TOP TEN “Eccentric” Footballers

Over the years football has produced many eccentrics. Some players show their uniqueness on the pitch, some through their behaviour both on and off it. After Mario Balotelli’s backheel created such a furore this weekend now seems the time to look at those players who are currently baffling the fans with their bizarre behaviour.

The majority of these players are on this list for the simple reason that they are interesting. They are not all nice guys. Bellamy, Barton and Cole are here because they stand out, they are the ones who can’t behave, who don’t seem to respond to discipline or public condemnation. Many of them are complete jerks but they are all entertaining.

Their predecessors are cult heroes: there is the 5’6” Mexican goalkeeper/part time striker Jorge Campos who designed his own offensively loud kits and spent as much time as possible outside his area. He literally lit up my USA ’94. There is the Reading and Cardiff legend of Robin Friday, rumoured to have scored the greatest goal of all time whilst on LSD and then there are the household names; Paul Gascoigne, still as mad as a hatter and Eric Cantona, master of the pitch, poetry, film and Kung Fu.

Whilst the majority of these players may lack the originality to reach the heights of these true showmen, they are still finding new and ingenious ways to generate headlines, whether they are trying to put phones into completely impractical places or confronting bullies at school, at least they aren’t just tweeting about having a nap and playing Fifa. (Well Rooney might be!)

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The top ten article was written by Philip Wroe for FootballFancast.com. Make sure to check out the latest news, blogs and podcasts at FFC – ed.

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