Footballers you have met: nice or rude

CajunBear said:
I met Ian Wright once when Arsenal were training at Troon, got his autograph and he spent quite a bit of his time with us youngsters answering questions. I was very impressed by his good nature. The same couldnt be said about Bergkamp who wouldnt sign any autographs.

Ive met a few of the Gers over the years. Ian Ferguson always stood out in my memory as the nicest one.

Also met Paulo Di Canio at Royal Troon when I worked there. Didnt seem quite as much of a nutjob in person.

I havnt really met any players as an adult, things might be different compared to being a kid!
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Also met Ian Wright as a kid, Arsenal Reserves were playing locally and he must've been coming back from injury. He was exactly the same, very friendly and approachable, I never associate him with them. Also met Gilles Grimandi at same place where I called him Gilles Grenade, something my dad still laughs at now.
 
Met the likes of goram, novo, lafferty and a few others but the two bad times I’ve had was jelavic when he signed seemed pretty rude and kris ajer especially bumped into him in town with a few mates who were Tim’s and he was fine until I made a joke about the recent OF score (win at Ibrox in 2018) and he just growled and walked away
 
Dennis Law , Ronnie McKinnon and Kevin Keegan the top three for me from over the years. Met Law in Dundee and also at a Scottish Cup Final many moons ago. Great guy. Had his telephone number for years. Ronnie McKinnon asked me back to his house for lunch. Had freshly caught haddock which his Mum cooked. Delicious it was too. Remember Ronnie would only eat one potato as he was watching his weight. Got a call then to say the game v Aberdeen the following day was off. Think it would have been 1967. Keegan was a super guy, bubbly full of stories. Met Kevin twice and both times he was great company. Strange thing I discovered years later. My wife and Kevin were in the same class in Primary school in Doncaster.
 
Michael Mols in Schipol Airport. Saw my bears top and chatted away for ages. Told him how much we loved him and he said he will always be a Bear till the day he dies. Great Guy! He told me he was still playing Amateur football with his brothers team. Imaging being a centre half in a Dutch amateur team and seeing Mikey line up against you? I’d just sub masel and save the riddy!
 
Met Charlie adam at the darts in liverpool a few years back when he was playing for liverpool. Very rude. Ok he was on a night out I wasnt asking for photos or autographs. He was stood next to me in a line getting a drink and I just said Charlie I enjoyed watching you for rangers really hope the move to liverpool works out for you. He just blanked me not even a cheers. Just thought it was rude
 
When i was a young lad, mer Super Ally, Nigel Spackman and Richard Gough at the Cricklewood - all 3 couldnt have been nicer. Would have been about 10 at the time so was totally starstruck and probably didnt give them a minutes peace but they all took time to engage and totally made my day!
 
I had plenty of stories from when you could just walk up to Jordanhill and watch the training 3 times a week and I've forgotten most of them due to my recreational habits as a younger man. Mind is blank apart from Davie Dodds toeing my mate right up the arse for calling him the elephant man. Lifted him right off the ground. Imagine the furore these days.
 
Numans kid was in my class at school so used to smile at him at the school run.

Hateley was nice and chatty in the lounge before heading out to Osijek.

The whole Croatia squad was in departure lounge back in September 2001. Suker was happy to pose for pictures.
Slave Bilic took my paper and read out each player's rating to them and told them they were "sheet".
 
Marvin Andrews is by far the nicest footballer (and one of the nicest people) I've ever had the pleasure of talking to.
Laff was brilliant too.
I remember I would have been early teens and Barry was my Rangers hero, waiting outside the stadium and he's clearly in a rush trying to get away but he came back across the road to sign my shirt which is still one of my most treasured Rangers possessions.
Big Eck was actually a lot funnier than I'd have thought.
Shagger wasn't the happiest when I was stood talking to Leah Shevlin while he was signing stuff outside the stadium. I can almost empathise with referees when he starts on them
 
ekbear98 said:
Met the likes of goram, novo, lafferty and a few others but the two bad times I’ve had was jelavic when he signed seemed pretty rude and kris ajer especially bumped into him in town with a few mates who were Tim’s and he was fine until I made a joke about the recent OF score (win at Ibrox in 2018) and he just growled and walked away
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He's Lustig mk2 that prick.
 
mlbear said:
I met Richard Gough just before xmas in the Rogano and he was an absolute gentleman, chatted to me for a good 10 minutes about the Gers
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I echo this, I had a quick chat with him outside Ibrox one time and I'd openly admit its the most daunted I've been talking to someone as he is right up there with the icons of our club but what a guy. I've since had a few conversations on facebook with him as well and he's extremely polite and approachable.

