Michael Johnson arrested

[Mick Head]

Since when did being a piss head get classed as a disorder?

I'm a bellend when I'm pissed so I dont drink. Its that easy.

Perhaps you should talk to somebody about it, at the moment you're just hiding from the root cause of you being a bellend. I think you might find it's not the alcohol that does that to you.

You paying then smart arse ? or could it be someone on a friday night posting on bluemoon has fuck all idea what they are talking about :)

Some people are just dicks when drunk and have no underlying issues.

If only all society's ills could be explained away so easily, it's not quite as simple as you suggest though.

 

[LoveCity]

I didn't know we got a £1million loan fee off Leicester for him, highway robbery.

Nothing big time about Michael Johnson's sorry descent
Posted by
Daniel Taylor
Saturday 2 June 2012

Michael Johnson was once hailed as a future England captain but he has failed to capitalise on his promise.

Lee Sharpe tells a story, going back to his days at Manchester United, of sitting in the canteen one day and hearing a dull, repetitive thud outside. Eventually he went out to investigate and was bemused to find Gary Neville, on his own, throwing a ball against the gym wall. "As hard as he could, over and over again," Sharpe recalls. "Practising long throws, Gary Neville's idea of fun."

Not quite. This was not Neville's idea of fun, more the realisation of what he had to do to make the best of himself. Another time, Sharpe remembers Neville abandoning a night out after his team-mates suggested they went to a nightclub. "He said he didn't like nightclubs. 'Sorry,' I said. 'Run that past me again, Gary. You don't like nightclubs? In nightclubs there's beer, decent music, women, what exactly is there not to like?' But he was insistent: 'No, I don't like nightclubs, they're not my scene.' And off he toddled."

It is easy to mock, or patronise, but only if you want to overlook the fact it was this form of dedication that helped Neville make almost 600 appearances for the club, as well as winning 85 England caps. In football, as Neville always appreciated, it needs more than just talent to sustain a career at the top. Sharpe had a different outlook and, without wishing to be cruel, his Wikipedia page now describes him as "best known for appearing in Celebrity Love Island". Or consider what has happened to Michael Johnson and, specifically, where he was supposed to be at this point in his life and what, in reality, has come of him now we are rubbernecking at what's left of his career.

Johnson is just one of countless young players to lose their way in the system, but his was an extreme case even before he spent a night in police cells earlier this week, and anyone who saw him burst on to the scene at Manchester City will understand why it is so deflating now to find his career in such a steady form of deterioration.

Yes, Johnson was 18 at the time but he played with an elegance, control and appreciation of space that left City supporters of a certain generation making comparisons with Colin Bell. "FEC", they used to call Johnson: Future England Captain.

Liverpool, the Champions League winners at the time, wanted to sign him for £10m, back in the days when that was an implausible amount of money for a teenager. One particular memory stands out: Sven-Goran Eriksson, a manager who has worked with a Who's Who of gifted footballers, holding court at the bar of the Manchester Radisson, offering a £50 bet that Johnson would play in at least one World Cup. The teenager was, according to Eriksson, the outstanding player of his age in English football.

Now 24, the midfielder has endured a cruel run of injuries since then, but there are other reasons why he has not started a league game for City for almost four years. At City they talk about someone who became "big-time" and started spending too much time in nightclubs and casinos. At times they could not understand why he was not fit to play when the medical staff could not find an obvious problem. They tell the story of being so embarrassed by his pen-pic one season – bloated, unshaven, rough – they asked the photographer to come back to take it again. The original, to quote one member of City's staff, looked "more like an Oasis roadie" than a professional sportsman.

Over time, City's coaching staff concluded Johnson simply did not have the mentality to be a footballer at the highest level. He was moved to Leicester City last year, on a season-long loan that cost the Championship club £1m, but was signed off, then sent back, by January. After that, almost nothing had been heard of him until on Thursday, at 3.50am, his Mercedes hit another car, then crashed into a wall. "Manchester City star in drink-drive arrest," the Manchester Evening News reported. He was released without being charged but Johnson has not been a "Manchester City star," in the truest sense, for a long time. He was nowhere to be seen when Roberto Mancini's team won the league, or during the open-top bus parade. His last appearance? A second-half substitute, in a Carling Cup tie against Scunthorpe, in October 2009.

Maybe it all happened too quickly. Johnson had an awful lot of exposure at an early age and, unless you are in that position, it is difficult to comprehend all the different pressures and temptations. All we can really say for certain is that it is a terrible waste. In different circumstances, this should have been the point of his career when he was established as an England player, looking forward to playing in the European Championship. England, as we have seen, are hardly spoilt for choice when it comes to central midfielders. Hypothetical now, though. Johnson signed a five-year contract in 2009, which means City are lumbered with him for the time being. They would get rid of him in a shot if they could and, beyond that, who can really say where he would be washed up? Whatever happens, it is a sorry tale about what can happen when a young footballer has the right ability but the wrong attitude – and, in the process, we are reminded again that there is nothing quite so depressing as talent going to waste.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2012/jun/02/daniel-taylor-michael-johnson?newsfeed=true" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/20 ... sfeed=true</a>

 

[jimharri]

''Oasis roadie...''

Have to admit, that caused a slight involuntary bladder leakage moment!

 

[lust overlord]

Wasted career but should still be ahead of Henderson in the England squad pecking order.

 

[Anonymous]

apologies because i can't remember who but a poster on here's son was killed by a drunk driver.

i wonder what he might think? so anyone defending the clown have a little think about that.

i hope he does time.

 

[waspish]

50k a week 5 year contract = 10m that contract was for an 18 year old set up for life got a bad injury drank and ate lost his fight and ambition! Maybe in 10 years he'll look Back and think I fucked up

 

[FantasyIreland]

I'm angry that such a clown was give such a talent and chose to waste it.

 

[paulchapo]

He is only 24.If he has recovered from his injuries and this is the wake up call he needs we could still have a heck of a player on our hands.

 

[johnny on the spot]

Daniel Taylor regurgitates Bluemoon thread. Best young sports journalist in the country.

 

[Eccles Blue]

Innocent until proven guilty anyone?

I said this on page 14:

I thought this country had the notion of innocent until proven guilty? Like most people I have no time for drinking and driving but I also have this, obviously outdated, notion of fair play and I think we should all wait until the due process has been exhausted before we condemn the lad.

Just MHO.

but obviously it is easier for people to rant on about him rather than let the process take its course and then see what happens!!