Adebayor, the man, the legend

antihenry

CAF GRU Rep
Joined
Sep 12, 2004
Messages
7,401
Location
Chelsea FC
Speaking on Norwegian radio show Heia fotball, Hangeland recalled: 'I only played with him for six months but here's a quick story. I was playing for Fulham and he played for Spurs.

'We were attacking and I was marking Adebayor in the midfield. He suddenly he said, 'Ahhh, I'm hungry.' I replied, 'What?'

''I can't wait for the game to finish, I'm so hungry,' he said. Do you know a good restaurant in London, Hangeland?'

The former centre-back, who retired from professional football in August 2016, managed to stay focused on his game during that particular battle but was reminded of the striker's insatiable appetite when the pair were reunited at Selhurst Park.

'Later when he came to Palace I started to realise where this came from,' Hangeland continued. 'When we had strength workouts he would sit in the gym with just a cup of coffee and a muffin.

'He was being paid by [Manchester] City, Tottenham and Palace at the same time, and he was sitting in the gym drinking coffee. Incredible natural talent, but very lazy.'

:lol:
 

AXVnee7

Full Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2016
Messages
3,393
I'll always remember him for that celebration against Arsenal
 

Murder on Zidane's Floor

You'd better not kill Giroud
Joined
Jun 11, 2015
Messages
28,309
On his day he was unplayable. Unfortunately that was twice a calendar year.

Still can't believe he played for Real Madrid.
 

balaks

Full Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
Messages
15,335
Location
Northern Ireland
Supports
Tottenham Hotspur
Complete and utter waste of space - had all the talent in the world but didn't have the mentality or desire to want to do much with it. I wouldn't have cared all that much if he hadn't also basically sat on his arse taking a massive salary from my own club and generally being quite open about being happy to sit on his arse and take the cash. So for that reason I really do not care for the guy as a player or as a person. That said, I hear he does some brilliant charitable work in his home country so he can't be all bad but he completely used my own club in a very shoddy way so it is what it is.
 

Cassidy

No longer at risk of being mistaken for a Scouser
Joined
Oct 2, 2013
Messages
31,029
Don't get the hate for him. Not like football did him any favors after the Togo bus incident.
 

AXVnee7

Full Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2016
Messages
3,393
The caf determined he was crap when he first started playing for Arsenal.
Many if not most would still maintain that based on his overall career, of that I'm sure. Although he did actually have quite a bright spell at Arsenal. It's his antics which are brilliant.
 

red_devil83

New Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2014
Messages
2,758
I heard this morning? that he said he wants to come back to the Prem as he feels he can still compete
 

R.N7

Such tagline. Wow!
Joined
Dec 25, 2007
Messages
35,687
Location
Eating a meal, a succulent chinese meal
Supports
a wife, three kids and Eboue
The Felix Magath cheese story

"I always try to see the good in people, but he was an awful human being." "He had penalizing extra workouts. Once after we lost a game we got back home to Fulham at 1 a.m. He then forced us to run laps around and around between 1am and 2am. It was absurd"

"I once got a dead leg, which is pretty painful. I went to the club doctor and he wanted to drain the blood with a hypodermic needle, which is the common way of doing it. However he also informed me that due to a new policy Magath had to approve all medical procedures."

Hangeland then went to Magath's office asking if he was allowed to do this. Magath answered with a calm "no, it's not okay".

Magath then told Hangeland to go to Tesco's to buy cream cheese. Hangeland was then supposed to put this on his thigh with some alcohol. It couldnt be gin or vodka, it had to be medicinal alcohol.

Most importantly however, Magath told him that while he was doing this "you have to call your mother." Hangeland at this point was sure it was a practical joke. Hangeland then asked "why do I have to call my mother?". Magath replied saying that if Hangeland called his mother with this mixture on his thigh he would get a biological reaction helped by motherly love.

End of the story, Hangeland was in bed with his wife that evening and opened the cream cheese. His wife promptly told him this wasn't going to happen, he didn't do it.


