In Defence of Emmanuel Adebayor
865 comments March 27th, 2007
After bailing out William Gallas yesterday, today I shall be representing Togolese totem-pole and all-round-seemingly-good-guy Emmanuel Adebayor.
It won’t have escaped your attention that Adebayor, along with a could of his mates, has been chucked out of Togo’s squad.
The official explanation was that these players “made indecent remarks concerning the FTT (Togolese Football Federation) management”.
And here are those remarks (no translation required), straight from Adebayor’s mouth:
“The bonus problem is still there. We were given promises but still nothing has been done. We’re still waiting to see the management and it’s in their interest to meet with us as soon as possible. Whatever happens, we’re not going to let this go. If they don’t pay up, I don’t know what will happen.I am only trying to put certain things right and correct a few mistakes in Togolese football, but it appears some people do not like it.”
Well, now we do know. To be honest, given what little I know of the situation, it seems like Adebayor is acting as a representative for his less financially fortunate team-mates, and is now taking the rap for standing up for their rights. A strange one. People have talked about Adebayor being a trouble maker in the past, but the label has never really seemed justified.
When you consider Ade was already considering his international future due to death threats, I’d have to say I wouldn’t be surprised if he threw in the towel. He’s a proud man and an ambassador for his country, but this really is getting silly.
Plus, it’d suit us right down to the ground.
ps. You may have noticed I haven’t been talking much about the “Arsenal shares scandal”. That’s because I knew it was ony a matter of time until this:
“There is no interest from KSE in buying any shares of Arsenal or any Premier League club.”
Adieu.
pps. I may have to take back any defence of Adebayor if his hair really is as bad as the following photo suggests. He is number 4: