These two stories both happened at work and both involve jumpers!

So I will start by telling you how I knew Thomas Buffel was leaving Rangers before the papers and I will now reveal exclusively to you what the Belgian internationalist bought his teammates as a leaving present!

So I was working for M&S in Glasgow and I am filling up the shelves when this man in the wooliest jumper in the world walks up to me, boy was that jumper wooly I felt like scratching just looking at it. As I put down the Prawn Mayonnaise sandwich I had in my hand I noticed the customer cladded in WOOL was Belgian Thomas Buffel. He asked me to show him to the chocolates, as I showed him to the aisle in which we kept the confectionary, I asked if he was looking to buy something for a special occasion. He replied ‘I am leaving Scotland and want to get something for my colleagues.’ My interest perked up and I said ‘So you are leaving Rangers then?’. He looked surprised to be recognised maybe it was the lack of recent first team football or maybe the ridiculous jumper. He told me he was heading back to Belgium. With that he picked up a pack of Luxury Belgian Truffles priced at £5.99 but on a two for one offer, ‘have you got anymore of these?’ he asked as he counted six on the shelf. I looked out the back we had twenty four and he took them all!

So you now know what a Belgian international buys his former teammates when he leaves a club…. They are not original and they are extremely cheap… Plus they have no fashion sense whatsoever!!

A few years earlier I had been working at The Hilton hotel in Glasgow. Now at that time Glasgow Celtic used to stay there before and after certain games. As a Rangers supporter this slightly annoyed me especially considering that this was Gordon Strachan’s first year in charge and they were running away with the league. As I worked at the bar I noticed a difference in the squad, some like Paul Telfer, Neil Lennon, Mo Camara and John Hartson were there all the time (Not getting drunk) whereas others like Artur Boruc, Didier Agathe and Shunsuke Nakamura never really ventured to the bar.

Well after one Old Firm game, Celtic had won! I noticed former Leeds, Coventry and Aberdeen player Noel Whelan was in the bar with pal Paul Telfer. I had told Telfer in the past I was a Rangers fan so I was staying away from that table. As the night went on I was behind the bar when Mr Whelan walked up and asked me for a pair of scissors! Now as a five star hotel I had to treat the question with respect but also concern as to why he would require such an unusual tool in a bar after a few drinks. Well he goes into his jumper and pulls out a few tags, he had just bought this jumper today and had not taken the tags off yet! With that I cut the tags off. He was a top guy, really friendly and we talked for about ten minutes.

I said to him ‘Look I seen you make your debut at Leeds, why on earth are you now at Boston United?’. Well he said ‘Thats easy, I am there for the money simple as that, I am earning more there than I would in Scotland!’. You can’t argue with the mans honesty, shame he never lived up to his potential though.

As I was writing this article it reminded me of a trip to London where I seen the best dressed footballer I have ever seen. It was Gianluca Vialli. In not an outfit not to dissimilar to the one above although his jumper (this should be called the footballers in jumpers article) was purple not blue. I was walking down the Kings Road in Chelsea when I noticed coming out of an Italian restaurant (again not original) the superstar that is Vialli and he was looking very dapper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on July 24th, 2011 by scott
Filed under: Football Anecdotes