Stankovic woe reaches new low
Friday 01 August 2008 15:45
It’s not much fun being Dejan Stankovic at
the moment; well it can’t have been fun for some time in fact.
A Roberto Mancini loyalist, a hoax call
sacking him, facing the wreath of Juventus fans and a firm favourite of a war
criminal defendant: just a few of the downers landing at poor Stan’s feet over
the past few months.
But the nadir has to be in the form of an
article in well-respected daily Il
Corriere dello Sera that Europe’s most-wanted man Radovan Karadzic used to spend many an enjoyable
evening in Rome’s Olympic Stadium and the San Siro watching his hero.
Things can only get better, right?
Karadzic’s nephew broke the news that his
uncle was a big fan of Stankovic and fellow Serbian Sinisa Mihajlovic, and
liked nothing better to slip off to watch the pair at Lazio and then at Inter.
“He was a big footballer follower and he
went to games at Lazio and then Inter in 2004 to watch his idols Sinisa
Mihajlovic and Dejan Stankovic,” claimed Dragan Karadzic.
What the pair make of this is anyone’s
guess but for the latter he must think someone has it in for him.
As one Mancini’s biggest cheerleaders his
future at Inter was always going to shaky and when Jose Mourinho showed up, the
ground must have given away under his feet.
His fragile ego caved in during a relaxing
afternoon at the beach when he received a phone call from whom he thought was
Massimo Moratti, who explained that he was no longer part of the club’s plans.
Bystanders claim that the player then broke
down in tears before it was revealed that a radio station had been playing a hoax
to pass an idle summer afternoon.
He hardly had time to recover from that little
ruse before it was leaked to the press that he was his the way to Juventus.
Juve’s notorious Viking ultras made their
feelings known during the first pre-season training session, unveiling a banner
which read: “You spat on our faith … you’ll never set foot in Juventus … you’re
not worthy Stankovic.”
They had not forgotten or forgiven the fact
that our man had been set to join the Old Lady from Lazio before changing his
mind and following Mancini to Inter or that he had been one of the Bianconeri’s
biggest critics during the Calciopoli
scandal.
Karadzic: Europe’s most-wanted man a big fan
Mourinho certainly hasn’t made things any
easier, claiming the 29-year-old is a shadow of the player he was at Lazio.
He fed the Belgrade native to
the Turin hordes during Tuesday’s TIM Trophy: first bringing him on as a
substitute against Juve, only to substitute him 12 minutes later, much to
the glee of the locals.
Could things get any worse for poor Stan?
Well, Claudio Ranieri rates him and Mourinho rates Tiago. Swap deal anyone?
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About Richard Whittle
Despite the name,
Richard Whittle is so at home in Italy that some call him Riccardo Rossi. He has lived and worked in Italy for the last 15 years as a football journalist and works as Italian soccer commentator for the English-speaking world covering Serie A, Champions League, Europa League and Italian Cup matches as well as Italy internationals. With Paul Visca, Richard concocts the regular
Calcio & Coffee podcast.