Page 38 - 370167 LP253351 A Love Supreme Magazine - A5 48pp (Issue 260)

It’s a wonderful moment when you step into your first car; that feeling of freedom. For most of us in our early years of driving we’re pootling about in an economy car, but for modern footballers with high disposable salaries they tend to head towards the higher end of the four wheeled mar- ket. It wasn’t always that way. I still remember being excited catching a glimpse of a car on Wess- ington Way emblazoned with sponsorship lettering along the sides. Footballers could not remain incognito in sponsored cars; not that many footballers try to remain incognito. Take El Hadji Diouf for instance.
El Hadji Diouf’s choice of
vehicle at Sunderland was a Cadil- lac Escalade
4x4. Picture a Range Rover
on steroids. A car that looks particularly threatening and not one that you would expect to see a timid man behind the wheel of. And they say dogs look like their owners. El Hadji Diouf was never a shrinking violet; Neil Warnock refused
to call him a sewer rat for mocking Jamie Mackie who was on the ground after a leg break because it was insulting to sewer rats. The irony that Warnock went on to sign him for Leeds is not lost. There
were spitting incidents during his career, an alleged bust up with a ball boy. Perhaps his ambitions of being a politician were misplaced. While playing for Sunderland ordinarily the last place you would want to break down in your gas guzzler causing huge tailbacks would be the Tyne Bridge. Of course, that’s exactly where El Hadji Diouf broke down. Sunder- land players and cars have a bit of a history.
There are countless incidents where players have been found guilty of drink driving. That disposable income coupled with a fair amount of free time
all embedded in a lad culture has, in past years, provided us with rumours and gossip. Who was the player who abandoned his car and let his dad take the blame for the crash? Reports never confirmed.
There was no such anonymity afforded to Darron Gibson. Hurtling through Fulwell in his flash motor and crashing into a row of parked cars and a garden wall cemented his reputation. He was photographed being ar- rested and was suspended by the club. He left by mutual consent soon after. It wasn’t just the less favoured players of Sunderland who fell into the drink driving trap. Even Niall Quinn was found guilty on the M50 in Ireland despite the garda losing some of the papers prior to the trial. To his credit Niall Quinn did speak publicly of his shame and advised anyone who thought they were fine after one or two pints that it really wasn’t worth it and they’re best not bothering at all.
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