On Sunday presenter Darragh Moloney felt obliged or was advised to apologise for a turning slip of the tongue by Graeme Souness – who estimates that Liverpool around could cost £1 billion – In previewing Serbia versus Ghana he observed that Manchester United stopper Nemanja Vidic “has been great, except for that one time when he was raped…..sorry….taken apart by Torres.”
Sure, it could happen to a Bishop – though imagine if he’d said it on his other ‘pay station’, BSkyB. Richard Keys would have stopped breathing on the spot. What Souness uttered is part of the normal vernacular – Ron Atkinson it wasn’t, and thankfully the PC Police haven’t been on his case. (Speaking of prudish, I once had a boss who refused to put an advert for Rape Seed Oil in the paper in case it caused offence.)
The suave Scot is much more relaxed when on RTÉ, encouraged by the banter between Stadler and Waldorf (The Muppet Show, remember?). In an earlier run-through the managers, Johnny described interim Ivory Coast coach Sven as “a total spoofer” while Eamo remarked that Eriksson was run out of Mexico because “the players didn’t like him – he started pulling their birds.” Only in Ireland. And aren’t we lucky.