Cool story, but Craig Moore actually added me on facebook! Think the fact my username on that is John Albertz and as I was friends with King Richard may have confused him though.
 
Met a few and did work for a few of the players years ago.
ally mccoist when he moved into his new house on bridge of weir. Installed all his tellys, burglar alarm, cctv and sound systems. He just had his first child with his new mrs Vivian, who worked at Ibrox at the time. Brilliant guy, good laugh and had some stories. Same with Vivian too, lovely lassie.
Big Darcheville, he moved into paul le guens gaff after year got the bump. Bit of a doughball but nice guy, wife was sensational.
Sandy jardine actually met us up there to let us into the house.
sandy jardine was an absolute gentleman and spoke to you as if you’d known him all your life. Great guy sorely missed.
Ian durrant, Walter Smith, mccoist and Jim Stewart as well as Gordon strachan, TLB, and other celtic staff. In the managers room at Ibrox, straight after a rangers win against the scum. I think we won 2-0 that day. I was working that day working on the PA system, on standby incase things went wrong. My gaffer asked me to go and swap the old sky viewing cards from the sky boxes and replace with new ones in all areas including dressing rooms and lounges etc. First stop was the managers office so I chaps the door and durrant opens, goes “Awrite wee man c’mon in” told him what I was doing. So I do my work and I’m next to strachan and lennon having a glass of red wine, and chatting away to mccoist and Stewart who were on the same couch as them chatting about their kids etc as if nothing had happened 20 minutes before.
a very surreal experience. Funny part was strachan asked me what I was doing and I said to him, “I’m just getting the sky box ready to show you a repay of the game” he laughed and said %^*& off wee man, but you could tell he was raging!! Needless to say the rangers men had a wee chuckle and got a wee laugh from durrant and a well done wee man!!!
 
michael mols was pleasant when i met him near george square, barry ferguson as well was sound enough but was kinda stand offish at the same time. murdo mcleod was nice enough as well.

jamie carragher met him on holiday was brand new

i met thomas gravesen as well could tell he was a mad man walking about grinning
 
Belvedre said:
Kyle Lafferty was unbelievably kind to my and my wee cousin. Gave my cousin a ton of time. Absolutely made his day . May comes as a surprise to some
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I was literally coming in this thread to post the complete opposite - used to come into an old workplace of mine a lot. Was the most arrogant, rude person I'd ever come across. Could always be found hanging around lassies far too young for him as well
 
Been in Alex Rae's company a few times through a mate. Good guy.

Met Ally McCoist recently at a charity do and he was absolutely brand new, as you would expect.

Tin hat firmly on for this next one. Neil Lennon, late 2000s at a wedding just after he'd stopped playing. Was perfectly pleasant with me and bought everyone a drink. However I also know Celtic supporters who have met him and said he was an obnoxious little c*nt.
 
CupGoalie said:
I was literally coming in this thread to post the complete opposite - used to come into an old workplace of mine a lot. Was the most arrogant, rude person I'd ever come across. Could always be found hanging around lassies far too young for him as well
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I saw that too. Me and my old man worked in his house years ago in his first spell. There must have been about 5-6 lassies hanging about, all in their early 20s maybe a couple 19 or so. Must have had a wad as much as £10k sitting in bundles of £50s on a coffee table, bookie line all over the place. He was a riot as well!! He was nice enough to talk to to be fair but he was mental when he was younger
 
I have met;
Super Ally - very chatty and nice
Dave Mcpherson - quite chatty and nice
Fraser Wishart - very chatty and nice
Iain Ferguson - very chatty and nice
Gerry Britton - very drunk, chatty and nice
Jimmy Nichol - very chatty and nice
Archie Knox - very chatty and nice
Billy Dodds - quite chatty and nice
Micky Walker - very aloof and very rude
 
Due to doing corporate quite a lot at Ibrox and had a mate who was quite senior in the SFA (before they turned against us) I have met quite a few players. But the one who made a big impression on me was Pakky Bonnar. I met him in Citation, I think, at the time of the holy goalie carry on and he spoke for quite a bit about him. I mentioned to him that although he crossed himself at the start of each half he did it quickly and without fuss. Then without actually saying it he thought he was an arse and said he would never do crossing himself so oviously as a wind up and his local priest should kick his arse.
 
