Football's nicest guy

Pique

fozz10 wrote: »

look it up. it would of cost him money the because government there wanted tax from his other incomes worldwide if he was paid his wages there

So he obviously knew that (his agent and accountants would have known) before taking the PSG contract. Therefore he knowingly went and played and risked injury while at the same time going to work and trained hard (as anyone will say he's the consummate professional and never shirks duties due to his fame) for no monetary reward.

Quite the contrary, he went to play for the success of the team and the financial benefit of a children's hospital.

That makes him an even nicer guy IMO.

fozz10

LiamoSail wrote: »

It was something along the lines of had he taken the salary, he'd have been liable for tax on his world wide income at French rates, in addition to his PSG salary. With the high income tax rates in France, and his level of foreign earned income, it'd have been a substantial tax liability

As you say though, irrespective of motivation, it was great that a children's hospital got what they did. Beckham has always come across as a decent guy IMO

well it was either the hospital or the government got money from his familys income. so he doesnt deserve credit for imho. but each to there own and all that

LiamoSail

fozz10 wrote: »

well it was either the hospital or the government got money from his familys income. so he doesnt deserve credit for imho. but each to there own and all that

He could have simply not gone to France and retired, or gone to another country with lower income tax rates. He deserves credit for it IMO

fozz10

meh. dont think much of him myself.

gustavo

Joey Ndo

764dak

It is hard to know who is the nicest guy since you don't know every player.

Anyway, Balotelli is a nice guy.
"Mario Balotelli Confronts School Bully, Confirms Reputation as Extremely Nice Guy" http://www.caughtoffside.com/2011/05/11/mario-balotelli-confronts-school-bully-confirms-reputation-as-extremely-nice-guy/
http://metro.co.uk/2011/05/10/mario-balotelli-takes-truant-boy-back-to-school-and-gives-bullies-ticking-off-6389/

Frankie Lee

Duff wrote: »

Buffon comes across as very likeable.

A fascist I thought.

COYW

I have met a good few players. Steve Finnan and Kevin Kilbane were really nice lads. Paul Mc Grath is a gent too. Ex-Liverpool defender Stephane Henchoz was a very decent fella and came across as being a very smart guy, not your stereotypical footballer.

As football people go, Sir Bobby Robson was an utter gent. The man oozed class. It was impossible not to like him.

Kirby

764dak wrote: »

It is hard to know who is the nicest guy since you don't know every player.

Anyway, Balotelli is a nice guy.
"Mario Balotelli Confronts School Bully, Confirms Reputation as Extremely Nice Guy" http://www.caughtoffside.com/2011/05/11/mario-balotelli-confronts-school-bully-confirms-reputation-as-extremely-nice-guy/
http://metro.co.uk/2011/05/10/mario-balotelli-takes-truant-boy-back-to-school-and-gives-bullies-ticking-off-6389/

He did an interview with sky....I believe it was with one of the Gallagher brothers as they are big City fans....and Balotelli confirmed that nearly all the stories were made up. The driving around in a santa hat giving out money, confronting bullies, etc. All fabrications.

Pique

COYW wrote: »

I have met a good few players. Steve Finnan and Kevin Kilbane were really nice lads. Paul Mc Grath is a gent too. Ex-Liverpool defender Stephane Henchoz was a very decent fella and came across as being a very smart guy, not your stereotypical footballer.

As football people go, Sir Bobby Robson was an utter gent. The man oozed class. It was impossible not to like him.

Glad to hear Henchoz was nice. He was my favourite pool player at the time.

As for Sir Bobby, well what did you expect?

dd972

Gianfranco Zola's always comes across well, as does Gareth Bale in today's game whereas Michael Owen always came across as smug and Wayne Rooney on £300K a week always looks like he's discovered a dog relieving itself against his leg.

Corholio

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Did he not play for Rangers ?
Surely that rules him out ?

Twas the brother.

ricero

Brendan rodgers seems a nice bloke

CSF

Ron Atkinson

snowblind

Frankie Lee wrote: »

A fascist I thought.

I've heard this kind of accusations´on Buffon before, but haven't found anything incriminating, quite the opposite.

CSF

Marcel Desailly

Corholio

Met Dean Richards a good few years ago at Heathrow airport, not long after he had joined Spurs from Southampton. I had never met any known footballer ever before and was quite nervous to go to ask him for an autograph. But I did and he was an absolutely sound guy, asked me if I was a Spurs supporter, I said no and he pretended to cross out, as a joke, the autograph he had just signed. Ended up chatting to him for about 5 or 6 minutes.

When he passed away in 2011, I genuinely felt a sadness as he seemed a decent guy.