Brede Hangelands all-time lazy 11, 3-4-3

Wayne Hennessey: He used to just lay down in the gym on one of those thick blue matts while we were working out and he just relaxed while the rest of us worked out. Increadibly uninterested in the gym.

DEFENCE

Chris Baird: Completely uninterested in the gym and cardio workouts. Whenever they were doing cardio or were in the gym hed go ask the coach "when can we go play football?"

Zdenek Grygera: Great guy, good friend. When he arrived in Fulham he went straight to the coach and said "I don't do weights", and he didn't. He was such a positive guy that it sort of ended up just being alright.

Erik "Panzer" Hagen: Great footballer and panzer center-back, he was a big, strong, guy but it must have come from his genes, certainly not from the gym. He was a wonderful man!

Midfield

Wilf Zaha: Amazing physique and very athletic, huge potential. On some mondays he'd come over to me and say "I'm starting my program now!", he'd clearly decided to start during the week-end. We'd then go to the gym together and he'd do like 5 pushups, sigh, and leave. It felt like he had a new years resolution every monday. Would be increadible if he was serious.

Jimmy Bullard: Great player, but so increadibly weak. Never interested in going into the gym, at all. Clear cut player for this team.

Mousa Dembele: You know what he's going to do but you can't stop it. Maybe the best player I've played with, will be surprised if he doesn't end up at a club like Real Madrid. Struggles a bit with his physique but what he has is natural, never lifted any weights. Increadible balance. Only player, apart from "Panzer"-Hagen on the team that had the right to not work out.

Bryan Ruiz: Costa-rican who played great everywhere but for Fulham. Was never near the gym, don't think he even knew where it was. Always wore long sleeves and gloves, wouldn't be surprised if he showed up with a scarf and beanie during games, absolutely hated being even marginally uncomfortable. If it was cold or we were away to Stoke he'd never come along.

Attack

Bobby Zamora: A strong man, but hated the gym intensely. Whenever it was time for deadlifts he'd start feeling his hamstring etc. This happened every single time we went to the gym. Fantastic guy though, I forgive him for being a great player and guy. One of the hosts mentioned Zamora had a great leap, Hangeland replied "didn't like heading the ball though."

Dimitar Berbatov: I've never seen a man get so many massages in my life. I'm certain he spent more hours getting massaged than he trained. Whenever we were in the gym working out Berbatov was getting massages. I knew the guy who gave him massages and usually at the end of the season the players give the physios a gift, a trip, a car, money whatever. He'd massaged Berbatov for hundreds of hours this season and he got, nothing. Absolutely nothing. Host mentions Berbatov having a six-pack and they conclude that this was because he ate very healthily and basically starved his way into a six-pack.

Emanuel Adebayor: Only played with him for 6 months but a quick story. I played for Fulham and he played for spurs. We were attacking and I was marking Adebayor in the midfield, suddenly he says "ahhh, I'm hungry". I replied "what?". "I can't wait for the game to finish, I'm so hungry. Do you know a good restaurant in London Hangeland?". Later when he came to Palace I started to realized where this came from. When we had strength workouts he would sit in the gym with just a cup of coffee and a muffin. He was being paid by City, Tottenham and Palace at the same time, and he was sitting in the gym drinking coffee. Incredible natural talent, very lazy.


Meanest forwards in the premier league

"We have to go back to the old tank cf's. Kevin Davies was terrible to play against, Andy Carroll was not a very nice forward. The strongest was probably Jon Carew, he was probably the strongest man on a football pitch ever. The one who annoyed me the most was Drogba. He was 190+cm, 90kg+ and increadibly strong but he fell like a sack of potatoes sometimes, in duels you never knew if he'd be strong or fall over. He also had elbows, I remember we had a proper fight in some duels once and he elbowed me right in the face"



Roy Hodgson, quote machine

A listener asked if Hangeland brought his book of Hodgeson quotes. Turns out Hangeland kept a book of quotes from Hodgsons time in Viking. "This is completely correct, when he came to Viking we realized he was a quote machine. He was funny without knowing it, and I mean, he was obviously frustrated, I mean, here is a man of the world who for some reason is in Stavanger. During one of the first training sessions at viking he got frustrated at the poor level of our training and he said to us, but mostly to himself I think "I could be in Monaco smoking a cigar, but here I am, pushing myself for pocket money", our confidence levels fell as we realized how bad we were"