Thommo2006 said:
Met Charlie adam at the darts in liverpool a few years back when he was playing for liverpool. Very rude. Ok he was on a night out I wasnt asking for photos or autographs. He was stood next to me in a line getting a drink and I just said Charlie I enjoyed watching you for rangers really hope the move to liverpool works out for you. He just blanked me not even a cheers. Just thought it was rude
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He does seem like an arrogant prick any time I’ve seen him being interviewed. And I don’t know where he’s getting that manufactured middle class accent with a Dundee twang from.

Roaster
 
Jock Wallace-absolute gentleman
Colin Stein-same
Ralph Brand-same
Alex McDonald-same
Graham Roberts-knob (mind you i was well pissed)
McCoist-gent
Albertz-same
Joe Harper-lovely guy
Tony Higgins-same
Late Jimmy Johnstone-sound
Frank McGarvey-wank
Roy Aitken-alright
Late Jonny Little-nicest guy ever

Quite a few more for an other day :))
 
Iloverangers87 said:
Met Billy McNeill a few times. Couldn’t have met a nicer man
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Billy and his sons sport agency company had an office in the same building as the place I worked up in the Mearns, really nice guy and what he didn't know about football you could write on the back of a postage stamp
 
Met a few.

Jim Baxter - Hilarious, was at the Races and I was younger but remember he had me laughing lots.
Alex Rae - Again at the Races, not long after he signed and he was brand new, talked away.
Alan Shearer - One of my footballing heroes, A prick, wish I had never met him.
A few Rangers legends, all brand new - Goram, Amo, McCann, Numan, Boyd and more.
Ian Black - when he played for us, billy bigbaws who would have been sacked for what he was up to.
 
Met Andy Goram a couple of times. It’s true, there are two Andy Gorams.

Was in The Loft in Ashton Lane the Friday between the last game of the 2007/08 league season and the Scottish Cup Final. Most of the Celtic squad (who had just ‘won’ the league the night previous) came in. I chatted a little with Gary Caldwell and Darren O’Dea (totally pushes) who were both pretty sound, even when I told them I was a Rangers fan. Caldwell actually introduced me to Stephen McManus when he came over as ‘This is Scott, he’s a Rangers fan but he’s sound’!. McManus was a bit dour but I think it was because he was the designated sober one who was on the lookout for lurking journalists.

Neil Lennon was also there but was so pished he could hardly stand up. He also had about 4 massive minders around him at the time.
 
Bumped into Kenny Miller in a bar in Edinburgh just after he joined us from Hibs. He was first class - spent quite a bit of time chatting with him.

Had the misfortune to bump into Craig Bellamy too - an obnoxious arsehole who surrounded himself with security for good reason.
 
I remember waiting outside Ibrox years ago for autographs (I would've been a wee guy at the time) and I asked for Gattuso's...he told me to %^*& off and just kept walking to his motor.

I met pretty much the full Parma team outside Ibrox and got some pictures/autographs with them as well but I think my mum lost them years ago when we were moving house.
 
Pains me to say this but I remember meeting Fernando in the Odeon at the Quay when I was 11-12. He was with his family (wife, son & daughter) and I went over and asked for his autograph and he was really rude to me and my mate and his family were staring at us as if we were shit on their shoes. Really took us aback because we were just kids and it opened my eyes up to never meeting your heros.

Thankfully I had a chance to meet Fernando again a few years back when I did one of the big Ibrox sleep outs and he was a pleasure to be in the same company with.

bonus: Chic Young’s mum use to live in Mosspark and Chic would always be there and I would constantly pester him about joining my paper run and he would always ask me to come back next week to discuss it as he was far to busy to talk about it.
 
At an Open ,Troon few years ago,Sir Bobby Charlton.Complete and utter gentleman.An absolute honour to have spent some time chatting with him.Down to earth and genuine.Gordon Dalziel recently,tadger,bore and thick as mince.
 
Alex Mcleish- stood outside the stadium with my son and daughter the night before the Artmedia Champions League game and all of the players were parking their cars to get on the bus for the hotel and he came over and spoke to us for a good ten minutes and he had to be reminded by a member of staff that the bus had to leave. Lovely man who made my kids night.

