#  @MatchedBetting_ Matched-Betting Matched-Betting posts on X about in the, nottingham forest, manchester united, hotel the most. They currently have [-----] followers and [---] posts still getting attention that total [-------] engagements in the last [--] hours. ### Engagements: [-------] [#](/creator/twitter::1604445895847813123/interactions)  - [--] Week [-------] +3,230% - [--] Month [-------] +17,636% - [--] Months [-------] +18,672% ### Mentions: [--] [#](/creator/twitter::1604445895847813123/posts_active)  - [--] Week [--] +169% - [--] Month [---] +2,560% - [--] Months [---] +4,333% ### Followers: [-----] [#](/creator/twitter::1604445895847813123/followers)  - [--] Week [-----] +2.50% - [--] Month [-----] +1.20% - [--] Months [-----] -1.40% ### CreatorRank: [------] [#](/creator/twitter::1604445895847813123/influencer_rank)  ### Social Influence **Social category influence** [premier league](/list/premier-league) #2563 [countries](/list/countries) [travel destinations](/list/travel-destinations) [luxury brands](/list/luxury-brands) [automotive brands](/list/automotive-brands) [finance](/list/finance) [currencies](/list/currencies) [celebrities](/list/celebrities) [technology brands](/list/technology-brands) [champions league](/list/champions-league) **Social topic influence** [in the](/topic/in-the), [nottingham forest](/topic/nottingham-forest) #184, [manchester united](/topic/manchester-united) #2636, [hotel](/topic/hotel) #2479, [night](/topic/night), [paul](/topic/paul) #3048, [west](/topic/west) #1652, [the first](/topic/the-first), [$ferg](/topic/$ferg), [premier league](/topic/premier-league) #811 **Top assets mentioned** [Ferguson plc (FERG)](/topic/$ferg) ### Top Social Posts Top posts by engagements in the last [--] hours "Just posted a risk free shot at [-----] to Patreon. The stakes can be adjusted to guarantee [--] regardless. [--] likes on this tweet and Ill upload it to twitter 👍" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/1696816379851104697) 2023-08-30T09:25Z [--] followers, [----] engagements "Betway boost. If both players get a sot win [----] if they dont then break even. Isnt currently on smarkets but can be layed on Matchbook Ill update if can be placed using smarkets" [X Link](https://x.com/MatchedBetting_/status/1893348587943116935) 2025-02-22T17:14Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "If inter Milan win 2-1 we profit [--]. If the scoreline finishes anything else we break completely even. Must use 30% profit boost on bet365" [X Link](https://x.com/MatchedBetting_/status/1897274106875404623) 2025-03-05T13:12Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Using the bet365 25% win boost. If Arsenal beat West Ham 2-1 we profit [--]. If the scoreline is absolutely anything else we again break even. Risk free shot at [--] 👍" [X Link](https://x.com/MatchedBetting_/status/1893255633454940650) 2025-02-22T11:04Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Peter Crouch signed for Liverpool he admits he started doing what a lot of new Premier League lads do. He bought the flash car. Aston Martin shades on music up feeling like hed made it. Then one day he pulled up at traffic lights in Manchester and looked across and it was Roy Keane in the car next to him. Crouch says Keane didnt say a word. He just looked him up and down gave him an absolutely disgusted glance and shook his head like hed just witnessed a crime against football. That was enough. Crouch said it hit him instantly that hed turned into one of those footballers. All the bling" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2012117913210138719) 2026-01-16T11:01Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "When Roy Keane was a teenager at Nottingham Forest he was still learning the hard way what English football was really like. Forest were playing Crystal Palace in the FA Cup and in the replay at the City Ground Keane made a horrible mistake. He played a backpass that put his own keeper in trouble and Palace ended up scoring from it. Keane said he walked back into the dressing room after the game and Brian Clough went straight for him. In Keanes own words from his autobiography: When I walked into the dressing room after the game Clough punched me straight in the face. Then came the lesson" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2012145187221323876) 2026-01-16T12:49Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Roy Keane was coming towards the end at Manchester United the relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson started to fray. In Fergusons autobiography he explains that the breaking point came after Keane did a MUTV interview that United decided they couldnt broadcast. Ferguson says Keane criticised his team-mates so heavily that the club felt it would do real damage if it went out. Fergusons issue wasnt that Keane had standards. It was the way he went about it. In the book Ferguson describes how it even fed into the atmosphere around the squad saying it ended with two young players being booed" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2012216783780860291) 2026-01-16T17:34Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Paul Gascoigne first started properly travelling with the England squad the older lads realised pretty quickly he didnt switch off. In March [----] England went to Albania for a World Cup qualifier. They were in a hotel and there was a courtyard below the rooms with chickens wandering about. According to Tony Cottee there was noise coming from a room opposite his. He went in to see what was going on and Gazza was stood there launching bars of soap out of the window trying to hit the chickens in the courtyard. Every time he clipped one hed celebrate like hed just scored at Wembley. Then Sir" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2012229906323660997) 2026-01-16T18:26Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Harry Redknapp was managing West Ham United he says working with Paolo Di Canio meant you never really knew what you were walking into. One time they faced Birmingham away in the League Cup. Its half-time West Ham are behind from a free-kick and goalkeeper Shaka Hislop is annoyed because Di Canio hasnt lined the wall up properly. Hislop tries to say it calmly basically: you didnt do your job. Di Canio completely loses it. Redknapp says Di Canio starts shouting F*** you at Hislop then picks up a huge barrel of orange sports drink. He can barely lift it hes stomping around the dressing" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2012248322623291618) 2026-01-16T19:39Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Neil Warnock was managing Sheffield United he admits he once tried to solve a confidence problem in the most Warnock way possible. One of his players had been complaining he felt sluggish and low on energy. Warnock decided the issue wasnt tactics or fitness or form. It was that the lad looked ill. So Warnock told him to go on a sunbed. The player took it seriously. Too seriously. He came back a few days later absolutely glowing. Not just tanned. Bright red. Properly burnt. Warnock said the lad looked like hed been slow-roasted. Instead of admitting the plan had gone wrong Warnock doubled" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2012465154009465189) 2026-01-17T10:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "When Wayne Rooney was a kid breaking into the Everton first team he learned pretty quickly that you didnt just have to play well. You had to survive the dressing room. Rooney has admitted there was one prank in particular that got completely out of hand and it involved David Moyes. During a training day Moyes came into the first-team dressing room and went into the toilet. The lads saw their chance and started encouraging Rooney to do it. So Rooney picked up a bucket of water crept over to the cubicle and tipped it straight over the top onto Moyes. Then he ran. Rooney said it was one of those" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2012535086634135763) 2026-01-17T14:38Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Brian Clough was managing Nottingham Forest he once proved he didnt believe in long team talks. Before a match the players were sat in the dressing room waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Clough didnt come in. Eventually they started to get uneasy. Someone went to look for him and found him sat in his office feet up reading the paper. They told him kick-off was getting close. Clough looked up and said hed be there in a minute. When he finally walked into the dressing room there were only a few minutes left. He looked around the room clocked the tension and said just one thing: Gentlemen" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2012851403337670766) 2026-01-18T11:35Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Paul Gascoigne was at Spurs he said he once missed training because of a pigeon. He was at the club on a Thursday and saw the groundsman trying to get rid of pigeons around the stadium. Gazza asked what he was doing the groundsman told him and Gazza said hed help. So Gazza climbed up onto the roof with him. As he moved along he slipped went over the edge and fell about [--] feet onto the steps below. He said he ended up with a bruise running all the way down his leg. When he went to see the manager to explain why he couldnt train he didnt say hed fallen off the roof. He said: Gaffer I dont" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2012934393904451763) 2026-01-18T17:05Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Ray Parlour talks about the old Arsenal drinking culture he always says it wasnt subtle. They called it the Tuesday Club because Tuesday was the heavy training day and Wednesday was usually lighter so the lads knew they could get away with a night out. Parlour says the funny part was how obvious it became. On Tuesdays players would turn up for training already dressed like they were going somewhere after. Proper going out clothes. It got to the point where George Graham would look at them and say Whats going on here because as Parlour put it our clobber would give the game away. Theyd do" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2012963147133407643) 2026-01-18T18:59Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Neil Warnock was managing Sheffield United he once drove up the motorway with a suitcase full of cash. It was the early 1990s and Warnock explains in his autobiography that this was just how transfers sometimes worked back then. No bank transfers. No agents meetings in hotels. Just cash. He was on his way to sign a player and had [------] in a suitcase on the back seat of his car. At some point on the drive he stopped at a service station. When he got back in the car he glanced over and realised the suitcase wasnt there. He says his stomach dropped instantly. Warnock panicked. He was" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2013209680735048008) 2026-01-19T11:19Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When England went to Euro [----] Gary Lineker says he knew early on something wasnt right. He felt flat in the first game then worse against the Netherlands. By the time they were already out of the group he remembers telling Bobby Robson plainly: I just feel weak. Linekers point is that he wasnt trying to dodge the last match. He was trying to explain he had nothing in his legs. Robson didnt see it that way. Lineker says he got the feeling Robson thought he was looking for an excuse because England were already out. They played the Soviet Union anyway. Lineker says he could barely move and" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2013226943575970192) 2026-01-19T12:28Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Harry Redknapp was manager of West Ham he signed Paulo Futre and thought the hard part was done. Their first league game was away at Arsenal the team sheets had already gone in and there was about [--] minutes to kick-off when the kitman Eddie Gillam came in and told Redknapp there was a problem. Futre had been handed a shirt with number [--] on it. He threw it back. Redknapp says Futre then got right in his face and started listing football history at him. Futre [--] not [--] Eusebio [--] Maradona [--] Pel 10; Futre [--] not fing 16.* Redknapp tried to explain it calmly. The Premier League had moved" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2013255706091164066) 2026-01-19T14:22Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When England were based at Burnham Beeches during Euro [--] Steve McManaman said the players could see everything that was going on around the hotel. One night he said Bob Wilson and Jack Charlton were doing a live broadcast from outside at about 10.30pm. Everyone in the England camp could see it was on TV. McManaman said a couple of the lads decided to make use of that. Gazza and Robbie slipped out of the hotel in their dressing gowns and quietly went round to where the cameras were set up. Then they started dancing about behind Wilson and Charlton while the broadcast was going out live." [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2013271304812531726) 2026-01-19T15:24Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Nottingham Forest were getting ready for the [----] League Cup final against Southampton Martin ONeill said Brian Clough decided the players needed relaxing the night before. ONeill said Clough had them in the hotel and started sending drinks over to the players tables. ONeill said it kept coming. Glass after glass. The sort of thing that feels harmless for the first one then suddenly you realise youre supposed to be playing a cup final the next day and youre getting steadily worse. At one point ONeill said one of the lads told Clough he didnt like champagne. So Cloughs answer wasnt to" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2013284609799107028) 2026-01-19T16:17Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When David Beckham came back after being sent off against Argentina at the [----] World Cup he said he went from being one of Englands favourites to being blamed for everything. Hes spoken about how the reaction carried on long after the match. He received threats and there were public displays like an effigy of him being hung outside a pub. When the new season started Beckham said it followed him into stadiums as well. He described being booed and abused in his first games back and he said it wasnt just aimed at him. Songs about his wife started as well. Years later Beckham admitted it got to" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2013302349402460494) 2026-01-19T17:27Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Paul Gascoigne was at Newcastle United he once decided to play a prank that went a bit further than usual. Gazza asked the kitman to do him a favour and drive his car somewhere nearby. Nothing strange about it. Just helping out. As soon as the kitman drove off Gazza picked up the phone and rang the police. He reported the car as stolen. So the police went looking for it spotted the car and pulled it over. The kitman was taken to the side of the road and questioned having to explain that the car wasnt stolen at all and that he was only driving it because Gazza had asked him to. Eventually" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2013310780502945916) 2026-01-19T18:01Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Andrea Pirlo was at AC Milan he said the dressing room learned to watch Gennaro Gattuso very carefully. Pirlo wrote that you could actually see it coming. Gattuso would get the red mist and everyone would start moving things out of his reach. If there were knives around theyd get taken away first. But Pirlo said that didnt solve it because Gattuso would just grab whatever was left. A fork. Pirlo said Gattuso used to try and stick it into teammates when hed lost his temper. Not as a joke. Properly like he meant it. He wrote that it happened more than once. Sometimes the fork actually went" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2013352194104336802) 2026-01-19T20:45Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Mark Ward was playing for West Ham in September [----] he said he had his first ever Football League red card at Wimbledons Plough Lane. Ward said Dennis Wise had already scored to put Wimbledon [--] up and then the two of them went in hard for a challenge. Ward said as they got up their heads came together. Wise then threw himself to the ground like Ward had headbutted him. Ward said Wise was such a convincing actor that even Wises own teammates thought it had happened. The referee showed Ward a straight red. Ward said he lost it there was a big melee and he didnt want to leave the pitch." [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2013577009759133783) 2026-01-20T11:39Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Tony Adams and Ray Parlour were in Hong Kong on a pre-season tour in [----] Adams admits things got out of control very quickly. After a friendly against Rangers the Arsenal players went out in the Lan Kwai Fong area. Adams wrote that it was noisy crowded and full of people who were drinking. At some point Parlour started throwing prawn crackers under a taxi for a laugh. Thats when someone took offence. Adams said a group of locals confronted them and it turned ugly. He wrote that he stepped in to try and calm things down thinking it was just a bit of handbags. Adams wrote: I suddenly" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2013620596353933686) 2026-01-20T14:32Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Roy Keane looks back on the Manchester United dressing room in the 1990s he says there was a little end-of-season players pool. It was money the senior lads got for doing bits for the clubs in-house magazines and videos. Keane says it was usually about [---] each and nobody was that bothered about it. One year the players decided to put all the cheques into a hat. Last name pulled out kept the lot. Keane says a few of the younger lads opted out. He says they were new and didnt have the money to spare. But Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt put theirs in anyway. Keane says he was the third last" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2013643926293319724) 2026-01-20T16:04Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Roy Keane signed for Celtic in December [----] Gordon Strachan says it had already been a long day of press conferences and noise. That night Strachan writes he took his teenage son to see The Pogues at the O2 Academy in Glasgow. He says hed wanted to see them live for years. About an hour into the set Strachan says Shane MacGowan stopped and spoke to the crowd. So you signed a Cork Bhoy today then Strachan says the place erupted. I thought the roof was coming off the place. Strachans described it as was one of those surreal football moments." [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2013656212546425016) 2026-01-20T16:53Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Paolo Di Canio was at West Ham Harry Redknapp said travelling with him could turn into an argument for no reason. On one trip the squad were at the airport ready to fly home. Di Canio didnt want to get on the plane. Redknapp said Paolo started insisting: I dont get on this f****** plane. Were all going to die. Redknapp said hed had enough of it by that point. He told him they were getting home whether he liked it or not. Then he turned to the club secretary and said: f*** him. Lets go. So the team got on the flight and went home. Di Canio stayed behind and got a car instead. Redknapp" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2013666195463938468) 2026-01-20T17:33Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Ray Parlour was at Arsenal he said one of his worst bits of timing involved a night out with Frank Lampard. It was in London and they ended up at Caf de Paris. Parlour has said he was already carrying a bit of an injury at the time but he still went out anyway. During the night there was a drinking game going on and at one point Parlour went in to celebrate and headbutted the bar by accident. He left with a black eye and needed stitches. The problem was the next day at training. He tried to walk in and play it off but Arsne Wenger took one look at him and knew exactly what it was." [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2013681625532424664) 2026-01-20T18:34Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Nottingham Forest came to Highbury in early [----] for a League Cup quarter-final John Motson said Brian Clough spotted him in the entrance hall before the match. Clough walked straight over and started shouting at him. Shithouse. Motson said Clough told him he paid his licence fee and expected the BBC to be fair and he was furious about Motsons commentary on the North London derby the previous weekend. I pay my licence fee because I expect the BBC to be fair he said. Not biased like you were at Tottenham on Sunday. Motson said Forests players were trying to get past while this was" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2013920254305415360) 2026-01-21T10:23Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When West Ham went to Maine Road to play Manchester City in April [----] it was [--] [--] at half time and there was nothing in the game. Just before the whistle Ian Pearce took a proper wallop and walked off looking like hed left his head somewhere in the penalty area. Hes in the other room with the physio John Green and Redknapp is already shouting down the corridor. Is he alright John. Is he alright. Johns trying to keep it calm. Errr hes had a knock Harry. Hes concussed. That answer doesnt help. Well can he play or cant he. Johns panicking now repeating himself like it might sound better the" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2022683480283328662) 2026-02-14T14:44Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "When England were in La Manga in [----] and Glenn Hoddle was down to the last cuts before France Paul Gascoigne knew he was living on thin ice. Hed kept his head down for over a week a day before Hoddle made his final decisions Gazza decided to go out and get steaming. The next day the meetings start. One by one lads getting called in doors closing futures getting decided in a few minutes. Gazzas turn comes and it doesnt even get going based off the other lads verdict hes more or less worked out that hes not going. He walks in already boiling already convinced its an injustice and the room" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023071444079387005) 2026-02-15T16:26Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Roy Keane was at Manchester United in the 1990s he said he went into Selfridges with Lee Sharpe to buy a watch. Keane said a salesman showed him a few options and steered him towards what he was told was the cheapest one. Keane picked it and took it to the till. Then the cashier told him the price. Keane said he froze when he heard it because it was far more than he thought it was. But he also didnt want to back down in front of the salesman or Sharpe so he paid for it anyway. On the way out Keane begged Sharpe not to tell the lads at training. Sharpe promised he wouldnt. Keane said" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2013570583313764832) 2026-01-20T11:13Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Neil Warnock says he took the Sheffield United lads to Scarborough he says he suggested something for a bit of fun. Anybody fancy a game of bowling He says they all agreed. So he made it interesting. [--] quid each lads whoever wins takes the pot. Warnock says the lads were all well up for it. What they didnt know was Warnock had done time working in a bowling alley. So he turns up with his own bowling ball. And his own shoes. He says he didnt tell them that bit. They all put their money in. Warnock says he then wiped the floor with them. He says he bowled 240-something. And he says the" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2017553219241603168) 2026-01-31T10:59Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Roy Keane looks back on his early days at Nottingham Forest he says the one mistake Brian Clough never let go was passing it back to the keeper. It was an FA Cup tie against Crystal Palace. Keane tried a backpass. John Salako read it and lobbed Mark Crossley from miles out. Keane says they got back into the dressing room after the game. Clough was waiting. When I walked into the dressing room after the game Clough punched me straight in the face. Keane says Clough was raging but it wasnt a general rant. It was one instruction. Dont pass the ball back to the goalkeeper. Keane says nobody" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2017559127426290140) 2026-01-31T11:22Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Andy Cole talks about the one teammate he just couldnt warm to at Manchester United he always brings up Teddy Sheringham. Cole says it actually started before they were even club mates. In March [----] Cole made his England debut as a sub for Sheringham against Uruguay and he says Teddy basically blanked him. No well done no handshake nothing. Cole said it left him feeling embarrassed and small like the moment didnt matter. Fast forward a couple of years and Sheringham signs for United. Youd think it would just blow over. But Cole says it didnt. Then came the bit that turned it into a" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2018670357507449284) 2026-02-03T12:58Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Blackburn were in the Champions League in [----] they had one of the strangest team-mate fallouts youll ever see. It was against Spartak Moscow only a few minutes into the game and David Batty and Graeme Le Saux both went for the same ball near the touchline. It starts as a shove and a row. But it doesnt stop. Even when play moves on theyre still at it still shouting at each other from distance like theyve completely forgotten theyre in a European game. Then it spills over properly. Le Saux swings at Batty and they have to be pulled apart with Tim Sherwood getting involved trying to" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2018675452072595900) 2026-02-03T13:18Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Joe Cole talks about playing under Harry Redknapp at West Ham he always makes the point that the man could turn a serious situation into a punchline without even trying. Cole tells this one from a game away at Manchester City at Maine Road. It was [--] at half-time a scrappy sort of match and West Ham had a problem. Ian Pearce had taken a proper whack and he was struggling. The physio John Green had him in the other room doing his checks