World football history is awash with players and their clubs’ contract severance over bizarre or weird reasons, and Portugal legend, Cristiano Ronaldo has entered the infamous list with his recent exit from Manchester United.
Following Ronaldo being sacked by Manchester United for exposing the club and Erik ten Hag in a bombshell interview with Piers Morgan, Fair Betting Sites has compiled a list of the top ten most bizarre football contract terminations in history.
1. ADRIAN MUTU (Drugs) – CHELSEA
First, the Romanian captain’s turbulent two-year marriage to his wife
Alexandra ended, with Mutu losing custody of his son as well. A sex
scandal with a Romanian movie star was Mutu’s next story that served
as tabloid fodder. A car chase involving police resulting in a driving
ban also followed, which ended in the striker being advised to seek
psychiatric help.
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Mutu ought to have listened, as the final straw that broke Chelsea’s
back was his admission that he had taken drugs, which were alleged to be
cocaine.
Chelsea came down hard on Mutu, sacking the Romanian with immediate
effect, stating “In coming to a decision on this case, Chelsea
believed the club’s social responsibility to its fans, players,
employees and other stakeholders in football regarding drugs was more
important than the major financial considerations to the company, any
player who takes drugs breaches his contract with the club as well as
Football Association rules.”
2. NICOLAS ANELKA (Gross misconduct) – WEST BROM
Anelka celebrated one of the rare goals he scored for West Brom with a
gesture that was dubbed the ‘quenelle’. While the Frenchman claimed
that his act was not anti-Semitic nor racist, the comedian credited with
creating the gesture, Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala, was linked with those
very sentiments.
The FA took a dim view of Anelka’s act and banned the striker for 5
games while fining him 80,000 pounds as well. Anelka’s reaction? To
announce on social media that he was ‘freeing’ himself from his West
Brom contract, tweeting “I have taken the decision to free myself and
put an end to the contract linking me with West Bromwich Albion.”
Terming Anelka’s behaviour ‘gross misconduct’, the Baggies
cancelled the striker’s contract days later, considering him far more
trouble than he was worth.
3. ADAM JOHNSON (Sexual activity with a child) – SUNDERLAND
Adam Johnson was arrested in March 2015 for allegedly being involved in
sexual activity with an underage girl. The Black Cats sided with their
man, offering him support as Johnson was subject to an investigation.
However, the winger pled guilty to the charge, with the case presently
being heard before a jury. Sunderland’s response to the guilty plea
was brief, but dripping with contempt in its brevity, saying “In light
of Adam Johnson’s guilty pleas, the club has today terminated his
contract with immediate effect. The club will make no further
comment.”
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Given that Johnson played 3 years of his 4 year contract, Sunderland had
a right to sue the winger for a breach of contract. However, the Black
Cats wisely decided against pursuing a potential £1 million windfall,
given that the penalty outweighs Sunderland’s hopes of not being
associated with the case at all.
4. SERGI GUARDIOLA (Insulting tweets)
– BARCELONA
The midfielder was signed by Barcelona for their reserve side, but just
an hour later found his contract terminated for a series of tweets
praising Real Madrid and insulting Catalonia.
The tweets have been subsequently deleted, but it is of no avail, as the
name Sergi Guardiola will forever be synonymous with a footballer’s
stupidity leading to their contracts being terminated.
The club even released a statement to that effect, saying: “FC
Barcelona have decided to rescind the contract signed by the player
Sergi Guardiola this afternoon, who was due to join Barça B. It emerged
that he has published offensive tweets about both Barcelona and
Catalonia.”
5. JULIO REY (Insulting tweets) – DEPORTIVO LA CORUNA
Rey, whose surname literally translates to ‘King’, displayed
behaviour rather unbecoming of his name in 2012, when he tweeted the
following: When translated into English, the tweet is rather rude,
saying “F*** Depor, F*** Riazor” (Riazor happens to be Deportivo la
Coruna’s home ground).
However, the Spanish club were unaware of the tweet when they decided to
rescue Julio Rey from his middling career in the fourth tier of Spanish
football three years later. The 20-year-old even posed for pictures with
Deportivo, but as the club’s legal team trawled through his twitter
account, they found the offending tweet and called off the move.
6. JEFFREY DE VISSCHER (Defecating in public) – FC EMMEN
The former Aberdeen player was said to have been sacked by FC Emmen for
defecating in public during a drunken night out.
De Visscher was caught by police squatting beside his car after nature
called but claimed a friend had been behind the wheel. Nevertheless, he
was sacked but the man himself insisted the number one reason was a lack
of playing time not the number two reason.
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He told Voetbal International magazine: “There are stories doing the
rounds, but it’s utter rubbish. I had nothing to do with it. I was
released from my contract at Emmen because there were no more chances
for me.”
7. LEE CLARK (Publicly supporting rivals Newcastle) – SUNDERLAND
Even before the age of social media and every fan owning a smartphone,
the ex-midfielder was never getting away with this one.
Clark, a life-long Toon fan and former Newcastle player, made the move
to fierce rivals Sunderland in 1997 but kept his boyhood club in his
heart. And when the Magpies reached the FA Cup final two years later,
Clark was spotted among supporters wearing a T-shirt reading ‘Sad
Mackem B*******’.
He never played for Sunderland again, and his then-manager Peter Reid
later wrote: “As soon as pictures of him started to appear in the
media it was obvious to everyone at Sunderland, particularly me, that
his time with us would have to be brought to an abrupt end.
“When I next saw him I told him he had to go, it was as simple as
that. Our fans wanted him out and there was no way back.”
8. MICHAEL KEANE (Overweight) – ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC
“He will go a long way in the game. Another Roy Keane? I hope so.”
That was the verdict of then-Preston North End manager David Moyes after
Keane scored on his full debut against Wimbledon in 2001.
Seven years later, Keane was sacked by St Patrick’s Athletic for
allegedly being overweight and has never played professionally since.
The following month it was ruled the club were wrong to dismiss him but
the retired midfielder opted to do his coaching badges instead of
return.
“St Patrick’s Athletic did everything to break me,” Keane told the
Irish Independent. “It was a horrible time in my life, before and
after they sacked me, but I was determined to clear my name.”
9. ADIL RAMI (Wrestling on TV despite informing the club he’s injured)
– MARSEILLE
Marseille was said to have sacked the defender after he went mud
wrestling on a reality TV show despite telling the club he was injured.
The Frenchman reportedly told the Ligue 1 club he had to skip a session
in 2019 before appearing on Fort Boyard. Rami was later filmed jumping
around and grappling with fellow contestants on the TV show.
That proved to be the final straw for the World Cup winner following a
host of sporadic behaviour since his split with ex-Playboy model Pamela
Anderson.
10. CRISTIANO RONALDO (Disrespectful interview) – MANCHESTER UNITED
On November 14, 2022, Cristiano Ronaldo’s interview with Piers Morgan
was published, where the five-time Ballon d’Or winner said he felt
‘betrayed’ by new manager Erik ten Hag and ‘two or three others’
who were allegedly attempting to force Ronaldo out of the club.
Ronaldo said the club doubted him when he said he could not attend
pre-season training due to his daughter’s illness and that he did not
respect ten Hag because ‘he doesn’t show respect for me’.
Following the interview, United began seeking legal action over whether
Ronaldo had breached his contract and were looking to terminate it. On
22 November, the 37-year-old’s contract was terminated by mutual
agreement with immediate effect.
his time with us would have to be brought to an abrupt end.
“When I next saw him I told him he had to go, it was as simple as
that. Our fans wanted him out and there was no way back.”
1 Comment
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