Arsenal Manchester City “Dark Arts”? They have nothing on these games
DARK ARTS IN ARSENAL V MANCHESTER CITY? HERE IS THE REAL DIRTY HALF-DOZEN
In September’s 2-2 draw at the Etihad, Kyle Walker and John Stones accused 10-man Arsenal of the “dark arts.” The Gunners have a reputation for employing underhand tactics which might get another airing in the feisty return clash on Sunday.
They might not come close to being as downright dirty as some of these teams…
1) WIMBLEDON CRAZY GANG CAUSE ACTUAL BODILY HARM
John Fashanu claimed that “Crazy Gang” Wimbledon were just a bunch of thugs. They certainly had their muscular moments on the pitch. Garry Mabbutt suffered a fractured skull in 1993 after clashing with Fashanu and in true gentlemanly style suggested the Dons’ forward was “playing without due care and attention.”
Liverpool’s Steve McMahon was cleared out by Vinnie Jones within minutes of the 1988 FA Cup final kicking off. The famous photograph of Jones grabbing Paul Gascoigne during a goalless draw with Newcastle still chimes with true hard man tunes. “The first thing I told him when I got near him was that I wouldn’t be playing any football and neither would he,” Jones recalled.
2) BLACKBURN KICK OVER ARSENE’S ORCHESTRA
In the 2005 FA Cup semi-final, Blackburn’s tactics against a vastly superior Arsenal team were obvious. The Sunday Times declared it was “brutality that shamed the game.”Within ten seconds, Garry Flitcroft planted an ill-directed foot in Dennis Bergkamp’s stomach. This was a cue for almost 30 fouls by Mark Hughes’s side as they launched at Patrick Vieira from various angles
Eventually, Arsenal did their talking with the football in a 3-0 win but Robin van Persie was unable to speak after receiving a fat lip via the elbow of opposition skipper Andy Todd when celebrating. The FA deemed it was accidental…..
3) JOHN BECK EDUCATES CAMBRIDGE ON UNDERHAND ACADEMICS
A veteran of lower league bunfights, John Beck was appointed manager of Cambridge United in 1990 when they were mid-table in the old Fourth Division. Within a couple of years, he had pushed them to the brink of the new Premier League.
Beck didn’t mind making the most of Cambridge’s inhospitable and decaying Abbey Stadium. The away dressing room was flooded just hours before kick-off. The thermostat was turned off in the winter for opponents who would be given soaked, half-inflated balls for the warm-up while bags of sugar were placed in their teapot. Beck was nicknamed Dracula for apparently sucking the life out of football. He said in the Guardian: “If you ask some chairmen about me they will say, ‘John Beck? Oh yes, long ball, cold showers and dirty tricks.”
Dark Arts all right.
4) CANELAS: THE MOST VIOLENT TEAM IN THE WORLD
Canelas were dubbed the “most violent football team in the world” after they won 10 straight games in the Portuguese lower tier in 2016/17. The only downside to that achievement was that 12 of the other 13 teams in the division chose to incur a £650 forfeit rather than take the field of play against them
“It is unfair,” said Fernando Madureira, the Canelas captain, and one of four of Porto’s notorious “Super Dragons” Ultras within the team. “We are not a violent team. We play the same as everyone else: We do not want to lose, we run, we fight for the ball, and we give everything on the field.”
“Everything” was encapsulated in several late tackles, karate kicks and threats to officials. In one match, Canelas number 10 Marco Goncalves was sent off for punching an opponent. He kneed the referee in the face before being escorted off the field by the local constabulary.
5) BRAZIL: FOOTBALL IS NOT THE DRUG
At the first knockout stage of Italia 1990, there were rumors that Brazil’s water had been spiked by Argentina during their 1–0 defeat and subsequent elimination in the last 16.
Full-back Branco drank from a bottle handed to him by a member of the La Albiceleste staff and later complained that he began feeling drowsy. He was unable to keep up with Diego Maradona, who went on a match-winning run with a pass to set up Claudio Caniggia for the vital goal.
“Brazil missed 20 chances in front of goal that day,” the Argentinian legend said. “It wasn’t my fault they lost.” Fifteen years after the event, The Brazilian Football Confederation sent Fifa a new dossier on the matter. The case of the “unholy” water still rumbles on,
Carlos Bilardo, Argentina’s coach at the time admitted later: “I’m not saying it didn’t happen.” Bilardo was a famous member of the successful Estudiantes team that won three successive Copa Libertadores. As a player, he was also accused of stabbing opponents with safety pins, and using his position as a qualified gynecologist to make rather inappropriate intimate jibes about players’ wives and girlfriends……
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