Turkish Shower
‘ITS not often you see pictures of footballers sitting on the bench beneath umbrellas.
| ”I just need a lighter for a full house” |
The Guardian shot of the Chelsea substitutes and coaching staff at the clubs game against Besiktas is an oddity.
But the Blues were not sheltering from the rains, rather the barrage of missiles being launched their way by the hooligan element that seems to be attached to each and every Turkish club side.
Among the missiles, the Guardian notices a smoke bomb, lighters, coins, batteries, a mobile phone and the paper even hears rumours of a knife.
There also seemed to be an inordinate amount of toilet roll being hurled. Not one or two rolls furled inside the goal at one end but tons of the stuff. Enough to delay the start of the second half.
Looking at and hearing about the scene is like rewinding the clock to a Chelsea game from the 1970s, although one in which the Blues are the victims.
But while Besiktas move backwards, Roman Abramovichs men march on and are now in the final 16 of the Champions League.
And there theyre joined by Manchester United, who last night beat Stuttgart 2-0 in the relatively sober surroundings of Old Trafford.
Which just leaves Arsenal to win tonight against Lokomotiv Moscow and make it a happy trio of English teams in the knock-out stages.
In We Wont Crumble, the Sun hears the Gunners Sol Campbell say how tonight he and his team-mates will fulfil their potential and win through.
Arsenals record in the competition suggests that the words may yet outperform the deeds. But we wish them well, and turn to the Times and Serena Williams.
Reports are that Nike have agreed a deal to pay the tennis player a whopping £35m to wear their clothes.
Its good deal, and looking at the accompanying shots of Miss Williams, works out at about £1m per inch of fabric…’
Posted: 10th, December 2003 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
