Ricardo Fuller Took The Boxing Day Holiday To Heart

Yesterday, Stoke City succumbed to West Ham 2-1, but to add insult to injury, Stoke’s Ricardo Fuller earned a red card after he slapped his own captain, Andy Griffin. Even though it was Boxing Day on Friday, it does not appear Fuller will get a reprieve. He faces an automatic suspension of 3 games and a team fine of £20,000.

Andy Griffin took it all in stride and displayed his leadership skills as he pointed Fuller in the direction of the lockerroom on the away trip to Upton Park.

Update: new video!

After the jump, some classic footage of other teammates fighting, namely Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer, who both earned their squad a red card [Ed. Note: and backup video in case this one gets yanked again]. Also, check out this Daily Mirror Top 10 of Teammates Fighting.

Written by Darkvader on December 29th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Fights and Ricardo Fuller and Stoke City and The Fan's Attic and Video.

Old news: Hicks family and Liverpool are not BFF

Nothing will ever be simple for the Hicks family in Liverpool. They were welcomed with the same cautious enthusiasm that met soldiers in Baghdad square (well, we’re led to believe so anyway), and now, they’ve been exposed as rather insidious and dishonest since then.

Liberators on one hand, now they’re the dismal status quo holding us back.

Well, it seems like even a monumental win over Manchester United this weekend STILL couldn’t buy them some second-hand goodwill.

Tom Hicks’ son, Alex Hicks, thought that a night on the town would be a bit of fun, although a drunk American outside the Cavern Club is going to draw some attention, especially when traveling with a small cadre of minders and bodyguards (Rule #1: no matter how restless and crude the natives appear to be, treat interaction with them as something more relaxed than an anthropological journey).

Back at the hotel, a fight broke out, and his bodyguard punched out a security guard and spent the night in the clink.

From the report:

“Witnesses said alcohol and cutlery were hurled out of an upstairs window to the street below. A drunken fracas is believed to have revolved around Alex Hicks and his group of friends.”

He was charged with assault and sent on his way, but it is yet more bad press for the already embattled Americans in charge at Anfield. At least Gillett has been seen at some games recently! He even tried to sing along with You’ll Never Walk Alone!

Still, it’s worth noting that the incident took place at the Hard Day’s Night Hotel, the recent downtown development of a Beatles-themed hotel. There’s an All You Need Is Love joke in there somewhere…

Written by Darkvader on September 18th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on American Owners and Fights and Liverpool FC and adventures in travel and crime.

Columbus Crew and West Ham Get in a Tussle

West Ham’s trip to North America sure is turning out to be a not-so excellent adventure. First, there were botched travel plans. And then, last night, there was a brawl between Columbus Crew and West Ham supporters, with some arrests, tear gas and maybe a couple bruises.

It would be very easy to blame the Columbus Crew fans for this one, with their history of inane behavior. However, the Columbus Dispatch is reporting that some West Ham supporters unfurled a banner that read “ICF, 30 Years Undefeated” (ICF = Inter City Firm). And, the Crew message boards seem to blame a few drunken West Ham supporters, who were in fact Americans, as well as an over-response from the paid security.

Instead, we’d like to think that the Crew supporters triggered the fight with a couple of their patented witty chants. After the jump, see some of our best guesses as to what these could have entailed. (Feel free to add your own chants in the comments.)

We’re more refined
We’re more refined
We’re more refined than all of you
Ohio is more refined than you

You’re still eating gruel
You’re forever eating gruel

(Photo: AP)

Written by Darkvader on July 21st, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Columbus Crew and Fights and spectator and west ham.