Sandy Clark another very nice man who i knew through the ex Hearts and Partick Thistle player Ian Jardine who i was an apprentice to in the ship yard.

Jim Duffy and Derek Ferguson through show racism the red card. Nice friendly guys.

Micky Weir also through show racism the red card. Okay but talked a bit of nonsense.

John Hartson came in to my work to give a talk and spoke to him after the event, i know how he can come across on tv but couldn`t have been nicer.

Tommy Burns at the side of a pitch watching boys club football. One of the nicest men you will ever meet.

For older readers John Blackley ex Hibs and part of the Scotland World Cup squad in 1974. I coached his grandson and you couldn`t meet a more knowledgeable man on football and a cracking guy in to the bargain
 
BoyInRoyalBlue said:
Met a few.

Jim Baxter - Hilarious, was at the Races and I was younger but remember he had me laughing lots.
Alex Rae - Again at the Races, not long after he signed and he was brand new, talked away.
Alan Shearer - One of my footballing heroes, A prick, wish I had never met him.
A few Rangers legends, all brand new - Goram, Amo, McCann, Numan, Boyd and more.
Ian Black - when he played for us, billy bigbaws who would have been sacked for what he was up to.
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What was Ian black up to? :)

Met plenty in the early 90s in The Tunnel or in Arkaos who were all sound Stephen Wright,Craig Burley and particularly Scott Wilson were the friendliest.
Jackie McNamara was a bit of a dick to one of my mates who was a celtic fan when he went to speak to him,he was really annoyed when he came back over to us as we were all watching and were laughing at him getting told to GTF, he did give McNamara some abuse in return though.
 
Never Had a bad experience meeting players. Main ones -

met Jorg Albertz in Sarti's Just before xmas and got a picture with my two young boys... he couldnt have been any nicer and was really great with my kids aged 2 & 5. Asked the big one if he could get his picture taken with him.

Super Ally briefly at a a sports awards - as much charisma and aura as you would expect. Great guy.

Met Goram a few times including a company launch and had a couple of beers and wine with him. Some great stories.. really good company.

Spoke to big Mark Hately in Club Europe and he was bang on.

Ive known big Tam Forsyth since i was a wee boy (my dad used to play football with him at the Young Farmers!! :) )and am mates with his son. As nice a guy as you could meet.

...and right out the left field, I used to be Neil Lennons neighbour, hes actually sound. Nothing like he comes across on tele.
 
Paisleyprod said:
Met loads. Older generation Gers players total gents. Chaps like Hubbard, Simpson, Brown, Davus, Brand, Millar, Richie, Grieig, Provan etc could not have been nicer.

Many of the 9 in a row team pretty sound too.

I didn't like Artera much when I met him.

As for non Rangers, Aguero, Forlsn, Reyes, Papin, Massaro and Baresi were all pleasant.
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I met the older generation as well when i was young, the best guy to then ask for an autograph was bobby shearer, a gent but my hero then was slim Jin Baxter probably the greatest player ive ever seen but an arrogant man.
 
No idea how I forgot about this. I actually had dealings with this and to be fair mcavennie was spot on. Had to get a statement from Goram who witnessed what had happened had only been the job about 3 months. Doing everything j could to act professional and no ask for photos or autographs.


www.telegraph.co.uk

Frank McAvennie spared jail over bar brawl

Former Scotland striker Frank McAvennie was given a four-month suspended jail sentence on Monday after he admitted fighting outside a bar on the Isle of Man.
www.telegraph.co.uk www.telegraph.co.uk
 
Govan_derry said:
I’ve met a few but also worked in a few footballers houses

Harris Vukic was friendly enough. He had a bird walking about in his house that had a Rangers strip on from before his time which I found a bit weird.

Patrick Roberts was decent for one of them. Tipped me £50 after I ripped him about his miss in the semi final against us and got a bit of banter back and forward

Andy little is a good guy and I do a bit of work for him now. Came down and helped out and the kids football training one night when I was coaching and it gave the boys a boost to see someone that actually played the game help them out.

Jim Forrest is a cracking guy. Him and his mrs were always chatting away and making you tea and things to eat. I didn’t know who he was when I first worked in his house then my tradesmen told me so I was quizzing jim for ages and he was happy to sit and tell me stories of his time at Ibrox, much to the annoyance of my mentally challenged tradesman lol

Jason Cummings before he was at Ibrox and lived in a top floor flat near Easter Road. Place was manky and he was an arrogant prick.

