The private beef which caused Emmanuel Adebayor to moonwalk over Robin van Persie’s face a fortnight ago has been revealed to be the same reason he fell out with Nicklas Bendtner last season - an unhealthy shoe obsession.
According to the News of the World, following Arsenal’s final day win against Stoke last season, Emmanuel knee-slid into the Gunners’ dressing room with an extra-strength bin liner and (as one club rep put it) ’swept the place’, bagging as much of his team-mates’ kit as would fit - including a pair of boots Robin van Persie had planned to give to friends - before hauling ass.
A member of the Arsenal backroom staff was left break the news to the players:
“We never saw him - or the boots - again. Robin was going mad.
Hampered somewhat by his ex-captain showing off the battle scars he allegedly inflicted in Arsenal’s hot-tempered clash with Man City last Saturday, Emmanuel Adebayor is making a belated attempt to win some friends back.
In a exclusive ‘heart to heart’ with The Sun, Adebayor has asked fans to empathise with his decision to kick a former team-mate in the face and then run a full 90 yards to incite the mini riot which left a steward hospitalised.
Clutching a tear-soaked hanky, Ade told the paper:
‘People talk about us as being football players and the money we earn, but just because we are fortunate it does not mean we need to take abuse.
‘If you were to abuse a man in the street for over an hour he would react and it would be a worse reaction than a goal celebration!
Much has been made of Emmanuel Adebayor’s irresponsible reaction to the torrent of abuse he received from Arsenal fans at the weekend, but Roma’s Daniele De Rossi was also subjected to offensive chants on Sunday. The Italian, however, dealt with the crowd banter a little differently.
After a mistimed tackle, Siena fans started singing a song about his father-in-law (i.e. the daddy of his not-unattractive WAG Tamara), who was apparently executed in a mafia hit last year. When the whistle blew, the midfielder’s reddened eyes quickly turned into full-on waterworks, as his teammates tried to console him.
Siena manager Marco Giampaolo offered an apology on behalf of the callous fans:
“To De Rossi, I express my solidarity as a man and as a footballer for what has happened.”
It’s a two-way-hate-off between these Gunners alumni
In the words of Andrei Arshavin, today’s vote is “simples”. Which player do the Gunners hate the most - the greedy one who may or may not have misused a mobile phone, or the lazy and greedy one who put the icing on the loathing cake this weekend with his anger-inciting knee slide/face kick combo? Even if you’re not a Gunner, wade in with your opinion below…
A tip of the cap to COS for inspiring our hate debate
The stars who have enjoyed facing their previous employers
This weekend, a whole host of players faced their former employers, most notably Emmanuel Adebayor at Eastlands and Dimitar Berbatov at White Hart Lane. Face kicking and celebrating aside, the former put in a performance that truly represented his stunning talent (something which was somewhat of a rarity during his final months at Arsenal), while the latter moped around and fluffed numerous chances (prompting the chant “That’s why we sold you!” - a chorus only bettered by the “You’re not signing any more!” that Chelsea received at Stoke).
With these acrimonious encounters in mind, Spoiler correspondent Liam Jarvis has selected his top five players who have enjoyed facing the teams that used to sign their puffed-up pay cheques…
William Gallas
The tantrum-prone Frenchman scored the winning header from a Cesc Fabregas corner to beat Chelsea 1-0 back in 2007. The goal ended a 3-year winless streak against their London rivals.
Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer marked his 300th club career goal in perfect fashion, a simple penalty against former side Blackburn in 2002.
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