Mourinho's Notebook - November 21
Malky Mackay is Back at Work
Remember when Malky lost his job at Crystal Palace when he got busted for having sent a bunch of racist and homophobic texts around? It was pretty offensive, and he got what he deserved. Now he’s back to work though, getting a new gig with Wigan.
And how do you ward off the controversy of an appointment like that? Well, if you’re outspoken Wigan chairman Dave Whelan, you double down on the racism. These are actual quotes:
"The Jews don’t like losing money. Nobody likes losing money. Do you think Jewish people chase money a little bit more than we do? I think they are very shrewd people. I think Jewish people do chase money more than everybody else. I don’t think that’s offensive at all.”
"If any Englishman said he has never called a Chinaman a chink he is lying. There is nothing bad about doing that. It is like calling the British Brits."
The first one is what it is: an old, rich English fella stereotyping. All stereotyping is offensive because it reduces individuals to the (misguided) base sum of a collective, taking away their sense of uniqueness and worth. The only way we’re all the same is by the fact that we’re all different. The second bit, comparing ‘Chinks’ to ‘Brits’? No. Just no.
One of their shirt sponsors, Premier Range, have already severed ties with the club, as have iPro sport. Speaking of losing money, eh Dave?
Bloody hell…
To his credit, at least he apologised, using the age-old excuse: Rubbish, I’ve got loads of ___ friends, how can I be a racist?
Holy Lawsuit, Batman!
DC Comics are suing Spanish side Valencia. They reckon that Valencia’s new incarnation of their bat-themed logo looks TOO MUCH like the Batman symbol. The club has a long affiliation with the cave-dwelling animals, and have had some variation of a bat as a part of their official logo since 1919 – about a decade before Batman was ever invented. Cue superhero as lawyer joke.
The Beautiful/Boring/Violent Game
Sometimes all you need is a point. That was the case for both teams as Cameroon and the Ivory Coast met in African Cup of Nations qualifying. So with the score at 0-0 and three minutes of stoppage time left, the Coasters coasted, passing the ball around amongst them while the crowd somehow still worked up into a frenzy.
It was a lot like that bit on the Simpsons that time, actually.
Anyway, fans stormed the pitch in celebration. They tore down a goalpost and Gervinho lost his shorts in a bear-hug gone wrong. Riot police no doubt abused their responsibilities.
(Issouf Sanogo/AFP)
Happy Birthday, Son!
What do you do to celebrate your young boy’s second birthday when you’re a (probably) rich Russian footballer? You hire a live bear for his birthday party, of course!
27 year old Kirill Kombarov, a right sided fullback/winger who’s currently playing for FC Torpedo Moscow on loan from Spartak Moscow, did just that. He’s getting in a bit of trouble too, after he posted images of the party online. Can’t say it looks like much of a bash for the poor bear.
This is reminiscent of a famous incident in 1999 when Brazilian international Edmundo hired a chimpanzee for his son’s first birthday… then drained a beer down the poor chimp’s throat.
Football Manager Laughs
Aside from being the best football sim game out there, Football Manager is also good for the odd laugh. Every now and then you get a computer generated player with a hilarious name. For example:
But there are some names that the game just can’t allow. Here’s a link of them all. They’re mostly murderers (Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, etc.), dictators (Adolf Hitler, Idi Amin, Joseph Stalin, etc.) and paedophiles (Jimmy Saville, Rolf Harris, etc.). Plus a few juvenile combinations, like Dick Swallow, Wayne King and Mike Hunt.
More Laughs. Blammo.
Polite Pitch Invading
This Albanian fan storms the pitch… then bows before Lorek Cana and asks him to autograph his flag. What a lovely chap, he does so too.
Remember This Guy?
Yeah, he's gone from THE Ronaldo to Fat Ronaldo, but the fella's still got some springs. Granted, we didn't include the ones where he missed, but still. Olympic weightlifters get three goes at it. Breaking Bad fans (aka, anyone who's ever seen Breaking Bad) will be stoked to see Ronnie in a Los Pollos Hermanos shirt too.
Social Media Stunners
Manuel Neuer having fun for Germany against minnows Gibraltar