

Super Mario also uploaded some photos he took from airplanes whilst travelling in Brazil and made known the fact that he was overawed by the beautiful views and scenery. But our two favourite Balotelli uploads of the week come in the form of Instagram and Facebook photos - One being a water melon sculpture of Balo, the second, being a photo Balotelli seemingly designed himself prior to the England match. The downright bizarre photo post on Balotelli's official Facebook page, was accompanied by the tagline "Redesigned for victory". Right you are Mario.

Italian Football Story of the Week

- Baresi backs Prandelli-led Italians for Success

Legendary Italy and AC Milan defender Franco Baresi has gone on record to state his belief that a Cesare Prandelli managed Italian side will go on to great things at this year's World Cup. Having watched the Azzuri defeat England in their opening game, Baresi, who missed a penalty in Italy's shootout which they lost to Brazil in the final of the 1994 World Cup, told Il Mattino:

"I really like the ideas that Prandelli has for this Italy team.

"We are trying to keep the ball and control the game that way.

"The Italy-England game was the best of the World Cup so far, for me – as well as Spain-Netherlands of course!

"We look really strong in midfield. With De Rossi, Pirlo and Verratti there is great quality in the middle of the park – that’s our great strength.

"Now we just have to focus on the Costa Rica game and try to gain passage into the next round.

"The World Cup is as tough as it gets. We just have to focus on the next game, and that’s it. Anything else would just be a mistake".

World Cup Fantasy Football Team and Predictions

- Football Circus World Cup 2014 Fantasy Football Team

We've had a quick glance at our fantasy team's progression and we're suitably impressed at how poorly they've been doing. With the exception of Captain Fantastic, Mr. Balotelli, our bunch of clowns have failed to accumulate a single goal between them. FIFA.com accredit them with, as of writing this (prior to England-Uruguay second round match kick-off), a wholly underwhelming 58 points. They also rank the Football Circus boys 581,626th in the world. Granted, the website doesn't bloody tell you exactly how many people are participating in the competition worldwide, but we're quietly confident we're ranking pretty badly nonetheless.

- Football Circus 10 World Cup Predictions

Just to recap on our 10 predictions of last week:

1. Italy to progress to at least the quarter-finals with Mario Balotelli scoring at least two goals along the way
2. Kevin Grosskreutz to do something stupid
3. The Dutch squad to have a massive falling out
4. The French squad to have a massive falling out
5. Wayne Rooney to be pants
6. Cristiano Ronaldo to finally make an impact at the World Cup
7. Javier Mascherano to be sent off
8. Spain to relinquish their crown as champions
9. At least one team to blame poor performance on the heat
10. Julio Cesar to cry

Thus far, we can smugly state that number 8 has already proven correct and we're optimistic that number 1 will happen and numbers 5 and 10 will still pull through. We're a little on the nervous side about numbers 3, 4 and 6 - the perennial in-fighters seem a bit too chilled for our liking and Ronaldo seems to be bottling on the big stage again. Next week we should have a few more answers.

Artist's Impression of the Week

- 'Balotelli Redesigns the World Cup Trophy'.

Football Recommendation of the Week

- Panini Cheapskates; We think this is bloody brilliant. A lad and his other half have decided that collecting all 639 stickers for this year's Panini World Cup sticker album is far too much of a financial burden. So they've taken it upon themselves to DRAW each an every one instead. You can check out their progress by clicking the link below to their blog.

http://paninicheapskates.wordpress.com/

Non-Football Recommendation of the Week

- ChetArt; The Etsy shop of artist Chet Phillips, who re-imagines some fictional characters.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChetArt?ref=l2-shop-info-name#

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

Football Circus World Cup Special

Welcome to a very special World Cup edition of Football Circus. We have quite a read in store for you this week. A 'bumper' edition if you may, not only do we bring you your weekly update of nonsensical stories et al, but we're also going to treat you to our Football Circus World Cup Fantasy Football team and ten bold World Cup predictions. So fasten your seatbelts and prepare to have your asses entertained.

The Octopus is Dead...Long Live the Panda

Paul the Octopus was possibly the only octopus ever to be known by name by millions of people across the globe. His predictions during World Cup 2010 have become a thing of legend. And it was with great sadness that we learnt of his passing in October 2010.