while Redknapp was in the dressing room wanting a straight answer. Redknapp kept shouting through Is he alright John Is he alright and the reply was" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2018695623399063858) 2026-02-03T14:38Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Glenn Hoddle was England manager he decided the squad didnt just need tactics. They needed a faith healer. So he brought in Eileen Drewery and players were expected to go and see her like it was part of normal international duty. Ray Parlour says he got sent in with a knee issue and the whole thing was so bizarre it felt like a wind-up. Drewery started doing her diagnosis by running her fingers over his head and Parlour couldnt help himself. He asked her for a short back and sides please love. The lads and even Eileen herself found it hilarious. Glenn Hoddle not so much. Parlour has said" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2018745423461019841) 2026-02-03T17:56Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When David Bentley was coming through at Arsenal he says you learned quickly that the first team had their own little routines. One of them was the sauna. Bentley tells a story about wandering in there thinking it would just be a few of the lads recovering after training. And then he clocked Arsne Wenger was already in there. Completely naked. Bentleys point is he didnt know where to look. Hes just walked into a sauna and its the manager sat there like this is the most normal thing in the world. He tried to play it cool because what else can you do. Wenger meanwhile didnt move. Didnt cover" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2018755158650327166) 2026-02-03T18:35Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Paul Gascoigne was at Middlesbrough he says the club were constantly trying to keep him on the straight and narrow. And for a little while it was working. Then one day he spotted the team bus sitting in the garage with the keys left in it. So he did what Gazza always did when he saw an opportunity. He decided to take it for a quick spin. It lasted by his own admission about [---] yards. Because the next thing anyone knew the bus was no longer in the garage. And when Bryan Robson asked the obvious question Gazza wheres the bus Gascoignes answer was as calm as if hed misplaced a pair of" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2018762471608037453) 2026-02-03T19:04Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Roy Keane went back into the Ireland set-up in [----] as assistant manager everyone expected him to be on his best behaviour. First press conference back new job fresh start. He gets asked a pretty normal question about the preparations. And you could tell he couldnt resist it. Keane starts answering like hes giving a hotel review. He says theyd had a lovely few days the hotels been lovely the foods been excellent the training grounds lovely Then he slips the punchline in. No potholes weve had footballs bibs everything. Major progress. Its the most Roy Keane way possible of reminding" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2018769321317867826) 2026-02-03T19:31Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Mick McCarthy was back managing Ireland in [----] they had a qualifier at the Aviva against Gibraltar and even the team bus tried to get out of it. On the way in it broke down. After the game a journalist asked him Can you explain what happened with the team bus before the game McCarthy didnt even blink. It broke down. The journalist kept digging for a story out of nothing: Can you expand on that McCarthy not willing to rise to the journalists games: It wouldnt go any further. https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2019738940433932358 https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2019738940433932358" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2019738940433932358) 2026-02-06T11:44Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Roberto Di Matteo was a young midfielder at Lazio he says he found out pretty quickly what it was like having Paul Gascoigne as a teammate. Gascoigne had apparently found a snake in his garden. And instead of doing the normal thing he slipped it into the pocket of Di Matteos coat. No warning. Nothing. Just left it there. Di Matteo says Gazza then walked over and acted completely innocent asking him for a favour like it was any other day. Something along the lines of: Have you got any change I can borrow So Di Matteo reaches into his pocket without looking. And the second his hand touched" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2019799837336580597) 2026-02-06T15:46Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Harry Redknapp was West Ham manager in the mid-90s hes admitted he once signed a striker purely off a video. The player was Marco Boogers brought in from Sparta Rotterdam in [----]. Redknapp later put it very simply. I signed Boogers off a video he said. He said the video made him look a proper player. What it didnt show was the rest of it. He was a good player but a nutter Redknapp said. Boogers didnt take long to prove the point. He was sent off in his second match for trying to maim Gary Neville and he was hardly seen again. https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2019819436593631628" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2019819436593631628) 2026-02-06T17:04Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Roy Keane was Sunderland manager and they were down the bottom of the Premier League Chris Kamara says he bumped into him in a London hotel lift. Kamara says it was the Marriott in Kensington where loads of teams used to stay. He says hed got in on the fourth floor to go down to the bar. On the third floor the doors opened and it was Keane. Kamara says he was about to say hello but Keane put his head down straight away. The doors closed. Then the recorded voice in the lift said: Going down. Kamara says he looked at Keane and went: I think shes talking to you Roy. Roy Keane found the" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2019837425225248903) 2026-02-06T18:15Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When David Beckham looks back on the moment Sir Alex Ferguson really started losing patience with him it often comes back to one very stupid hat. United were heading to Leicester away and the day before the game Ferguson arrived at Carrington to find [--] photographers lined up outside the training ground. He asked what was going on and got told basically Beckham was about to unveil a new haircut. Sure enough Beckham turned up wearing a beanie. Then that night at the team meal he was still wearing it. Ferguson told him straight: David take your beanie hat off youre in a restaurant. Beckham" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020084069204193539) 2026-02-07T10:35Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Ashley Cole was at Chelsea he managed to have one of those weeks where football was the least of the headlines. Cheryl was away doing a big charity trek for Comic Relief climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with a full camera crew on her back. Back in London Ashley went out in South Kensington. It ended with police getting involved in the early hours and him being arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly on Brompton Road at about 2.15am. He was taken to a central London police station spent a few hours there then was released with an on-the-spot fine. The next day he tried to clean it" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020093269904851045) 2026-02-07T11:12Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Jermaine Pennant talks about his early Arsenal days he admits he once treated the night before a Premier League start like it was a lads holiday. Pennant says there was an FHM party on proper boozy bash stuff and he ended up going with a few of the Arsenal lads. Hes told it as one of those nights where youre surrounded by music celebs and loads of girls and youre not exactly making sensible choices. The stupid part was the timing. Arsenal were playing Southampton the next day and Pennant wasnt even expecting to start because the squad was stacked. Hes said he stayed out until about 6am" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020102355627200649) 2026-02-07T11:48Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Nicklas Bendtner went on loan to Birmingham City as a teenager he admits the dressing room was basically built on dares. He later said it started at a charity event where Steve Bruces daughter Amy was there and the lads immediately saw an opportunity. Bendtner recalled how it suddenly became a wager Suddenly I was betting [----] with teammates like Gary McSheffrey that he could actually get her number and take her out. He did it anyway. Not because he was smooth. More because he was stubborn and didnt want to lose the bet in front of the squad. The awkward bit was always going to be the" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020112690207703444) 2026-02-07T12:29Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "When Paul Caddis talks about Tommy Gravesen at Celtic he makes it sound like the football was almost secondary. Gravesen had this thing with the young lads and the pool table. Caddis says hed call them over and go [--] quid a head. Everyone would stick their money in. Suddenly there was like [---] sat in there. Then hed leave them waiting. Caddis says Gravesen would run down the stairs at Celtic Park open his boot and pull out this f***ing Ronnie OSullivan signed pool cue screw it up. Meanwhile the kids were left with run of the mill horrendous cues. And Gravesen would just clean up. Caddis" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020143734327767085) 2026-02-07T14:32Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Harry Redknapp was managing in the Premier League he says he ended up with a mate in horse racing. A lad rang him up introducing himself as jockey Lee Topliss. And because Harrys Harry he just accepted it. The calls kept coming. Tips for races. Little chats. The odd favour. Harry says the lad started turning up wherever he was getting the best seat in the house nice meals lifts here and there and heaven knows what in handouts. After a while Harry started clocking the record wasnt exactly Frankel. Yeah hes always ringing me more losers than winners he admitted. Then one day football agent" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020156158032392658) 2026-02-07T15:22Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Ally McCoist was at Rangers he says having Gazza as a teammate didnt stop at the training ground. Because Paul Gascoigne somehow ended up treating Allys house like it was his. One night Ally says his wife woke him up because she could hear noises downstairs. He did the normal thing. Assumed the worst. Thought it was burglars. So he went down ready for trouble. And there was Gazza. Not robbing the place. Just casually playing snooker in the middle of the night. Ally said he stood there like what are you doing And Gazzas explanation was basically: I couldnt sleep. Then he made it worse." [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020183031047204929) 2026-02-07T17:09Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Ray Parlour was at Middlesbrough Gareth Southgate had just taken over as manager making the step up from player. Southgate called everyone in for a big meeting. Not just the squad either. Staff tea ladies the lot. Parlour said the tone was deadly serious. Southgate basically laid it out that he was the manager now and he wanted to be treated like one. No more Southy no more Gaz none of the old dressing-room stuff. Parlour said you could feel the tension straight away. One of those rooms where nobody wants to be the first to speak because you know itll land wrong. So in his head Parlour" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020200094969262407) 2026-02-07T18:16Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Steve McClaren was England manager he had one night that basically wrote his nickname for him. It was the last qualifier at Wembley against Croatia and it was absolutely hammering it down. England needed a result to get themselves to Euro [----] but the whole night just felt off. The pitch was slick the rain wouldnt stop and every time the camera cut to the touchline there was McClaren stood there under an umbrella looking like a bloke waiting for a bus rather than the England manager. Croatia went ahead England dragged it back and then it happened again. Another Croatia goal another" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020208665559511169) 2026-02-07T18:50Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Andy Townsend talks about Italia [--] he always says there was a lot of time to kill. Hotels. Waiting around. The lads getting bored. And he said thats when you do daft things back in the day. Townsend said he decided to have a bit of fun with Jack Charlton. He did that old coin trick where you press a coin on someones forehead then quietly take it away but it still feels like its there. Then he looked at Big Jack and basically made it a challenge. Townsend told him you have six bangs on the back of your head to get this coin off and if he did it I will give you a tenner. And Jack went for" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020215792831451396) 2026-02-07T19:19Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Newcastle lost the TyneWear derby at St James Park in August [----] Duncan Ferguson says the damage was already done the day before. Ruud Gullit ran the usual 11v11 at Chester-le-Street the one that was meant to show you the team for Sunderland. Ferguson says he looked around and realised both him and Alan Shearer were on the reserves side like they were the bomb squad. They beat the side that was meant to start. Ferguson says normally a manager clocks that and changes it. He says Gullit didnt. The next night Newcastle lose [--] in the rain and Gullit starts talking afterwards about what" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020225694026875221) 2026-02-07T19:58Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When QPR went to Manchester City on the final day of the [------] season Joey Barton managed to turn a relegation scrap into a personal meltdown. City needed to win the league. QPR needed a result or at least to stay in the game. Barton was captain and the match was already tense before he lost his head. The first flashpoint was with Carlos Tevez. Barton elbowed him right in front of everyone and the referee sent him off. What made it worse is that he didnt just accept the red card and walk. As he was being pulled away he went for Sergio Agero kicking out at him. Then he tried to headbutt" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020230503710724423) 2026-02-07T20:17Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Steve Bruce talks about Brian Clough he usually makes the point that Clough never forgot anything. Bruce says hed spent years playing against Cloughs Nottingham Forest side and that meant doing what centre-halves do. Kicking Cloughs number [--]. In this case it was Cloughs son Nigel. Bruce says he was at a function years later and went to the toilet. Mid-flow he felt an almighty whack in the back. Hard enough that he ended up getting soaked in the urinals. Then he heard that familiar voice behind him. That young man is for all the times you kicked my Nigel Clough said. Now carry on." [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020450843506442474) 2026-02-08T10:53Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When David Bentley turned up at the Emirates for a charity match last year he decided to make it a Tottenham day out. It was one of those Sellebrity Soccer events with cameras around and Bentley being Bentley. After the game he put on a Spurs shirt with Winners [----] written on the back in marker. Then he wandered off looking for trouble and started opening any door in the building. Bentley says they ended up in Mikel Artetas office. He points at Artetas name on the door like hes discovered a museum exhibit. I love this man he says dead serious as if hes about to give him a hug. Then he opens" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020480747430121694) 2026-02-08T12:52Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Manchester United were still full of kids in the 1990s Nicky Butt says Sir Bobby Charlton would sometimes turn up and train with them. Not to stand around either. Butt says his touch was still ridiculous even though hed retired decades earlier. On one session Butt says Brian McClair (Choccy) had a volley from about five yards. It caught Charlton flush on the head. Butt says he went down and didnt move. I thought he was dead Butt said. The lads panicked because as Butt put it this is Sir Bobby Charlton the man whod already survived Munich. Butt says Charlton came round. And then like it" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020501462296453195) 2026-02-08T14:14Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Liverpool went to Athens for the [----] Champions League final one of the lads in their travelling support somehow got hold of Gary Nevilles mobile number. He rang him. Neville rang back. And for a bit it just turned into Liverpool fans giving him grief down the phone throwing lines at him like: Djimi Traore has as many Champions League medals as you. Then the final happened. Liverpool lost. Everyone went back to their hotels and the fella says he put his phone on charge went to sleep and woke up to loads of missed calls and voicemails. The first one he says is Neville screaming down the" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020519997223629109) 2026-02-08T15:28Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Duncan Ferguson looks back on his hard man phase he says it made him do some really stupid things. One of them involved David Beckham. Ferguson says Beckham came over before a game hand out just doing the normal pre-match thing. And Ferguson decided he was going to keep up the act. He says: David Beckham I blanked David Beckham. He says Beckham came up to him and he just went: Get tae f***. He says the mad part is it was David Beckham. An icon. Someone he couldnt have laced his boots. Ferguson says he basically walked away like that was a normal way to behave. And now he just cringes at" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020528969565581628) 2026-02-08T16:03Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Liverpool lost the [----] FA Cup final to Manchester United John Barnes says the dressing room afterwards was just flat. Barnes says he did what players do and swapped shirts with the match winner Eric Cantona. He says he brought it back in and in the mood of the moment he basically just tossed it down on the floor. Then Neil Razor Ruddock clocked it straight away. Barnes says Razor went over and asked him if he could have it. Not politely either. Barnes says he told him he could have it. A couple weeks later the shirt sold on auction for [----]. #football" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020552637863821476) 2026-02-08T17:37Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Paul Lake looks back on his Manchester City career he says the part people forget is how quickly it went from captain to nothing. In September [----] City played Aston Villa at Maine Road. Lake had just been made club captain. He says the new England manager Graham Taylor was there to watch him. Then in the second half he caught his studs in the turf and went down awkwardly. Lake ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament. He writes about the rehab like it was a loop. He got told to start light training. His knee gave way again. He went away to rehab. He got told to pull his boots on again." [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020580814413799852) 2026-02-08T19:29Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Paul Gascoigne played against Wimbledon at Plough Lane in February [----] he says he got the full Vinnie Jones welcome. Jones was told to stick tight to him all game. And he perhaps took that too literally. So tight that the photo from that match is still doing the rounds nearly forty years later. It finished [--]. But Gazza says the best part happened after. As he was walking off a bloke in the crowd handed him a single red rose. And instead of giving it to a WAG or doing something normal with it Gazza decided it should go straight into the Wimbledon dressing room. Addressed to Vinnie. Just" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020587146898551074) 2026-02-08T19:54Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Jason McAteer tells his favourite USA [--] story he says it didnt even happen in the match. It was before it. Ireland vs Norway at Giants Stadium. McAteer says hes stood there with his chest out soaking it all in thinking this is the proudest moment of my life. And then he notices something weird. A whisper starts at one end of the line. Andy Townsend whispers into Packie Bonners ear. and it just keeps travelling down the line like some secret military order. So McAteers thinking: this has to be last-minute tactics. Dont give it away. Keep it tight. Only need a draw. That sort of thing. It" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020804202511941986) 2026-02-09T10:17Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Paul McGregor talks about being a kid at Nottingham Forest under Brian Clough he says you didnt feel like a footballer. You felt like a staff member. He was on the YTS scheme. So the job wasnt train hard and work your way up. It was boots. Errands. And being told to do things you didnt even understand. McGregor says he was in charge of Nigel Cloughs boots. And Nigel used to tip him well. He says Nigel once gave him [---] as a Christmas bonus. McGregor says he was earning about [--] a month so it was like being handed a mortgage deposit. And Brian Clough would still treat him like he was just" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020812341026177141) 2026-02-09T10:49Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Danny Mills talks about getting pulled into the Beckham world with England he says it wasnt the matches that threw him. It was the social stuff. He says not long after England qualified for the [----] World Cup an invite lands for a party at David and Victoria Beckhams house. And the invitation isnt subtle. Mills says the dress code was: white tie and diamonds. He says in [----] he didnt even know what white tie was. Never mind adding diamonds on top. He says he wasnt going to go. This is not really my scene. But the kids were invited as well and he says his wife basically dragged him. So he" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020827155475656963) 2026-02-09T11:48Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Sam Allardyce got the England job in July [----] it felt like the most English football appointment possible. Big Sam in charge of the national team fresh shirt big handshake and a plan to sort it all out in about three games. He manages one match a [--] win in Slovakia and then a few weeks later the other story lands. The Daily Telegraph had filmed him in an undercover meeting where hes talking through the football world like its a normal business lunch including discussing workarounds around rules on third-party ownership and entertaining the idea of paid speaking work with their fake" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020844753256906938) 2026-02-09T12:58Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Gary Neville talks about Roy Keane not really doing mates theres one tiny story he says sums it up. Neville changed his mobile number so he did what everyone does. Sent a quick text out to the people in his contacts just letting them know it was him and this was the new number. And Neville says he got a reply back from Keane straight away. Not nice one. Not cheers. Not even a thumbs up. Just: Why the f*** are you telling me https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2020853095266193763 https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2020853095266193763" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020853095266193763) 2026-02-09T13:31Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Ray Parlour talks about the old Arsenal days with Tony Adams he says some of the scrapes they got into werent even big nights out. They were the kind of stupid situations that start with one problem and then get solved in the worst possible way. Parlour says it was Christmas Eve and he was out for a few drinks with Adams at a place called the Palms in Hornchurch. At some point it hits him that he still hasnt bought his mum a present and hes panicking because its basically too late now. He says Adams looks around like hes trying to help clocks this big decorative plant pot and just" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020888784435380669) 2026-02-09T15:53Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When James McFadden talks about Thomas Gravesen at Everton he says there were days where youd turn up to training and just try to keep out of his way. He says Gravesen had no filter and hed do things that didnt even make sense to the rest of the squad because in his head it was all just a laugh. McFadden tells this one about the day Gravesen brought fireworks into training. McFadden says the physios room was right next to one of the pitches and the physio was always out running with the injured lads. So hes jogging along with them minding his own business doing his job. And McFadden says" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020905963423924712) 2026-02-09T17:01Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "When David Bentley looks back on coming through at Arsenal he says training wasnt training. It was a scrap. He says Wenger would set up these competitive small-sided games keep the same teams all week and lads would be going home raging if they lost like it meant something. He says hed come off with black eyes ripped shirts bashed up and that was just considered normal for a skinny kid trying to survive around the senior players. And he tells this one about the day he properly squared up to Thierry Henry. Bentley says Henry was mugging me off in the session trying to dictate it trying to make" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020912800416031050) 2026-02-09T17:28Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Manchester United went on their post-Treble tour of Australia in [----] Dwight Yorke says he started treating it like a holiday. He admits the