Stan Bowles - the legend - the character - the maverick - and there are many other names that I could call him and that he has probably been called before (good and bad).
It was during his time in the latter part of his career at Orient that I personally had a minor run-in with Bowles as my father and I were leaving Corley Services on the M6 near Coventry. I recognised John Chiedozie flying past me as the Orient team coach had just pulled in. As we walked beside the coach, we could see manager Jimmy Bloomfield having a quiet snooze near the front whilst near the back of the coach clouds of smoke were clearly visible. As we reached that part of the coach we looked in to see Bowles alongside Ian Moores and several other players involved in a game of poker. Bowles was armed with a cigar and upon realising that we were looking in, blasted a whole load of obscenities at us through the window although we could not hear them - I am assuming this by his aggressive body language at the time!
Last Sunday on "Goals on Sunday" saw two Chelsea legends as the guests on the show.
Dennis Wise joined Chelsea from Wimbledon and it was at these two clubs he had most of his success with FA Cup and Cup Winners Cup winners medals. On being forced out at Chelsea by manager Claudio Rannieri things went downhill rapidly and he ended getting sacked as a player at Leicester and then trying to sue the club for wrongful dismissal. He then had short spells at Southampton and Coventry before hanging up his boots for good. Between these clubs though he did lead Millwall to an FA Cup final as player-manager and in full management was in charge at Swindon Town and Leeds United before becoming an executive director at Newcastle United - a move that unsettled manager Kevin Keegan and also upset Bobby Robson in the standard of his signings for the club. Gianfranco Zola arrived at Chelsea having played all of his career in Italy previously predominantly with Napoli and then Parma. He quickly became a fan favourite and by the end of his spell at the club had become a legend. Zola scored the winning goal against Stuttgart in the Cup Winners Cup final just seconds after coming onto the pitch as a substitute. Sardinian born Zola finished his playing career back on the island where he was born with his beloved Cagliari and helped to earn the club promotion to Serie A. After retirement he was on the staff of the Italian Under 21 team and then made a move back to England to take over at West Ham United in 2008. He was sacked in 2010 and replaced by Avram Grant. A little known fact about the Italian star is that back in 1983 when he was still in his late teens, he appeared in the Bonnie Tyler video for "Total Eclipse of the Heart". When I first heard of this I did not believe it so had to see it for myself. Watching the video I thought the evidence was inconclusive until nearly the end when I had one of those OMG moments! Don't believe me? Here is a link to the video on you tube so go and see it for yourself.
There have been many of us for a long while now that have disputed Arsene Wenger's eye sight. It is seemingly brilliant when it comes to incidents that go against Arsenal and virtually blind when his team have got away with something.
"I did not see the incident" has almost become his personal catch phrase over the years he has said it so many times even when everybody else in the ground including those in Row Z have seen it as clear as day. But maybe, just maybe I misunderstood and he really is almost blind in one eye or maybe both so he is telling the truth when he says he did not see and is just supporting his team when a decision has gone against them and making it up as he goes along when being interviewed. This view point is gathering evidence and Ray Parlour brought it up in a recent interview on "Goals on Sunday" with a couple of funny stories all to do with just how blind Wenger really is! |
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