However, with new World Cups come new animals tasked with predicting the outcomes of matches. World Cup 2014 is no different and this year, it is the turn of an unnamed panda from China to perform a ridiculous task on a regular basis with likely varying outcomes, for idiotic humans to interpret as being some kind of 'prediction'.

The panda cub will, if all goes to plan, climb a tree with a nation's flag on top of it to signify who will win a match. If our calculations are correct, the young 'un will be climbing trees 64 times between now and mid-July if it is to predict each match.

Hailing from the Sichuan region of china, the cub, accordingly to local media 'accepted an invitation' to predict the matches. Exactly whom this alleged invitation came from is beyond us. In fact, you could say we're a bit bamboozled.

Grosskreutz in Trouble with Dortmund Fans

We have a measure here at Football Circus...If a footballer features in a story making him look like a bit of plonker twice, he's likely not the sharpest tool in the shed, but may have been unlucky. If he features three times, he's a full on clown. So, Kevin Grosskreutz, take a bow and welcome to the circus.

The Borussia Dortmund and Germany midfielder, first appeared on Football Circus on the 8th of May for throwing a kebab at a fan. On May 29th he featured again, this time for relieving himself in a hotel lobby. Now, on June 12th, he's made it a hattrick by offending fans of his own club whilst on World Cup duty.

The Dortmund man has been pictured wearing a t-shirt bearing an image of the Bayern Munich basketball team coach, Svetislav Pesic, giving two thumbs up. The Dortmund fans are likely to be pretty non-plussed by Grosskreutz's choice of apparel, given their team lost out to Bayern in the Bundesliga and German Cup last season, in addition to Mario Goetze and Robert Lewandowski switching allegiances over the past two summers.

Julio Cesar Breaks Down in Tears as he bids Farewell to Toronto...After Seven Matches!

There have been some painful goodbyes this year in world football. Messrs Giggs, Zanetti and Puyol all bid farewell to their respective clubs after years of service. All three will have felt a deep sense of sorrow as they left their fans and teammates behind. So spare a thought also for poor Julio Cesar who had to face the sadness of saying goodbye to his Toronto FC teammates after three whole months and seven matches of playing alongside them.

Toronto have published a cringe-inducing video of Cesar's goodbye, as he is presented with a framed picture from his teammates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0yxuMwxfmc

Cesar, wearing only a towel in the video, gives it the old "I promised myself I wouldn't cry", but of course bawls his eyes out and sobs like a baby. He tells his teammates, his Toronto experience was "one of the best experiences of (his) life". We can only imagine what he was like when he left Inter Milan. Oh wait. We don't need to...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2v25mZ8MG8

Ow! Robin Van Persie!

Every World Cup there's a list of players who would have been guaranteed to play but had to stay at home due to injury. There's always a select few who will disappoint even the neutral fans by their non-appearance. This World Cup is no different and Marco Reus, Radamel Falcao and Franck Ribery will be notable by their absence.

Robin Van Persie can thank his lucky stars then, that he has not made onto the list of the doomed, as the striker who seems to have been plagued by injury for most of his career, had a close shave this week. 

RVP had a run-in with a kite surfer as he and teammate Daryl Janmaat were strolling along the strand of the famous Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro. The kite surfer collided with the pair and despite initial fears that the incident had left Van Persie hurt, the Dutch FA have since confirmed that he escaped with "light scratches".

Janmaat said of the incident:

"I almost got a kite on my head. There was a man kitesurfing and he fell on the very spot where I was".

That's one injury that Van Persie couldn't prepare himself for in Manchester.

What's Mad Mario Upto this Week?

You'd think that preparing for Italy's biggest match in four years would be enough for Balo this week, but oh no. Balotelli is set to square off against Engerland on Saturday in what promises to be quite a tasty opening World Cup fixture for both sides. Not content to hog the limelight on the pitch though, the ever humble Mario has uploaded a cartoon of himself taking the place of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio to his Instagram account.

Indeed it would be fair to say that Super Mario certainly hasn't shyed away from his Instagram account while on World Cup duty, uploading photos and videos aplenty over the past week, not least this one...

(We particularly like the fourth comment, "Come to arsenal" - Completely ignore the fact that he's just gotten engaged!).