curfews werent really happening and by the time they were in Sydney he was already out most nights. Yorke says one night he was in a club surrounded by the usual chaos and he was looking for one person in particular. Hed been told Gabrielle Richens would be there. Yorke says she was known as the Pleasure Machine a nickname from an airline advert and the second he saw her he was transfixed. He went straight over. They swapped numbers. The following" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020921458944614740) 2026-02-09T18:03Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Roy Keane went back to Cork in April [----] there was a story that came out that didnt sound like him at all. A man called Pat OSullivan [--] was in the Mercy Hospital with dementia and his son Rob had been trying to get him a message from his hero. He contacted Corks RedFM hoping they might be able to reach Keane for a quick shout-out. And what Keane did next is why it hit people. Because he didnt send a video. He just turned up. Rob describes Keane walking into the hospital room and shaking his dads hand like it was nothing like it was the most normal visit in the world. Keane went in to" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2020966198054355300) 2026-02-09T21:01Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "When Paul Merson talks about how bad his gambling got he says one of the most normal things at the time was walking into an away dressing room with [-----] cash in a bag. It was Portsmouth away at Millwall in March [----]. Merson says he owed money and he had to meet people after the game to pay it. The problem was the away dressing room couldnt be locked. So Harry Redknapp says Merse comes over and asks him to look after it. Redknapp thought he was handing him a watch or something. Mersons like No its money. Redknapp says he couldnt leave it lying around and he couldnt exactly sit on the bench" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021170819649482904) 2026-02-10T10:34Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Nemanja Vidi talks about joining Manchester United in [----] he says one of the first things he couldnt get his head around wasnt the football. It was the mornings. He says hed come in early still half asleep and hed be trying to get himself ready for training. And every single day he says Gary Neville would walk into the dressing room and start talking. Non-stop. Just straight into it. Talking talking talking. Vidi says at first he didnt even understand why he was talking so much. Hes sat there thinking how have you got this much to say at this hour And he says it got to the point where" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021178222306623912) 2026-02-10T11:03Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "When James McFadden talks about Thomas Gravesen at Everton he says you learned pretty quickly that normal rules didnt apply to him. He says Gravesen had this mad Danish-Scouse accent he was hyper all the time and if you saw him coming youd sometimes just try and get out of his way. Then he tells the story that still sounds ridiculous even when you say it out loud. McFadden says one day Gravesen turned up to training with a paintball gun. And McFadden says he started shooting people. Just firing it at the lads like it was the most normal thing in the world like it was part of the warm-up." [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021186680934297927) 2026-02-10T11:37Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "When Dwight Yorke talks about nights out in London hes never really pretending he was living like a monk. But he tells this one and you realise how quickly it can go from VIP area to absolute chaos. Yorke said hed been out at the Funky Buddha in Mayfair drinking with friends and later on he went to the mens toilets as the club was winding down. Thats when he became aware of someone standing right behind him. The guy looks at him and goes: Do you know who I am Yorke says he replies basically no. And the man just says it straight: I want your watch. It wasnt some normal watch either. In court" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021207299784573248) 2026-02-10T12:59Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Brian Clough was at Nottingham Forest there was a period where hed already decided a player was finished before the player had even accepted it. This one is about Justin Fashanu after Forest had signed him from Norwich in [----]. The story goes that Fashanu ends up in Cloughs office because hes not playing and he wants to know why. And Clough doesnt dress it up. He basically lists what he thinks is wrong with him as a footballer in that brutal Clough way then tells him hes spoken to Norwich and theyre willing to take him back. A couple of days later Fashanu comes back. And this is where it" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021226549823844562) 2026-02-10T14:15Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Ally McCoist was flying out of Glasgow Airport for a weekend in New York he says he knew straight away hed picked the worst possible flight. He says they turned up at the airport and the place was swarming swarming with Celtic supporters. McCoist says hes standing there thinking what is going on here Then he finds out its an organised trip. The New York Celtic Supporters Club. And theyre all on the same flight as him. McCoist says once they clocked him that was it. Because theres no hiding when youre sharing a terminal and then sharing a plane. The whole flight just consisted of McCoist" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021237713932870134) 2026-02-10T14:59Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Tony Adams was England captain going into Euro [--] he says he knew one thing for certain. If he went out drinking with the lads in Hong Kong he wouldnt stop. England were on a pre-tournament trip out there and everyone was going out for the night that later became the dentists chair story. Adams says he tried to act normal about it. He even told them: When we win Ill have a drink. But he says inside he was so scared because he knew exactly what would happen if he picked one up. So he didnt go. He says he locked himself in his hotel room on the 15th floor and just waited for training the" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021257133749051782) 2026-02-10T16:17Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Neil Ruddock was marking Ian Wright in the [----] FA Cup semi-final at Wembley he says he treated it like a personal project. Spurs vs Arsenal. Wright was flying that season. And Ruddock says he was happy to kick him all round Wembley. Arsenal win [--]. Everyone moves on. Except the two of them end up teammates later on at West Ham. And thats when it flips. Because Ruddock says they became room-mates on trips. And Wright decides hes been waiting for this. Ruddock says Wright used to jump on me in the middle of the night and beat me up while hes half asleep. Not a proper fight. Just Wright" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021284614635971059) 2026-02-10T18:06Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Paul Merson signed for Portsmouth under Harry Redknapp in [----] he says the first thing he noticed wasnt the football. It was the kit. Because hed come from Arsenal and Villa where you finish training and your kit just disappears. At Portsmouth he says hes looking around thinking why is nobody taking this off me Then one of the lads tells him the reality. You wash it yourself. And Merse says hes stood there like hang on Ive signed for a professional club and Im about to go home with a carrier bag full of muddy kit like its Sunday League. Then he gets told there is a way out. The kitman" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021300843300127142) 2026-02-10T19:10Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Henrik Larsson was on stage with John Hartson and Chris Sutton at an after dinner speech Hartson starts talking about Martin ONeill. Hartsons saying ONeill didnt exactly bring you into his circle straight away. Larsson lets him get a few sentences into it then drops it on him. He tells Hartson that he and Sutton used to get invited round to ONeills house for Sunday dinner. Hartson just freezes. Because hes sat there thinking hang on you two were having roasts at the gaffers house and Im here talking about not being in the circle. Larsson keeps it going like its completely normal. Like it" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021308869142544818) 2026-02-10T19:42Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Matt Le Tissier looks back on his career theres one moment hes not particularly proud of. Southampton away at Wimbledon in April [----] Le Tissier admits hed got into spread betting with mates. The market they picked was the time of the first throw-in. He says the plan was simple. Before kick-off as captain he even persuaded Wimbledon to let Southampton take the kick-off in exchange for switching ends so Wimbledon could kick towards their own fans. Then from kick-off the ball gets rolled back to him and hes meant to absolutely leather it out of play to make the first throw-in happen early" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021319393523765654) 2026-02-10T20:24Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Robbie Fowler signed for Leeds he already had that reputation where even a normal night out could turn into a headline. And then in December [----] it did. Leeds had their Christmas party and David OLeary had even allowed it on the condition everyone behaved because the club were sick of bad publicity. They did it as fancy dress. Fowler went as a soldier in full army gear face paint even a toy gun. Later that night Fowler is in a taxi with a close family friend. And the taxi stops at a petrol station at around 11.45pm. Fowler is asleep in the front seat. Then a freelance photographer" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021329930076946689) 2026-02-10T21:06Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Glenn Roeder took over at West Ham Don Hutchison says he tried to change the vibe straight away. New rules. No phones. Stick around after training have a brew talk to each other. Hutchison says the very next day Paolo Di Canio turned up and decided he was doing the opposite. He arrived on his Vespa. Parked it in Roeders parking space. Walked in on his phone. Then Hutchison says hes got these sunglasses on. And written across the lenses are the words F*** off. As if hes made himself a little portable message for the new manager. Training starts. And Hutchison says Di Canio isnt even" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021543701793690037) 2026-02-11T11:15Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Lee Bowyer was coming through at Leeds in the late 90s theres a story that always did the rounds about the sort of clauses he tried to get put into his contract. Not a release clause. Not a goal bonus. Just normal domestic life. The story goes he was obsessed with keeping one thing protected Friday night. As in if Leeds had a competitive match on a Friday he was under no obligation to play. Because Friday was his date night with his wife. So the lads are hearing this and thinking its a wind-up because footballers will argue for anything but not usually to protect a booking at an Italian." [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021579829531844710) 2026-02-11T13:39Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Roy Keane was managing Ipswich David Norris says one pre-season trip summed up what it was like playing under him. Keane lays down a curfew. Proper strict. Hes basically telling the lads: youre away you get one night out then after that youre in So the squad actually do what he wants. They stick to it. And thats where it goes wrong. Because Norris says Keane isnt happy that theyre well behaved hes raging that theyre too well behaved. He starts going at them for having no edge no personality calling them characterless c**** because not one of them even attempted it. And the lads are stood" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021595737558028363) 2026-02-11T14:42Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Duncan Ferguson was coaching at Everton he says he clocked early on that Anthony Gordon was into boxing. And Ferguson says he tried to talk him out of going near it because hes looking at him like an investment. A kid with pace a kid the club might need and youre one bad punch away from something stupid. So he pulls him aside and says it straight. You have to stop. You cant go to them youll get hurt. Ferguson says Gordon didnt really bite. So Ferguson does what Ferguson always does when words dont work. He thinks hell prove the point with a bit of sparring. Ferguson says Gordon battered" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021605671041413528) 2026-02-11T15:22Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Ray Parlour talks about Arsne Wengers first pre-season at Arsenal he says it wasnt the tactics that shocked the dressing room. It was the culture change. He says they went away on tour worked like dogs for two weeks and there was basically no drinking the whole time. The English lads were gagging for it by the end. Then on the last day once the work was done the lads finally get the green light to go out. Parlour says there were five of them and Steve Bould the biggest drinker by a mile is straight to the front of the queue like its matchday. Before he orders he turns to Gilles Grimandi" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021616948958605440) 2026-02-11T16:06Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Paul Merson was captain at Portsmouth under Harry Redknapp in [------] he says he planned himself a little escape in the middle of a title run-in. Pompey had just played Manchester United in the FA Cup and lost [--] and Merse says he did what he always did checked the fixtures like a man possessed. He clocked there was a gap coming up because the team they were meant to play were still in the Cup so Portsmouth didnt have a game. So he books Barbados. And then he realises he needs a reason Harry cant really say no to. So he goes in to see Redknapp and gives him this serious responsible speech" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021637871044628723) 2026-02-11T17:30Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When England went to Albania for a World Cup qualifier in March [----] Tony Cottee says Paul Gascoigne was still the new lad in the squad but he was already finding ways to entertain himself that didnt involve football. Cottee says he was in the hotel and he could hear a commotion coming from the room opposite. Just noise laughter the sort of thing that makes you think someones messing about. So he goes in to see whats going on. And Gazzas in there with bars of soap. Cottee says there were chickens in the courtyard outside and Gazza had decided he was going to stand at the window and try to hit" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021665515559895442) 2026-02-11T19:19Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Manchester United were at home to Tottenham in the Ferguson years Roy Keane says he walked into the dressing room thinking it didnt even need a team talk. Because Spurs were rubbish. Keane says he was almost hoping Fergie wouldnt do the big build-up because everyone already knew what the game was. Then Ferguson walks in. Just looks around the room and drops three words: Lads its Tottenham. United won 4-0 #football https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2021694491652948220 https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2021694491652948220" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021694491652948220) 2026-02-11T21:15Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When David Bentley was at Tottenham he says the dressing room banter wasnt the normal stuff like hiding your boots. It was properly feral. He says the worst one he ever got was with his washing bag. Bentley says he opened it up one day and there was a big turd sat inside it like someone had posted it there on purpose. And the mad thing is he says he didnt even kick off. He just stood there looking at it thinking fair play He even says hes pretty sure he knows who did it. I think it was Jonathan Woodgate he says. Bentley says he zipped the bag back up laughed it off and carried on with his" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021913417938858201) 2026-02-12T11:44Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When England were flying home from the Hong Kong/China warm-up trip before Euro [--] Robbie Fowler says the squad had the upper deck to themselves and Gazza was trying to get some sleep. And someone decided to be funny. Fowler says Gazza got a slap while he was asleep he thinks it was Alan Shearer and it was hard enough to jolt him right up. Fowler says Gazza went from asleep to absolutely raging in about two seconds because he struggles to sleep at the best of times and now hes wide awake on a long flight with a sore face and no idea whos done it. So he starts prowling up and down the aisle" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021945917213982969) 2026-02-12T13:54Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Brian Clough finally met Muhammad Ali in [----] it wasnt some cosy two legends moment. Ali actually recorded a message about him for British telly and its basically Ali doing that slow mocking build-up before he lands the punch. There is some fella in London named some Brian Brian Clough Some soccer player or something Then Ali says hes heard all the way in Indonesia that Clough talks too much and people are calling him another Muhammad Ali. Theres just one Muhammad Ali Im the talker. Now Clough Ive had enough. Stop it. Cloughs reply when he got asked about it was typical Clough. He just" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021959304438325510) 2026-02-12T14:47Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Mick McCarthy left Ipswich in [----] he says he managed to start a Sunderland manager rumour without even trying. Chris Coleman gets sacked on the Sunday night. Next morning Micks on a train up to Sunderland. Not for an interview. He says hes going to pick up a car. And he says the trains basically empty. Just him sat there and a bloke coming through doing the bins. The bloke looks at him does that proper double-take walks past then comes back for a second look. Youre Mick McCarthy arent you Mick says Yeah. Then the bloke goes straight in: Youre after the Sunderland job arent you Mick" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2021967505338626310) 2026-02-12T15:19Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Jimmy Bullard tried to get involved in Duncan Fergusons madness he realised about half a second too late that this wasnt the sort of situation you get involved in. Wigan v Everton were level at 1-1 David Moyes threw Big Dunc on with about twenty minutes left and seven minutes later hed clocked Paul Scharner in the stomach off the ball like he was settling a debt. Scharner went down in the box Mike Dean saw it and Fergusons standing there hands on hips with that look where you can tell hes ready to fight. Bullard drifted over anyway did the whole are you alright routine then immediately" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2022020753676194135) 2026-02-12T18:51Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Nottingham Forest got to Madrid for the [----] European Cup Final Peter Shilton started worrying about one thing that only a goalkeeper worries about. He wanted a bit of decent grass near the hotel so he could get some proper work in. Brian Clough had an answer for that. Peter Taylor and trainer Jimmy Gordon turned up and told him theyd found a grassed area thats perfect for you Peter me lad. So Shilton followed them expecting a park or a training pitch or at least something that didnt involve dying abroad the day before a European Cup Final. They drove out towards the edge of town Taylor" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2022033119876956308) 2026-02-12T19:40Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Paul Merson got married right in the middle of the [----] World Cup the day started the way youd expect a wedding day to start. Seven vodkas before hed even got to the church. He avoided the lager because he didnt want to walk down the aisle stinking of a pub carpet. The lads at the ceremony had football on the brain because England were playing Holland that day but his head was somewhere else entirely. Scotland were up against Costa Rica Scotland were 2/7 on and that was enough for him to decide this was the perfect moment for a big flutter. So before he got hitched he got his best man to" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2022265421307559962) 2026-02-13T11:03Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Manchester United had their Christmas party in [----] Gary Neville found out the hard way he wasnt built for it. He was [--] a lightweight tried to keep up and after five or six ciders hed ended up slumped asleep on the pavement outside a Chinese restaurant called the Golden Rice Bowl. It got worse from there. He started throwing up so badly a couple of team-mates bundled him into a taxi and in that state he decided the sensible destination wasnt home or the hotel. Take me to hospital. The panic didnt even come from being ill. It came from being recognised. So he gets to the desk absolutely" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2022288517464756634) 2026-02-13T12:35Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "@livescore @David_Ornstein https://x.com/ftbl_planet/status/2022317544594391370 When Peter Crouch tried to do Valentines Day properly at home he thought hed nailed it. Hed arranged a private chef to come round and cook them a fancy meal the sort of thing thats meant to make you look like a romantic genius without having to actually cook anything https://t.co/ilNayG34xm https://x.com/ftbl_planet/status/2022317544594391370 When Peter Crouch tried to do Valentines Day properly at home he thought hed nailed it. Hed arranged a private chef to come round and cook them a fancy meal the sort of thing" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2022317649036787809) 2026-02-13T14:31Z [----] followers, [--] engagements "When Ireland were out in Korea at the [----] World Cup the players got given one simple bit of freedom. They were allowed to watch Spain in the Irish bar at the hotel and have a few beers. One condition. No one leaves the hotel. So of course fifteen of them decided to sneak out the hotel. They eventually made it out found another Irish bar and by the time they got back they were convinced theyd pulled off the perfect little mission. Next day Mick McCarthy and the staff decide theyre going for a quiet pint. And of course they pick the same Irish bar. They walk in and the place is basically a" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2022360988771566004) 2026-02-13T17:23Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When David Bentley was at Blackburn and word started going round that he might be in the next England squad the whole week turned into that quiet little build-up where youre pretending you dont care while checking your phone every five minutes. Friday morning is the window for it. If youre getting the call its coming between about half eight and nine. So Bentleys in at the training ground trying to act normal. Then at 8:30 on the dot it rings. Unknown number. He answers it already half convinced its Steve McClaren. And the voice on the other end is Steve McClaren. Proper serious tone doing" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2022376453845684532) 2026-02-13T18:24Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Roy Keane thought someone at Aston Villa had been leaking stories about the dressing room he decided to settle it the only way he knew how. He got in the car and went to Tom Cleverleys house. Cleverley was on loan from United still trying to settle into a new club and suddenly the clubs assistant manager has turned up on his doorstep absolutely raging because hes decided youre the source of the dressing-room gossip. The whole thing blows up because its such a mad way to handle it that it becomes a story in itself and the manager ends up having to come out and confirm it actually happened" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2022395869752873300) 2026-02-13T19:42Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "When Calum Davenport was trying to get his West Ham career back on track at the start of the [------] season football got taken out of his hands in the most brutal way possible. In the early hours of [--] August [----] he ended up back at his mums house in Kempston and a family situation that had been simmering boiled over. His sister Cara was pregnant and the tension around her relationship brought her boyfriend Worrell Whitehurst right into the middle of it. It kicked off outside the house in the driveway and within minutes it had turned into something that didnt feel like a footballers life" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2022406153641271532) 2026-02-13T20:22Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When John Kennedy finally got his Scotland cap at Hampden it was meant to be the start of everything. He was [--] a Celtic defender on the rise and Scotland v Romania was set up as a normal friendly where you get your first taste of it settle in then come out buzzing to ring your family. Fifteen minutes in it turned into the moment his whole career would circle back to. A high ball drops Kennedy goes up and Viorel Ganea comes flying in with one of those challenges that doesnt feel like a foul it feels like a car crash. Kennedy goes down and stays down. By the next day its not ice it and see." [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2022416214249619867) 2026-02-13T21:02Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Everton were at Ewood Park in September [----] Duncan Ferguson was already on thin ice with the referee. Hed just been booked for dissent and the games still going when he decides to do the most Duncan Ferguson thing possible: instead of calming down he starts shadowing the referee around the pitch and starts singing a chant. Whos a baldy b****** Whos a baldy b****** Na Na Na Na The referee was David Elleray and he didnt have any hair. Elleray brushes it off at first after all Ferguson could just be muttering away to himself. But he starts to sing it louder. Whos a baldy b****** Whos a" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2022350559097782351) 