Mr Sick Note

Last updated : 14 October 2005 By Footy Mad - Editor

The Top Ten Sporting sicknotes in the history of sport sees Newcastle's old central defender Elena Marcelino come in at Number Ten:

Career length: (at Newcastle) June 1999 to January 2003.
Key injuries: Broken finger - yes, really!
Time out of action: Six months while at Newcastle United.

Despite being the lesser known of his injury-prone contemporaries, Marcelino deserves a mention in our top 10 list on the merit of an injury he picked up while at Newcastle.

The Spanish centre-back's most high-profile, and hilarious, problem was a finger injury which ruled him out of competitive football for six months and during his whole time at the club he only managed to play 19 out of 95 games for the Magpies. The one-time Spanish international appeared happy enough to make the odd reserve team appearance while seemingly waiting for the next cold or nasty headache to strike.

Then Newcastle manager Bobby Robson was not amused, unsurprisingly so given that Marcelino was costing the club around £700,000 per competitive appearance in fees and wages, and was so keen to rid the club of the man with the broken finger that he offered him on-loan to anyone that wanted him.

Marcelino eventually left after the club paid up his contract, saying: "The fans called me a thieving Spaniard and a gypsy who was robbing the club's cash!"

How he kept a straight face we don't know, but chairman Freddie Shepherd fired right back: "They say you should only say good things about people, so I'll say this, he's gone - good!"