To avoid playing: City star faked the death of BOTH grandmothers | OneFootball

In a popular fan chant, the fictional death of one's own grandmother is sung as an excuse. However, it is used to be able to attend a football match. In the following story, this excuse was used to attempt the opposite—with embarrassing consequences.

Stephen Ireland was considered a promising talent in British football in the mid-2000s. The technically skilled midfielder was one of the bright spots in the Manchester City team, which was considered mediocre in the Premier League until the takeover by investors from Abu Dhabi.

However, a far from stellar moment for the fine technician occurred in September 2007. The Irishman was supposed to help his national team fight for important points against the Czech Republic for qualification for the 2008 European Championship. Ireland skipped the game, claiming his maternal grandmother had passed away.

The said Patricia Tallon was in excellent health and was shocked to read about her own death in the newspaper. Her grandson quickly backtracked and corrected himself: A mistake, it was actually his paternal grandmother who had died.

📸 MICHAL CIZEK - 2007 AFP

Unfortunately, this story also turned out to be a lie shortly thereafter. As reported by the 'Guardian' at the time, family members of Brenda Kitchener were so outraged by the brazen deception that they "threatened at least one newspaper with legal consequences."

Time for the truth at last? Not with Stephen Ireland, who added another twist. He quickly changed the story a second time. It was not his other grandmother, but the partner of his divorcing grandfather who was no longer alive. This also turned out to be a lie.

Already dismissed as "stupid" by his club coach Sven-Göran Eriksson, the creative Ireland saw no way out. He finally revealed the truth. In reality, he had visited his "lonely" girlfriend back home. Under the pretense of the grandmother lie, he had even tried to negotiate a longer stay in Ireland with Eriksson.

📸 AFP - 2007 AFP

In a two-page apology letter, the then 20-year-old asked for forgiveness. He partly blamed his girlfriend Jessica for the origin of his misconduct. She had recently suffered a miscarriage and invented the dead grandmother story so her boyfriend could come to her more quickly. 

Whether this was really the whole truth could not be verified, and Eriksson summed up what many felt: "Whatever your problem is, stick to the truth. Don't tell lies, that's stupid."

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 Michael Regan - 2009 Getty Images