2026-02-13T16:42Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "When Chelsea beat Huddersfield in the FA Cup and Jos Mourinho gave the lads a couple of days off Joe Cole went out in town. The night started in the West End at the Embassy Club with a little group of footballers and a little group of Page [--] girls thrown together in the same way those nights always worked. John Terry was out. Bobby Zamora was out. Anton Ferdinand was out. Keeley Hazell was there too. It rolled on from the club to a party at Hazells place in South East London. It was late everyone had been drinking and Cole and Hazell were getting on well enough for it to be noticed. Cole" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2022634431169638604) 2026-02-14T11:30Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "When Manchester United went to Elland Road in [----] and Roy Keanes knee went he hit the deck in agony and stayed there. Alf Inge Haaland stood over him and started on him. Get up. Stop faking it. Keane didnt forget it. Four years later in the Manchester derby at Old Trafford with the game nearly done Haaland was back in front of him in a City shirt and Keane didnt bother pretending it was just one of those late tackles. He went through him knee high. Studs first. Nowhere near a normal challenge. Haaland went down the whistle went and Keane didnt hang about to negotiate it. Red card out and he" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2022642266389590128) 2026-02-14T12:01Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Ray Parlour and Tony Adams went for a few pints at the Chequers in Hornchurch food felt like a sensible idea so they wandered into Pizza Hut and sat down like two normal blokes trying to have a quiet meal. A group of Tottenham fans walked in sat down with their girlfriends and within minutes it turned into a show for the table. Carrots started flying. Donkey. Do you know what a donkey is All loud all smug all aimed at Adams like he wasnt sat there eating his pizza. Parlour couldnt get his head round how calm Adams was. Tony how do you put up with it Adams barely moved. Dont worry about" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2022651627337916646) 2026-02-14T12:38Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Brian Clough and Peter Taylor decided Nottingham Forest needed help in the summer of [----] Peter Taylor turned up with the one name Clough couldnt stand. Kenny Burns. Birmingham were basically warning him off. Dont buy him. Hes trouble. All Clough had in his head was a pub brawler with a dog track habit and bad headlines waiting to happen. Forget it. I dont want troublemakers I dont want s***-houses and I dont want an ugly b****** like Kenny Burns littering my club. Taylor still wanted him and he managed to convince Clough. Forest paid about [------] and Clough set the first test without" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2022674641576194515) 2026-02-14T14:09Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "When Sam Allardyce was trying to convince Jay Jay Okocha and Youri Djorkaeff to sign for Bolton he had one problem. The Reebok Stadium looked the part. The hotel looked the part. The training ground didnt. It was portacabins and two pitches. So he did the sales pitch the other way round. Straight to the stadium. Straight to the hotel. Everything shiny. Everything Premier League. Then the question would come every time. Can I see the training ground And the answer was always the same. Theres a lot of work going on at the moment. You wont see anything really. Once the papers were signed that" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2022694751091253557) 2026-02-14T15:29Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Paul Merson got his first proper pay from Arsenal as a [--] year old YTS lad in [----] Pat Rice went round after training handing out little brown envelopes. Hed spent the day doing the kid jobs. Cleaning the baths and toilets at Highbury. Sweeping out the dressing rooms for the first team game the next day. Then he got changed out of his tracksuit and ran down to Barclays in Finsbury Park with Wes Reid. The girl behind the counter passed over the notes and his hands were shaking. Theyre stood there counting crisp fivers and tenners like theyve just robbed the place. What are you doing now" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2022704702287147332) 2026-02-14T16:09Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "When Jimmy Bullard was at Fulham and clocked those plush marble floored corridors at the training ground he decided they needed testing. Not by walking on them sensibly. By seeing what happens when a group of footballers in boots hit marble at full speed. So he set the trap. He went into the changing room and started slapping Clint Dempsey and a few of the boys acting like a tool winding them up until someone finally snapped. Come on then. Who wants it That was enough. Clint and a few others got up to throw some digs in the general direction of his face and Bullard bolted it out of the room" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2022737888731922673) 2026-02-14T18:21Z [----] followers, 220.9K engagements "When Ricardo Pereira found out an [--] year old Leicester season ticket holder called Ellen Bale was in Coalville Community Hospital recovering from a stroke it wasnt her health that had her fuming. It was Filbert Fox. Shed had her favourite cuddly toy with her a replica of the club mascot and it had gone missing on the ward. Seventy three years of supporting Leicester and the thing she wanted back most was a fox. The ward staff let the club know and a couple of days later the captain turned up at the hospital like he was making a signing. Not empty handed. A brand new Filbert Fox. A full goody" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2022795146845102155) 2026-02-14T22:08Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Neil Ruddock went for a mates birthday in Formby in January [----] he spent all afternoon in The Grapes doing what you do when youve got a free day and a tab. At some point the Porsche keys came out and he handed them to his mate Anthony Clarke for safe keeping because even Razor knew there are nights where you should not be in charge of a [-----] Carrera. Later on Clarke is outside showing the car off to a girl called Lesley Richards. Next thing someones in the drivers seat it pulls away fast and within minutes its out on the A565 Formby bypass and completely gone. Witnesses see it lose" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023012169323872280) 2026-02-15T12:31Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When England set up in Baden Baden for the [----] World Cup the football was meant to be the hard part. Instead the hard part was the hotel. The team were based in a quiet spa town that suddenly had players families girlfriends and the English press all on top of each other all day every day with about three places to eat and drink and nowhere to hide. The wives and girlfriends were staying at Brenners Park the sort of hotel that looks calm until you add paparazzi outside the door and a pack of reporters in the lobby. Nights out became a routine. Garibaldis Bar in town turned into the meeting" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023086609734746425) 2026-02-15T17:26Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When West Ham went to Birmingham in the League Cup in [----] the game was sitting at 1-1 just before half time and they gave away a free kick outside the box. Paolo Di Canio made the wall. That was always his job. He lined it up wrong Martin Grainger hit it and the ball went in. Everyone comes in at the break expecting the usual bit of noise but Shaka Hislop is Shaka Hislop. Six foot whatever calm as you like deep voice barely even raising it. Paolo man you supposed to line up the wall man. You didnt line the wall up. That should have been it. A normal sentence. A normal dressing room. Paolo" [X Link](https://x.com/FTBL_Planet/status/2022767626192068980) 2026-02-14T20:19Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Spurs signed Paul Gascoigne in [----] they promised he could live in a hotel for as long as he liked they booked him into West Lodge Park near Hadley Wood. A proper posh place. The sort England used to use. He wasnt doing it on his own either. The deal was his mates could stay too so he filled the place up. Uncle Ian. Cyril. Kikki. Jimmy Gardner. First night in champagne to celebrate. Dom Perignon because if youre doing it youre doing it. Hed never had champagne before and it didnt feel strong at all until he stood up. Then it became a three day festival. After every bottle was finished" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2022982190728884293) 2026-02-15T10:31Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Dwight Yorke was living in Sutton Coldfield during his Aston Villa days a night out on Broad Street could quietly turn into something from a James Bond movie. Especially this one time. It started normally enough. Out with the Villa lads same bars same routine and he left with a girl whose name he admits he never really caught. They went back to his place no strings attached no promises and she was gone early the next morning because she had work. Training finished around one and instead of going home to recover he picked up the phone. Sue. She knew exactly what the call meant. She could" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2022993999410200877) 2026-02-15T11:18Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Mark Crossley went in to sign for Nottingham Forest as a kid he walked into Brian Cloughs office expecting the normal thing. A contract. Numbers. Someone sliding a piece of paper across the desk and pretending its all very serious. The paper went across. Crossley looked down. Above the signature line it was blank. No wage. No bonus. Nothing filled in. Clough didnt even dress it up. Sign it. Crossley hesitated for about half a second because its the first contract of his life and theres literally no contract on it. Clough was already done with the hesitation. Sign it or p*** off. So he" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023027326431134125) 2026-02-15T13:31Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "When Jimmy Bullard was on holiday with his old school mates he got a call that should have been perfect timing. Queens Park Rangers had just been promoted and Neil Warnock was ringing to talk about bringing him back to the Premier League. The only problem was Bullard was sat around the pool with a group of blokes he describes as lunatics and they were all getting blind drunk. He answered anyway half cut and tried to pull off his best sober voice. Hello Neil how are you doing It was the kind of fake calm that instantly sounds guilty so he mouthed to the lads Its Neil Warnock and the whole" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023097768487837908) 2026-02-15T18:11Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "When Newcastle lost [--] at Manchester City in January [----] Joe Kinnear sat down for the usual post match interview and managed to turn it into a fight with his own player. Charles NZogbia had already been pushing for a move. The mood around it was bad the questions were coming anyway and all Kinnear had to do was get through the interview without pouring petrol on it. He didnt. He started talking about NZogbia and couldnt say his name. He tried once then tried again then landed on the wrong word entirely. Insomnia. He kept going realised it sounded ridiculous tried to correct it and eventually" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023142163832266992) 2026-02-15T21:07Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Newcastle lost [--] at Manchester City in January [----] Joe Kinnear sat down for the usual post match interview and managed to turn it into a fight with his own player. Charles NZogbia had already been pushing for a move. The mood around it was bad the questions were coming anyway and all Kinnear had to do was get through the interview without pouring petrol on it. He didnt. He started talking about NZogbia and couldnt say his name. He tried once then tried again then landed on the wrong word entirely. Insomnia. He kept going realised it sounded ridiculous tried to correct it and eventually" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023142163832266992) 2026-02-15T21:07Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Dean Ashton finally got the England call in August [----] and turned up to the squad thinking he was about to make his debut against Greece at Old Trafford it felt like the moment everything hed built was about to click into place. It ended in a training session. A collision goes in his ankle goes over and the first thing everyone hears is the noise. One of the lads later called it a moan the kind that makes the whole group turn their head at once because you know its serious. The debut is gone before the match even arrives. The ankle is broken. Hes straight into the long part. At first it" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023130270300340281) 2026-02-15T20:20Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Celtic played Benfica in the Champions League and found themselves [--] nil up at half time Gordon Strachan was expecting the usual interval routine a few tweaks a bit of shouting then back out. Instead the fourth official came over with a request that made no sense. Mr Strachan could you go and see the referee So Strachan walks in thinking its going to be something serious a flashpoint a booking thats about to turn into a sending off maybe even something hes said on the touchline. The referee just looks at him and goes Mr Strachan Im not enjoying the game. That threw him. Celtic are" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023123061659070699) 2026-02-15T19:51Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "When Harry Redknapp walked into Southwark Crown Court and watched them start picking the jury he didnt really know how any of it worked. A big pool of people filed in got sworn in then a computer started selecting twelve names at random. Number one stood up and took his seat. Number two. Number three. They got to number six and the name got read out. Peter Crouch. A bloke stood up who was [--] foot [--] skinny the exact shape of a centre forward and the whole courtroom started laughing because it genuinely looked like it could have been Crouchy. There was nothing anyone could do about it. The" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023116154525384732) 2026-02-15T19:24Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When West Ham were playing Bradford at home and somehow found themselves [--] [--] down Paolo Di Canio decided he was finished. Stephen Bywater was in goal and nothing was sticking. Under his body through his legs every time Bradford had a shot it ended up in the net. At the other end Paolo had three blatant penalty shouts waved away and the last one tipped him over the edge. He looked over to the bench shrugged pouted and did that rolling hand gesture to say he wanted to come off. It got ignored. So he walked over to the touchline and tried it directly. Boss I no play. I come off. Paolo just get" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023108644607254675) 2026-02-15T18:54Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "When Jimmy Bullard was on holiday with his old school mates he got a call that should have been perfect timing. Queens Park Rangers had just been promoted and Neil Warnock was ringing to talk about bringing him back to the Premier League. The only problem was Bullard was sat around the pool with a group of blokes he describes as lunatics and they were all getting blind drunk. He answered anyway half cut and tried to pull off his best sober voice. Hello Neil how are you doing It was the kind of fake calm that instantly sounds guilty so he mouthed to the lads Its Neil Warnock and the whole" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023097768487837908) 2026-02-15T18:11Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "When England set up in Baden Baden for the [----] World Cup the football was meant to be the hard part. Instead the hard part was the hotel. The team were based in a quiet spa town that suddenly had players families girlfriends and the English press all on top of each other all day every day with about three places to eat and drink and nowhere to hide. The wives and girlfriends were staying at Brenners Park the sort of hotel that looks calm until you add paparazzi outside the door and a pack of reporters in the lobby. Nights out became a routine. Garibaldis Bar in town turned into the meeting" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023086609734746425) 2026-02-15T17:26Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Tony Adams was Arsenal captain he built up a reputation around the training ground for chatting absolute nonsense with a straight face. You could be sat there in the dressing room with the Sun turning over to Page [--] for an eyeful and Tony would lean across and point at the girl. Ive f**** her. It was always said like it was the most normal thing in the world which is why it was so easy to tell him to do one. P*** off Tone. You look like Jimmy Nail. That became the routine. Someone turns the page. Tony claims hes been there. Everyone calls him a liar. Then one day it stops being a routine" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023079107194425760) 2026-02-15T16:57Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When England were in La Manga in [----] and Glenn Hoddle was down to the last cuts before France Paul Gascoigne knew he was living on thin ice. Hed kept his head down for over a week a day before Hoddle made his final decisions Gazza decided to go out and get steaming. The next day the meetings start. One by one lads getting called in doors closing futures getting decided in a few minutes. Gazzas turn comes and it doesnt even get going based off the other lads verdict hes more or less worked out that hes not going. He walks in already boiling already convinced its an injustice and the room" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023071444079387005) 2026-02-15T16:26Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Rangers played Raith Rovers at Ibrox on [--] April [----] Duncan Ferguson was already living on a reputation and a temper that didnt need any extra help. It was down in the south west corner away from the main view of the game the sort of spot where centre halves and strikers spend ninety minutes grabbing nudging whispering threats and pretending its all just a coming together. Ferguson and John McStay got tangled up near the corner flag and it turned into one of those little wrestling matches that the crowd barely notices until it turns ugly. The referee didnt see it. Play moved on and in" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023061520305778972) 2026-02-15T15:47Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Newcastle went to Middlesbrough on the opening day of the 2004-2005 season Kieron Dyer refused to play where hed been asked and it turned into one of those arguments that sits in the dressing room long after the final whistle. Newcastle drew [--] [--] but the result barely mattered. The story was Dyer and the manager. When he came on as a sub for England at St James Park a few days later his own crowd gave him it. The easy thing for Bobby Robson would have been to let him take the full hit. He didnt. He went the other way and tried to protect him even after being left furious himself. He went" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023045503642935334) 2026-02-15T14:43Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Ireland were in Rome the night before the World Cup quarter final against Italy in [----] someone leaked where they were staying and the locals decided they were going to make it a miserable one. Taxi drivers turned up outside the hotel and started driving in circles beeping their horns all night. At first the players are at the window thinking something must be wrong then it clicks. The mood was already bad enough because everyone knew what was coming. We were like lambs to the slaughter. The gladiators are going to skewer us this afternoon. Then the phone goes around half ten. Theres a" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023037257507041630) 2026-02-15T14:10Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "When Mark Crossley went in to sign for Nottingham Forest as a kid he walked into Brian Cloughs office expecting the normal thing. A contract. Numbers. Someone sliding a piece of paper across the desk and pretending its all very serious. The paper went across. Crossley looked down. Above the signature line it was blank. No wage. No bonus. Nothing filled in. Clough didnt even dress it up. Sign it. Crossley hesitated for about half a second because its the first contract of his life and theres literally no contract on it. Clough was already done with the hesitation. Sign it or p*** off. So he" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023027326431134125) 2026-02-15T13:31Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "When Scotland landed in Paris for France [--] and realised they were opening the whole World Cup against Brazil the build up turned into a competition to see who could have the most Scottish night possible in a foreign city. The night before the game the Buddha Bar got picked as the base. It was meant to be a proper do invites and names and a bit of class. It lasted about five minutes before it became a crush. A place built for about [---] people ended up rammed with well over a thousand bodies squeezed into corners folk singing over each other the sort of noise where you can see someone talking" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023019325372686551) 2026-02-15T12:59Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Neil Ruddock went for a mates birthday in Formby in January [----] he spent all afternoon in The Grapes doing what you do when youve got a free day and a tab. At some point the Porsche keys came out and he handed them to his mate Anthony Clarke for safe keeping because even Razor knew there are nights where you should not be in charge of a [-----] Carrera. Later on Clarke is outside showing the car off to a girl called Lesley Richards. Next thing someones in the drivers seat it pulls away fast and within minutes its out on the A565 Formby bypass and completely gone. Witnesses see it lose" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023012169323872280) 2026-02-15T12:31Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Ireland were in America for the [----] World Cup the camp wasnt this modern locked down bubble where everyone sits in a hotel room staring at a tactics board. There was free time. Nights off. Irish bars. A bit of breathing space that Jack Charlton encouraged because he trusted the older lads to get the balance right. We were hitting the Irish bars on our nights off and we were enjoying the occasion and it was done the old way. Go out have a few relax then get yourself back in one piece. Then youd get the reminder from Jack when it was time to rein it back in. Back to the hotel three or" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2023001336581685327) 2026-02-15T11:47Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Dwight Yorke was living in Sutton Coldfield during his Aston Villa days a night out on Broad Street could quietly turn into something from a James Bond movie. Especially this one time. It started normally enough. Out with the Villa lads same bars same routine and he left with a girl whose name he admits he never really caught. They went back to his place no strings attached no promises and she was gone early the next morning because she had work. Training finished around one and instead of going home to recover he picked up the phone. Sue. She knew exactly what the call meant. She could" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2022993999410200877) 2026-02-15T11:18Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Spurs signed Paul Gascoigne in [----] they promised he could live in a hotel for as long as he liked they booked him into West Lodge Park near Hadley Wood. A proper posh place. The sort England used to use. He wasnt doing it on his own either. The deal was his mates could stay too so he filled the place up. Uncle Ian. Cyril. Kikki. Jimmy Gardner. First night in champagne to celebrate. Dom Perignon because if youre doing it youre doing it. Hed never had champagne before and it didnt feel strong at all until he stood up. Then it became a three day festival. After every bottle was finished" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2022982190728884293) 2026-02-15T10:31Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Ricardo Pereira found out an [--] year old Leicester season ticket holder called Ellen Bale was in Coalville Community Hospital recovering from a stroke it wasnt her health that had her fuming. It was Filbert Fox. Shed had her favourite cuddly toy with her a replica of the club mascot and it had gone missing on the ward. Seventy three years of supporting Leicester and the thing she wanted back most was a fox. The ward staff let the club know and a couple of days later the captain turned up at the hospital like he was making a signing. Not empty handed. A brand new Filbert Fox. A full goody" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2022795146845102155) 2026-02-14T22:08Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "When Liverpool went to Celtic Park for that UEFA Cup tie in [----] Danny Murphy managed to fall out with Bobo Balde without even meaning to. One run from midfield he clatters into him both of them end up on the deck and Bobo takes it like its been done on purpose. Straight away it starts. Bobo is giving him loads. Murphy is trying to wave it away like Ive hurt myself as well here relax. But it keeps coming so he gives a bit back. Nothing clever just the usual little digs you do when someone wont stop talking. Then Bobo starts pinging a couple out of play and Murphy cant help himself. Well" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2022776721276010701) 2026-02-14T20:55Z [----] followers, [---] engagements Limited data mode. Full metrics available with subscription: lunarcrush.com/pricing
@MatchedBetting_ Matched-Betting
Matched-Betting posts on X about in the, nottingham forest, manchester united, hotel the most. They currently have [-----] followers and [---] posts still getting attention that total [-------] engagements in the last [--] hours.
