FOOTBALL
Football excuses: some of the best excuses used in football
From Ferguson ordering Manchester United to change their grey jerseys at half-time to Kenny Dalglish blaming 'bouncy balls' for a loss.
In light of Dani Parejo blaming the pitch against Getafe, we decided to take a quick look back to some recent examples of unceremonious excuses after a side's failing. Whether the heat of the moment and not thinking it through or genuine excuses, we have a few that you might use next time your five-a-side team lose.
Klopp blames the wind
Jurgen Klopp's liverpool side were beaten in the EFL Cup in January of 2017 and Klopp picked out the wind as the reason why his side couldn't play the kind of football they wanted.
"The wind was really strange," he said, "it was difficult to handle. You saw one or two balls when the ball stopped in a moment when nobody knew about it. That was difficult for a football-playing side."
Dalglish blames the balls being "too bouncy"
After Newcastle United were beaten by Stevenage in the FA Cup in 1998, Kenny Dalglish said, "The balls were too bouncy."
Dalglish claims he was misquoted but the 'quote' has gone down in history as one of the worst excuses of all time.<
Guardiola blames the balls too
After Manchester City's penalty shoot-out win over Wolves in the Carbao Cup in October, Pep Guardiola blamed the state of the balls for the Championship side getting as far as a penalty shotoout.
“It is too light, it moves all over the place, it is not a good ball. It is impossible to score with a ball like that and I can say that because we won, I’m not making excuses. All of my players said: ‘What is that?’ I’m sorry Carabao Cup is not a serious ball for a serious competition. It’s [for] marketing, money, OK but it’s not acceptable – [it has] no weight, nothing," Pep said.
Mitre even had to respond via a statement: "The Mitre ball used in this season’s Carabao Cup is of exactly the same technical specification as the balls used in the Sky Bet EFL and Checkatrade Trophy. All of which are tested in accordance with the 'FIFA Quality Programme for Footballs' and meet the 'FIFA Quality Pro' standard. All balls used in the professional game are required to meet this standard."
Blame it on the ball-boy
Jose Mourinho was not happy with the ballboys and how they acted after Chelsea were beaten by Newcastle in the Premier League in 2014.
"We wanted to play more football, but that was not possible because a few things that I thought didn't belong any more to top level football but still belongs - the ball disappears, the ball doesn't come, another ball comes, the ball boys they run away," Mourinho said.
Mourinho has a history of issues with ballboys after he scolded one when his Chelsea side were playing against Crystal Palace in March of 2014.
Fergie blames Manchester United's grey jerseys
In April 1996, Manchester United under Alex Ferguson travelled to Southampton to play at The Dell in the Premiership as it was called at the time. They would wear their grey strips and not playing well, Ferguson told them to change them at the break.
Lee Sharpe retold the story and said, "The manager just stormed in and said: 'Get that kit off, you're getting changed."
Ferguson was fined 10,000 pounds for the change of strip and said it was the best 10,000 pounds he ever spent.
"The players don't like the grey strip," he said. "The players couldn't pick each other out. They said it was difficult to see their team-mates at distance when they lifted their heads. It was nothing to do with superstition," he concluded.
UMBRO were forced to reduce the price of the jersey to a tenner as United 'retired' it after the incident. To be fair, it was a dreadful looking thing.
Xavi blames the pitch too
Another example of a ball-playing side deciding the pitch was not conducive to nice football. After Real Madrid drew with Barcelona in 2011, Xavi said "I believe people like to see attractive football on a good playing surface, not long grass and hard pitches. It's deplorable that there are no regulations in place for the state of the pitches."
They have a long history of blaming the pitch for poor results, which might mean there is merit in their excuse or they just need pristine conditions to thrive.