Xavi6

snowblind wrote: »

Never heard anything but great stuff about Del Piero - playing Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght all the other players left the pitch after the whistle but he stayed to chat and sign stuff for kids. At least that's what I've heard, didn't get to the match myself.

Top bloke. Met him last year and did the whole photo/signed jersey thing and I've no problem admitting I was a bit giddy.

He's getting a nice pay packet to play in the A-League but he could have gone with the can't be arsed approach to the off field stuff. Instead, he signs every autograph, poses with every kid, and hangs around for ages after every game to do so. Seems like a truly down to earth, family man.

It's nice when a childhood hero doesn't disappoint in person.

LiamoSail

snowblind wrote: »

I've heard this kind of accusations´on Buffon before, but haven't found anything incriminating, quite the opposite.

I think it stems from him wearing a certain tshirt in a post match interview in his Parma days. He's always denied the accusation

The_Kew_Tour

Des Walker, Chris Bart Williams, Paul McGrath, Kevin Kilbane, Mal Donaghy, Paul Scholes.

All were sound. Never got chat with Ronaldo, but did see him do few class things one especially stands out after semi final of FA Cup against Watford in 07 at Villa. Mentioned it before in another thread.

764dak

Kirby wrote: »

He did an interview with sky....I believe it was with one of the Gallagher brothers as they are big City fans....and Balotelli confirmed that nearly all the stories were made up. The driving around in a santa hat giving out money, confronting bullies, etc. All fabrications.

Thank you for informing me. Football and sports journalism is so rubbish.

Fr Tod Umptious

COYW wrote: »

As football people go, Sir Bobby Robson was an utter gent. The man oozed class. It was impossible not to like him.

If boards.ie was around in 1990 there would be loads on here hating the guy for bringing England to a semi final of Italia 90.

It's only when he stopped being England manger that people got to respect him I noticed

SweepTheLeg

Makélélé!

I jumped for joy when he finally got his Chelsea goal, and I don't even support them.

elefant

Steve Simonsen

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055630284

Jelle1880

snowblind wrote: »

I've heard this kind of accusations´on Buffon before, but haven't found anything incriminating, quite the opposite.

There's that time he was wearing a jersey with a fascist slogan on it during an interview though

But in general Buffon comes across as a true professional, he is liked by pretty much all fans of other Italian teams (which is quite the feat given how much they hate each other) and by all accounts a genuine good guy.

rob316

The footballers I have met have seemed fairly sound. Dieter hamann was a absolute gent, he even asked me what I do for a living, we just laughed when I said it was far less interesting than your job.nice guy.
I was a caddy on a charity golf course once loads of ex footballers of who I met peter schiemcel was the stand out guy really really sound. He joked asking for a new caddy as I was a liverpool fan.
Saw john terry once at a london airport seemed a great bloke with the fans signed absolutely everything, joked and chatted with fans of all ages for atleast 30 mins.

ROCKMAN

IF its true (could be myth) that both Alan Smith and Gary Lineker were never booked in their careers then surely this would put them right up there as " Football's nicest guys " Well at least on the pitch ..

maximoose

Gus Poyet.

Always comes across a true gent when dealing with the media, especially that horrific bbc incident.

srfc19

bohsboy wrote: »

Packie bonner was one of the rudest. As they say, you should never meet your heroes.

We met him before flying out to the Italy Cup a few years ago (Must be nearly 10 years now, where does the time go?)
He seemed nice, happy to chat and gave us some advice on penalties!

He must have mellowed with old age!

cintec

elefant wrote: »

Steve Simonsen

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055630284

save a bit of time

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=61827366&postcount=172

padd b1975

Fabrice Muamba, a classy and dignified guy considering the hand he was dealt.

justshane

cintec wrote: »

save a bit of time

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=61827366&postcount=172

Actually, If anyone has the time and never read that whole thread, I'd advise them to take the time and do it. Spent 10mins reading it and found it very interesting!

geeky

maximoose wrote: »

Gus Poyet.

Always comes across a true gent when dealing with the media, especially that horrific bbc incident.

He's one of my all-time favourite players and seems very sound, but he's perfectly capable of going off the deep end - witness the hilariously angry email he sent after Brighton's play-off loss, and the way things went down there don't cover anyone in glory.

I think almost every footballer is capable of being a decent guy on their day - even John Terry does a shed-load of autographs and charity work, ditto Suarez. For what it's worth, I always liked Steve Bruce, even though I despise utd.

Barr

Juan Mata – great footballer and comes across as really genuine and humble guy.

Sir Gallagher

After reading Graeme Le Saux's article about the sh1te he had to put up with during his career, i would say him. Not only does he seem like a nice guy, but also very inteligent.

