Gallas Follows van Persie's Lead of Arsenal's Smoking Stars
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is rightly hailed for revolutionising the way English footballers look after their bodies.
The Arsenal manager’s influence has led to changes in diet and lifestyle which have set new standards for professionalism at Premier League clubs and beyond.
So it is a surprise (or maybe not) to learn that one of Wenger’s star performers, William Gallas was recently spotted leaving Movida nightclub with a reported ‘unlit’ cigarette in his mouth.
Wenger, who is credited with introducing a more disciplined approach to diet and lifestyle to English football, said Gallas needed to take his responsibility as a role model more seriously.
“I didn’t see the picture. I have been informed, but I don’t like that,” Wenger said Friday. “I will check that with him. He has a responsibility as captain of Arsenal Football Club. That cannot be accepted.”
Gallas is not the first Arsenal star to fall foul of the sneaky papparazi though. In December last year, Gunners striker Robin van Persie was snapped smoking a cigarette whilst departing from Amsterdam Airport.
Fellow countryman Zinedine Zidane, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov, though, have all been pictured smoking in recent years, suggesting that not all professionals have followed the prescribed course.
31-year-old Gallas has been pencilled in to start on Sunday afternoon against West Ham after recovering from a hamstring problem.
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Tut tut, All I have to say, When I am older I am never going to smoke. =]
I’m old enough to smoke and so is he. He knows what he is doing though he shouldn’t have got caught in public. End of. It is not good to smoke we all know that but as a footballer…stupid.
I’m 13, ;D
Looks like a paint shop job to me
if he wants to smoke so what
i love a fag when i get up with a cup of tea and a crumpet coated in full fat butter leave the bloke alone TOSSERS
Wenger there r more important tins 2 talk about,like wot he does ‘on pitch’ rather than ‘off pitch’
who’s the chick?
Why is he in a LHD car? That’s what I want to know!
Doesn’t even look like Gallas.
There is no chance Gallas will ever be left alone because he is violently hated by lots of stupid fans, even the more reasoned fans seem to hate him at the moment.
Where was the hate for van Persie when he was caught smoking?
so what, his Mrs looks likw she is bending his ear so he is having a cigarette to ease the stress, sure he is responsible enough not be chuffing every hour.
There was no hate shown towards Van Persie because his mistakes on field dont cost us points. Oh and RvP isnt generally hated anyway.
Zidane was only spotted smoking towards the end of his career. Hopefully Gallas will follow suit and leave us.
Arsène Wenger has both a “moral and physical’ objection to footballers smoking but also admits that he used to have the odd cigarette himself years ago to relieve the pressures of being a young coach.
The issue is in the news after pictures of William Gallas appeared in an English newspaper on Friday morning. It was showed the Arsenal captain with an unlit cigarette in his hand.
At his Friday press conference, Wenger said he would be asking the 31-year-old about the story. But, he recalled, it was part of football culture in France years ago.
“Smoking has both a physical and moral impact [on a player],” he said. “But there is smoking and then there is smoking. You did get players who’d smoke 40 cigarettes a day but now it is much less.
“When I was a player, nobody would ever tell you that you should not smoke. We were driving home in coaches where you had to open the windows in winter to see each other.
“I never smoked a lot and never when I played. But when I became a young coach I had an assistant who smoked and, at 3am in the morning when you have lost a big game, I might have one.”
Straight from Arsenal.com.
Ecigs are the way to go if you really want to stop smoking or if you want a healthy alternative to smoking.