Engagements: [-------] #
- [--] Week [-------] +3,230%
- [--] Month [-------] +17,636%
- [--] Months [-------] +18,672%
Mentions: [--] #
- [--] Week [--] +169%
- [--] Month [---] +2,560%
- [--] Months [---] +4,333%
Followers: [-----] #
- [--] Week [-----] +2.50%
- [--] Month [-----] +1.20%
- [--] Months [-----] -1.40%
CreatorRank: [------] #
Social Influence
Social category influence premier league #2563 countries travel destinations luxury brands automotive brands finance currencies celebrities technology brands champions league
Social topic influence in the, nottingham forest #184, manchester united #2636, hotel #2479, night, paul #3048, west #1652, the first, $ferg, premier league #811
Top assets mentioned Ferguson plc (FERG)
Top Social Posts
Top posts by engagements in the last [--] hours
"Just posted a risk free shot at [-----] to Patreon. The stakes can be adjusted to guarantee [--] regardless. [--] likes on this tweet and Ill upload it to twitter 👍"
X Link 2023-08-30T09:25Z [--] followers, [----] engagements
"Betway boost. If both players get a sot win [----] if they dont then break even. Isnt currently on smarkets but can be layed on Matchbook Ill update if can be placed using smarkets"
X Link 2025-02-22T17:14Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"If inter Milan win 2-1 we profit [--]. If the scoreline finishes anything else we break completely even. Must use 30% profit boost on bet365"
X Link 2025-03-05T13:12Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Using the bet365 25% win boost. If Arsenal beat West Ham 2-1 we profit [--]. If the scoreline is absolutely anything else we again break even. Risk free shot at [--] 👍"
X Link 2025-02-22T11:04Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Peter Crouch signed for Liverpool he admits he started doing what a lot of new Premier League lads do. He bought the flash car. Aston Martin shades on music up feeling like hed made it. Then one day he pulled up at traffic lights in Manchester and looked across and it was Roy Keane in the car next to him. Crouch says Keane didnt say a word. He just looked him up and down gave him an absolutely disgusted glance and shook his head like hed just witnessed a crime against football. That was enough. Crouch said it hit him instantly that hed turned into one of those footballers. All the bling"
X Link 2026-01-16T11:01Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"When Roy Keane was a teenager at Nottingham Forest he was still learning the hard way what English football was really like. Forest were playing Crystal Palace in the FA Cup and in the replay at the City Ground Keane made a horrible mistake. He played a backpass that put his own keeper in trouble and Palace ended up scoring from it. Keane said he walked back into the dressing room after the game and Brian Clough went straight for him. In Keanes own words from his autobiography: When I walked into the dressing room after the game Clough punched me straight in the face. Then came the lesson"
X Link 2026-01-16T12:49Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Roy Keane was coming towards the end at Manchester United the relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson started to fray. In Fergusons autobiography he explains that the breaking point came after Keane did a MUTV interview that United decided they couldnt broadcast. Ferguson says Keane criticised his team-mates so heavily that the club felt it would do real damage if it went out. Fergusons issue wasnt that Keane had standards. It was the way he went about it. In the book Ferguson describes how it even fed into the atmosphere around the squad saying it ended with two young players being booed"
X Link 2026-01-16T17:34Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Paul Gascoigne first started properly travelling with the England squad the older lads realised pretty quickly he didnt switch off. In March [----] England went to Albania for a World Cup qualifier. They were in a hotel and there was a courtyard below the rooms with chickens wandering about. According to Tony Cottee there was noise coming from a room opposite his. He went in to see what was going on and Gazza was stood there launching bars of soap out of the window trying to hit the chickens in the courtyard. Every time he clipped one hed celebrate like hed just scored at Wembley. Then Sir"
X Link 2026-01-16T18:26Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Harry Redknapp was managing West Ham United he says working with Paolo Di Canio meant you never really knew what you were walking into. One time they faced Birmingham away in the League Cup. Its half-time West Ham are behind from a free-kick and goalkeeper Shaka Hislop is annoyed because Di Canio hasnt lined the wall up properly. Hislop tries to say it calmly basically: you didnt do your job. Di Canio completely loses it. Redknapp says Di Canio starts shouting F*** you at Hislop then picks up a huge barrel of orange sports drink. He can barely lift it hes stomping around the dressing"
X Link 2026-01-16T19:39Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Neil Warnock was managing Sheffield United he admits he once tried to solve a confidence problem in the most Warnock way possible. One of his players had been complaining he felt sluggish and low on energy. Warnock decided the issue wasnt tactics or fitness or form. It was that the lad looked ill. So Warnock told him to go on a sunbed. The player took it seriously. Too seriously. He came back a few days later absolutely glowing. Not just tanned. Bright red. Properly burnt. Warnock said the lad looked like hed been slow-roasted. Instead of admitting the plan had gone wrong Warnock doubled"
X Link 2026-01-17T10:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"When Wayne Rooney was a kid breaking into the Everton first team he learned pretty quickly that you didnt just have to play well. You had to survive the dressing room. Rooney has admitted there was one prank in particular that got completely out of hand and it involved David Moyes. During a training day Moyes came into the first-team dressing room and went into the toilet. The lads saw their chance and started encouraging Rooney to do it. So Rooney picked up a bucket of water crept over to the cubicle and tipped it straight over the top onto Moyes. Then he ran. Rooney said it was one of those"
X Link 2026-01-17T14:38Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Brian Clough was managing Nottingham Forest he once proved he didnt believe in long team talks. Before a match the players were sat in the dressing room waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Clough didnt come in. Eventually they started to get uneasy. Someone went to look for him and found him sat in his office feet up reading the paper. They told him kick-off was getting close. Clough looked up and said hed be there in a minute. When he finally walked into the dressing room there were only a few minutes left. He looked around the room clocked the tension and said just one thing: Gentlemen"
X Link 2026-01-18T11:35Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Paul Gascoigne was at Spurs he said he once missed training because of a pigeon. He was at the club on a Thursday and saw the groundsman trying to get rid of pigeons around the stadium. Gazza asked what he was doing the groundsman told him and Gazza said hed help. So Gazza climbed up onto the roof with him. As he moved along he slipped went over the edge and fell about [--] feet onto the steps below. He said he ended up with a bruise running all the way down his leg. When he went to see the manager to explain why he couldnt train he didnt say hed fallen off the roof. He said: Gaffer I dont"
X Link 2026-01-18T17:05Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Ray Parlour talks about the old Arsenal drinking culture he always says it wasnt subtle. They called it the Tuesday Club because Tuesday was the heavy training day and Wednesday was usually lighter so the lads knew they could get away with a night out. Parlour says the funny part was how obvious it became. On Tuesdays players would turn up for training already dressed like they were going somewhere after. Proper going out clothes. It got to the point where George Graham would look at them and say Whats going on here because as Parlour put it our clobber would give the game away. Theyd do"
X Link 2026-01-18T18:59Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Neil Warnock was managing Sheffield United he once drove up the motorway with a suitcase full of cash. It was the early 1990s and Warnock explains in his autobiography that this was just how transfers sometimes worked back then. No bank transfers. No agents meetings in hotels. Just cash. He was on his way to sign a player and had [------] in a suitcase on the back seat of his car. At some point on the drive he stopped at a service station. When he got back in the car he glanced over and realised the suitcase wasnt there. He says his stomach dropped instantly. Warnock panicked. He was"
X Link 2026-01-19T11:19Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When England went to Euro [----] Gary Lineker says he knew early on something wasnt right. He felt flat in the first game then worse against the Netherlands. By the time they were already out of the group he remembers telling Bobby Robson plainly: I just feel weak. Linekers point is that he wasnt trying to dodge the last match. He was trying to explain he had nothing in his legs. Robson didnt see it that way. Lineker says he got the feeling Robson thought he was looking for an excuse because England were already out. They played the Soviet Union anyway. Lineker says he could barely move and"
X Link 2026-01-19T12:28Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Harry Redknapp was manager of West Ham he signed Paulo Futre and thought the hard part was done. Their first league game was away at Arsenal the team sheets had already gone in and there was about [--] minutes to kick-off when the kitman Eddie Gillam came in and told Redknapp there was a problem. Futre had been handed a shirt with number [--] on it. He threw it back. Redknapp says Futre then got right in his face and started listing football history at him. Futre [--] not [--] Eusebio [--] Maradona [--] Pel 10; Futre [--] not fing 16.* Redknapp tried to explain it calmly. The Premier League had moved"
X Link 2026-01-19T14:22Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When England were based at Burnham Beeches during Euro [--] Steve McManaman said the players could see everything that was going on around the hotel. One night he said Bob Wilson and Jack Charlton were doing a live broadcast from outside at about 10.30pm. Everyone in the England camp could see it was on TV. McManaman said a couple of the lads decided to make use of that. Gazza and Robbie slipped out of the hotel in their dressing gowns and quietly went round to where the cameras were set up. Then they started dancing about behind Wilson and Charlton while the broadcast was going out live."
X Link 2026-01-19T15:24Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Nottingham Forest were getting ready for the [----] League Cup final against Southampton Martin ONeill said Brian Clough decided the players needed relaxing the night before. ONeill said Clough had them in the hotel and started sending drinks over to the players tables. ONeill said it kept coming. Glass after glass. The sort of thing that feels harmless for the first one then suddenly you realise youre supposed to be playing a cup final the next day and youre getting steadily worse. At one point ONeill said one of the lads told Clough he didnt like champagne. So Cloughs answer wasnt to"
X Link 2026-01-19T16:17Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When David Beckham came back after being sent off against Argentina at the [----] World Cup he said he went from being one of Englands favourites to being blamed for everything. Hes spoken about how the reaction carried on long after the match. He received threats and there were public displays like an effigy of him being hung outside a pub. When the new season started Beckham said it followed him into stadiums as well. He described being booed and abused in his first games back and he said it wasnt just aimed at him. Songs about his wife started as well. Years later Beckham admitted it got to"
X Link 2026-01-19T17:27Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Paul Gascoigne was at Newcastle United he once decided to play a prank that went a bit further than usual. Gazza asked the kitman to do him a favour and drive his car somewhere nearby. Nothing strange about it. Just helping out. As soon as the kitman drove off Gazza picked up the phone and rang the police. He reported the car as stolen. So the police went looking for it spotted the car and pulled it over. The kitman was taken to the side of the road and questioned having to explain that the car wasnt stolen at all and that he was only driving it because Gazza had asked him to. Eventually"
X Link 2026-01-19T18:01Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Andrea Pirlo was at AC Milan he said the dressing room learned to watch Gennaro Gattuso very carefully. Pirlo wrote that you could actually see it coming. Gattuso would get the red mist and everyone would start moving things out of his reach. If there were knives around theyd get taken away first. But Pirlo said that didnt solve it because Gattuso would just grab whatever was left. A fork. Pirlo said Gattuso used to try and stick it into teammates when hed lost his temper. Not as a joke. Properly like he meant it. He wrote that it happened more than once. Sometimes the fork actually went"
X Link 2026-01-19T20:45Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Mark Ward was playing for West Ham in September [----] he said he had his first ever Football League red card at Wimbledons Plough Lane. Ward said Dennis Wise had already scored to put Wimbledon [--] up and then the two of them went in hard for a challenge. Ward said as they got up their heads came together. Wise then threw himself to the ground like Ward had headbutted him. Ward said Wise was such a convincing actor that even Wises own teammates thought it had happened. The referee showed Ward a straight red. Ward said he lost it there was a big melee and he didnt want to leave the pitch."
X Link 2026-01-20T11:39Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Tony Adams and Ray Parlour were in Hong Kong on a pre-season tour in [----] Adams admits things got out of control very quickly. After a friendly against Rangers the Arsenal players went out in the Lan Kwai Fong area. Adams wrote that it was noisy crowded and full of people who were drinking. At some point Parlour started throwing prawn crackers under a taxi for a laugh. Thats when someone took offence. Adams said a group of locals confronted them and it turned ugly. He wrote that he stepped in to try and calm things down thinking it was just a bit of handbags. Adams wrote: I suddenly"
X Link 2026-01-20T14:32Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Roy Keane looks back on the Manchester United dressing room in the 1990s he says there was a little end-of-season players pool. It was money the senior lads got for doing bits for the clubs in-house magazines and videos. Keane says it was usually about [---] each and nobody was that bothered about it. One year the players decided to put all the cheques into a hat. Last name pulled out kept the lot. Keane says a few of the younger lads opted out. He says they were new and didnt have the money to spare. But Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt put theirs in anyway. Keane says he was the third last"
X Link 2026-01-20T16:04Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Roy Keane signed for Celtic in December [----] Gordon Strachan says it had already been a long day of press conferences and noise. That night Strachan writes he took his teenage son to see The Pogues at the O2 Academy in Glasgow. He says hed wanted to see them live for years. About an hour into the set Strachan says Shane MacGowan stopped and spoke to the crowd. So you signed a Cork Bhoy today then Strachan says the place erupted. I thought the roof was coming off the place. Strachans described it as was one of those surreal football moments."
X Link 2026-01-20T16:53Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Paolo Di Canio was at West Ham Harry Redknapp said travelling with him could turn into an argument for no reason. On one trip the squad were at the airport ready to fly home. Di Canio didnt want to get on the plane. Redknapp said Paolo started insisting: I dont get on this f****** plane. Were all going to die. Redknapp said hed had enough of it by that point. He told him they were getting home whether he liked it or not. Then he turned to the club secretary and said: f*** him. Lets go. So the team got on the flight and went home. Di Canio stayed behind and got a car instead. Redknapp"
X Link 2026-01-20T17:33Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Ray Parlour was at Arsenal he said one of his worst bits of timing involved a night out with Frank Lampard. It was in London and they ended up at Caf de Paris. Parlour has said he was already carrying a bit of an injury at the time but he still went out anyway. During the night there was a drinking game going on and at one point Parlour went in to celebrate and headbutted the bar by accident. He left with a black eye and needed stitches. The problem was the next day at training. He tried to walk in and play it off but Arsne Wenger took one look at him and knew exactly what it was."
