With a penchant for snarling, spitting and diving, as well as his love of bling culture, El-Hadji Diouf is, to many, the epitome of everything that is wrong with the modern-day footballer.
As cunning as he might be on the pitch, though, the Bolton Wanderers forward is surprisingly ingenuous off it — perhaps too ingenuous, given that a rare interview yesterday prompted him to admit that his reputation for gamesmanship is one that he has worked hard on.
To many, Diouf’s admission might seem to be a case of stating the obvious, but rarely has a Premiership player spoken so candidly about the game’s dark arts. He spoke with pride about his “cleverness” — forgetting, perhaps, that the cleverest do not divulge the tricks of their trade — but went on to say that English football is full of divers, not least Wayne Rooney.
“Every player dives, not just me,” Diouf said. “If you see Rooney, how many times does he dive to try and get a penalty? It’s just because it’s me that people talk about it. Sometimes when I need to dive to get a penalty it’s because the best footballer is a footballer who is very clever. I don’t leave my foot there so the guy can break my leg. I need to dive before the guy comes in.
“Sometimes the ref gives me a free kick, sometimes he doesn’t, but how many penalties have I won by doing that? That’s just football.”
Advertisement
Is it? Has diving become so manifest that it is accepted as a fact of life? “Out on the pitch, things happen too quickly,” Diouf said. “Maybe when I dive [today], the referee will give a penalty. This is just what happens on the pitch. Afterwards, guys talk about it, but when it happens, it’s too quick. The referee can’t see everything, you know.”
Perhaps not, but, in light of Diouf’s comments, Mike Dean might be more vigilant than most when he presides over Bolton’s match at home to Arsenal today.
Arsenal supporters have a reason to dislike Diouf, who was sent off for elbowing Jens Lehmann during an FA Cup quarter-final in March 2005, but then so do most. Liverpool fans generally welcome their former players back to Merseyside but Diouf, who fell short of behavioural standards as much as those on the pitch, predicted that “it will be the worst” when he returns to Anfield with Bolton on New Year’s Day.
“It’s just because everyone thinks I’m a bad boy,” the 25-year-old Senegal forward said. “I have a bad reputation everywhere in the world. I know. It’s because of things like wearing my hat backwards and the bling bling, things like that.
“But more important for me is the people I’m working with — Sam [Allardyce, the Bolton manager], the staff and the other players. The people I worked with at Liverpool and Lens. The people who know me know I’m a nice lad. It’s just that I have a bad reputation.”
Advertisement
It is a reputation that is unlikely to have been enhanced by his latest comments, but, if they cement his position as the Premiership’s public enemy No 1 — ahead of Robbie Savage, Cristiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba — so much the better. “When people boo me, it gives me 200 per cent power,” he said. “It makes me pumped up, full of energy. They can boo me more.”
They will, El-Hadji. They will.
Spit hits the fan
2002 Joins Liverpool for £10 million from Lens
2003 Fined £5,000 by Glasgow Sheriff Court after pleading guilty to assault under provocation for spitting at Celtic fans during a Uefa Cup tie against Liverpool
Advertisement
2004 Moves to Bolton Wanderers, initially on loan. Banned for three matches for spitting at Arjan de Zeeuw, then of Portsmouth
2005 Dives against Blackburn Rovers to win a penalty, which results in the winning goal for Bolton, but FA takes no action. Banned from driving for a year and fined £3,000 for drink-driving. Fined by Teesside magistrates after pleading guilty to “reckless behaviour” after an 11-year-old Middlesbrough fan was hit by juice spat from Diouf’s mouth in 2004
2006 Held by police after reports of an alleged assault on his wife, Valerie, but released without charge