Not a footballer but also worked in Dominic keane’s house. What a pad this was and we were taking out a kitchen that was worth a right few quid and didn’t have a mark on it to replace it with something similar. Dismantled the kitchen carefully and sold it on lol. Wasn’t the friendliest of people and thought he was better than anyone
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Andy Little seems like one of the most genuinely nice guys about.
 
Been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time with both Super Ally and Bomber Brown, both absolute gentleman could not say a bad word about either.

The most pleasant one off encounter I had was with Ray Wilkins he was in a hotel in Derby prior to the Ted Mcminn testimonial and was the most polite, humble individual ever, we asked him for a picture and his response was “Any time lads, take as many as you want it’s guys like you that paid my wages” an absolute legend.
 
Gregg Shields - fucking walloper

I meet Barry Ferguson and Bob Malcom quite a lot at the Kelty Hearts games. Nice enough guys, always happy to chat with everyone.
 
I used to live next to Craig Moore and Alex Cleland and they both were really decent guys.

Met Gary McAllister years ago on holiday in Portugal. Brilliant guy and we had a chat about Rangers back then. Bumped into him in town the day after we lost cup final to them and reminded him that we had met years ago. Strangely he didn’t seem to remember me
 
buster60 said:
Dennis Law , Ronnie McKinnon and Kevin Keegan the top three for me from over the years. Met Law in Dundee and also at a Scottish Cup Final many moons ago. Great guy. Had his telephone number for years. Ronnie McKinnon asked me back to his house for lunch. Had freshly caught haddock which his Mum cooked. Delicious it was too. Remember Ronnie would only eat one potato as he was watching his weight. Got a call then to say the game v Aberdeen the following day was off. Think it would have been 1967. Keegan was a super guy, bubbly full of stories. Met Kevin twice and both times he was great company. Strange thing I discovered years later. My wife and Kevin were in the same class in Primary school in Doncaster.
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Met quite a lot of footballers and celebrities in my old job , easily the nicest was Kevin Keegan who was with his wife and daughters but spent a lot of his time getting selfies , signing autographs and chatting but not once did he refuse anyone- really nice guy generous tipper as well ! I was off the day Roy Keane was there but apparently he was pretty rude. Scott Brown was a regular, very quiet never said much but tipped well . As much as I despise him as a footballer not once was I tempted to give him the kind of grief that Morelos gets from the unwashed !
 
Met Vidar Riseth (ex Celtic) in a pub in Amsterdam. We were at a Northern Ireland game and he was working for Norweigan TV. He sat with us for over an hour and we couldn't get rid of him! Not a bad lad and he took our banter well!
 
TN8 said:
Been in Alex Rae's company a few times through a mate. Good guy.

Met Ally McCoist recently at a charity do and he was absolutely brand new, as you would expect.

Tin hat firmly on for this next one. Neil Lennon, late 2000s at a wedding just after he'd stopped playing. Was perfectly pleasant with me and bought everyone a drink. However I also know Celtic supporters who have met him and said he was an obnoxious little c*nt.
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Forgot to add that I know a few people who have met Lennon.
They say he is quite quiet and pleasant but when he gets drunk he turns into a fucking idiot.
I also know quite a few people who have met Barry and don’t have much pleasant things to say. Mostly very neddish, but with cash and quite arrogant.

I will repeat again Ally was brand new and is like how he appears on TV. He also did some work with my wife in her previous job before she got ill and all the woman who worked with her were jealous as %^*&.
As I also said Marvin Andrews is one of the nicest individuals I have met in my whole life. He gives of a glow of friendliness and you come away smiling after meeting him.
 
Mpr1980 said:
Been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time with both Super Ally and Bomber Brown, both absolute gentleman could not say a bad word about either.

The most pleasant one off encounter I had was with Ray Wilkins he was in a hotel in Derby prior to the Ted Mcminn testimonial and was the most polite, humble individual ever, we asked him for a picture and his response was “Any time lads, take as many as you want it’s guys like you that paid my wages” an absolute legend.
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I would have loved to have met Ray Wilkins. By all accounts and absolute gentleman and as humble a man you could ever meet. Would have been an honour
 
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