"Roy was mostly in control but he was a very bad loser, once he got so mad that at as Fulham was losing at half-time that he kicked a metal carrying bag, broke his toe and needed to be attended to by the club doctor"



The great escape with Fulham in 2008

I came to Fulham in January of that year, we had 17 points and a long way to go. With 5 games to go we were mathematically relegated at half-time vs Man City but we managed to turn that around. In the last game of the season against Portsmouth we had to win. Then, of all people, Danny Murphy scored with 14 minutes to go, assist by Jimmy Bullard. Now, before the game our chairman, Mohammed Al Fayed came down to the dressing room and told all the players "if we lose today, I lose 50 million £". During the last 14 minutes their fullbacks pushed on and kept putting in crosses, we also had a goalkeeper at the time who couldn't collect crosses, Casey Keller so it was a very tense last 14 minutes..

After this story the radio-host lists all the players who were on that team at the time, Hangeland responds "It was a bang average team, it was truly the great escape. A random bunch of players who worked together to manage to stay up!. There were some cult heroes there like McBride and Jimmy bullard. Bullard was a legend and we need to talk more about him... Jimmy Bullard was a very good player but terribly hard to relate to/deal with. Hodgeson was our coach at the time and he was very strict and told everyone specifically what to do. Before a game he told Bullard exactly what he wanted him to do and it took a little while, Bullard responded with "what's this, the fecking Jimmy Bullard show?"



What happened when Pulis left with immediate effect?


There's been some sort of trial between Pulis and the club, but I don't know the details. For me it was special because he signed me 10 days before he quit, but it was even worse for Martin Kelly who joined from Liverpool 2 hours before Pulis left. He had just had time to shake hands with Pulis before he quit. There had been some sort of conflict between Pulis and the club about transfer budgets that made him leave



Pardew

Was Pardew sort of a playboy? "I guess. Everyones seen him dancing in the FA-cup final and not all the players were happy with that but he was a cool guy. He was more interested in attack than defense though for sure. After I told him my body was more or less done and that I was retiring he sent me across the country and wanted me to scout my own replacement. After scouting you have to write reports and then he decided if he wanted to go forward with this. Pardew told me I knew more about being a CB than most in the premier league. I ended up recommending Tomkins"



Dimitar Berbatov

How was Berbatov in training? "We used to play square, 4 v 2 as a warmup and he was never in the middle, he could do whatever he wanted. If he played 5-a-side where you don't have to run he'd be the worlds best player, he never ran though... A fantastic player though. He was a strange fellow and sort of kept to himself, didn't share much about himself and was usually on the massage table... I liked him well, if he'd only ran he'd have been a great signing.



Craig Bellamy

"During the handshakes before the game Bellamy took my hand, he was a head lower than me and he looked me straight in the eye and said "you fecking wanker". I was thinking what the hell, I've never even met you" Long story short he clattered him a few times during the game.
 

antihenry

CAF GRU Rep
Joined
Sep 12, 2004
Messages
7,401
Location
Chelsea FC
Craig Bellamy

"During the handshakes before the game Bellamy took my hand, he was a head lower than me and he looked me straight in the eye and said "you fecking wanker". I was thinking what the hell, I've never even met you" Long story short he clattered him a few times during the game.
Somehow that story doesn't surprise me, always felt Bellamy was a twat.
 

Vialli_92

Full Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
2,672
Location
Ireland
Supports
Juventus
Everyone seems to say the only time he looked like he was putting effort in was when he was playing for a contract.
 

