TOP TEN ‘Personalities’ in the Premier League

5. Joey Barton

Is Joey Barton the most outspoken player in the Premier League today? Many would argue that he is, with Twitter a valuable tool at the disposal of the opinionated Mancunian who has over 800,000 followers. Barton has never been far from controversy, publicly denouncing those selected for the England squad on numerous occasions in the belief that he himself should be in the squad, yet thus far Barton has amassed just one cap for England. Barton has spent time in prison and his career at Manchester City was brought to an end following a training ground assault on teammate Ousmane Dabo. Despite these poor marks on his character, Barton is undoubtedly one of the biggest characters in today’s game.

4. Eric Cantona

A unique specimen of a footballer, Eric Cantona will forever be looked back upon as one of the best players and biggest characters to grace the Premier League. His time in English football saw him win five league titles in 6 seasons and he was twice voted PFA Player of the Year. Cantona oozed arrogance on the pitch; he really was a class apart. Unfortunately Cantona may be remembered best for his assault on a fan at Crystal Palace, in the infamous Kung Fu kick incident. Perhaps even more bizarre was his press conference regarding the incident, where Cantona stated, ‘When the seagulls follow the trawler, it’s because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. Thank you very much’ before getting up to leave.

3. Roy Keane

The most successful captain in Manchester United’s history, Roy Keane gave everything to the cause in the heart of midfield. Keane spent 12 years at Old Trafford, 8 of which were spent as captain. He was the definition of box-to-box midfielder both scoring goals and contributing defensively. It was Keane’s leadership and questionable disciplinary record that earn him his place in this countdown however. On the one hand, Keane’s never say die attitude was his best quality, on the other it was his worst. He held a long standing rivalry with Arsenal’s Patrick Vieira which led to numerous confrontations between the pair. It will be his knee high tackle on Alf Inge Haaland that many remember him for though, a tackle that Keane talked about in his autobiography as premeditated.

2. Vinnie Jones

Football’s archetypal hard man, Vinnie Jones has even fashioned out his post football career on the image he obtained during his playing days. In 7 Premier League seasons Jones managed 7 red cards and 39 yellows. Amongst Jones’ honours is the record for the quickest yellow card, when Jones’ was cautioned after just 3 seconds playing for Chelsea back in 1992. A better player than many would admit, Jones spent his career at the top with Wimbledon, Leeds, Sheffield United and Chelsea. In 1998 Jones’ appeared in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and as they say the rest is history, with Jones since appearing in numerous films.

1. Mario Balotelli

What can be said about ‘Super Mario’ Balotelli that has not already been said? The striker is clearly a top class footballer but his behaviour both on the field and off it is notoriously erratic. Balotelli endured a torrid relationship with Jose Mourinho before reuniting with first boss Roberto Mancini at Manchester City. Since joining City Balotelli’s notable exploits include confronting a school bully after asking why a young City fan was not in school, giving £1,000 to a homeless man following a trip to the casino, throwing darts at youth team players at the clubs training ground and becoming the face of a fireworks safety campaign following a fire in his home, cause by, you guessed it – fireworks. At just 21 suppose Balotelli will continue to astound, indeed as the planner for City’s Christmas do, expect the unexpected.

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

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