Features

Zaki given second chance

Author: Lynda Collins
Date: 24/01/2010
Football betting

Amr Zaki is back in the Premier League after joining Hull City on loan from Egyptian side Zamalek.

Football's troublemakers are back in the news following the return to England of a striker branded 'the most unprofessional footballer I have ever worked with' by Steve Bruce.

Zaki's antics at Wigan Athletic last season when he continually returned late from international duty left Bruce seething.

However, the challenging Zaki is far from alone when it comes to famous footballing troublemakers.

Can Amr Zaki help keep Hull City in the Premier League? - Latest Football Betting

Joey Barton

If you had a pound for every time Barton claimed he had reformed you'd be pretty rich by now!

The Newcastle United midfielder first made the headline when he stubbed a cigar out in a trainee's eye during a pre-season tour at former club Manchester City.

Two clashes with team-mates - the second which left Ousmane Dabo in hospital and Barton with a four-month suspended prison sentence - led to his departure from City.

He still managed to get himself involved in a brawl in Liverpool city centre in 2008 which led to him being jailed for six months for common assault and affray.

Jermaine Pennant

Pennant became the first player in Premier League history to take to the field wearing an electronic tag following a drink-driving conviction in 2005.

The warning signs were there when he was sent home from an England Under-21 tour for breaking a curfew, while Arsene Wenger soon tired of the talented teenager at Arsenal.

Lee Bowyer

The London-born midfielder was charged with affray shortly after signing for Leeds United in 1996 and then, alongside team-mate Jonathan Woodgate, he was charged with causing grievous bodily harm following an incident outside a nightclub in 2000.

Bowyer was cleared following a second trial but his career has been dogged by controversy - particularly when he picked a fight when team-mate Kieron Dyer at Newcastle during a game against Aston Villa April 2005.

Craig Bellamy

Bellamy is currently playing some of the best football of his career at Manchester City but the Wales striker is certainly no stranger to controversy.

Playing for eight different clubs by the age of 29 suggests that Bellamy is an abrasive character, but he didn't really hit the headlines until he signed for Newcastle.

Fall-outs with hard-line Magpies manager Graeme Souness and saintly captain Alan Shearer - to whom he allegedly sent abusive text messages - ended his time on Tyneside.

He moved on to Liverpool where he allegedly attacked team-mate John Arne Riise with a golf club following a row over karaoke on an overseas trip.

At City he appears to have mellowed slightly but he is never usually too far away from on-pitch flare-ups.

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