Christmas

IT’S important to strike a balance between work and pleasure.And that applies to successful teams in the Premier League.
Leicester City’s Pacman would carry the squad’s beers in his Christmas party costume

For 5000-1 title outsiders Leicester, fun on and off the pitch went hand in hand.
In December, 2015, the East Midlanders had just beaten Swansea away 3-0, with striker Jamie Vardy equalling Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record of scoring in 11 straight Premier League games – a record he would later break.
That win put the Foxes top of the Premier League, with a huge game against champions Chelsea next up.
However, Claudio Ranieri was happy to allow his stars to fly straight from Wales to a Christmas party in Copenhagen, following their astonishing start to the season.
READ MORE SPORT NEWS
In charge of planning the party was native Dane Kasper Schmeichel.
He told BBC: “I was one of the first to arrive at the airport so I saw everyone coming down the stairs in their fancy dress costumes.
“There were people getting out of the lift with Pacman, who was Wes Morgan.
“It was brilliant because it was so big he could store his beer in the costume and he didn’t have to carry it.
Most read in Football
“Danny Drinkwater, Ben Hamer, Matty James and Andy King were dressed as Ninja Turtles and I was Mr Incredible.”
Later in the evening, the stars would party until 5am and rack up a £150,000 bill at a swanky Danish nightclub.
But first came a trip to the world’s oldest theme park, Tivoli Gardens, where some local children had no idea they were in the company of future title winners and thought Schmeichel and co were the entertainment.
Party organiser Kasper Schmeichel was dressed as Mr Incredible in the Danish capitalCredit: Alamy
Captain Wes Morgan was the man in the Pacman outfitCredit: Getty
Leicester would go on to become Premier League championsCredit: Reuters
The goalkeeper said: “Everyone thought we were part of the attractions so kids were stopping us and wanting pictures with the Ninja Turtles.
“With Copenhagen being such a small city, if something like that happens, the papers are going to find out very quickly so we had some great photos.
“There is one of Robert Huth dressed as the best Batman ever. We were sat at dinner and Huthy is sat there looking for trouble that he is going to sort out.
“If we are doing something we are going to do it properly.”
If anything though, the Danish booze-up would only serve to make the Foxes’ form on the pitch even better.
The following weekend, they beat Chelsea 2-1 – a result which brought about Jose Mourinho’s sacking as Blues boss.
And in May, Leicester would celebrate the most unlikely title in football history as Chelsea held Spurs, who were second, to a 2-2 draw.
On that evening, the Foxes players were watching the game at Vardy’s house and went as wild as expected after the final whistle.

Captain Wes Morgan, who had dressed as Pacman five months earlier, said: “The party at Vardy’s amazing. Everyone saw the celebrations, they went on into the night.
Read more on The Sun
“I think a lot of people did enjoy that little moment. [Midfielder Marcin] Wasilewski is the one to blame for that.
“Everyone lost their minds. We’d done it, so we went crazy. You can’t blame us for that.” More

IT’S the season of good cheer, and that’s been the case for Premier League footballers over the past weeks as they let loose at club Christmas parties before a huge festive fixture list.But these events can often get out of hand, as was the case with one Premier League star who ended up sacked as a result of his antics at his club’s celebrations.
Stig Tofting starred in the World Cup for Denmark and the Premier League for BoltonCredit: Getty
Tofting would then go on to fight on the undercard of an Evander Holyfield fightCredit: Getty
Denmark midfielder Stig Tofting, 54, arrived at Bolton Wanderers in 2002 with his fair share of baggage, having been given a suspended jail sentence for assault in 1999.
Then when he was on the books of Sam Allardyce’s side he was sent to prison for four months after headbutting a Copenhagen cafe owner during Denmark’s post-2002 World Cup celebrations.
That incident led to his Bolton contract being shortened and his eventual release in June 2003.
After a spell in China, Tofting moved back to his homeland and joined AGF Aarhus in 2004.
READ MORE SPORT NEWS
However, during a Christmas lunch, he was reported to have punched four of his team-mates after his shirt was ripped.
In a 2018 interview with the Daily Mail, Tofting did his best to play down the incident.
The former midfield enforcer, who was nicknamed The Lawnmower for covering every blade of grass on the field, said: “The Rumble in the Jungle? One of my team-mates tore my shirt, so we had a fight.
“There was a clause in my contract that, if I did something to harm the club, they could sack me. So they sacked me.”
Most read in Football
Tofting pictured playing for Bolton WanderersCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Tofting (centre) would end up boxing on the undercard of former undisputed heavyweight champion Evander HolyfieldCredit: Getty
Though Tofting was plagued by controversy off the pitch during his playing days, he has enjoyed a successful post-playing career as a pundit in Denmark.
And he also entered into the world of celebrity boxing.
The Dane, who won his first fight against a reality TV star in eight seconds, said: “He was nothing, my little boy could have knocked him out.”
However, in his second bout, Tofting would fight on the undercard of former undisputed heavyweight champ Evander Holyfield.
He said: “My opponent was 15 kilos heavier and he used to box.
“I knocked him down in the first round. I should have finished him, I had him.
“It went four rounds and it was a draw, my perfect record gone! But to get in that ring, it’s terrifying.”
CHILDHOOD TRAUMA
Many of Tofting’s violent outbursts may be explained by the childhood trauma of his father shooting his mother and then killing himself when he was just 13.
But today he has managed to make his peace with the horrific incident as best he can, and even now has a tattoo saying ‘No Regrets’ across his chest.
Tofting said: “I learned to live with the memory of that day.
“In that situation, I could not do anything. There were two other possibilities — if I had been at home, maybe I could have prevented it, but if not, I could have gone as well, and I wouldn’t be here now.”
Interestingly, one of the few people able to intimidate him after he endured such a tough life was ex-boss Sam Allardyce.
Tofting commented: “My first game against West Ham, we came in at half-time and he was angry.
“I remember his hands, twice as big as mine. He punched the tactics board and kicked the bag of balls. He was screaming. I liked it.
Read more on The Sun
“I was trying not to laugh, I had my mouth inside my shirt. I thought, ‘Oh f***, if he sees me he’s going to kick my a***’.
“We won 1-0! I thought, ‘I’m in the right place here’.”
Denmark were knocked out of the 2002 World Cup by England, but Tofting did manage to get David Beckham’s shirtCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
The former Bolton man knocked Dif down in the first round but failed to finish him offCredit: Getty
He would later become one of Denmark’s most prominent football punditsCredit: Getty
Sam Allardyce was one of the few people the Dane ever felt intimidated byCredit: PA More