The most unprofessional professionals in the modern game (no pre mid-90's and prior please!)

Wednesday at Stoke said:
Being a scumbag human being is very different from being unprofessional. I don't think he'd have been so endearing to Jose if he hadn't set an example in training. By all accounts he was 100% committed to football.
Click to expand...
MaxiPaxi said:
You’re mistaken being unprofessional with being a cnut. JT was probably as professional as they come in terms of actually playing football.
Click to expand...

I thought about that as I wrote it, but that sort of behavior is responsible for eroding relationships with teammates at both club and international level. It also sets you up as a poor example for how to live life to younger players at the club.

I think Ole was right when he talked about the profile of players coming to United. It matters so much, and yes, Chelsea has periods of success, but I think true Captains and true professionals set the bar both on and off the pitch.

Terry did the first one, but failed spectacularly at the second. That’s enough for me to question his professionalism overall.
 
Fortitude said:
Carlos Tevez one-upped Gareth Bale by abandoning City for half a season to go and play golf. It's the kind of thing you expect to hear about players like Robin Friday or George Best on one of his jaunts in the '70's.
Click to expand...
I think that's the wrong way round. Bale is happy to sit out years of his contract, Tevez did half a season.
 
Maluco said:
I thought about that as I wrote it, but that sort of behavior is responsible for eroding relationships with teammates at both club and international level. It also sets you up as a poor example for how to live life to younger players at the club.

I think Ole was right when he talked about the profile of players coming to United. It matters so much, and yes, Chelsea has periods of success, but I think true Captains and true professionals set the bar both on and off the pitch.

Terry did the first one, but failed spectacularly at the second. That’s enough for me to question his professionalism overall.
Click to expand...

It’s a bit difficult to take the holier than thou line when we have Ryan Giggs.
 
ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg said:
It’s a bit difficult to take the holier than thou line when we have Ryan Giggs.
Click to expand...

I would say there are several differences. Terry slept with a teammates girl, gambled 40k a week with teammates, racially abused other players, scammed fans of the club he played for and got drunk and disruptive with teammates. His crimes very clearly influenced other players and fans in every case.

Giggs had a terrible and hurtful affair, but it was outside football.

I am not judging or being “holier than thou”. I am purely looking at it from the context of being a player and long time captain and setting that sort of example at a big club. Racial issues, gambling and drinking were all on more than one occasion too.
 
I once watched Dwight Yorke play in the Reserves after Fergie had dropped him.

He kicked off...then just stood in the centre-circle for the rest of the half and refused to move. It was disgraceful. All the youngsters weren't sure what to do.

Fergie was at the game and told the manger to get him off. Don't think he ever played for us again.
 
Mr. MUJAC said:
I once watched Dwight Yorke play in the Reserves after Fergie had dropped him.

He kicked off...then just stood in the centre-circle for the rest of the half and refused to move. It was disgraceful. All the youngsters weren't sure what to do.

Fergie was at the game and told the manger to get him off. Don't think he ever played for us again.
Click to expand...
Didn’t know that one
 
Hatem Ben Arfa

Never bothered in training, horrible life hygien, never truly looked like he cared about football or making the most of his career

Tried to speak with PSG's owner directly about his place at the club only for AL Khelaifi to learn about it and freeze him out of the team for 2 years which led to some very cringe videos from HBA that were quite funny to watch I have to admit it

Regularly showed up overweight and unfit too.
 
Alanxyz said:
Flamengo goalkeeper Bruno Fernandes de Souza.
He was jailed for ordering the murder of his girlfriend, whose body was then chopped up and fed to his dogs.
Click to expand...

Years: 2008-2010
Club: Flamengo
Apps: 81
Gls: 2

How?
 
Alanxyz said:
Flamengo goalkeeper Bruno Fernandes de Souza.
He was jailed for ordering the murder of his girlfriend, whose body was then chopped up and fed to his dogs.
Click to expand...

Yeah but he might have trained well
 
Doesn't quite fit with the timeline as many were washed up already by about 96-97, but what would have been the Soviet Union 1990s generation was packed with insanely unprofessional players and wasted talent. Not that surprising considering it was young lads heading into a totally differnt cultures, trying to adapt from communism and having - to them - huge amount of disposable money for the first time.

