(no subject)
To celebrate the upcoming ban on all English teams in Europe, which will of course be in no way the fault of their good-natured and articulate fans, well anyway the Guardian has a thing on footballers who don't like football. So let's raise a glass to all those men who regarded it as just another day in the office. Espen Baardsen (Spurs and Watford) gave up football aged 25 to become a financial analyst. Pat Nevin saw it as just a job, while Spurs' Benoit Assou-Ekotto doesn't like to watch or talk about the game in his leisure time, and Paul Telfer (Coventry and Celtic) isn't too keen either, reportedly prefering golf. David Batty dislikes internationals: "The national game is boring. And I've not been to watch any match since I finished playing. I can never understand anybody paying to watch it, never mind going all the way across the world to see it. You want to be entertained."