Dog Track + Booze - Winning ≠ Team Building

There's a lesson here someplace. Well, there are probably several, but we're going to go with: "only get drunk with your coach when you're winning."

That confused yet frightening gentleman is Oldham Athletic striker Lee Hughes. And Hughes has that special relationship that only a man and his manager can have.

The striker is said to have squared up to [Oldham manager John] Sheridan before putting him into a headlock during a night out at Belle Vue dog track in Manchester.

Goalkeeper Mark Crossley was forced to jump in to break up the confrontation.

The fun went down last Tuesday during a two-day break when some Oldham Athletic players decided to make good use of the off-time the way anyone would: by going to the dog track. Only instead of wagering heavily on Santa's Little Helper, the players apparently headed straight for the bar and, as they got drunk, started to discuss the team's recent poor run of form.

Oops.

Entering the weekend the Latics were 2-2-4 (or 2-4-2 if you're British), since the end of January and in danger of slipping out of the League One promotion playoffs.

Yes, definitely add alcohol to that situation.

Hughes' fight was the team's second dust-up of the night as Sean Gregan also got it on with Chris Taylor.

Both Gregan and Hughes played 90 minutes over the weekend as Oldham lost 1-0 to mid-tabler Colchester.

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Geordie Fight Club.

What happens when two footballers who don't like each other want to settle their differences? Well if you are Charles N'Zogbia and Andy Carroll, you find a location far away from the training ground and beat the living s**t out of each other.



According to the Sun newspaper the two have been unable to settle the matter that saw them fight during a reserve game at Carlisle. They fought on the pitch, in the dressing room AND in the car park. Now apparently, the two will seek to meet at a secret location to participate in a bout of underground fisty cuffs. Maybe they can get Joey Barton to film it?

The Sun's secret source claims...

“This one is getting out of hand. Neither Andy nor Charles will back down. For the club to say it was handbags and a run-of-the-mill argument is nonsense.They are still at it with each other and want to sort it out properly without any of the other players being able to pull them apart.”

So what on earth can they be feuding about? Leave suggestions in the comments below.

-Bigus

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UF Quick Throw: Evra gets his ban from the FA

The FA's banned Patrice Evra for 4 games and fined him $30,000 for that groundskeeper scuffle at Stamford Bridge back in April. Burning question here: why on earth did it take this long?

[Sky Sports]

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Fight! Fight! Fight!

According to Soccernet, I missed watching one hell of a match last night. Palmeiras and Argentinos Juniors met in the quarterfinals of the Copa Sudamericana and boy howdy, was it great. Tight match, 2 red cards, and a fight afterwards. If only there were video. . . .

Of course, in the modern intertubed world, there is always video. Inside, I have posted not one but two of these wonders.


These are the longer highlights. Maybe you can guess why Palmeiras might have been a little angry at the end of the match. That first highlight is in the 17th minute. Palmeiras, in the green, look to have scored on a free kick. Not so, says the ref, who waved it off. Too bad for him, the ball was over the line. He will, at least, have plenty of time left in the game to redeem himself.

A couple of nice saves follow on the video, up to the 1:25 mark. Here, Palmeiras are rewarded with a PK, and it is not even a make-up call. However, even though a player is allowed to feint on a PK, if the ref feels it is unsporting, as last night's ref did here, it is a yellow card and the kick is retaken. Predictably, the second attempt was saved. It would seem that the ref has no qualms about the keeper taking a few steps off the line, though.

Shortly after, Argentinos take the lead after a nice bit of control and a volley from the top of the box. Escudero was the goal scorer. Full points to him for his climb-the-bulldozer-inexplicably-just-off-the-pitch goal celebration.

The final two highlights show Argentinos players making meals out of overzealous and pissed-off challenges from Palmeiras players. First, a player gets a second yellow for pushing his opponent after the Argentinos player kicked the ball away. While the push could have knocked over my 90-year old neighbor, it should no have hurt the Argentine. Similarly, the second red card looked worse at first blush than it did on replay. On replay, there was very little contact, and lots of falling after. There was intent there, sure, but the contact missed

The Soccernet article then mentions that there was a fight after the match between the two sides. I'm afraid this was, at best, a Jayson Blair level fabrication. I guess the internet equivalent would be Diggers submitting thoroughly misleading headlines in order to get Dugg. The video below shows what happened.

There was some Sharks v. Jets squaring up without the finger snaps, and a rugby scrum nearly happened, but in the end nothing really happened. The most menacing thing I saw was one guy took off his shirt with purpose. Thanks, Soccernet, for proving Georger right as to the level of your coverage.

2nd video cut down by splicd. If that service fails, the full youtube is here.

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This week in "'kids these days"

Artist's rendition

When I was 14, I liked to cause trouble. Very typical trouble too, the flirting with girls who were just (ahem) blossoming, playing pranks on teachers, experimenting with drugs and never getting punished.

It seems that this generation of youth soccer players exist on a very different plane.

From the news report:

"A teen soccer player allegedly punched a volunteer referee after a call during an AYSO game in the Oak Park section of Ventura County."

Simply brilliant.

At this point, I think Joey Barton Wallbangers must be more popular in the US than those of Beckham or C-Ron.


Running the risk of literally cutting-and-pasting the entire article, I'll do the work and paraphrase it myself: during a game, the 54-year-old referee issued a yellow card and warning for dangerous play, at which point the disciplined player allegedly began beating up the referee. It's no Peruvian melee or Polish fan fight, but still, it's another signpost on the road to ruin. So sad, really.

The referee suffered "extensive injuries" and required hospital treatment. No word yet on whether the lad will be offered an apprenticeship at Newcastle United. Ba-dum-chingggg.

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