By Chris Wright
It began with Harry Redknapp admonishing Adel Taarabt for being “three stone overweight”.
It then continued with Taarabt posing with his relatively svelte belly on show and pretty much calling Redknapp a half-arsed liar.
Now, the ‘Arry vs Flabby’ slanging match has escalated further with Redknapp retaliating by branding the QPR midfielder the “worst professional he’s ever worked with” – and that’s saying something because this is a man who has worked with Neil Ruddock in the past.
Never one to turn down an opportunity to gob off, Redknapp told The Sun:
“The only reason he has lost weight is because he has had tonsillitis.
“That’s the only way we could get any weight off of him. He is not fit to play a game, that’s the truth.
“He is the worst professional I have ever come across and I have been his only ally at QPR for the past three years.”
“He doesn’t try and I have protected him for too long.”
Addressing the fact that Taarabt posed for a series of tasteful photos with the Daily Mail on Monday in order to prove his fitness to all and sundry, Redknapp added:
“He doesn’t want to run around. I have tried to protect him until now but the fans have to know what’s going on.
“Even I could suck my stomach in for a picture and look okay.”
Christ, we really, really don’t want to take sides here. They couldn’t just let it lie, could they? They COULD NOT let it lie.
If you’ll excuse the extravagant simile, it’s like being trapped between a stroppy Moroccan man-child and an A4 plastic wallet full of chicken livers.