Ferguson slams Carra Tackle

[RedSince1964]

**** him- **** the horse he came in on - **** his team - **** his club- **** nani- **** nani"s team mates - **** the surgeon who stitched nani up .
Hate the cunt - end of.

[Mostar]

I cannot say that I expected anything else from the red nose.

Interesting he didn't find have a word to say about Rafael's hideous tackle...

[BubbaZanetti]

Stewart Downing reveals his far from extravagant lifestyle to court

• The Aston Villa midfielder's ex-agent on charges of fraud
• Downing claims £600,000 went missing from a bank account



* Rob Bagchi
* guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 March 2011 20.59 GMT


A home cinema appears to be about as bling as Stewart Downing's spending got during his days at Middlesbrough. Photograph: Rex Features

Stewart Downing, the Aston Villa and England midfielder, was forced to disclose how he spends his income to York crown court on the second day of the trial of his former agent. Ian Elliott, whose former clients include Paul Gascoigne, represented Downing from 2001 until he was sacked in 2008. He has denied four counts of fraud. Downing was in the youth team at Middlesbrough when introduced to his agent by Chris Waddle. "I relied on him to do most things on the business side. I then discovered a lot of money missing," Downing told the jury.

The court was told how Elliott allegedly withdrew substantial sums from the Stewart Downing Promotions bank account to prop up his struggling businesses. The Villa midfielder said more than £2m had been paid into it while he was at the Riverside and detailed some of the spending he had authorised when cross-examined by Elliott's barrister.

If the defence counsel had intended the jury to be shocked by Downing's luxurious tastes, the list was a disappointment. Faustino Asprilla had spent a large amount of his salary when at Newcastle in amusement arcades and at the Metro Centre's Disney Store. William Gallas, more conventionally, paid £350,000 for a McLaren Mercedes. Manchester United's Nani has invested a proportion of his wages in a life-size marble statue of himself while Downing's Villa team-mate Stephen Ireland has a passion for aquariums, candy-coloured soft furnishings and car accessories. Downing, in contrast, has more modest tastes by modern Premier League bling standards. The £136,000 he got through may be eye-watering to most but was spent on the kind of home improvements that were more Sarah Beeny than Djibril Cissé.

His home cinema cost £45,000, an extension £30,000, a walk-in dressing room £6,000, a new bathroom £6,000 and a conservatory £45,000. He also made gifts to family members totalling about £180,000 and told the jury that even after this expenditure the account should still have had £600,000 to £700,000 in it. His accountants, however, discovered only £11,000 left in it. Downing, understood to have been paid a weekly salary of about £35,000 at Boro, said: "If you look at the money that had gone out, there should have been more than £11,000."

Robin Patton, defending Elliott, replied: "That's if you know what you are doing with your money."

Whether he did or not, the Pallister Park council estate boy could not be accused of sharing some of his colleagues' Louis XIV-style profligacy. You could hardly see Hello! or OK wetting their lips over a conservatory, however nice the cushions. The trial continues.


Now that's disgraceful - enough to make a grown man cry

[alunevans]

Stewart Downing reveals his far from extravagant lifestyle to court

• The Aston Villa midfielder's ex-agent on charges of fraud
• Downing claims £600,000 went missing from a bank account



* Rob Bagchi
* guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 March 2011 20.59 GMT


A home cinema appears to be about as bling as Stewart Downing's spending got during his days at Middlesbrough. Photograph: Rex Features

Stewart Downing, the Aston Villa and England midfielder, was forced to disclose how he spends his income to York crown court on the second day of the trial of his former agent. Ian Elliott, whose former clients include Paul Gascoigne, represented Downing from 2001 until he was sacked in 2008. He has denied four counts of fraud. Downing was in the youth team at Middlesbrough when introduced to his agent by Chris Waddle. "I relied on him to do most things on the business side. I then discovered a lot of money missing," Downing told the jury.

The court was told how Elliott allegedly withdrew substantial sums from the Stewart Downing Promotions bank account to prop up his struggling businesses. The Villa midfielder said more than £2m had been paid into it while he was at the Riverside and detailed some of the spending he had authorised when cross-examined by Elliott's barrister.

If the defence counsel had intended the jury to be shocked by Downing's luxurious tastes, the list was a disappointment. Faustino Asprilla had spent a large amount of his salary when at Newcastle in amusement arcades and at the Metro Centre's Disney Store. William Gallas, more conventionally, paid £350,000 for a McLaren Mercedes. Manchester United's Nani has invested a proportion of his wages in a life-size marble statue of himself while Downing's Villa team-mate Stephen Ireland has a passion for aquariums, candy-coloured soft furnishings and car accessories. Downing, in contrast, has more modest tastes by modern Premier League bling standards. The £136,000 he got through may be eye-watering to most but was spent on the kind of home improvements that were more Sarah Beeny than Djibril Cissé.

His home cinema cost £45,000, an extension £30,000, a walk-in dressing room £6,000, a new bathroom £6,000 and a conservatory £45,000. He also made gifts to family members totalling about £180,000 and told the jury that even after this expenditure the account should still have had £600,000 to £700,000 in it. His accountants, however, discovered only £11,000 left in it. Downing, understood to have been paid a weekly salary of about £35,000 at Boro, said: "If you look at the money that had gone out, there should have been more than £11,000."

Robin Patton, defending Elliott, replied: "That's if you know what you are doing with your money."

Whether he did or not, the Pallister Park council estate boy could not be accused of sharing some of his colleagues' Louis XIV-style profligacy. You could hardly see Hello! or OK wetting their lips over a conservatory, however nice the cushions. The trial continues.


Now that's disgraceful - enough to make a grown man cry

Aquariums? Isn't the correct Latin aquaria?

[Neil Young]

Yeah but we don't speak Latin.

'Referendums' is now regarded as a perfectly acceptable to 'referenda'. Same principle.

[Exiled_red]

Manchester United's Nani has invested a proportion of his wages in a life-size marble statue of himself

WTF seriously?? This has to be made up

[Mostar]

WTF seriously?? This has to be made up

No it is not.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/mar/08/stewart-downing-lifestyle-court-agent

[McDermotX]

WTF seriously?? This has to be made up

Amazingly not.......he has it dressed up in his scum strip and has all his medals draped around it, by all accounts. Normally can't trust everything you read, but I'd believe that.

It is unconfirmed if he's taken a chunk out of it's left shin.

[Leyton388]

He's a gob****e of the highest order and the sooner he ****s off out of footbal the better. The man has no class.

[PaddyPool]

Does the statue cry . Jamies tackles bring a tear to a glass eye .

[yamiedo]

and what about Rafael's tackle?

[Red_Polo]

Apparently Nani will be in the squad for them midweek.

[Lou]

Yeah he claimed Nani would be out for 4 weeks was it? or something like that anyway and hes suddenly fit enough for the Marseille game

[kop-al-74]

I can't stand the man at all,infact I can't even respect his achievements ****ing prick.

[Shaggy]

Love the headline

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/

"Nani set for comeback"

No ****, his cut didn't keep him out for more than one game.