Yes that's right, Balo popped the question this week and his long term girlfriend Fanny Neguesha responded affirmatively. It's a date Balotelli is unlikely to forget as it was also Fanny's birthday. The lucky lady, in similar fashion to her husband to be, took to Instagram (where else) to address her new status as Mario's fiancee with a video of her celebrating the news and message which read:

"Tonight, I said the most important yes of my life. That was the best present for my birthday! I love you first and unique husband".

Engagement and playing in the World Cup all in one week? Balotelli has truly lived upto his "Super Mario" billing.

Italian Football Story of the Week

- Inzaghi Takes the Reigns at Milan

Just months after being appointed as manager by AC Milan, former player Clarence Seedorf has been given the old heave-ho by the ruthless Serie A club. Shown the door faster than he could say "time to steady the ship", Seedorf will be replaced by former Milan teammate Pippo Inzaghi, who looks to have his work cut out.

With Italy due to kick off in the World Cup this week, president Silvio Berlusconi may be hoping that Seedorf's dismissal and Inzaghi's appointment have fallen under the radar to a degree, as many fans of the club feel Seedorf was not given enough time to steer the club back to success, especially given his status as a club legend. Add rumours that Seedorf was informed of his sacking by email to the mix, and Inzaghi will have every reason to feel that the knives will be out for him from a very early stage.

Nevertheless, Inzaghi has taken to his official website to announce his delight at his new role:

"I’m very happy, today for me is an unforgettable day.

"I thank the President Berlusconi and the whole club for their confidence and the prestigious professional opportunity they have granted to me.

"I’m honoured and proud to be the Coach of a team that has been my life for so many years. It is a team and a club with which I have shared joy and unforgettable moments.

"I will give everything of myself for these colours, passion and determination, as I have always done both as a player and as Coach of the youth teams.

"A hug to all Rossoneri fans. Forza Milan!".

World Cup Fantasy Football Team and Predictions

- Football Circus World Cup 2014 Fantasy Football Team

Given the week that it is, we have taken the liberty of creating a Football Circus fantasy World Cup team on the official FIFA website (http://en.mcdonalds.fantasy.fifa.com/). We've created a team of players, many of whom have featured on Football Circus in the past (some repeat offenders - Kevin Grosskreutz, being one), some of whom we consider clowns despite not (yet) having appeared on Football Circus and a few stragglers who were cheaply priced and made up the numbers. Every one of the first team lineup at least has featured on Football Circus previously. We look forward to seeing how the team fares as the competition progresses and thoroughly expect them to amass an embarassing points total. The team is captained by who else, but Mario Balotelli. We hope you follow their / our fortunes over the next month. The team lines up as follows:

With the following bench:

If you want to check out the team, our username is fcircus. Sadly, some Football Circus regulars such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Nicklas Bendtner and, shockingly, Emmanuel Frimpong, will not be at the World Cup. We're confident that Balotelli, Ronaldo, Grosskreutz and co. though, will do them proud.

- Football Circus 10 World Cup Predictions

1. Italy to progress to at least the quarter-finals with Mario Balotelli scoring at least two goals along the way
2. Kevin Grosskreutz to do something stupid
3. The Dutch squad to have a massive falling out
4. The French squad to have a massive falling out
5. Wayne Rooney to be pants
6. Cristiano Ronaldo to finally make an impact at the World Cup
7. Javier Mascherano to be sent off
8. Spain to relinquish their crown as champions
9. At least one team to blame poor performance on the heat
10. Julio Cesar to cry

Artist's Impression of the Week

 - 'The World's Best gather in Rio for World Cup 2014'

Football Recommendation of the Week

- The World Cup Balls; An awesome artisitic look back at every football ever used at the World Cup.

http://theworldcupballs.com/baelle.html

Non Football Recommendation of the Week

- 22 Jump Street; The sequel to, believe it or not, 21 Jump Street, this is a sequel that may in fact outshine it's predecessor. A lot of laugh out loud moments, hard to find fault with Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum's offering. You should definitely try and fit this in, between World Cup matches of course.

http://www.22jumpstreetmovie.com/site/

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

Beastly Behaviour

This week in Football Circus - a veritable BEAST of a lineup: Sheep playing football? Ewe 'avin a laugh? No we certainly are not Sir, for the Sheep World Cup has just taken place in Colombia and we're gonna tell you all about it. Not enough? Well read all about the man who plays football with lions in a suit all in the name of advertising. In some non-animal tales, we've found the official World Cup burger, an overpriced World Cup t-shirt, Adrian Mutu's 'acting' debut and a naughty old Italian football president in our Italian Football story of the week. And of course Mario Balotelli. So get reading!