On reading the same article, Robbie Fowler went right down in my estimation which is a shame as he was my favourite player when i was a kid.

rightyabe

Celtics Jimmy McGuinness

Will I Amnt

maximoose wrote: »

Gus Poyet.

Always comes across a true gent when dealing with the media, especially that horrific bbc incident.

Can't stand him myself, I think he's a detestable little man. I would have expected his name to pop up in the other thread that got locked, crazy how opinions can differ so much :pac:

weldoninhio

Met Liam Lawrence, Darren Gibson and Dean Kiely out one night, would have been during an international friendlys week. Kiely wasn't even in the squad if i remember correctly. Just out for a few beers with his mates who were. They spent ages giving autographs, getting in pictures, having a chat with anyone who came up to them. They seemed genuinely nice and friendly.

On the other hand, there was Leon Best, who was also with them. What a rude, ignorant, billy big time that lad was. I was standing facing the dancefloor with a few friends when i got a tap on the shoulder. I turned around and he said, "you have to move from there". I asked why, and he replied, "because i can't see the dance-floor from where i'm sitting with you standing there". He even cracked out the "do you know who i am line". I did, but i said no.

Eventually after a bit of pushing, stared by him after i refused to move, (he's a big lad by the way) a few bouncers came over to see what was going on. I presumed i was gonna be asked to leave to accommodate the "star" who was with the Irish football team.

The bouncers spoke to him to get his side, then came to me to get my side. When i told them what happened, they said don't mind him, stay where you are, he's been annoying people all night.

It was such a contrast from a group of people in the one group.

wandatowell

John Hartson is meant to be great craic.

dreamers75

wandatowell wrote: »

John Hartson is meant to be great craic.

Berkovic may disagree :pac:

Cienciano

snowblind wrote: »

Never heard anything but great stuff about Del Piero - playing Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght all the other players left the pitch after the whistle but he stayed to chat and sign stuff for kids. At least that's what I've heard, didn't get to the match myself.

Couple of journalists on off the ball said that pretty much everyone in Italy likes him, supposed to be dead sound.

dreamers75 wrote: »

Berkovic may disagree :pac:

Hartson comes across well in interviews, and from what I've heard pretty much the whole team wanted to do the same thing to Berkovic

Ulysses Gaze

Damiano Tomassi - Does a lot for charity and even spent the off-season helping to build housing for poor immigrants to Italy. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/nov/06/football.italy

Alessandro Del Piero - Just seems like a gent

Dirk Kuyt - He just comes across as a humble guy. Also set up the 'Dirk Kuyt Foundation' which is designed to help disabled people enjoy sport.

Diego Forlan - Again seems like a nice bloke and I was delighted for him that he bounced back from leaving Utd to doing so well. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/416189-alejandra-forlan-uruguay-star-diegos-sister-is-his-inspiration

PropJoe10

Antonio Di Natale, for financially supporting the disabled sister of Piermario Morosini.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/serie-a/9206293/Udinese-captain-Antonio-Di-Natale-to-look-after-disabled-sister-of-Piermario-Morosini-following-players-death.html

Frankie Lee

Lilian Thuram would be worth a mention, was an excellent professional and has done a lot of good work opposing fascism and racism.
www.theguardian.com/sport/2007/mar/04/football.newsstory

Liam McPoyle

CR7 for me tbh.

Donates €1.5m to kids in Gaza

Global Ambassador for Save the Children

Red Cross Ambassador

Paid for a 9 year olds cancer treatment, donated £100k to build a cancer treatment centre, raised money for victims of the Indonesian tsumani. Hero.

Apparently really nice to fans too.

Imo alot of people love to hate him and dont give him the respect he deserves because of the United connection which is pretty damn sad.

elefant

Coleman Slawski wrote: »

CR7 for me tbh.

Donates €1.5m to kids in Gaza

Global Ambassador for Save the Children

Red Cross Ambassador

Paid for a 9 year olds cancer treatment, donated £100k to build a cancer treatment centre, raised money for victims of the Indonesian tsumani. Hero.

Apparently really nice to fans too.

Imo alot of people love to hate him and dont give him the respect he deserves because of the United connection which is pretty damn sad.

I don't think it's because of the United connection that people love to hate him!

Jimmy Iovine

Not at the level of some of the guys on here but I liked this from Neymar.

How ridiculous does it look to have two security guards escorting a 7-year old off of a pitch?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0bf2GHLoOc

vcshqkf9rpzgoe

He's 22 and an absolute legend

Corholio

Alonzo Thousands Treasury wrote: »

He's 22 and an absolute legend

He made 'plenty' from his Barca move to be pretty content, bloody well should be sound :pac:

Jesus Wept

Phil Babb