Croaking frogs or Michael Jackson? The seven weirdest excuses in football

Not only in football, few people like to lose. While many are able to learn from their mistakes, others look for various excuses for their shortcomings. As the old saying goes, losing is simply an art. British newspaper The Sun has come up with a summary of the strangest excuses in football history.

#7 Pep Guardiola

Most football managers are happy with their team winning. But not when you’re Pep Guardiola. After City squeezed past Wolves on penalties in the Carabao Cup in 2017, the Spanish boss went into conflict over the ball the duel was played with.

“The ball was unacceptable for a high-level competition,” Guardiola exploded in a post-match interview. “It was too light, it did what it wanted in the air, it’s not a good ball,” he described the quality of the round nonsense.

“You can’t score with a ball like that and because we won I can talk about it and it won’t sound like an excuse,” the manager explained. “I’m sorry that the Carabao Cup can’t deliver a serious ball to the game,” he added, referring to his players who complained about the quality of the ball.

#6 José Mourinho

José Mourinho expressed his frustration with the staff who were supposed to control the floodlights during Chelsea’s match against QPR at Loftus Road in 2014. The Blues may have won their match, but Mourinho was not happy with the lighting or the fans in the stadium .

“I think the man in charge of the lighting was in the same mood as the atmosphere in the stadium because everyone seemed to be asleep,” complained the Special One. “It took him 20 minutes to realise it was dark, but it took me 30 minutes to realise the stadium was not empty,” he said, describing a situation where Chelsea players scored a goal and only then did the stadium start to roar.

#5 Sir Alex Ferguson

In 1996, Southampton took the star-studded Manchester United by surprise at their stadium, scoring 3 goals in the first half and only thanks to David Beckham it was 3-1 before going into the dressing room. The Red Devils then went into the second half in completely different jerseys, but still lost 6: 3 after a wild shootout.

The reason? United’s stars had a hard time recognizing the colours of the grey jerseys. “The players didn’t like the grey jerseys, it was difficult for them to pass to each other,” Ferguson said after the final whistle .

#4 Alan Pardew

When Alan Pardew’s Newcastle team lost 2-0 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in 2012, he blamed the loss on the annual Notting Hill Carnival held on the streets of London.

“Today was a bit unfair to us, because of the Notting Hill Carnival we couldn’t move the game to Sunday,” revealed the former Newcastle manager. As manager, Pardew also complained about the length of the grass in the preliminary game against Rangers.

#3 Mohamed Al Fayed

Former Fulham owner Mohamed Al Fayed was friends with Michael Jackson, who spent huge amounts of money at the famous London department store Harrods, where Al Fayed was the owner. He adored the King of Pop so much that he bizarrely had a statue erected in his honour at Fulham’s Craven Cottage home.

However, the statue was removed when Al Fayed sold the club and Fulham were subsequently relegated from England’s top competition. ” This statue was magical and we lost a portion of our happiness when it was removed, for which we now have to pay the ultimate price,” complained Al Fayed after relegation.

#2 Barry Fry

Perhaps the most comical approach was shown by Barry Fry, who led Birmingham City to the second highest league in England in 1994. His team was eventually relegated that season, but the club’s manager showed unprecedented superstition.

To end his team’s losing streak, the manager decided to water the grass on the pitch with his urine. ” We went three months without a win, we were desperate, so I got angry and pissed in all four corners ,” Fry said. “Did it work? Well, we started winning and I thought it did, then I got the hell fired, so I guess not,” he added with a smile.

#1 Vladislav Vashchuk

Spain were in brilliant form at the 2006 World Cup and inflicted the worst defeat in the history of an Eastern European team on Ukraine in the World Cup’s preliminary groups. But defender Vashchuk had the strangest excuse for his team’s loss.

It was interference from the surrounding wildlife in their hotel that kept them awake the night before the game. ” The croaking of the frogs made us hardly sleep,” Vashchuk said after the game. “We all agreed to take some sticks and go hunting for them,” the exasperated defender added, becoming the winner of the poll.

Source: The Sun