For spits sake

I have to admit, when I first heard that Jamie Carragher had spat at a fourteen year old girl and her dad I was riled. Read that back and tell me it doesn’t sound horrific at first glance. I was all for Sky sacking him and Carra being hung out to dry, despite my love for him. Then the day unfolded. Firstly, the actions of the dad in this video are terrible in itself. Not only is he goading Carragher into a reaction – albeit I doubt anyone could have predicted that he’d have got a gob full of greb for his troubles – but he is also on his phone, videoing, while driving with a child in the car. Carra may well still get sacked but I’m sure dad of the year, who probably thought he had a Twitter gem on his hands and a payday from tabloid papers, is likely to get a pleasant phone from Greater Manchester Police in the not too distant future. Secondly there was Carragher’s interview on Sky News. I actually felt sorry for him. He looked genuinely gutted about what he had done. He’s a father himself and I’m sure if someone would have done that to his daughter, intentionally or not, he’d have run the fella off the road as we all would have. What he done was vile and indefensible, but we’ve given people like Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Joey Barton second chances after their indiscretions. I’m sure we can afford Carra one too.

Olympic Stadium stormed by ye da

When I saw this on Twitter on Saturday afternoon I initially thought it was a joke. Could anyone really see fans intermittently running on the pitch at The London Stadium and confronting West Ham players? Furthermore, did anyone think that any of those players would react the way Mark Noble did? When I watched it on Match of the Day though I just got stranger for me. It had more of an air of the ‘Jolly Boys Outing’ than it did of an uprising. The first fella who ran on actually shit himself when Noble lashed him on the floor, while the second lad turned pale when Angelo Ogbonna came over to him. Then there was Mr Corner flag, or as I have christened him, ye da. Ye da took a corner flag into the centre circle and proceeded to attempt to plant it on the centre spot – apparently completely unaware of the hi-tech, hybrid grass/3G pitches professional clubs use these days. Then, when he realised it was impossible, he just held it in the air. No big message, no shouting at players, no attempt to evade capture. Just stood there. With a corner flag above his head. Boss story for him to tell at Britain First meetings I suppose. I’m sure Tommy Robinson was right behind it.

The Donald Trump of football club owners

As if football couldn’t have got any more insane than a pundit spitting at a car but hitting a teenage girl, and a middle aged man standing solemnly in the middle of an football pitch holding a corner flag aloft unchallenged, we now head to Greece. There was a top of the table clash this weekend between PAOK Salonika and AEK Athens. A win for PAOK would cut the gap between themselves and their opponents, who sat atop the Greek Super League, to five points. In the final minute of the game PAOK had what they thought was the winning goal – until the referee disallowed it for offside. Incensed, club owner Ivan Savvidis went onto the field of play (this feels like deja vu) and confronted the referee. There’s an important detail missing though. He had a fucking gun on his hip! What the fuck?! After a ‘polite’ conversation the referee decided to give the goal – can’t think why – and the AEK players walked off the pitch, refusing to accept such a corrupt decision. Astonishingly, the result stands and PAOK are now five points behind AEK in the league. Do us a favour lad, lend us your gun a minute because I’m done with this world.