10 footballing bad boys
Updated on 21 August 2007
As West Ham re-unites the 'bad boy' trio of Bellamy, Dyer and Bowyer here are ten other footballers who genuinely deserve the tag.
1. Robin Friday
The former Reading and Cardiff striker became a legend among supporters for his antics - both on and off the pitch.
Perhaps the highlight of his 'bad boy' career was to be sent off for kicking future BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson in the face.
Not content with subjecting Lawrenson to an assualt, Friday marched into the dressing room and defecated in the Irishman's kit bag.
Friday once perfomed a similar toiletry feat - but this time into the opposition's team bath.
When he signed for Cardiff in 1976 he was arrested in the Welsh capital on the same day for trying to dodge a train fare.
Friday, voted into Reading's greatest XI by fans, died in 1990 from a heart attack.
2. Stig Tofting
The Danish midfielder was jailed in 2003 after head-butting the owner of Café Ketchup in Copenhagen.
The ex-Bolton player had a disturbed childhood, he returned home at the age of 13 to find both his parents dead. His mother had been shot by his father, before turning the gun on himself.
Tofting served four months for the headbutting incident, and was later fired from Danish club AGF after a massive bust up at the team's Christmas party.
Last season he helped another Danish club, Randers, win promotion to the top flight.
3. Mickey Thomas
The former Welsh international was jailed in 1993 for his part in a counterfeit currency scam.
The Wrexham legend, now a radio presenter in Manchester, always makes light of his 18-month stint behind bars with the gag: "Roy Keane's on 50 grand a week. So was I until the police found my printing machine."
The midfielder also made the headlines when he was attacked and stabbed in the bum.
His last notable footballing act was to score the equaliser for Wrexham when they sensationally knocked Arsenal out of the FA Cup in 1992.
4. Lee Hughes
The former West Brom striker was jailed in 2004 for causing the death by dangerous driving of Douglas Graham, and of leaving the scene of an accident.
The judge branded Hughes "callous" as he sentenced him to six years in prison.
The 31-year-old was released from prison this week, and is set to re-start his football career with Oldham Athletic.
5. Eric Cantona
A cult hero at Old Trafford having helped Manchester United to the Premiership title in 1993 - the club's first in 26 years - Cantona received a hostile reception at most other grounds.
Most notably one January night in 1995 at Selhurst Park. Sent off in the game he then launched an extraordinary kung-fu style attack on Crystal Palace fan Matthew Simmons.
Sentenced to two weeks in jail for the act - eventually downgraded to community service - Cantona famously told an incredulous press corp: "When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines will be thrown in to the sea."
6. Paulo Di Canio
Sent off playing for Sheffield Wednesday against Arsenal in 1998, Di Canio pushed referee Paul Alcock following a sending off.
The way Alcock went down in instalments led many - not just Owls fans - to take the Italian's side in the incident. The authorities and his club disagreed and Di Canio was soon out of Hillsborough in a cut-price deal.
Back in Italy, Di Canio courted controversy again by seemingly making a stiff-armed, fascist salute during a Lazio-Juventus game. He was suspended for one game and fined 10,000 euros.
7. Tony Adams
The title of the former Arsenal captain's autobiography said it all: 'Addicted'.
Adams was at the centre of the drinking culture at Highbury in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
His antics ranged from the trivial - letting off fire-extinguishers with team-mate Ray Parlour - to the serious - playing a match hungover or falling downstairs and requiring 29 stitches.
In 1990 he crashed his car into a wall while four times over the alchohol limt. He was sentenced to three months in jail.
He went public with his addiction in 1996, his acclaimed autobiography followed two years later. He's still on the wagon.
8. Stan Collymore
The ex-Forest front man was described as a "monster" by Ulrika Jonsson in her autobigraphy, when she detailed an incident of domestic abuse in 1998.
The former weather girl was also forced to take out an injunction to stop Collymore from releasing a sex tape of the pair, filmed on holiday in Jamaica.
But perhaps Collymore's most infamous piece of bad PR were revelations in 2004 that he visited "dogging" sites to have sex with strangers.
After an £8.5m move to Liverpool, Collymore slowly trickled down the football ladder - the last English rung being Bradford in 2000/01.
9. Patrick Kluivert
The Dutch striker was convicted of manslaughter in 1996 following a fatal car accident in Holland.
Much to the disgust of sections of the Dutch media, Kluivert was only sentnced to 240 hours of community service. The former AC Milan man turned down a move to Sheffield Wednesday this summer, and is understood to be weighing up a move to Turkey.
10. Mark Ward
The former Everton, Manchester City and West Ham midfielder was jailed in 2005 for posession of cocaine with intent to supply.
The 44-year-old had fallen on hard times and agreed to rent a flat in Liverpool in his name - before handing the keys over to drug dealers.
When police raided the home they found £700,000 of cocaine.
Ward, who helped West Ham to their highest ever league finish, is serving eight years.