Football Circus Clown Quote of the Week

"Aaron Ramsey hasn’t always been the flavour of the Arsenal fans’ eyes".

- Craig Burley

Just like watching Baaa-zil - Sheep World Cup takes place in Colombia

It's the moment you've all been waiting for, yes, the results of the Sheep World Cup are in! Colombia this week played host to the Sheep World Cup where ten sheep clad in the kit of home side Colombia, took on ten sheep in full Brazil regalia in a football match. Each sheep represented a player from the actual national teams.

The match, which took place in the town of Nobsa, drew in five hundred spectators who watch as the twenty woolly beasts kicked around a foam football. To stop the sheep from taking grass-munching breaks mid-match, their handlers tugged a rope on their necks to focus them on the task at hand...sorry...hoof.

The match ended 4-3 to Colombia, with the winning goal being scored by the sheep who represented AS Monaco star James Rodriguez. The game took place as part of International Ruana Day celebrations (the Ruana being a woollen poncho traditional of the mountainous regions of Colombia).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9yQcsHwHFw

Fancy a Kickabout? With a Lion?!!

The man who dubs himself 'the lion whisperer' trumped the Sheep World Cup by simply starring in an ad for a Dutch suit company...oh and playing football with lions whilst doing so.

Kevin Richardson, a South African animal behaviourist, appears in the Van Gils suit ad, not only playing football with lions but also wearing a full suit in what appear to be rather hot conditions.

Van Gils are the official suit of the Dutch football team. Lions are the symbol of the Dutch football team. Kevin Richardson can wear a suit, understand lions and can, to an extent, give an account of himself with a football at his feet. Hey presto - Van Gils have their World Cup ad sorted. We'd love to know what was going on with the Van Gils marketing team when they came up with this one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6zycbYrDYo

Anyone for an Official World Cup Burger?

Some weeks back we regaled you with news of the official World Cup condom and official World Cup toilet roll. This week, we've discovered the official World Cup burger, courtesy of McDonald's...and you may not want to be wearing your Versace World Cup t-shirt while you eat it.

The World Cup burger(s) will be available from McDonald's, with a different variation available over a seven week period. Based on seven countries partaking in the competition, McDonald's has announced the following lineup:

- The McBrazil (Angus beef, mayonnaise, special Brazilian vinaigrette, lettuce, and emmental cheese).

- The McSpain (Crispy chicken with olive oil mayonnaise, bacon spicy cheese, tomato and lettuce).

- The McGermany (Rib meat, German mustard sauce, red onion, pickles and bacon spicy cheese).

- The McFrance (Crispy chicken, melted cream cheese, grated parmesan cheese, lettuce, tomato and emmental cheese).

- The McItaly (Polpettone meat, with tomato sauce, grated parmesan cheese and pepperoni).

- The McArgentina (Angus beef, with chimichurri mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, bacon and cheddar).

- The McUSA (Angus beef, with barbecue sauce, crispy onions, pickles, lettuce, bacon and cheddar cheese).

Based on the burgers, we're predicting a Spain-Italy final with Italy just about shading it.

Meanwhile, Versace have released a World Cup-themed t-shirt. Jumping on the World Cup merchandising bandwagon, the fashion giants have decided that sporting official jerseys is not the most fashionable way to display your affection for the most famous sporting competition in the world and put the monstrousity below on the market. Looking like a rainbow has vomited all over you comes at a price though, it would seem, as they have slapped a €450 pricetag on the garment.

Mutu Makes 'Acting' Debut

Back March this year, we gleefully reported that Adrian Mutu was due to make his acting debut as part of a Snoop Dogg video (http://football-circus.blogspot.ie/search?q=snoop+dogg). We held high hopes for the drugs-test-failing former Chelsea and Inter Milan star, believing that he may have finally found his true calling. A life of stardom surely lay ahead once he appeared in a high-budget and glamourous Snoop Dogg video. Well, the video has finally been released...

