CALL THAT A FIGHT?
Hughes recalls when Moses put Olsen in hospital
MARK HUGHES reckons dust-ups between teammates are not what they used to be.
Warring Stoke players Glenn Whelan and Joe Allen have buried the hatchet since their clash in last week’s World Cup qualifier between the Republic of Ireland and Wales.
Whelan, playing for Ireland, caught Allen with an elbow during the goalless draw, sparking a confrontation.
Allen has replaced Whelan in Stoke’s midfield in recent games.
Hughes was a Manchester United player when Remi Moses laid out team-mate Jesper Olsen during training in 1986.
Olsen was rushed to hospital and had eleven stitches to a cut around his eye. “Way back I seem to recall Remi Moses whacking Jesper Olsen,” said Potters boss Hughes. “That got out, which was unheard of in those days. Mind you he did have a good cut, and it was a good punch. It does happen.
“When I played I’d kick my granny if she was the opposition. They were just displaying national fervour.”
Hughes said the relationship between the pair is fine: “They mix in the same group, have meals together and he’s part of Glenn’s group and vice-versa so there’s been a bit of leg-pulling – usually from Charlie Adam.
Hughes believes Whelan was trying to take evasive action. “I don’t think he actually threw an elbow, maybe he went to protect himself from the clash and he caught Joe on the chin,” he said. Hughes insists he knew from the start of talks to sign Saido Berahino that the striker blamed a spiked drink for his failed drug test. Berahino joined from West Brom in January for £12million having served an eight-week ban after traces of a recreational drug were found. The circumstances only became public on Thursday after Berahino gave his version of events in a BBC interview.
Hughes said: “We knew from the outset that was always his stance, he’s never wavered from that. Saido has no idea what the substance was and that’s the only way it could have happened.”
Berahino said he felt let down by Albion, despite boss Tony Pulis covering for him by putting his absence down to a lack of fitness.
Pulis said yesterday: “People are sensible enough to know whether we did look after him or not.”