By Chris Wright
Two peas in a pod that only a mother could love
ITV sage Andy Townsend has been speaking to the Daily Mail this morning about how he very nearly got his face torn off in a Madrid restaurant after being mistaken for Wolfgang Stark, i.e, the referee that took charge of Wednesday night’s Champions League semi-final between Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Here’s Andy with the details:
“I went into a restaurant and was eating when I noticed people looking at me. Some of them started taking pictures and then someone came and gave me a pot plant, saying, ‘This is for you’ with a funny look on his face.
“There were 10 of us around the table thinking, ‘What is going on here?’ When I stood up I got booed and when I went to the loo I got followed there and back. A waiter escorted me to my seat… I didn’t know why!
“Then people came up to me, talking aggressively in Spanish and there was a man shouting at me from the other side of the restaurant. It was all getting out of control.
“Then it dawned on me – because I still had my UEFA accreditation around my neck they thought I was the referee. To them I was Wolfgang Stark! So I had to turn around and tell them I was from English television.
“[Adrian Chiles] has started calling me Wolfie, but actually there’s a sinister edge to it. The crowd were baying for the referee’s blood.
“They totally saw the referee as the villain of the piece. That’s how Mourinho whips up a frenzy. As ITV were going off air there was actually a fight going on in front of me in the stadium — two men were exchanging blows. And these were the decent seats.
“I witnessed first-hand the effect Mourinho has on fans. I wouldn’t want to see him back in England.”
Anyone else get the feeling that there was absolutely no case of mistaken identity involved? Those frothing Madridista’s knew full-well it was the gurning fool from the tactics truck.