Football News

DOTD: Who is the most hated Premier League player of all time?

Author: Andrew Allen
Posted on:14 September 2009 - 09:00
Category:Football
Comments: 23 Go...

After the controversial scenes at Eastlands on Saturday it would appear that Emmanuel Adebayor has confirmed his status as the most hated man in the red half of north London. The Manchester City striker’s behaviour against Arsenal look set to be scrutinised by the FA and could now lead to him being handed a hefty fine and ban. Of course the Togo international is just the latest in a long line of players to fall out of favour with former supporters and the football media as a whole. Pantomime villains such as Wimbledon’s Vinnie Jones and West Ham United’s Julian Dicks were forerunners in attracting the vitriol of Premier League audiences; their hard man antics often verging on the psychotic. However, it was Leeds United who developed a solid reputation for breeding and recruiting contemptible talents with Lee Bowyer (now at Birmingham City), Jonathan Woodgate (Tottenham Hotspur) and Alan Smith (Newcastle United) all finding time for run-ins with the law and football authorities respectively. Fellow football felon Joey Barton has attracted scorn wherever he has pulled on a jersey, destroying his relationship with fans at Eastlands and St James Park following several nasty incidents. Similarly aggressive and mouthy players including Dennis Wise (Wimbledon, Chelsea), Duncan Ferguson (Everton), Gary Neville (Manchester United), David Bentley (Arsenal, Blackburn Rovers, Tottenham Hotspur), Robbie Savage (Leicester City, Birmingham City, Blackburn Rovers), Craig Bellamy (Norwich City, Coventry, Blackburn Rovers, Liverpool, Manchester City) and El Hadji Diouf (Liverpool, Bolton Wanderers, Sunderland) never fail to rile opposition fans. Alleged divers such as Emmanuel Eboue (Arsenal) and Didier Drogba (Chelsea) attract scorn for their play-acting, while physical/elbow-wielding hard men such as Kevin Davies (Blackburn, Bolton), John Terry (Chelsea) and Roy Keane (Nottingham Forest, Manchester nited) always enjoyed turning games into a scrap. Outstanding talent has always isolated certain individuals with Gunner captain Patrick Vieira, Blues midfielder Frank Lampard and Manchester United trio Wayne Rooney, Eric Cantona and Cristiano Ronaldo also widely hated nationwide, while greed and the chasing of lucrative contracts has all but destroyed the reputations of the likes of Rio Ferdinand (Leeds United, Manchester United), Ashley Cole (Arsenal, Chelsea), Nicolas Anelka (Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Bolton Wanderers, Chelsea) and of course Emmanuel Adebayor.

Taking into account he list of players above, sport.co.uk wants to know:

Who is the most hated Premier League player of all time?

Why not weigh in with your suggestions in the comments section below and make sure you vote in our poll. Opinions will be divided, things are sure to get heated but don’t hold back. After all sport.co.uk is the independent alternative – so if you’re not involved in the debate, just keep quiet!

Iain 17 September 2009 - 17:38

'Hate maybe harsh but I do despise cheats. Ronaldo tops that list, he goes down if a breath of wind blows past him and always flops when he pushes the ball too far. No one, as yet, has mentioned Rodney Marsh who was another disliked for similar reasons. As a Bolton fan it irks me to see Kevin Davies on this list. He tackles hard and gets hammered all the time but I can not think of a single time when he did something to wind a player up or intentionally try to hurt them. Which brings me to Barton who is simply an IDIOT. Nuff said.'

Toddus 17 September 2009 - 17:01

'Julio makes a good point - in football being hated can be the most reverred title of all. Then there's the opposite end of the scale, which (with their inexplicable egos) will probably be taken in the wrong way by certain insignificant fools (i.e. Burton - who should be f**ked and burned in my opinion) - on that basis my most hated player, or one of, is Terry Henry - arrogant, brilliant and most of all played for arsenal. Got to hate the man - and I'm not in the slightest bit Spurs orientated believe me.'

alan 16 September 2009 - 23:59

'what about that evil looking turd who plays for the loveable RS ........SG Laaaaaaaaa'

Julio Laker 16 September 2009 - 16:15

'Hating a player is all part of football, whether you consider it immature or not. Personally I hate most footballers who do not play for my team (and some that do) but the ones that always got on my nerves were a) unjustifiably arrogant beyond their ability (Gary Neville, Robbie Savage, Wise) b) Could dish it out but couldn't take it (Robbie Savage) c) Were/are genuinely great players who deserved to be hated for their talents and for abusing their positions as great players (Giggs, Ronaldo...not the fat one, Bergkamp, Klinsmann) d) blatent cheats (Savage, Klinsmann, Ronaldo...not the fat one). I'm a Newcastle fan but I used to hate Shearer when he played for Blackburn..constantly backing into players, always winning free kicks...loved him doing it when he came to the Toon though. Adebayor hasn't acheived enough to be properly hated yet, Barton isn't significant enough to deserve to be hated by football fans, and let's face it...being hated can be a mark of achievement in football.'

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