Snoop Dogg himself seems to sing / rap approximately four lines of the song, entitled 'Acrobat', which is in fact a 'collaboration' between Romanian artist A-Roma, Orry Jackson and Mr. Dogg himself. "You're moving like an acrobat. Watching you is like a mystical cat" is possibly the standout line of the little ditty, though there are many to choose from.

To give Mutu his due, he plays the 'cigar-smoking, dancing-stripper-watching rich guy in a suit' role down to a tee.

The video can be seen below, though be warned, we will not be held responsible if you start bleeding from your eyes and / or ears.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNa7b7yikCE#t=41

What's Mad Mario Upto this Week?

Busy training for the World Cup all week, Balo looks to have been wrapped up in cotton wool this week and exposure to the media for him and the rest of Italy teammates, has been minimal. He did however, spare some time to knock England's chances of progressing in the competition:

"I don’t look at England as a team that can win the World Cup", Balotelli said.

"They have some good players, but they are no real rivals for Italy.

"I am not saying that Italy are favourites, but we have the mentality and experienced players to surprise people — I don’t think England have that.

"We have players who have won the World Cup. I don't think England have a player who knows what it is like to play past the quarter-final.

"In the opening game, we have to respect England because it is important to get off to a good start. They have maybe two or three players who can hurt us, but we feel well prepared for the tournament and expect to start off with a win."

Despite Balo's fighting words, teammate Andrea Pirlo believes that Super Mario needs to follow through on the pitch. In an interview with BBC Radio 5, the midfielder mused:

"He is a good kid. He needs to show just what he is worth on the pitch. But the World Cup is a great opportunity for him to show his true quality".

Italian Football Story of the Week

- Parma Players Plead for President to Stay after he blames Unpaid Taxes on Bad Memory

Parma president Tommaso Ghirardi put the club up for sale last week, after the side were accused of not having paid taxes on as many as nine players' contracts and informed they would not be allowed take part in next season's Europa League, despite their sixth place finish in Serie A. An appeal by the club was unsuccessful and Torino will now take Parma's place in Europe. Parma's players have now made an effort to convince Ghirardi to stay put and continue building for the future.

Ghirardi's laughable attempt to defend his non-payment of the taxes, came by way of the following comments to reporters:

"We have so many players, young players that sometimes you can’t remember. But you have to pay the tax on that. I’ve been here for seven years and I have always done that".

"We are good people who run a good house. But they have managed to push me away from the game. I’m done with football.

"I’m done. I’m resigning as Parma President, and as of July 1 a new story will begin.

"Parma is now for sale".

And it seemed that with Ghirardi's toys firmly flung out of his likely non-taxed pram, that Parma would become the plaything of another potentially amnesia-stricken sugardaddy. But there was a twist in the tail to come. For the Parma players have this week issued an open letter to Ghirardi via the official Parma website. The letter reads:

"Dear President, This is your team speaking.

"These are sad days for all of us, for the whole city. They took away a dream. A dream that we built day after day, with sweat and sacrifice.

"We understand the bitterness, the delusion, the sorrow of who feels betrayed by the institutions…

"But as men of the pitch, not of the court, we can only start over in one way: transform this injustice into anger and this anger in new energy".

"We are ready to start over the race for a goal which we deserved on the pitch this year, and which is outcome of a project of which you are the first author.

"But to do so we need you, your passion, your honesty!

"To experience these emotions of the 18th May again… your squad, the one you built with many efforts, asks you for another chance…

"DON’T GIVE UP PRESIDENT !!!

"Your team".

This president-club love story may not be over yet.

Artist's Impression of the Week

 - 'Even Animals are catching World Cup Fever'

Football Recommendation of the Week

- Google Maps Streetview of World Cup Stadiums; Fearful that Brazil's World Cup stadium's weren't going to be ready in time? Pfft...Course they are! And just to prove it, Google Maps Streetview is allowing us to view inside each one. Now sitting in one for 90 minutes and praying that your seat doesn't give way could be a different matter. We're happy to look on from a distance for now...

https://www.google.com/maps/views/streetview/brazils-world-cup-stadiums?gl=us

Non-Football Recommendation of the Week

- Bedford Stuy Barbers; If you're in Dublin and need your mop chopped, this is the place to go.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bedford-Stuy-Barbers/224810644212508

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