Off the Ball never rests in its mission to scratch around the
underbelly of professional football to find the most bizarre,
humorous and inexplicable stories.
This week, Montpellier’s 65-year-old owner acquires a bright
orange mohawk after his club win Ligue 1, Arsenal’s stars use ‘John
Terry’ as code for an ugly girl and the England team are to be
issued with official ‘team pants’ for Euro 2012.
Montpellier’s owner loses bet, given orange mohawk
PA PhotosLouis Nicollin with his orange mohawk
Southern minnows Montpellier pipping big-spending Paris
Saint-Germain to the Ligue 1 title shocked France almost as much as
club owner Louis Nicollin styling his hair into a bright orange
mohawk to honour a bet this week.
Back in April, with Montpellier hovering around top spot, the
65-year-old said he would dye his hair in the club colours of
orange and blue if they managed to claim the championship ahead of
PSG, who spent 50 times more than La
Paillade’s €2million on new signings this season.
But on Sunday, after a thrilling match at the Stade
Abbe-Deschamps, Montpellier did just that with a 2-1 win away to
Auxerre to beat nouveau-riche PSG into
second-place by three points – despite the massive financial
disparity between the two sides.
And rather than sheepishly shy away from his bold wager,
outspoken owner Nicollin stayed true to his word and headed down to
the coiffeur before joining the title parade.
‘John Terry’ Arsenal slang for an ugly girl
Following John Terry’s shameless hogging of the limelight in
Munich – which included changing into full Chelsea strip to hoist
the Champions League trophy despite playing no part in the final
and nearly costing his side a place in the showpiece event in the
first place after getting sent off after just 37 minutes of the
semi-final with Barcelona – his name has quickly become synonymous
with taking the credit for somebody else’s hard work.
But over at Arsenal, the Blues skipper’s moniker has been
regularly in use as a synonym for an ugly girl for quite some time,
according to Gunners goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
Szczesny, who is back in Poland preparing for Euro 2012, gave an
interview to the Polish edition of Playboy recently, in which he
revealed his team-mates refer to Terry whenever they want to escape
from a woman’s clutches.
“At Arsenal it [the name John Terry] is another word for an ugly
girl,” Szczesny is quoted by Polish tabloid Fakt. “If there’s a
girl around that we don’t really like, we use it as a smokescreen,
as in: ‘Have you seen John Terry recently?’ I recommend this, it
really works.”
England to wear official underpants for Euro 2012
The words ‘England’ and ‘pants’ have often been used in
conjunction during the run up to major football tournaments and
this summer’s European Championship is no different.
Although this time the latter word isn’t in reference to
England’s all too briefs challenge, rather to the fact that the
squad has been told to leave their favourite undercrackers at home
as they will be issued with regulation team underwear.
England rookie goalkeeper John Ruddy, who received his first
call-up when he was named in Roy Hodgson’s 23-man squad for the
finals in Poland and Ukraine before later being ruled out with
injury, let slip the bizarre lengths to which the England team are
pampered earlier this week.
“I’ve been told to take boots, gloves, trainers, a few casual
clothes and toiletries,” the 25-year-old told The Sun. “We’ve got
suits and they’re providing underwear for us. It’s surreal but
that’s what being in the England squad is all about.”
Yep, being in the England squad is all about pants. Although, as
M&S are kitting out the squad, let’s at least hope it’s not the
usual stuff they are associated with.
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i like the part about john terry taking credit for other
people’s hardwork.