X Link 2026-01-20T18:34Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Nottingham Forest came to Highbury in early [----] for a League Cup quarter-final John Motson said Brian Clough spotted him in the entrance hall before the match. Clough walked straight over and started shouting at him. Shithouse. Motson said Clough told him he paid his licence fee and expected the BBC to be fair and he was furious about Motsons commentary on the North London derby the previous weekend. I pay my licence fee because I expect the BBC to be fair he said. Not biased like you were at Tottenham on Sunday. Motson said Forests players were trying to get past while this was"
X Link 2026-01-21T10:23Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When West Ham went to Maine Road to play Manchester City in April [----] it was [--] [--] at half time and there was nothing in the game. Just before the whistle Ian Pearce took a proper wallop and walked off looking like hed left his head somewhere in the penalty area. Hes in the other room with the physio John Green and Redknapp is already shouting down the corridor. Is he alright John. Is he alright. Johns trying to keep it calm. Errr hes had a knock Harry. Hes concussed. That answer doesnt help. Well can he play or cant he. Johns panicking now repeating himself like it might sound better the"
X Link 2026-02-14T14:44Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"When England were in La Manga in [----] and Glenn Hoddle was down to the last cuts before France Paul Gascoigne knew he was living on thin ice. Hed kept his head down for over a week a day before Hoddle made his final decisions Gazza decided to go out and get steaming. The next day the meetings start. One by one lads getting called in doors closing futures getting decided in a few minutes. Gazzas turn comes and it doesnt even get going based off the other lads verdict hes more or less worked out that hes not going. He walks in already boiling already convinced its an injustice and the room"
X Link 2026-02-15T16:26Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Roy Keane was at Manchester United in the 1990s he said he went into Selfridges with Lee Sharpe to buy a watch. Keane said a salesman showed him a few options and steered him towards what he was told was the cheapest one. Keane picked it and took it to the till. Then the cashier told him the price. Keane said he froze when he heard it because it was far more than he thought it was. But he also didnt want to back down in front of the salesman or Sharpe so he paid for it anyway. On the way out Keane begged Sharpe not to tell the lads at training. Sharpe promised he wouldnt. Keane said"
X Link 2026-01-20T11:13Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Neil Warnock says he took the Sheffield United lads to Scarborough he says he suggested something for a bit of fun. Anybody fancy a game of bowling He says they all agreed. So he made it interesting. [--] quid each lads whoever wins takes the pot. Warnock says the lads were all well up for it. What they didnt know was Warnock had done time working in a bowling alley. So he turns up with his own bowling ball. And his own shoes. He says he didnt tell them that bit. They all put their money in. Warnock says he then wiped the floor with them. He says he bowled 240-something. And he says the"
X Link 2026-01-31T10:59Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Roy Keane looks back on his early days at Nottingham Forest he says the one mistake Brian Clough never let go was passing it back to the keeper. It was an FA Cup tie against Crystal Palace. Keane tried a backpass. John Salako read it and lobbed Mark Crossley from miles out. Keane says they got back into the dressing room after the game. Clough was waiting. When I walked into the dressing room after the game Clough punched me straight in the face. Keane says Clough was raging but it wasnt a general rant. It was one instruction. Dont pass the ball back to the goalkeeper. Keane says nobody"
X Link 2026-01-31T11:22Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Andy Cole talks about the one teammate he just couldnt warm to at Manchester United he always brings up Teddy Sheringham. Cole says it actually started before they were even club mates. In March [----] Cole made his England debut as a sub for Sheringham against Uruguay and he says Teddy basically blanked him. No well done no handshake nothing. Cole said it left him feeling embarrassed and small like the moment didnt matter. Fast forward a couple of years and Sheringham signs for United. Youd think it would just blow over. But Cole says it didnt. Then came the bit that turned it into a"
X Link 2026-02-03T12:58Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Blackburn were in the Champions League in [----] they had one of the strangest team-mate fallouts youll ever see. It was against Spartak Moscow only a few minutes into the game and David Batty and Graeme Le Saux both went for the same ball near the touchline. It starts as a shove and a row. But it doesnt stop. Even when play moves on theyre still at it still shouting at each other from distance like theyve completely forgotten theyre in a European game. Then it spills over properly. Le Saux swings at Batty and they have to be pulled apart with Tim Sherwood getting involved trying to"
X Link 2026-02-03T13:18Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Joe Cole talks about playing under Harry Redknapp at West Ham he always makes the point that the man could turn a serious situation into a punchline without even trying. Cole tells this one from a game away at Manchester City at Maine Road. It was [--] at half-time a scrappy sort of match and West Ham had a problem. Ian Pearce had taken a proper whack and he was struggling. The physio John Green had him in the other room doing his checks while Redknapp was in the dressing room wanting a straight answer. Redknapp kept shouting through Is he alright John Is he alright and the reply was"
X Link 2026-02-03T14:38Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Glenn Hoddle was England manager he decided the squad didnt just need tactics. They needed a faith healer. So he brought in Eileen Drewery and players were expected to go and see her like it was part of normal international duty. Ray Parlour says he got sent in with a knee issue and the whole thing was so bizarre it felt like a wind-up. Drewery started doing her diagnosis by running her fingers over his head and Parlour couldnt help himself. He asked her for a short back and sides please love. The lads and even Eileen herself found it hilarious. Glenn Hoddle not so much. Parlour has said"
X Link 2026-02-03T17:56Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When David Bentley was coming through at Arsenal he says you learned quickly that the first team had their own little routines. One of them was the sauna. Bentley tells a story about wandering in there thinking it would just be a few of the lads recovering after training. And then he clocked Arsne Wenger was already in there. Completely naked. Bentleys point is he didnt know where to look. Hes just walked into a sauna and its the manager sat there like this is the most normal thing in the world. He tried to play it cool because what else can you do. Wenger meanwhile didnt move. Didnt cover"
X Link 2026-02-03T18:35Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Paul Gascoigne was at Middlesbrough he says the club were constantly trying to keep him on the straight and narrow. And for a little while it was working. Then one day he spotted the team bus sitting in the garage with the keys left in it. So he did what Gazza always did when he saw an opportunity. He decided to take it for a quick spin. It lasted by his own admission about [---] yards. Because the next thing anyone knew the bus was no longer in the garage. And when Bryan Robson asked the obvious question Gazza wheres the bus Gascoignes answer was as calm as if hed misplaced a pair of"
X Link 2026-02-03T19:04Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Roy Keane went back into the Ireland set-up in [----] as assistant manager everyone expected him to be on his best behaviour. First press conference back new job fresh start. He gets asked a pretty normal question about the preparations. And you could tell he couldnt resist it. Keane starts answering like hes giving a hotel review. He says theyd had a lovely few days the hotels been lovely the foods been excellent the training grounds lovely Then he slips the punchline in. No potholes weve had footballs bibs everything. Major progress. Its the most Roy Keane way possible of reminding"
X Link 2026-02-03T19:31Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Mick McCarthy was back managing Ireland in [----] they had a qualifier at the Aviva against Gibraltar and even the team bus tried to get out of it. On the way in it broke down. After the game a journalist asked him Can you explain what happened with the team bus before the game McCarthy didnt even blink. It broke down. The journalist kept digging for a story out of nothing: Can you expand on that McCarthy not willing to rise to the journalists games: It wouldnt go any further. https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2019738940433932358 https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2019738940433932358"
X Link 2026-02-06T11:44Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Roberto Di Matteo was a young midfielder at Lazio he says he found out pretty quickly what it was like having Paul Gascoigne as a teammate. Gascoigne had apparently found a snake in his garden. And instead of doing the normal thing he slipped it into the pocket of Di Matteos coat. No warning. Nothing. Just left it there. Di Matteo says Gazza then walked over and acted completely innocent asking him for a favour like it was any other day. Something along the lines of: Have you got any change I can borrow So Di Matteo reaches into his pocket without looking. And the second his hand touched"
X Link 2026-02-06T15:46Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Harry Redknapp was West Ham manager in the mid-90s hes admitted he once signed a striker purely off a video. The player was Marco Boogers brought in from Sparta Rotterdam in [----]. Redknapp later put it very simply. I signed Boogers off a video he said. He said the video made him look a proper player. What it didnt show was the rest of it. He was a good player but a nutter Redknapp said. Boogers didnt take long to prove the point. He was sent off in his second match for trying to maim Gary Neville and he was hardly seen again. https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2019819436593631628"
X Link 2026-02-06T17:04Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Roy Keane was Sunderland manager and they were down the bottom of the Premier League Chris Kamara says he bumped into him in a London hotel lift. Kamara says it was the Marriott in Kensington where loads of teams used to stay. He says hed got in on the fourth floor to go down to the bar. On the third floor the doors opened and it was Keane. Kamara says he was about to say hello but Keane put his head down straight away. The doors closed. Then the recorded voice in the lift said: Going down. Kamara says he looked at Keane and went: I think shes talking to you Roy. Roy Keane found the"
X Link 2026-02-06T18:15Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When David Beckham looks back on the moment Sir Alex Ferguson really started losing patience with him it often comes back to one very stupid hat. United were heading to Leicester away and the day before the game Ferguson arrived at Carrington to find [--] photographers lined up outside the training ground. He asked what was going on and got told basically Beckham was about to unveil a new haircut. Sure enough Beckham turned up wearing a beanie. Then that night at the team meal he was still wearing it. Ferguson told him straight: David take your beanie hat off youre in a restaurant. Beckham"
X Link 2026-02-07T10:35Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Ashley Cole was at Chelsea he managed to have one of those weeks where football was the least of the headlines. Cheryl was away doing a big charity trek for Comic Relief climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with a full camera crew on her back. Back in London Ashley went out in South Kensington. It ended with police getting involved in the early hours and him being arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly on Brompton Road at about 2.15am. He was taken to a central London police station spent a few hours there then was released with an on-the-spot fine. The next day he tried to clean it"
X Link 2026-02-07T11:12Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Jermaine Pennant talks about his early Arsenal days he admits he once treated the night before a Premier League start like it was a lads holiday. Pennant says there was an FHM party on proper boozy bash stuff and he ended up going with a few of the Arsenal lads. Hes told it as one of those nights where youre surrounded by music celebs and loads of girls and youre not exactly making sensible choices. The stupid part was the timing. Arsenal were playing Southampton the next day and Pennant wasnt even expecting to start because the squad was stacked. Hes said he stayed out until about 6am"
X Link 2026-02-07T11:48Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Nicklas Bendtner went on loan to Birmingham City as a teenager he admits the dressing room was basically built on dares. He later said it started at a charity event where Steve Bruces daughter Amy was there and the lads immediately saw an opportunity. Bendtner recalled how it suddenly became a wager Suddenly I was betting [----] with teammates like Gary McSheffrey that he could actually get her number and take her out. He did it anyway. Not because he was smooth. More because he was stubborn and didnt want to lose the bet in front of the squad. The awkward bit was always going to be the"
X Link 2026-02-07T12:29Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"When Paul Caddis talks about Tommy Gravesen at Celtic he makes it sound like the football was almost secondary. Gravesen had this thing with the young lads and the pool table. Caddis says hed call them over and go [--] quid a head. Everyone would stick their money in. Suddenly there was like [---] sat in there. Then hed leave them waiting. Caddis says Gravesen would run down the stairs at Celtic Park open his boot and pull out this f***ing Ronnie OSullivan signed pool cue screw it up. Meanwhile the kids were left with run of the mill horrendous cues. And Gravesen would just clean up. Caddis"
X Link 2026-02-07T14:32Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Harry Redknapp was managing in the Premier League he says he ended up with a mate in horse racing. A lad rang him up introducing himself as jockey Lee Topliss. And because Harrys Harry he just accepted it. The calls kept coming. Tips for races. Little chats. The odd favour. Harry says the lad started turning up wherever he was getting the best seat in the house nice meals lifts here and there and heaven knows what in handouts. After a while Harry started clocking the record wasnt exactly Frankel. Yeah hes always ringing me more losers than winners he admitted. Then one day football agent"
X Link 2026-02-07T15:22Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Ally McCoist was at Rangers he says having Gazza as a teammate didnt stop at the training ground. Because Paul Gascoigne somehow ended up treating Allys house like it was his. One night Ally says his wife woke him up because she could hear noises downstairs. He did the normal thing. Assumed the worst. Thought it was burglars. So he went down ready for trouble. And there was Gazza. Not robbing the place. Just casually playing snooker in the middle of the night. Ally said he stood there like what are you doing And Gazzas explanation was basically: I couldnt sleep. Then he made it worse."
X Link 2026-02-07T17:09Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Ray Parlour was at Middlesbrough Gareth Southgate had just taken over as manager making the step up from player. Southgate called everyone in for a big meeting. Not just the squad either. Staff tea ladies the lot. Parlour said the tone was deadly serious. Southgate basically laid it out that he was the manager now and he wanted to be treated like one. No more Southy no more Gaz none of the old dressing-room stuff. Parlour said you could feel the tension straight away. One of those rooms where nobody wants to be the first to speak because you know itll land wrong. So in his head Parlour"
X Link 2026-02-07T18:16Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Steve McClaren was England manager he had one night that basically wrote his nickname for him. It was the last qualifier at Wembley against Croatia and it was absolutely hammering it down. England needed a result to get themselves to Euro [----] but the whole night just felt off. The pitch was slick the rain wouldnt stop and every time the camera cut to the touchline there was McClaren stood there under an umbrella looking like a bloke waiting for a bus rather than the England manager. Croatia went ahead England dragged it back and then it happened again. Another Croatia goal another"
X Link 2026-02-07T18:50Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Andy Townsend talks about Italia [--] he always says there was a lot of time to kill. Hotels. Waiting around. The lads getting bored. And he said thats when you do daft things back in the day. Townsend said he decided to have a bit of fun with Jack Charlton. He did that old coin trick where you press a coin on someones forehead then quietly take it away but it still feels like its there. Then he looked at Big Jack and basically made it a challenge. Townsend told him you have six bangs on the back of your head to get this coin off and if he did it I will give you a tenner. And Jack went for"
X Link 2026-02-07T19:19Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Newcastle lost the TyneWear derby at St James Park in August [----] Duncan Ferguson says the damage was already done the day before. Ruud Gullit ran the usual 11v11 at Chester-le-Street the one that was meant to show you the team for Sunderland. Ferguson says he looked around and realised both him and Alan Shearer were on the reserves side like they were the bomb squad. They beat the side that was meant to start. Ferguson says normally a manager clocks that and changes it. He says Gullit didnt. The next night Newcastle lose [--] in the rain and Gullit starts talking afterwards about what"
X Link 2026-02-07T19:58Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When QPR went to Manchester City on the final day of the [------] season Joey Barton managed to turn a relegation scrap into a personal meltdown. City needed to win the league. QPR needed a result or at least to stay in the game. Barton was captain and the match was already tense before he lost his head. The first flashpoint was with Carlos Tevez. Barton elbowed him right in front of everyone and the referee sent him off. What made it worse is that he didnt just accept the red card and walk. As he was being pulled away he went for Sergio Agero kicking out at him. Then he tried to headbutt"
X Link 2026-02-07T20:17Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Steve Bruce talks about Brian Clough he usually makes the point that Clough never forgot anything. Bruce says hed spent years playing against Cloughs Nottingham Forest side and that meant doing what centre-halves do. Kicking Cloughs number [--]. In this case it was Cloughs son Nigel. Bruce says he was at a function years later and went to the toilet. Mid-flow he felt an almighty whack in the back. Hard enough that he ended up getting soaked in the urinals. Then he heard that familiar voice behind him. That young man is for all the times you kicked my Nigel Clough said. Now carry on."
X Link 2026-02-08T10:53Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When David Bentley turned up at the Emirates for a charity match last year he decided to make it a Tottenham day out. It was one of those Sellebrity Soccer events with cameras around and Bentley being Bentley. After the game he put on a Spurs shirt with Winners [----] written on the back in marker. Then he wandered off looking for trouble and started opening any door in the building. Bentley says they ended up in Mikel Artetas office. He points at Artetas name on the door like hes discovered a museum exhibit. I love this man he says dead serious as if hes about to give him a hug. Then he opens"
X Link 2026-02-08T12:52Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Manchester United were still full of kids in the 1990s Nicky Butt says Sir Bobby Charlton would sometimes turn up and train with them. Not to stand around either. Butt says his touch was still ridiculous even though hed retired decades earlier. On one session Butt says Brian McClair (Choccy) had a volley from about five yards. It caught Charlton flush on the head. Butt says he went down and didnt move. I thought he was dead Butt said. The lads panicked because as Butt put it this is Sir Bobby Charlton the man whod already survived Munich. Butt says Charlton came round. And then like it"
X Link 2026-02-08T14:14Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Liverpool went to Athens for the [----] Champions League final one of the lads in their travelling support somehow got hold of Gary Nevilles mobile number. He rang him. Neville rang back. And for a bit it just turned into Liverpool fans giving him grief down the phone throwing lines at him like: Djimi Traore has as many Champions League medals as you. Then the final happened. Liverpool lost. Everyone went back to their hotels and the fella says he put his phone on charge went to sleep and woke up to loads of missed calls and voicemails. The first one he says is Neville screaming down the"
X Link 2026-02-08T15:28Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Duncan Ferguson looks back on his hard man phase he says it made him do some really stupid things. One of them involved David Beckham. Ferguson says Beckham came over before a game hand out just doing the normal pre-match thing. And Ferguson decided he was going to keep up the act. He says: David Beckham I blanked David Beckham. He says Beckham came up to him and he just went: Get tae f***. He says the mad part is it was David Beckham. An icon. Someone he couldnt have laced his boots. Ferguson says he basically walked away like that was a normal way to behave. And now he just cringes at"
X Link 2026-02-08T16:03Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Liverpool lost the [----] FA Cup final to Manchester United John Barnes says the dressing room afterwards was just flat. Barnes says he did what players do and swapped shirts with the match winner Eric Cantona. He says he brought it back in and in the mood of the moment he basically just tossed it down on the floor. Then Neil Razor Ruddock clocked it straight away. Barnes says Razor went over and asked him if he could have it. Not politely either. Barnes says he told him he could have it. A couple weeks later the shirt sold on auction for [----]. #football"
X Link 2026-02-08T17:37Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Paul Lake looks back on his Manchester City career he says the part people forget is how quickly it went from captain to nothing. In September [----] City played Aston Villa at Maine Road. Lake had just been made club captain. He says the new England manager Graham Taylor was there to watch him. Then in the second half he caught his studs in the turf and went down awkwardly. Lake ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament. He writes about the rehab like it was a loop. He got told to start light training. His knee gave way again. He went away to rehab. He got told to pull his boots on again."
X Link 2026-02-08T19:29Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Paul Gascoigne played against Wimbledon at Plough Lane in February [----] he says he got the full Vinnie Jones welcome. Jones was told to stick tight to him all game. And he perhaps took that too literally. So tight that the photo from that match is still doing the rounds nearly forty years later. It finished [--]. But Gazza says the best part happened after. As he was walking off a bloke in the crowd handed him a single red rose. And instead of giving it to a WAG or doing something normal with it Gazza decided it should go straight into the Wimbledon dressing room. Addressed to Vinnie. Just"
X Link 2026-02-08T19:54Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Jason McAteer tells his favourite USA [--] story he says it didnt even happen in the match. It was before it. Ireland vs Norway at Giants Stadium. McAteer says hes stood there with his chest out soaking it all in thinking this is the proudest moment of my life. And then he notices something weird. A whisper starts at one end of the line. Andy Townsend whispers into Packie Bonners ear. and it just keeps travelling down the line like some secret military order. So McAteers thinking: this has to be last-minute tactics. Dont give it away. Keep it tight. Only need a draw. That sort of thing. It"
X Link 2026-02-09T10:17Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Paul McGregor talks about being a kid at Nottingham Forest under Brian Clough he says you didnt feel like a footballer. You felt like a staff member. He was on the YTS scheme. So the job wasnt train hard and work your way up. It was boots. Errands. And being told to do things you didnt even understand. McGregor says he was in charge of Nigel Cloughs boots. And Nigel used to tip him well. He says Nigel once gave him [---] as a Christmas bonus. McGregor says he was earning about [--] a month so it was like being handed a mortgage deposit. And Brian Clough would still treat him like he was just"
X Link 2026-02-09T10:49Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Danny Mills talks about getting pulled into the Beckham world with England he says it wasnt the matches that threw him. It was the social stuff. He says not long after England qualified for the [----] World Cup an invite lands for a party at David and Victoria Beckhams house. And the invitation isnt subtle. Mills says the dress code was: white tie and diamonds. He says in [----] he didnt even know what white tie was. Never mind adding diamonds on top. He says he wasnt going to go. This is not really my scene. But the kids were invited as well and he says his wife basically dragged him. So he"
X Link 2026-02-09T11:48Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Sam Allardyce got the England job in July [----] it felt like the most English football appointment possible. Big Sam in charge of the national team fresh shirt big handshake and a plan to sort it all out in about three games. He manages one match a [--] win in Slovakia and then a few weeks later the other story lands. The Daily Telegraph had filmed him in an undercover meeting where hes talking through the football world like its a normal business lunch including discussing workarounds around rules on third-party ownership and entertaining the idea of paid speaking work with their fake"
X Link 2026-02-09T12:58Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Gary Neville talks about Roy Keane not really doing mates theres one tiny story he says sums it up. Neville changed his mobile number so he did what everyone does. Sent a quick text out to the people in his contacts just letting them know it was him and this was the new number. And Neville says he got a reply back from Keane straight away. Not nice one. Not cheers. Not even a thumbs up. Just: Why the f*** are you telling me https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2020853095266193763 https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2020853095266193763"
X Link 2026-02-09T13:31Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Ray Parlour talks about the old Arsenal days with Tony Adams he says some of the scrapes they got into werent even big nights out. They were the kind of stupid situations that start with one problem and then get solved in the worst possible way. Parlour says it was Christmas Eve and he was out for a few drinks with Adams at a place called the Palms in Hornchurch. At some point it hits him that he still hasnt bought his mum a present and hes panicking because its basically too late now. He says Adams looks around like hes trying to help clocks this big decorative plant pot and just"
X Link 2026-02-09T15:53Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When James McFadden talks about Thomas Gravesen at Everton he says there were days where youd turn up to training and just try to keep out of his way. He says Gravesen had no filter and hed do things that didnt even make sense to the rest of the squad because in his head it was all just a laugh. McFadden tells this one about the day Gravesen brought fireworks into training. McFadden says the physios room was right next to one of the pitches and the physio was always out running with the injured lads. So hes jogging along with them minding his own business doing his job. And McFadden says"
X Link 2026-02-09T17:01Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"When David Bentley looks back on coming through at Arsenal he says training wasnt training. It was a scrap. He says Wenger would set up these competitive small-sided games keep the same teams all week and lads would be going home raging if they lost like it meant something. He says hed come off with black eyes ripped shirts bashed up and that was just considered normal for a skinny kid trying to survive around the senior players. And he tells this one about the day he properly squared up to Thierry Henry. Bentley says Henry was mugging me off in the session trying to dictate it trying to make"
X Link 2026-02-09T17:28Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Manchester United went on their post-Treble tour of Australia in [----] Dwight Yorke says he started treating it like a holiday. He admits the curfews werent really happening and by the time they were in Sydney he was already out most nights. Yorke says one night he was in a club surrounded by the usual chaos and he was looking for one person in particular. Hed been told Gabrielle Richens would be there. Yorke says she was known as the Pleasure Machine a nickname from an airline advert and the second he saw her he was transfixed. He went straight over. They swapped numbers. The following"
X Link 2026-02-09T18:03Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Roy Keane went back to Cork in April [----] there was a story that came out that didnt sound like him at all. A man called Pat OSullivan [--] was in the Mercy Hospital with dementia and his son Rob had been trying to get him a message from his hero. He contacted Corks RedFM hoping they might be able to reach Keane for a quick shout-out. And what Keane did next is why it hit people. Because he didnt send a video. He just turned up. Rob describes Keane walking into the hospital room and shaking his dads hand like it was nothing like it was the most normal visit in the world. Keane went in to"
X Link 2026-02-09T21:01Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"When Paul Merson talks about how bad his gambling got he says one of the most normal things at the time was walking into an away dressing room with [-----] cash in a bag. It was Portsmouth away at Millwall in March [----]. Merson says he owed money and he had to meet people after the game to pay it. The problem was the away dressing room couldnt be locked. So Harry Redknapp says Merse comes over and asks him to look after it. Redknapp thought he was handing him a watch or something. Mersons like No its money. Redknapp says he couldnt leave it lying around and he couldnt exactly sit on the bench"
X Link 2026-02-10T10:34Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Nemanja Vidi talks about joining Manchester United in [----] he says one of the first things he couldnt get his head around wasnt the football. It was the mornings. He says hed come in early still half asleep and hed be trying to get himself ready for training. And every single day he says Gary Neville would walk into the dressing room and start talking. Non-stop. Just straight into it. Talking talking talking. Vidi says at first he didnt even understand why he was talking so much. Hes sat there thinking how have you got this much to say at this hour And he says it got to the point where"
X Link 2026-02-10T11:03Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"When James McFadden talks about Thomas Gravesen at Everton he says you learned pretty quickly that normal rules didnt apply to him. He says Gravesen had this mad Danish-Scouse accent he was hyper all the time and if you saw him coming youd sometimes just try and get out of his way. Then he tells the story that still sounds ridiculous even when you say it out loud. McFadden says one day Gravesen turned up to training with a paintball gun. And McFadden says he started shooting people. Just firing it at the lads like it was the most normal thing in the world like it was part of the warm-up."