SteveJ

all-round nice guy, aka Uncle Joe Kardashian
Scout
Joined
Oct 22, 2010
Messages
62,851
"Roy was mostly in control but he was a very bad loser, once he got so mad that at as Fulham was losing at half-time that he kicked a metal carrying bag, broke his toe and needed to be attended to by the club doctor."
:lol:
 

King.of.Red

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Oct 28, 2015
Messages
1,583
Location
De Gea's hands
Dimitar Berbatov

How was Berbatov in training? "We used to play square, 4 v 2 as a warmup and he was never in the middle, he could do whatever he wanted. If he played 5-a-side where you don't have to run he'd be the worlds best player, he never ran though... A fantastic player though. He was a strange fellow and sort of kept to himself, didn't share much about himself and was usually on the massage table... I liked him well, if he'd only ran he'd have been a great signing.
not surprised about Berbatov. lazy fecker, but amazing player. I like him :D
 

prath92

Full Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2015
Messages
12,322
Location
India
Wilf Zaha: Amazing physique and very athletic, huge potential. On some mondays he'd come over to me and say "I'm starting my program now!", he'd clearly decided to start during the week-end. We'd then go to the gym together and he'd do like 5 pushups, sigh, and leave. It felt like he had a new years resolution every monday. Would be increadible if he was serious.
:lol:
 

Precaution

Full Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2003
Messages
3,780
Location
'Murican South
Would explain why Moyes didn't like him much, one for the fitness aspect of the game, well that and Wilf giving it to his Daughter.
 

Samid

He's no Bilal Ilyas Jhandir
Joined
Dec 12, 2012
Messages
49,157
Location
Oslo, Norway
"It was when FCK met Manchester united in the champions league. It’s was early in the match when Rooney came running at him with the ball. Hangeland tries a sliding tackle, but mistimes it completely. Instead he hits Rooney’s planted leg with huge force, and he thinks to himself that he probably have broken Rooney’s leg. The referee sprints over and brandishes a yellow card which was clearly too lenient in Hangeland own view. Meanwhile Rooney somehow seems to be fine, and jumps to his feet. He goes straight up to face of the giant that is Hangeland, and looks him right in the eye. Hangeland thinks, this guy is pissed, and rightfully so. Then Rooney says, ‘fair challenge, mate’, grins, and then runs off to be in position for the free kick."
 

BennyBlanco

fixated with Shaw's bum
Joined
Jul 21, 2011
Messages
5,802
I think the Bellamy story made me laugh most. What a little tosser he was. :lol:
I think Wes Brown mentioned him specifically as hard to take seriously, apparently he would constantly chat shit at defenders all game, but often slag off his own teammates to them too.
 

Kasper

Full Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2013
Messages
3,579
Supports
Hansa Rostock / Bradford City
This interview needs its own thread, the Bellamy and Adebayor story:lol:
 

Samid

He's no Bilal Ilyas Jhandir
Joined
Dec 12, 2012
Messages
49,157
Location
Oslo, Norway
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...oss-Arsene-Wenger-fake-Emmanuel-Adebayor.html

Emmanuel Adebayor 'hates' Arsenal after 'fake' Arsene Wenger forced him out... and he explains THAT infamous celebration in front of their fans
  • Emmanuel Adebayor says Arsene Wenger lied about his Manchester City move
  • It is widely believed Adebayor agitated his way out of Arsenal for a bigger deal
  • But Adebayor claims Wenger left him with no choice but to accept the transfer
  • He says racist chant from fans inspired his infamous goal celebration vs Arsenal
  • Adebayor says Jose Mourinho is the most honest manager he's worked under

To add insult to injury, the Togolese striker said he would 'always love' Jose Mourinho because of his honesty, and named arch-rival Wenger as the antithesis to Manchester United's manager.

The Istanbul Basaksehir striker told Turkish television show Beyond The Game: 'Mourinho is the one of the managers I loved and will always love.

'He is one of the [most] honest managers I have met in my career, which is crazy because most of the managers are all kind of like fake.

'As an example, I had a meeting with Arsene Wenger in his office when he told me I had to leave because he doesn't see my future any more in Arsenal.
:lol: Love this guy!
 

The Bloody-Nine

Full Member
Joined
May 21, 2017
Messages
6,200
Where is the gif of those precious Arsenal pansies simply incandescent with rage because he dared to score and celebrate in front of them?