And so another bout of footballing sleaze hit out newspapers. From The Sun to The Times, pages are filled with the goings on of the Manchester United hedonistic christmas party and the alleged rape of one of the woman who attended.
Let me see if I can break it all down.
Manchester United defender Jonny Evans, 19 went on an all day bender with most of his team-mates
According to the Mail the day started with lunch " £19.50-a-head set meal of salmon followed by roast turkey with apricot and pistachio stuffing and completed with a dessert of baked white cheesecake, washed down with vodka and champagne.
So far, so restrained. But the atmosphere became markedly more giddy with the arrival of the post-prandial entertainment - two transvestite cabaret artistes and five burlesque dancers clad in little more than feather boas."
Classy.
Anyway, after lunch the roving lads hit The Old Grapes pub and continued to drink heavily until 9:30pm.
Then the team headed off -briefly- to a lap dancing club and then on to the next venue, I'll let the Sun take it away here.
"They turned up at the hotel [The Great John Street hotel] where the champagne was flowing.
Each United player had been allowed to take a set number of guests.
The swanky venue, where rooms cost between £235 and £395, was hired exclusively for the party by the Premier League soccer giants.
Nearly 100 girls were there, some of whom had travelled hundreds of miles to attend.
One male guest said: “I spoke to one stunner who had come up from London and another who had travelled from Newcastle.
“They were gorgeous — it was wall-to-wall babes. Most were aged between 18 and 30 and some were throwing themselves at the players.
“The booze was really flowing. Waitresses were handing out pink champagne to whoever wanted it. And the players seemed to be knocking back beer, vodka and whisky.” The guest described the do as a “great party”
Right, sounds terrific.
Let's see what The Times can add.
"One guest, who asked not to be named, described the scene as a “pulling joint”. “It was a bit of a rough crowd. A lot of the guests were not the type you would normally associate with a United party. It seemed a lot of guys were looking for women, looking for sex. They were trying it on with different women — there was a lot of sexual banter going on. The girls were scantily dressed, not in their normal jeans, but in short skirts.
“A lot of women were falling over after a couple of drinks. By 3am to 4am you could sense a lot of sexual situations were going to take place.”
There were also several scuffles on the dancefloor but these were dismissed as drunken males simply being “loud and mouthy”. There have been suggestions that the girls were handpicked by a small number of trusted women close to the players. Most appeared to have been recruited from the Manchester club scene.
“A lot of girls appeared to have been picked because they knew somebody who knew somebody,” one guest said. “A lot of the girls I have seen around the Sugar Lounge or Living Room, basically in the scene.”
I wonder what scene that is?
And then, the inevitable happens, too much drink, too much everything, The Mail reports..
At 2am Danny Simpson was reportedly involved in a fight on the dance floor with another male guest and had to be dragged away by security staff.
Some of the men present were also said to be getting more aggressive in their approaches to female guests. Witnesses claimed one tearful woman said that she had been repeatedly harassed for sex by a player.
"It was horrible," she said. "The guy had been pestering me and my friends for ages trying to get us up to a bedroom. I kept telling him No but he just wouldn't take it.
"He was really drunk as were the rest of them. Then he just grabbed me and started to drag me away from the main area towards the toilets." A security guard again intervened and released the girl, who said: "I was so relieved. I was in tears. The players were treating girls like pieces of meat."
Another girl concurred: "It was like a horrendous cattle market," she said. "I like the United players but they were out of control.
"They were treating girls like pieces of meat. We got special invites but if we ever get asked again there is no way we would go."
Another woman was seen sobbing: "I can't believe it. Someone forced themselves on me. I want him chucked out."
The following day Johnny Evans (19) is arrested having presented himself to police. He had just flown into Manchester Airport following a day-trip to Monaco. He is charged with the rape of-depending on which paper you read- a barmaid or a glamour model.
So there you have it, a complete and utter recipe for disaster, fame, money, sense of entitlement, drinks, star-struck girls, testosterone, stupidity, aggression, more drink, one-upmanship, stir together and you get lives and reputations ruined.
I deplore this kind of macho swaggering and posturing, but likewise I deplore it when women allow themselves to be used as the entertainment at these sorts of functions. What the hell possesses them to go and be pawed over, judged and 'treated as cattle'. Why do they attend? Why the hell do young men have to act like a pack of thugs when they're together?
Honestly the whole sordid thing made my nose wrinkle this morning. Disgusting behaviour all round. The players acted like little demi-gods, and I don't understand how any of them can seriously hold their heads up after their shenanigans.
Women need to stop selling themselves short too. What the hell makes them go to these things, drunk young men, no wives or girlfriends, it can only mean one thing. And I know fine well pulling a player a chance at selling a bedding story to the New of The World is on the cards. But Jesus, is this what women aspire to?
Ugh, the whole thing is a nasty big ulcer that has been well and truly lanced all over the media this week. But you can bet your last Euro it won't be long before it scabs over and is forgotten about again.
Labels: Sleazy does it.