X Link 2026-02-10T11:37Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"When Dwight Yorke talks about nights out in London hes never really pretending he was living like a monk. But he tells this one and you realise how quickly it can go from VIP area to absolute chaos. Yorke said hed been out at the Funky Buddha in Mayfair drinking with friends and later on he went to the mens toilets as the club was winding down. Thats when he became aware of someone standing right behind him. The guy looks at him and goes: Do you know who I am Yorke says he replies basically no. And the man just says it straight: I want your watch. It wasnt some normal watch either. In court"
X Link 2026-02-10T12:59Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Brian Clough was at Nottingham Forest there was a period where hed already decided a player was finished before the player had even accepted it. This one is about Justin Fashanu after Forest had signed him from Norwich in [----]. The story goes that Fashanu ends up in Cloughs office because hes not playing and he wants to know why. And Clough doesnt dress it up. He basically lists what he thinks is wrong with him as a footballer in that brutal Clough way then tells him hes spoken to Norwich and theyre willing to take him back. A couple of days later Fashanu comes back. And this is where it"
X Link 2026-02-10T14:15Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Ally McCoist was flying out of Glasgow Airport for a weekend in New York he says he knew straight away hed picked the worst possible flight. He says they turned up at the airport and the place was swarming swarming with Celtic supporters. McCoist says hes standing there thinking what is going on here Then he finds out its an organised trip. The New York Celtic Supporters Club. And theyre all on the same flight as him. McCoist says once they clocked him that was it. Because theres no hiding when youre sharing a terminal and then sharing a plane. The whole flight just consisted of McCoist"
X Link 2026-02-10T14:59Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Tony Adams was England captain going into Euro [--] he says he knew one thing for certain. If he went out drinking with the lads in Hong Kong he wouldnt stop. England were on a pre-tournament trip out there and everyone was going out for the night that later became the dentists chair story. Adams says he tried to act normal about it. He even told them: When we win Ill have a drink. But he says inside he was so scared because he knew exactly what would happen if he picked one up. So he didnt go. He says he locked himself in his hotel room on the 15th floor and just waited for training the"
X Link 2026-02-10T16:17Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Neil Ruddock was marking Ian Wright in the [----] FA Cup semi-final at Wembley he says he treated it like a personal project. Spurs vs Arsenal. Wright was flying that season. And Ruddock says he was happy to kick him all round Wembley. Arsenal win [--]. Everyone moves on. Except the two of them end up teammates later on at West Ham. And thats when it flips. Because Ruddock says they became room-mates on trips. And Wright decides hes been waiting for this. Ruddock says Wright used to jump on me in the middle of the night and beat me up while hes half asleep. Not a proper fight. Just Wright"
X Link 2026-02-10T18:06Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Paul Merson signed for Portsmouth under Harry Redknapp in [----] he says the first thing he noticed wasnt the football. It was the kit. Because hed come from Arsenal and Villa where you finish training and your kit just disappears. At Portsmouth he says hes looking around thinking why is nobody taking this off me Then one of the lads tells him the reality. You wash it yourself. And Merse says hes stood there like hang on Ive signed for a professional club and Im about to go home with a carrier bag full of muddy kit like its Sunday League. Then he gets told there is a way out. The kitman"
X Link 2026-02-10T19:10Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Henrik Larsson was on stage with John Hartson and Chris Sutton at an after dinner speech Hartson starts talking about Martin ONeill. Hartsons saying ONeill didnt exactly bring you into his circle straight away. Larsson lets him get a few sentences into it then drops it on him. He tells Hartson that he and Sutton used to get invited round to ONeills house for Sunday dinner. Hartson just freezes. Because hes sat there thinking hang on you two were having roasts at the gaffers house and Im here talking about not being in the circle. Larsson keeps it going like its completely normal. Like it"
X Link 2026-02-10T19:42Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Matt Le Tissier looks back on his career theres one moment hes not particularly proud of. Southampton away at Wimbledon in April [----] Le Tissier admits hed got into spread betting with mates. The market they picked was the time of the first throw-in. He says the plan was simple. Before kick-off as captain he even persuaded Wimbledon to let Southampton take the kick-off in exchange for switching ends so Wimbledon could kick towards their own fans. Then from kick-off the ball gets rolled back to him and hes meant to absolutely leather it out of play to make the first throw-in happen early"
X Link 2026-02-10T20:24Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Robbie Fowler signed for Leeds he already had that reputation where even a normal night out could turn into a headline. And then in December [----] it did. Leeds had their Christmas party and David OLeary had even allowed it on the condition everyone behaved because the club were sick of bad publicity. They did it as fancy dress. Fowler went as a soldier in full army gear face paint even a toy gun. Later that night Fowler is in a taxi with a close family friend. And the taxi stops at a petrol station at around 11.45pm. Fowler is asleep in the front seat. Then a freelance photographer"
X Link 2026-02-10T21:06Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Glenn Roeder took over at West Ham Don Hutchison says he tried to change the vibe straight away. New rules. No phones. Stick around after training have a brew talk to each other. Hutchison says the very next day Paolo Di Canio turned up and decided he was doing the opposite. He arrived on his Vespa. Parked it in Roeders parking space. Walked in on his phone. Then Hutchison says hes got these sunglasses on. And written across the lenses are the words F*** off. As if hes made himself a little portable message for the new manager. Training starts. And Hutchison says Di Canio isnt even"
X Link 2026-02-11T11:15Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Lee Bowyer was coming through at Leeds in the late 90s theres a story that always did the rounds about the sort of clauses he tried to get put into his contract. Not a release clause. Not a goal bonus. Just normal domestic life. The story goes he was obsessed with keeping one thing protected Friday night. As in if Leeds had a competitive match on a Friday he was under no obligation to play. Because Friday was his date night with his wife. So the lads are hearing this and thinking its a wind-up because footballers will argue for anything but not usually to protect a booking at an Italian."
X Link 2026-02-11T13:39Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Roy Keane was managing Ipswich David Norris says one pre-season trip summed up what it was like playing under him. Keane lays down a curfew. Proper strict. Hes basically telling the lads: youre away you get one night out then after that youre in So the squad actually do what he wants. They stick to it. And thats where it goes wrong. Because Norris says Keane isnt happy that theyre well behaved hes raging that theyre too well behaved. He starts going at them for having no edge no personality calling them characterless c**** because not one of them even attempted it. And the lads are stood"
X Link 2026-02-11T14:42Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Duncan Ferguson was coaching at Everton he says he clocked early on that Anthony Gordon was into boxing. And Ferguson says he tried to talk him out of going near it because hes looking at him like an investment. A kid with pace a kid the club might need and youre one bad punch away from something stupid. So he pulls him aside and says it straight. You have to stop. You cant go to them youll get hurt. Ferguson says Gordon didnt really bite. So Ferguson does what Ferguson always does when words dont work. He thinks hell prove the point with a bit of sparring. Ferguson says Gordon battered"
X Link 2026-02-11T15:22Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Ray Parlour talks about Arsne Wengers first pre-season at Arsenal he says it wasnt the tactics that shocked the dressing room. It was the culture change. He says they went away on tour worked like dogs for two weeks and there was basically no drinking the whole time. The English lads were gagging for it by the end. Then on the last day once the work was done the lads finally get the green light to go out. Parlour says there were five of them and Steve Bould the biggest drinker by a mile is straight to the front of the queue like its matchday. Before he orders he turns to Gilles Grimandi"
X Link 2026-02-11T16:06Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Paul Merson was captain at Portsmouth under Harry Redknapp in [------] he says he planned himself a little escape in the middle of a title run-in. Pompey had just played Manchester United in the FA Cup and lost [--] and Merse says he did what he always did checked the fixtures like a man possessed. He clocked there was a gap coming up because the team they were meant to play were still in the Cup so Portsmouth didnt have a game. So he books Barbados. And then he realises he needs a reason Harry cant really say no to. So he goes in to see Redknapp and gives him this serious responsible speech"
X Link 2026-02-11T17:30Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When England went to Albania for a World Cup qualifier in March [----] Tony Cottee says Paul Gascoigne was still the new lad in the squad but he was already finding ways to entertain himself that didnt involve football. Cottee says he was in the hotel and he could hear a commotion coming from the room opposite. Just noise laughter the sort of thing that makes you think someones messing about. So he goes in to see whats going on. And Gazzas in there with bars of soap. Cottee says there were chickens in the courtyard outside and Gazza had decided he was going to stand at the window and try to hit"
X Link 2026-02-11T19:19Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Manchester United were at home to Tottenham in the Ferguson years Roy Keane says he walked into the dressing room thinking it didnt even need a team talk. Because Spurs were rubbish. Keane says he was almost hoping Fergie wouldnt do the big build-up because everyone already knew what the game was. Then Ferguson walks in. Just looks around the room and drops three words: Lads its Tottenham. United won 4-0 #football https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2021694491652948220 https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2021694491652948220"
X Link 2026-02-11T21:15Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When David Bentley was at Tottenham he says the dressing room banter wasnt the normal stuff like hiding your boots. It was properly feral. He says the worst one he ever got was with his washing bag. Bentley says he opened it up one day and there was a big turd sat inside it like someone had posted it there on purpose. And the mad thing is he says he didnt even kick off. He just stood there looking at it thinking fair play He even says hes pretty sure he knows who did it. I think it was Jonathan Woodgate he says. Bentley says he zipped the bag back up laughed it off and carried on with his"
X Link 2026-02-12T11:44Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When England were flying home from the Hong Kong/China warm-up trip before Euro [--] Robbie Fowler says the squad had the upper deck to themselves and Gazza was trying to get some sleep. And someone decided to be funny. Fowler says Gazza got a slap while he was asleep he thinks it was Alan Shearer and it was hard enough to jolt him right up. Fowler says Gazza went from asleep to absolutely raging in about two seconds because he struggles to sleep at the best of times and now hes wide awake on a long flight with a sore face and no idea whos done it. So he starts prowling up and down the aisle"
X Link 2026-02-12T13:54Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Brian Clough finally met Muhammad Ali in [----] it wasnt some cosy two legends moment. Ali actually recorded a message about him for British telly and its basically Ali doing that slow mocking build-up before he lands the punch. There is some fella in London named some Brian Brian Clough Some soccer player or something Then Ali says hes heard all the way in Indonesia that Clough talks too much and people are calling him another Muhammad Ali. Theres just one Muhammad Ali Im the talker. Now Clough Ive had enough. Stop it. Cloughs reply when he got asked about it was typical Clough. He just"
X Link 2026-02-12T14:47Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Mick McCarthy left Ipswich in [----] he says he managed to start a Sunderland manager rumour without even trying. Chris Coleman gets sacked on the Sunday night. Next morning Micks on a train up to Sunderland. Not for an interview. He says hes going to pick up a car. And he says the trains basically empty. Just him sat there and a bloke coming through doing the bins. The bloke looks at him does that proper double-take walks past then comes back for a second look. Youre Mick McCarthy arent you Mick says Yeah. Then the bloke goes straight in: Youre after the Sunderland job arent you Mick"
X Link 2026-02-12T15:19Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Jimmy Bullard tried to get involved in Duncan Fergusons madness he realised about half a second too late that this wasnt the sort of situation you get involved in. Wigan v Everton were level at 1-1 David Moyes threw Big Dunc on with about twenty minutes left and seven minutes later hed clocked Paul Scharner in the stomach off the ball like he was settling a debt. Scharner went down in the box Mike Dean saw it and Fergusons standing there hands on hips with that look where you can tell hes ready to fight. Bullard drifted over anyway did the whole are you alright routine then immediately"
X Link 2026-02-12T18:51Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Nottingham Forest got to Madrid for the [----] European Cup Final Peter Shilton started worrying about one thing that only a goalkeeper worries about. He wanted a bit of decent grass near the hotel so he could get some proper work in. Brian Clough had an answer for that. Peter Taylor and trainer Jimmy Gordon turned up and told him theyd found a grassed area thats perfect for you Peter me lad. So Shilton followed them expecting a park or a training pitch or at least something that didnt involve dying abroad the day before a European Cup Final. They drove out towards the edge of town Taylor"
X Link 2026-02-12T19:40Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Paul Merson got married right in the middle of the [----] World Cup the day started the way youd expect a wedding day to start. Seven vodkas before hed even got to the church. He avoided the lager because he didnt want to walk down the aisle stinking of a pub carpet. The lads at the ceremony had football on the brain because England were playing Holland that day but his head was somewhere else entirely. Scotland were up against Costa Rica Scotland were 2/7 on and that was enough for him to decide this was the perfect moment for a big flutter. So before he got hitched he got his best man to"
X Link 2026-02-13T11:03Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Manchester United had their Christmas party in [----] Gary Neville found out the hard way he wasnt built for it. He was [--] a lightweight tried to keep up and after five or six ciders hed ended up slumped asleep on the pavement outside a Chinese restaurant called the Golden Rice Bowl. It got worse from there. He started throwing up so badly a couple of team-mates bundled him into a taxi and in that state he decided the sensible destination wasnt home or the hotel. Take me to hospital. The panic didnt even come from being ill. It came from being recognised. So he gets to the desk absolutely"
X Link 2026-02-13T12:35Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"@livescore @David_Ornstein https://x.com/ftbl_planet/status/2022317544594391370 When Peter Crouch tried to do Valentines Day properly at home he thought hed nailed it. Hed arranged a private chef to come round and cook them a fancy meal the sort of thing thats meant to make you look like a romantic genius without having to actually cook anything https://t.co/ilNayG34xm https://x.com/ftbl_planet/status/2022317544594391370 When Peter Crouch tried to do Valentines Day properly at home he thought hed nailed it. Hed arranged a private chef to come round and cook them a fancy meal the sort of thing"
X Link 2026-02-13T14:31Z [----] followers, [--] engagements
"When Ireland were out in Korea at the [----] World Cup the players got given one simple bit of freedom. They were allowed to watch Spain in the Irish bar at the hotel and have a few beers. One condition. No one leaves the hotel. So of course fifteen of them decided to sneak out the hotel. They eventually made it out found another Irish bar and by the time they got back they were convinced theyd pulled off the perfect little mission. Next day Mick McCarthy and the staff decide theyre going for a quiet pint. And of course they pick the same Irish bar. They walk in and the place is basically a"
X Link 2026-02-13T17:23Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When David Bentley was at Blackburn and word started going round that he might be in the next England squad the whole week turned into that quiet little build-up where youre pretending you dont care while checking your phone every five minutes. Friday morning is the window for it. If youre getting the call its coming between about half eight and nine. So Bentleys in at the training ground trying to act normal. Then at 8:30 on the dot it rings. Unknown number. He answers it already half convinced its Steve McClaren. And the voice on the other end is Steve McClaren. Proper serious tone doing"
X Link 2026-02-13T18:24Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Roy Keane thought someone at Aston Villa had been leaking stories about the dressing room he decided to settle it the only way he knew how. He got in the car and went to Tom Cleverleys house. Cleverley was on loan from United still trying to settle into a new club and suddenly the clubs assistant manager has turned up on his doorstep absolutely raging because hes decided youre the source of the dressing-room gossip. The whole thing blows up because its such a mad way to handle it that it becomes a story in itself and the manager ends up having to come out and confirm it actually happened"
X Link 2026-02-13T19:42Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"When Calum Davenport was trying to get his West Ham career back on track at the start of the [------] season football got taken out of his hands in the most brutal way possible. In the early hours of [--] August [----] he ended up back at his mums house in Kempston and a family situation that had been simmering boiled over. His sister Cara was pregnant and the tension around her relationship brought her boyfriend Worrell Whitehurst right into the middle of it. It kicked off outside the house in the driveway and within minutes it had turned into something that didnt feel like a footballers life"
X Link 2026-02-13T20:22Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When John Kennedy finally got his Scotland cap at Hampden it was meant to be the start of everything. He was [--] a Celtic defender on the rise and Scotland v Romania was set up as a normal friendly where you get your first taste of it settle in then come out buzzing to ring your family. Fifteen minutes in it turned into the moment his whole career would circle back to. A high ball drops Kennedy goes up and Viorel Ganea comes flying in with one of those challenges that doesnt feel like a foul it feels like a car crash. Kennedy goes down and stays down. By the next day its not ice it and see."
