On a daily basis, you’ll find someone who bemoans modern football on social media, whether it is the coddling players get these days or the amount of money paid to the players, but there are some who are quite grateful they missed out on the good old days.
One these happens to be William Gallas, who arrived in England in 2006, transferred from Marseille to Chelsea by Claudio Ranieri, who was talking to Frank Leboeuf about ‘boisterous’ strikers.
Leboeuf immediately recalled one particular opponent, Newcastle United’s Alan Shearer, who had a habit of sending the odd elbow in the defender’s face, with rather crunching consequences.
He said: “I got my nose broken four times as a player (twice by Shearer). Because strikers… Shearer in particular, the guy when there was a goal kick coming our way, he’d look back at where you were and send an elbow flying in your face, and you’re just like ‘shit!’.”
Comment Frank Leboeuf s’est “fait péter le nez” 2 fois par Alan Shearer 😬😬 #LeVestiaire pic.twitter.com/9PWEtQxWI6
— SFR Sport (@SFR_Sport) September 28, 2016
Gallas replied to him by saying he was very lucky, as he arrived just after that generation, and only had to deal with the last few years of Shearer’s Newcastle United career, having been warned about his tendency to let his elbows wander.
He even added: “I’m happy that I never played in your time.”
Gallas can probably also count himself lucky to not be playing in today’s game either, what with Marouane Fellaini roaming Premier League pitches these days.
