Andy Townsend Mistaken For Clasico Referee, Nearly Beaten Senseless In Madrid

Chris Wright

29th, April 2011

3 Comments

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.

Posted in Media, Real Madrid

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3 Comments

  1. VAns says:

    Why is he blaming mourinho, he had a go more at barca than the ref. Also dont you think they would have still been pissed off regardless of mourinho

  2. DJ says:

    Completely agree with the last sentence in the article, they knew it was Townsend and that’s why they kicked off, not mistaken identity haha.

  3. Tom Jones says:

    Townsend deserves a beating

Leave a Reply to DJ