X Link 2026-02-13T21:02Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Everton were at Ewood Park in September [----] Duncan Ferguson was already on thin ice with the referee. Hed just been booked for dissent and the games still going when he decides to do the most Duncan Ferguson thing possible: instead of calming down he starts shadowing the referee around the pitch and starts singing a chant. Whos a baldy b****** Whos a baldy b****** Na Na Na Na The referee was David Elleray and he didnt have any hair. Elleray brushes it off at first after all Ferguson could just be muttering away to himself. But he starts to sing it louder. Whos a baldy b****** Whos a"
X Link 2026-02-13T16:42Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"When Chelsea beat Huddersfield in the FA Cup and Jos Mourinho gave the lads a couple of days off Joe Cole went out in town. The night started in the West End at the Embassy Club with a little group of footballers and a little group of Page [--] girls thrown together in the same way those nights always worked. John Terry was out. Bobby Zamora was out. Anton Ferdinand was out. Keeley Hazell was there too. It rolled on from the club to a party at Hazells place in South East London. It was late everyone had been drinking and Cole and Hazell were getting on well enough for it to be noticed. Cole"
X Link 2026-02-14T11:30Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"When Manchester United went to Elland Road in [----] and Roy Keanes knee went he hit the deck in agony and stayed there. Alf Inge Haaland stood over him and started on him. Get up. Stop faking it. Keane didnt forget it. Four years later in the Manchester derby at Old Trafford with the game nearly done Haaland was back in front of him in a City shirt and Keane didnt bother pretending it was just one of those late tackles. He went through him knee high. Studs first. Nowhere near a normal challenge. Haaland went down the whistle went and Keane didnt hang about to negotiate it. Red card out and he"
X Link 2026-02-14T12:01Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Ray Parlour and Tony Adams went for a few pints at the Chequers in Hornchurch food felt like a sensible idea so they wandered into Pizza Hut and sat down like two normal blokes trying to have a quiet meal. A group of Tottenham fans walked in sat down with their girlfriends and within minutes it turned into a show for the table. Carrots started flying. Donkey. Do you know what a donkey is All loud all smug all aimed at Adams like he wasnt sat there eating his pizza. Parlour couldnt get his head round how calm Adams was. Tony how do you put up with it Adams barely moved. Dont worry about"
X Link 2026-02-14T12:38Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Brian Clough and Peter Taylor decided Nottingham Forest needed help in the summer of [----] Peter Taylor turned up with the one name Clough couldnt stand. Kenny Burns. Birmingham were basically warning him off. Dont buy him. Hes trouble. All Clough had in his head was a pub brawler with a dog track habit and bad headlines waiting to happen. Forget it. I dont want troublemakers I dont want s***-houses and I dont want an ugly b****** like Kenny Burns littering my club. Taylor still wanted him and he managed to convince Clough. Forest paid about [------] and Clough set the first test without"
X Link 2026-02-14T14:09Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"When Sam Allardyce was trying to convince Jay Jay Okocha and Youri Djorkaeff to sign for Bolton he had one problem. The Reebok Stadium looked the part. The hotel looked the part. The training ground didnt. It was portacabins and two pitches. So he did the sales pitch the other way round. Straight to the stadium. Straight to the hotel. Everything shiny. Everything Premier League. Then the question would come every time. Can I see the training ground And the answer was always the same. Theres a lot of work going on at the moment. You wont see anything really. Once the papers were signed that"
X Link 2026-02-14T15:29Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Paul Merson got his first proper pay from Arsenal as a [--] year old YTS lad in [----] Pat Rice went round after training handing out little brown envelopes. Hed spent the day doing the kid jobs. Cleaning the baths and toilets at Highbury. Sweeping out the dressing rooms for the first team game the next day. Then he got changed out of his tracksuit and ran down to Barclays in Finsbury Park with Wes Reid. The girl behind the counter passed over the notes and his hands were shaking. Theyre stood there counting crisp fivers and tenners like theyve just robbed the place. What are you doing now"
X Link 2026-02-14T16:09Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"When Jimmy Bullard was at Fulham and clocked those plush marble floored corridors at the training ground he decided they needed testing. Not by walking on them sensibly. By seeing what happens when a group of footballers in boots hit marble at full speed. So he set the trap. He went into the changing room and started slapping Clint Dempsey and a few of the boys acting like a tool winding them up until someone finally snapped. Come on then. Who wants it That was enough. Clint and a few others got up to throw some digs in the general direction of his face and Bullard bolted it out of the room"
X Link 2026-02-14T18:21Z [----] followers, 220.9K engagements
"When Ricardo Pereira found out an [--] year old Leicester season ticket holder called Ellen Bale was in Coalville Community Hospital recovering from a stroke it wasnt her health that had her fuming. It was Filbert Fox. Shed had her favourite cuddly toy with her a replica of the club mascot and it had gone missing on the ward. Seventy three years of supporting Leicester and the thing she wanted back most was a fox. The ward staff let the club know and a couple of days later the captain turned up at the hospital like he was making a signing. Not empty handed. A brand new Filbert Fox. A full goody"
X Link 2026-02-14T22:08Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Neil Ruddock went for a mates birthday in Formby in January [----] he spent all afternoon in The Grapes doing what you do when youve got a free day and a tab. At some point the Porsche keys came out and he handed them to his mate Anthony Clarke for safe keeping because even Razor knew there are nights where you should not be in charge of a [-----] Carrera. Later on Clarke is outside showing the car off to a girl called Lesley Richards. Next thing someones in the drivers seat it pulls away fast and within minutes its out on the A565 Formby bypass and completely gone. Witnesses see it lose"
X Link 2026-02-15T12:31Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When England set up in Baden Baden for the [----] World Cup the football was meant to be the hard part. Instead the hard part was the hotel. The team were based in a quiet spa town that suddenly had players families girlfriends and the English press all on top of each other all day every day with about three places to eat and drink and nowhere to hide. The wives and girlfriends were staying at Brenners Park the sort of hotel that looks calm until you add paparazzi outside the door and a pack of reporters in the lobby. Nights out became a routine. Garibaldis Bar in town turned into the meeting"
X Link 2026-02-15T17:26Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When West Ham went to Birmingham in the League Cup in [----] the game was sitting at 1-1 just before half time and they gave away a free kick outside the box. Paolo Di Canio made the wall. That was always his job. He lined it up wrong Martin Grainger hit it and the ball went in. Everyone comes in at the break expecting the usual bit of noise but Shaka Hislop is Shaka Hislop. Six foot whatever calm as you like deep voice barely even raising it. Paolo man you supposed to line up the wall man. You didnt line the wall up. That should have been it. A normal sentence. A normal dressing room. Paolo"
X Link 2026-02-14T20:19Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Spurs signed Paul Gascoigne in [----] they promised he could live in a hotel for as long as he liked they booked him into West Lodge Park near Hadley Wood. A proper posh place. The sort England used to use. He wasnt doing it on his own either. The deal was his mates could stay too so he filled the place up. Uncle Ian. Cyril. Kikki. Jimmy Gardner. First night in champagne to celebrate. Dom Perignon because if youre doing it youre doing it. Hed never had champagne before and it didnt feel strong at all until he stood up. Then it became a three day festival. After every bottle was finished"
X Link 2026-02-15T10:31Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Dwight Yorke was living in Sutton Coldfield during his Aston Villa days a night out on Broad Street could quietly turn into something from a James Bond movie. Especially this one time. It started normally enough. Out with the Villa lads same bars same routine and he left with a girl whose name he admits he never really caught. They went back to his place no strings attached no promises and she was gone early the next morning because she had work. Training finished around one and instead of going home to recover he picked up the phone. Sue. She knew exactly what the call meant. She could"
X Link 2026-02-15T11:18Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Mark Crossley went in to sign for Nottingham Forest as a kid he walked into Brian Cloughs office expecting the normal thing. A contract. Numbers. Someone sliding a piece of paper across the desk and pretending its all very serious. The paper went across. Crossley looked down. Above the signature line it was blank. No wage. No bonus. Nothing filled in. Clough didnt even dress it up. Sign it. Crossley hesitated for about half a second because its the first contract of his life and theres literally no contract on it. Clough was already done with the hesitation. Sign it or p*** off. So he"
X Link 2026-02-15T13:31Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"When Jimmy Bullard was on holiday with his old school mates he got a call that should have been perfect timing. Queens Park Rangers had just been promoted and Neil Warnock was ringing to talk about bringing him back to the Premier League. The only problem was Bullard was sat around the pool with a group of blokes he describes as lunatics and they were all getting blind drunk. He answered anyway half cut and tried to pull off his best sober voice. Hello Neil how are you doing It was the kind of fake calm that instantly sounds guilty so he mouthed to the lads Its Neil Warnock and the whole"
X Link 2026-02-15T18:11Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"When Newcastle lost [--] at Manchester City in January [----] Joe Kinnear sat down for the usual post match interview and managed to turn it into a fight with his own player. Charles NZogbia had already been pushing for a move. The mood around it was bad the questions were coming anyway and all Kinnear had to do was get through the interview without pouring petrol on it. He didnt. He started talking about NZogbia and couldnt say his name. He tried once then tried again then landed on the wrong word entirely. Insomnia. He kept going realised it sounded ridiculous tried to correct it and eventually"
X Link 2026-02-15T21:07Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Newcastle lost [--] at Manchester City in January [----] Joe Kinnear sat down for the usual post match interview and managed to turn it into a fight with his own player. Charles NZogbia had already been pushing for a move. The mood around it was bad the questions were coming anyway and all Kinnear had to do was get through the interview without pouring petrol on it. He didnt. He started talking about NZogbia and couldnt say his name. He tried once then tried again then landed on the wrong word entirely. Insomnia. He kept going realised it sounded ridiculous tried to correct it and eventually"
X Link 2026-02-15T21:07Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Dean Ashton finally got the England call in August [----] and turned up to the squad thinking he was about to make his debut against Greece at Old Trafford it felt like the moment everything hed built was about to click into place. It ended in a training session. A collision goes in his ankle goes over and the first thing everyone hears is the noise. One of the lads later called it a moan the kind that makes the whole group turn their head at once because you know its serious. The debut is gone before the match even arrives. The ankle is broken. Hes straight into the long part. At first it"
X Link 2026-02-15T20:20Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Celtic played Benfica in the Champions League and found themselves [--] nil up at half time Gordon Strachan was expecting the usual interval routine a few tweaks a bit of shouting then back out. Instead the fourth official came over with a request that made no sense. Mr Strachan could you go and see the referee So Strachan walks in thinking its going to be something serious a flashpoint a booking thats about to turn into a sending off maybe even something hes said on the touchline. The referee just looks at him and goes Mr Strachan Im not enjoying the game. That threw him. Celtic are"
X Link 2026-02-15T19:51Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"When Harry Redknapp walked into Southwark Crown Court and watched them start picking the jury he didnt really know how any of it worked. A big pool of people filed in got sworn in then a computer started selecting twelve names at random. Number one stood up and took his seat. Number two. Number three. They got to number six and the name got read out. Peter Crouch. A bloke stood up who was [--] foot [--] skinny the exact shape of a centre forward and the whole courtroom started laughing because it genuinely looked like it could have been Crouchy. There was nothing anyone could do about it. The"
X Link 2026-02-15T19:24Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When West Ham were playing Bradford at home and somehow found themselves [--] [--] down Paolo Di Canio decided he was finished. Stephen Bywater was in goal and nothing was sticking. Under his body through his legs every time Bradford had a shot it ended up in the net. At the other end Paolo had three blatant penalty shouts waved away and the last one tipped him over the edge. He looked over to the bench shrugged pouted and did that rolling hand gesture to say he wanted to come off. It got ignored. So he walked over to the touchline and tried it directly. Boss I no play. I come off. Paolo just get"
X Link 2026-02-15T18:54Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"When Jimmy Bullard was on holiday with his old school mates he got a call that should have been perfect timing. Queens Park Rangers had just been promoted and Neil Warnock was ringing to talk about bringing him back to the Premier League. The only problem was Bullard was sat around the pool with a group of blokes he describes as lunatics and they were all getting blind drunk. He answered anyway half cut and tried to pull off his best sober voice. Hello Neil how are you doing It was the kind of fake calm that instantly sounds guilty so he mouthed to the lads Its Neil Warnock and the whole"
X Link 2026-02-15T18:11Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"When England set up in Baden Baden for the [----] World Cup the football was meant to be the hard part. Instead the hard part was the hotel. The team were based in a quiet spa town that suddenly had players families girlfriends and the English press all on top of each other all day every day with about three places to eat and drink and nowhere to hide. The wives and girlfriends were staying at Brenners Park the sort of hotel that looks calm until you add paparazzi outside the door and a pack of reporters in the lobby. Nights out became a routine. Garibaldis Bar in town turned into the meeting"
X Link 2026-02-15T17:26Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Tony Adams was Arsenal captain he built up a reputation around the training ground for chatting absolute nonsense with a straight face. You could be sat there in the dressing room with the Sun turning over to Page [--] for an eyeful and Tony would lean across and point at the girl. Ive f**** her. It was always said like it was the most normal thing in the world which is why it was so easy to tell him to do one. P*** off Tone. You look like Jimmy Nail. That became the routine. Someone turns the page. Tony claims hes been there. Everyone calls him a liar. Then one day it stops being a routine"
X Link 2026-02-15T16:57Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When England were in La Manga in [----] and Glenn Hoddle was down to the last cuts before France Paul Gascoigne knew he was living on thin ice. Hed kept his head down for over a week a day before Hoddle made his final decisions Gazza decided to go out and get steaming. The next day the meetings start. One by one lads getting called in doors closing futures getting decided in a few minutes. Gazzas turn comes and it doesnt even get going based off the other lads verdict hes more or less worked out that hes not going. He walks in already boiling already convinced its an injustice and the room"
X Link 2026-02-15T16:26Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Rangers played Raith Rovers at Ibrox on [--] April [----] Duncan Ferguson was already living on a reputation and a temper that didnt need any extra help. It was down in the south west corner away from the main view of the game the sort of spot where centre halves and strikers spend ninety minutes grabbing nudging whispering threats and pretending its all just a coming together. Ferguson and John McStay got tangled up near the corner flag and it turned into one of those little wrestling matches that the crowd barely notices until it turns ugly. The referee didnt see it. Play moved on and in"
X Link 2026-02-15T15:47Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Newcastle went to Middlesbrough on the opening day of the 2004-2005 season Kieron Dyer refused to play where hed been asked and it turned into one of those arguments that sits in the dressing room long after the final whistle. Newcastle drew [--] [--] but the result barely mattered. The story was Dyer and the manager. When he came on as a sub for England at St James Park a few days later his own crowd gave him it. The easy thing for Bobby Robson would have been to let him take the full hit. He didnt. He went the other way and tried to protect him even after being left furious himself. He went"
X Link 2026-02-15T14:43Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Ireland were in Rome the night before the World Cup quarter final against Italy in [----] someone leaked where they were staying and the locals decided they were going to make it a miserable one. Taxi drivers turned up outside the hotel and started driving in circles beeping their horns all night. At first the players are at the window thinking something must be wrong then it clicks. The mood was already bad enough because everyone knew what was coming. We were like lambs to the slaughter. The gladiators are going to skewer us this afternoon. Then the phone goes around half ten. Theres a"
X Link 2026-02-15T14:10Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"When Mark Crossley went in to sign for Nottingham Forest as a kid he walked into Brian Cloughs office expecting the normal thing. A contract. Numbers. Someone sliding a piece of paper across the desk and pretending its all very serious. The paper went across. Crossley looked down. Above the signature line it was blank. No wage. No bonus. Nothing filled in. Clough didnt even dress it up. Sign it. Crossley hesitated for about half a second because its the first contract of his life and theres literally no contract on it. Clough was already done with the hesitation. Sign it or p*** off. So he"
X Link 2026-02-15T13:31Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"When Scotland landed in Paris for France [--] and realised they were opening the whole World Cup against Brazil the build up turned into a competition to see who could have the most Scottish night possible in a foreign city. The night before the game the Buddha Bar got picked as the base. It was meant to be a proper do invites and names and a bit of class. It lasted about five minutes before it became a crush. A place built for about [---] people ended up rammed with well over a thousand bodies squeezed into corners folk singing over each other the sort of noise where you can see someone talking"
X Link 2026-02-15T12:59Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Neil Ruddock went for a mates birthday in Formby in January [----] he spent all afternoon in The Grapes doing what you do when youve got a free day and a tab. At some point the Porsche keys came out and he handed them to his mate Anthony Clarke for safe keeping because even Razor knew there are nights where you should not be in charge of a [-----] Carrera. Later on Clarke is outside showing the car off to a girl called Lesley Richards. Next thing someones in the drivers seat it pulls away fast and within minutes its out on the A565 Formby bypass and completely gone. Witnesses see it lose"
X Link 2026-02-15T12:31Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Ireland were in America for the [----] World Cup the camp wasnt this modern locked down bubble where everyone sits in a hotel room staring at a tactics board. There was free time. Nights off. Irish bars. A bit of breathing space that Jack Charlton encouraged because he trusted the older lads to get the balance right. We were hitting the Irish bars on our nights off and we were enjoying the occasion and it was done the old way. Go out have a few relax then get yourself back in one piece. Then youd get the reminder from Jack when it was time to rein it back in. Back to the hotel three or"
X Link 2026-02-15T11:47Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Dwight Yorke was living in Sutton Coldfield during his Aston Villa days a night out on Broad Street could quietly turn into something from a James Bond movie. Especially this one time. It started normally enough. Out with the Villa lads same bars same routine and he left with a girl whose name he admits he never really caught. They went back to his place no strings attached no promises and she was gone early the next morning because she had work. Training finished around one and instead of going home to recover he picked up the phone. Sue. She knew exactly what the call meant. She could"
X Link 2026-02-15T11:18Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Spurs signed Paul Gascoigne in [----] they promised he could live in a hotel for as long as he liked they booked him into West Lodge Park near Hadley Wood. A proper posh place. The sort England used to use. He wasnt doing it on his own either. The deal was his mates could stay too so he filled the place up. Uncle Ian. Cyril. Kikki. Jimmy Gardner. First night in champagne to celebrate. Dom Perignon because if youre doing it youre doing it. Hed never had champagne before and it didnt feel strong at all until he stood up. Then it became a three day festival. After every bottle was finished"
X Link 2026-02-15T10:31Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Ricardo Pereira found out an [--] year old Leicester season ticket holder called Ellen Bale was in Coalville Community Hospital recovering from a stroke it wasnt her health that had her fuming. It was Filbert Fox. Shed had her favourite cuddly toy with her a replica of the club mascot and it had gone missing on the ward. Seventy three years of supporting Leicester and the thing she wanted back most was a fox. The ward staff let the club know and a couple of days later the captain turned up at the hospital like he was making a signing. Not empty handed. A brand new Filbert Fox. A full goody"
X Link 2026-02-14T22:08Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"When Liverpool went to Celtic Park for that UEFA Cup tie in [----] Danny Murphy managed to fall out with Bobo Balde without even meaning to. One run from midfield he clatters into him both of them end up on the deck and Bobo takes it like its been done on purpose. Straight away it starts. Bobo is giving him loads. Murphy is trying to wave it away like Ive hurt myself as well here relax. But it keeps coming so he gives a bit back. Nothing clever just the usual little digs you do when someone wont stop talking. Then Bobo starts pinging a couple out of play and Murphy cant help himself. Well"
X Link 2026-02-14T20:55Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
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