Such is his wont, Danny Mills has gone in hard on Robert Pires and accused the French winger of being solely responsible for introducing diving to English football when he pitched up at Arsenal.
Wibbling on in his Times column, Mills parped:
It is true that there was no love lost between me and Pires. I spent many years playing against him as a right back, for Leeds and Man City, and we had what might be called a fractious relationship.
I will always remember him as the player who, in my view, really brought diving into the English game; his habit of throwing himself to the ground without any provocation always infuriated me.
Now, it should be noted that while Pires was hardly averse to flopping under minimal duress, the man actually responsible for introducing the outrageous dive to the English game was none other than Francis Lee – as can be seen in this damning swatch of footage from 1971…
Think again Danny, you simpering gimp.