Mourinho’s Notebook – December 5
A Story Too Crazy To Be Titled
Anyone wondering why Emmanuel Adebayor’s form isn’t what it once was? Well, we seem to have an answer.
The Tottenham forward appeared on Ghanaian radio this week where he seemed to accuse his own mother of practising Black Magic on him. His family in Togo had slammed Manny for kicking his mother out of her home, cutting all ties with her and forcing her to make a paltry living selling tomatoes.
‘Obviously I’m not a pastor, I am a footballer so I cannot point out a witch. I never sacked my mum from the house — she decided to leave the house. But how am I going to be in touch with my mum if my mum is the one telling everyone that my work will not go forward. They should stop talking, talking, they should stop doing juju on me — they should leave me alone.’
Apparently his family are plotting with ‘juju people’ over what to do with his money if he should happen to die. The Adebayor family are all devout Christians; Emmanuel was unable to walk up until the age of 4 and claims that a visit to church healed him. But his family think that he has been “brainwashed” by Islamic spiritual healers intimating that his struggles on the pitch were down to supernatural forces.
Fair to say both sides are probably just a little misguided in this circumstance.
Some USA Goalkeeping Beef
Somehow America has produced some of the world’s best goalkeepers over the last 15 or so years. The two best of them are Tim Howard and Brad Friedel. And even though we already hear way too many stupid, exaggerated Tim Howard stories, this one’s a good one.
It appears that there was a bit of jealousy between the pair, on one side or the other, as Howard accuses in his new autobiography that Friedel tried to block Howard’s transfer to Manchester United back in the day. At the time, Friedel was a star for Blackburn, and he allegedly refused to sign a statement vouching for Howard before actively trying to diffuse the transfer. Trying to get a work permit can be a difficult thing, and Timmy reached out to a compatriot to try help him out:
I needed character references from other players. Manchester United asked former U.S. captain John Harkes, the first American to play in the Premier League, and they asked Kasey Keller and Brad Friedel, among others. Most signed without question.
However, Man U told us that Friedel had refused to submit a statement on my behalf.
"You're kidding me," I said. Friedel was among what was then a handful of American players in the Premier League; his influence was huge. Having himself been denied several times, he understood better than anyone exactly what was at stake. Why wouldn't he vouch for me?
I mean, who would sabotage his own countryman like that?
That’s from an excerpt featured on ESPN FC. Howard later on details how Friedel met with him to try and explain his side of the story, how United were also interested in him, how it was a matter of principle after how difficult it had been for him to get a permit.
It was amicable enough. But as far as I was concerned -- and to borrow a favorite phrase from the Brits -- the guy could sod off.
Friedel’s come out since and said that the document they asked him to sign was full of ridiculous overstatements and exaggerations. He and his people amended something and sent it back, the ‘corrections’ were rejected. He’s now asking for an apology from Howard.
Goalkeepers, eh?
Money Talks
Real Madrid have announced a new major sponsorship with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi. The bank will sponsor a new Real Madrid credit card which will also double as a club membership card. Though on the card there’s one small irregularity: the cross atop the logo is missing.
This is apparently to avoid offending the largely Muslim population in the UAE with the Christian imagery, though the badge will remain unchanged outside of that country. It's actually not a big deal, just don't let Fox News hear about it.
Former Liverpool Player Dumped For Hilarious Reasons
Albert Riera – not the Wellington Phoenix star but the former Reds winger – has been released by his club Udinese after skipping out on the game against Chievo to compete in a poker tournament in Slovakia. Riera played a couple seasons with Liverpool after joining from Espanyol in 2008 for £8m. He also spent time on loan at Manchester City and Watford, and joined Udinese in Italy’s Serie A earlier this year from Galatasaray in Turkey. To be fair to Riera, he did place second in the tournament, winning £3000. Anyway, the breaking point was more likely when he tweeted that Udinese was the “worst club he’d ever played for”. Good news for Watford fans, not so much for Udinese faithful.