Football becomes showbusiness
Football really has become showbusiness – the money, the fame, the lifestyle, the egos – and it seems that even footballers’ families are not immune. One close relative of a top player, having provided the voice-over for a recent television ad starring her Premiership star kinsman, declined the advertiser’s offer of monetary emolument and demanded instead that she be paid in a certain white powder that is very popular with celebrities… Luckily, Michael Owen’s mum was narrating a Persil ad, which features footage of little Michael growing up, and her payment was in the eponymous detergent. Which will be handy next time it’s her turn to wash the Reds’ strip