Longest Player Bans in English Premier League History
From pushing refs over, taking "slimming tablets", refusing drug tests and betting on your own games. Here's a look at the longest bans in Premier League history.
8. Paolo Di Canio - 3 months
Accused fascist Paolo Di Canio had a volcanic temper which was on show for all to see when he pushed referee Paul Alcock over following a red card for fighting with an Arsenal defender.
His team knew he was royally screwed so even before the game was over Di Canio was on his way to the airport to fly far away while everything blew over. Sheffield Wednesday suspended him immediately. A month later the FA gave him an 11-game ban.
7. Vinnie Jones - 6 months
The Wimbledon chairman called Vinnie Jones a "mosquito brain" when he was found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute. Jones was the presenter of an infamous video "Soccer's Hard Men". The video was accused of promoting foul play, Jones' voiceover commentary describing the tricks he used to intimidate opponents.
That shouldn't surprise anyone who knows how Jones plays the game. He was given a suspended three-year ban over the video and against all odds, the ban never triggered.
6. Kolo Toure - 6 months
Kolo Toure was facing up to a 2 year ban for testing positive to taking a banned substance. The drug test was conducted after a Manchester derby match. Making it worse, the City defender didn't even play in the game as he sat on the bench. Toure blamed the reading on his wife's weight loss pills and he was banned for 6 months.
5. Adrian Mutu - 7 months
In September 2004 Romanian and Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu was banned for seven months for testing positive to cocaine. Mutu maintained his innocence claiming that he took slimming tablets given to him by his mum. Classic.
Chelsea sacked Mutu for breach of contract and are still chasing him for for €17 million in damages for breach of contract. Six years later Mutu got done again for taking "slimming tablets" while at Fiorentina.
...I'll be back tomorrow with Part 2!
YES, ANOTHER FOOTBALL BLOG...
Football Blog FC is a spin-off of Wolfgang Sport, an American and British sports blog I created in 2017. The beautiful game isn't what I remember it to be as a kid and using satire is my way of coping with it. FBFC was created to write about football with a bit of fun reflecting the current state of football.
Congratulations @wolfgangsport! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s):
Your next payout target is 4000 HP.
The unit is Hive Power equivalent because post and comment rewards can be split into HP and HBD
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
Check out the last post from @hivebuzz:
Support the HiveBuzz project. Vote for our proposal!
Great article!
!1UP
You have received a 1UP from @kwskicky!
@sports-curatorAnd they will bring !PIZZA 🍕
Learn more about our delegation service to earn daily rewards. Join the family on Discord.
Wow!
Never knew Kolo Toure was banned and for 6 months. I can recall Sakho's ban because of a similarly issue.
This lot got off lightly. The rule in rugby is if you touch the ref it is a lifetime ban and a career ender. Di Canio for that would have been banned for life and that is the difference between the sports.
Adrian Mutu and the slimming tea.. Perhaps there should be a movie for that. And I vividly remember Toure's own, I felt for him at the time as I believed his story and thought he made an honest mistake.
I'm patiently waiting for the part 2,there are some people's own I'm expecting to see
I was really sad for Kolo Toure when I heard about his situation. I would love to see Eric Cantona in the second part hahahaha. What a player 😂😂🤣
I hope Chelsea have recovered their money? 😂
Remember that Toure's case and it was a sad one of bad coincidence. Would have thought that players have learnt. Unfortunately, Ajax's Onana still fell into the same trap. I think they should just stay away from anything they're unsure of.