Football News: And Finally... Fall-Outs

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And Finally.....Fall-Outs

With the reports of Robert Lewandowski and Kingsley Coman coming to blows in training with Bayern Munich, I thought now was a good time to look at fall-outs in sport. Some of them went beyond fists and into using cars to run each other off the road, such as when Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost fell out while driving for McLaren in the late 80s. The final race was Japan in those days and it often decided the world title, such as when Prost drove Senna off the road in one and Senna responded in kind in another.

At least Lewandowski and Coman did it away from the actual track or pitch, unlike one of the most famous fall-outs, when Lee Bowyer decided to attack Newcastle United team-mate Kieron Dyer for not passing the ball to him in front of a stunned St James' Park. I suppose the only surprise really was that Dyer is not Asian, as Bowyer is a scumbag with a history of attacks on Asians when with a group of people before this incident in 2005. Though, being a professional footballer has seen him get away with racially abusing Asian members of staff in a London McDonalds while a Leeds United player, as well as wrecking the place, despite CCTV cameras capturing the incident he was only charged with affray. Two Asian members of staff were injured in the incident, but Bowyer was fined half a week's wages and ordered to pay the two injured staff members just £175. Leeds United also fined him, but even less than the courts did! No wonder he never learnt a lesson with such weak punishments, when a player who is late for training can pick up a bigger fine.

It was certainly a lot different from the famous Teddy Sheringham/Andy Cole fall out, which was just like teenagers bickering and then not speaking. Childish it may have been but it never stopped them from winning trophies together. It was at least a lot less damaging than the day when John Hartson attempted to kick West Ham United team-mate Eyal Berkovic's head off his shoulder, only for a picture of the incident to be published in a tabloid back in 1998. Berkovic was unsurprisingly upset, saying: "He gave me a kick in the head, not a light one, but one done with all his heart." Hartson was initially unrepentant saying: "I used to like Eyal, but I've lost a lot of respect for him."

One of the more unseemly fall-outs in sport was in basketball, between NBA stars Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant when the pair played together for the LA Lakers. While most of the arguments were just silly little bitchy comments about the other, there were some really nasty moments, especially in the aftermath of Bryant being accused of rape in 2003. While Bryant was acquitted, he did later say himself that he was in the wrong and ashamed of his actions on the night in question. However, under questioning by the police at the time Bryant did drag O'Neal into the sordid affair by claiming that O'Neal had spent huge sums of money paying off women to avoid them pressing charges against him for rape.

Back in the 1980s, Great Britain's team was riven by a feud between Sebastian Coe and Linford Christie. Coe felt Christie was a disruptive influence, while Christie thought Coe was distant and disdainful. They both had a point to be fair! Though, at the time as a kid I just remember Christie because my mother's best mate had a fascination with his 'lunchbox' as she would call it. I have never known anyone to stare at the screen with such concentration as her when he was sprinting. She was just thankful that the video recorder had been invented then, as she could rewind and watch the races over and over and over. And over. And usually over again.

She was a character, that's for sure. Her name is Gaye and she would introduce herself at parties by saying, "hi, I'm Gaye and this is my friend Ali," while pointing to my mother. My mother would then have to spend the rest of the evening explaining that they were not a couple. Unless my dad was there as well, in which case he would have to spend the rest of the night explaining that they were not all together as a trio. I bet he wishes now he had a pound for every time someone asked him, "so how does it work then?"

Speaking of characters, I could probably do a whole article on Mario Balotelli's bust ups, and I am thinking he will definitely have to be the theme for a future 'And Finally...' article, as there is just so much material there. During his time at Manchester City, he fell out with Micah Richards, after Richards (of all people) accused Mario of not putting in enough effort in training. Yaya Toure and James Milner had to grab him quick before it turned into a proper fight. Understandable that Mario lost his cool in that moment as Richards was well known to be last on the training pitches and first off them, as well as incredibly lazy, so hardly in a position to criticise others. A couple of years later Mario ended up fighting with manager Roberto Mancini, after Mancini dragged him off the training pitch following a clash with Scott Sinclair. Balotelli was sold to AC Milan before the month was out after that particular clash. He had also previously had training ground fights with Jerome Boateng and Vincent Kompany while at City.

It was a little different to when Neymar argued with then-Barcelona team-mate Nelson Semedo, when he 'had to be held back by team-mates' after they squared up. He stormed off the field and a few weeks later he stormed out of Barca to sign for PSG. Certainly different to Freddie Ljungberg and Olof Mellberg who clearly did not like each other. Twice the pair came to blows while with the Swedish national team, both times during World Cups. The first time was preparing for 2002, when Ljungberg grabbed Mellberg by the throat and threw him down to the ground after Mellberg fouled him in training. The 2006 World Cup saw the pair come to blows again in an argument over tactics after the game against Trinidad and Tobago.

Dennis Wise ended up getting the sack from Leicester City after an argument over a game of cards led to him breaking team-mate Callum Davidson's nose and jaw in the team hotel while the Foxes were preparing for the 2002/3 season. Andy Caroll is another who broke a team-mate's jaw, this time Newcastle United's Steven Taylor was the one who got hurt in 2010. It was not over a card game this time, it was because Carroll found out Taylor had been sexting with Carroll's ex-girlfriend. This was just a year after Carroll had a fight with another team-mate Charles N'Zogbia, which ended up with the Frenchman leaving the club. At least he won those 2 fights, the long term injury he had when he signed for Liverpool was after a drunken bar brawl. With a stool. A heavily inebriated Carroll was fighting just to stay on the stool and ended up falling off and damaging knee ligaments.

Over the years there have been many of these incidents, yet there does seem to be a certain kind of person that ends up in the middle of many of them. There are very few that you look at and think, "I wouldn't have expected that of him". You know what you are getting with most of these people, they are fiery and competitive and that spills out sometimes in the wrong way.

Written by Tris Burke April 23 2019 13:55:06