Crispeater Arshavin was unfortunately a bit of a throwback to that era in his work ethic.
 
xonyo said:
Maybe not a single event like some in here, but the likes of Mido and Andy Reid turning up overweight season after season.
Click to expand...
Damn you, Andy Reid was going to be my shout. From memory he was extremely stocky. His height didn’t help him much.
 
Cantona wouldn't get away with his stuff in the modern game (even from United fans)
 
Leigh Griffiths got called out recently didn't he for coming back unfit after lockdown? The unprofessional bit is a hard line to call, because I'd say Lloris getting pulled over drink driving, with vomit in his car, is pretty reprehensible. Not really about his professional application though
 
Feed Me said:
Why are people calling Ryan Fraser unprofessional? He opted not to play for the club and avoid risk of injury once his contract had lapsed, didn’t he?
Click to expand...

Yeah, he didn't sign a short term contract so? That's not being unprofessional.
 
Mr. MUJAC said:
I once watched Dwight Yorke play in the Reserves after Fergie had dropped him.

He kicked off...then just stood in the centre-circle for the rest of the half and refused to move. It was disgraceful. All the youngsters weren't sure what to do.

Fergie was at the game and told the manger to get him off. Don't think he ever played for us again.
Click to expand...
Asked for a year off after the treble too. Great player but so unprofessional. No wonder Keano didn’t quite fancy him at Sunderland.
 
Surprised nobody has mentioned Mark Bosnich yet he has to be one of the poster boys for unprofessionalism. I remember he had a few good games mind but he was really a mess.
 
Possibly Kepa refusing to come off in a match last season. I don't think I ever seen anything like that.
 
Was just reading an old article from 442 about the rise and fall of Adriano. Quite sad to be fair, especially the account of his erratic behaviour following the death of his father.
 
I
Dirty Schwein said:
Was just reading an old article from 442 about the rise and fall of Adriano. Quite sad to be fair, especially the account of his erratic behaviour following the death of his father.
Click to expand...
I took a cab ride in Rio some years back with a guy who alleged to be Adriano´s cousin. He said that he basically had been drunk for years doing jack and spending his money on parties with his friends.
 
NoneBmStore said:
I

I took a cab ride in Rio some years back with a guy who alleged to be Adriano´s cousin. He said that he basically had been drunk for years doing jack and spending his money on parties with his friends.
Click to expand...
It definitely showed. He was such a wasted talent. Could have been anything he wanted in the world game. Not sure I've ever seen such a dramatic decline in a player that wasn't caused by age.
 
Bojan Djordjic said:
It definitely showed. He was such a wasted talent. Could have been anything he wanted in the world game. Not sure I've ever seen such a dramatic decline in a player that wasn't caused by age.
Click to expand...
Yeah man. That left foot in PES was something else!
 
I have read that Rojo is dreadful in terms of professionalism
 
Tevez has to be one of if not the most unprofessional player around.

His real name isn't even Tevez for feck sake. He changed his name so he could break a contract and get out of his first club All Boys. Spent the rest of his career desperately trying to move from club to club every few years, even turned up to a Corinthians press conference in a United shirt to try and force a move out of the club only a few months after joining.
 
Sparky_Hughes said:
Rooney, Smoker, drinker, suspensions when we needed him for stupid red cards, coming back almost every pre season woefully out of shape.
Click to expand...

He would always be left out of the squad for Boxing Day and New Years Day fixtures due to mysterious 'injuries'.
 
Boli Bolingoli probably deserves a shout travelling to Spain on his days off and then not telling anyone about it, before going to training and playing in a match, leading to two Celtic games being called off
 
Cassano was something special. So much talent and so little to show for it.
 
Bendtner
Kepa
Pogba (cant believe a player of his talent has wasted so much focus through his agent)
Lingard before Ole talked sense into him. (Lingard has had so much off the pitch focus with insta and clothing lines, showing up at clubs, etc, with so little end product on the field. Just doesnt match each other)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.