HEROES & VILLAINS
SADIO MANE
In November, the Liverpool forward chatted via Zoom with Lee, a Liverpool fan and food bank volunteer. “You know me, I like to copy celebrations – if you have any celebrations show me now,” Sadio asked. Kissing his fingers and raising them to the sky, Lee replied: “For my Grandad.” Sure enough, when Mane next found the net, in the 7-0 win over Crystal Palace, he happily obliged.
DEJAN LOVREN
Following the devastating earthquake in Petrinja, Croatia, which killed seven people, the former Liverpool defender pledged to accommodate victims at his hotel on the coast. “Dear citizens of Petrinja, I am making my hotel in Novalja available to the 16 most endangered families,” the Zenit centre-back wrote on Instagram. “If you need temporary accommodation, contact my team.”
SKY
Having been a vocal supporter of racial equality throughout the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, Sky have pledged £3 million of funding to Kick It Out. The anti-racism charity have been underfunded over recent years, relying on relatively small sums from The FA, EFL and PFA, but their new partnership with Sky will be a big boost.
NINO
By scoring in Elche’s Copa del Rey clash with Bunol, the 40-year-old striker made history as the competition’s oldest-ever goalscorer. Then, a few weeks later, the ancient striker became the first player in history to play 700 games in Spain’s top two divisions (129 in La Liga and 571 in Segunda). His next target will be to break Donato’s record as La Liga’s oldest scorer. Ironically, “niño” is Spanish for “kid”.
MARCUS THURAM
The 23-year-old Monchengladbach forward was hit with a six-match ban and a €40,000 fine from the DFB after seeing red for spitting at an opponent in his side’s 2-1 league defeat to Hoffenheim. In addition, Gladbach also fined Thuram a month’s wages, around €150,000, reportedly the biggest sanction in the club’s history. “That is not in my character and must never happen,” he said on Instagram afterwards.
DEJPHON CHANSIRI
Under the Thai businessman’s ownership, Sheffield Wednesday have had an eventful 12 months. Last summer they were docked 12 points – later reduced to six – for breaking EFL spending rules, and in December the PFA was called in over unpaid wages. The most recent twist in the club’s rollercoaster year came when Tony Pulis was fired after just 45 days in charge.
COVID RULE BREAKERS
Further incidents occurred over the festive period of footballers flouting lockdown rules. Tottenham players Giovani Lo Celso, Erik Lamela and Sergio Reguilon were pictured with West Ham United’s Manuel Lanzini over Christmas, while Crystal Palace captain Luka Milivojevic apologised for breaching coronavirus rules after he attended a New Year’s Eve party with Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic.
LEEDS UNITED FANS
Some fairly innocuous observations about Leeds from Amazon Prime pundit Karen Carney ahead of their 5-0 win over West Brom in December led to an extraordinary reaction on social media. First from the club itself, who made light of the comments following the victory, and then from fans, who flooded Carney’s Twitter account with so much sexist abuse that she was forced to close her personal account on the platform.