Happy days

PLANET SOCCER:WHEN Aston Villa bought Senegalese defender Habib Beye from Newcastle this summer they were also getting, as part of the package, one of the finer 'terrace' tunes of recent times.

Those who are way to young to remember the theme from Happy Days,that seminal American show that brought us the Fonz, will be at a loss to know what the fuss is about.

The rest of you - altogether now: “Sunday, Monday, Habib Beye, Tuesday, Wednesday, Habib Beye, Thursday, Friday, Habib Beye, Saturday, Habib Beye, rocking all week with you.”

Quotes of the week

“I don’t even want to think about it.”

– Manchester City fan Kirk Bradley on how he would feel if the club doesn’t win the Champions League in 2011 . . . after having his right shoulder tattooed with “Manchester City – Champions League Winners 2011”.

“Colonel Gadaffi was keen to invest in the club in the ’90s because when he grew up Burnley were a big club and he had become a fan. I thought when I heard it ‘imagine that – the BNP on the council and Gadaffi at the football club. That’s an eclectic mix for any town.”

– Burnley owner Brendan Flood on the club’s brush with Gadaffi.

“When you throw yourself into that kind of tackle there’s a chance you’re going to get sent off. He’s been in enough rodeos to know that.”

– LA Galaxy coach Bruce Arena on David ‘Buckaroo’ Beckham’s red card against Seattle Sounders.

More trouble for Ashley

AS if Newcastle owner Mike Ashley hadn’t enough troubles these days his Sports Direct clothing chain got in to a whole heap of bother last week after selling a customised T-shirt to a Manchester United fan.

The employee who took the order, presumably, didn’t realise that “96 – Not enough” referred to the number of Liverpool fans who died at Hillsborough, nor that “YSB” stood for “You Scouse B*****ds”.

To top it all, the ‘supporter’ in question posted images of the T-shirt on Facebook.

Classy stuff.

More quotes of the week

“There’s no if, buts or maybes, that was a great save. But Robbie Keane should have scored.”

– Andy “no buts” Gray on Sky Sports.

“We are glad not to be going to Turf Moor in December or January. We get the best of the pitch, which could be an advantage. There are definitely worse times to be playing Burnley.”

– John O’Shea, previewing Manchester United’s game against Burnley. Which they lost.

“Lippi passed judgment on television the other night, Capello would never have done the same in England. Nor would Del Bosque in Spain. No, they are far too intelligent to do that. I do not want to waste more time replying to the Italy coach.”

– Inter Milan manager Jose Mourinho in a monster huff after Marcello Lippi tipped Juventus to win the league.

Babel needs to sway Benitez just a little bit more

WHILE insisting that he still has absolute faith in Ryan Babel’s ability to produce the goods for Liverpool – on a consistent basis – manager Rafa Benitez gave the Dutch international a little prod last week, admitting that the €13 million man knows “he has to perform this year at a different level”.

“Sometimes players, especially Dutch players, need more time,” said Benitez.

“But now he knows what is going on here, he has to give something this year.”

One man, though, who is more than content with Babel’s form of late is hip hop artist Sway who, we think, was being complimentary when he described the footballer as “a sick rapper” last week.

Babel has made a cameo appearance on Sway’s new album and, if all goes well this season, Benitez will be able to deliver the very same verdict as Sway on the player: “The way he flips his flow is marvellous, man.”

We’d actually pay to hear Rafa say those very words.

Even more quotes of the week

“If he left everybody out of the squad who was singing that night, there’d probably be only two people in the squad – and that’s only because they didn’t know the songs we were singing”.

– Andy Reid on his Giovanni Trapattoni-imposed exile. Sometimes it helps not to know the words.

“We made Burton look like Barcelona.”

– Sammy McIlroy after his Morecambe side’s 5-2 hiccup.

“You get offered more crap than you have ever seen in your life. You say ‘look, we’re in the Premier League, not the Conference. We’re Tottenham’.”

– ’Arry Redknapp on the less than tip-top quality of players offered to Spurs in the summer.

“I am a player for AEK for the next four years and not some tradeable product. I believe that all these years I have shown to everybody that I can honour my contracts.”

– AEK Athens’ Sotiris Kyrgiakos, speaking less than a fortnight before he joined Liverpool.

“A night without a game of football on television leaves me a little bit disillusioned. England is a good country because it gets dark early in winter, you go home and you’re in an environment where you want to watch television. My wife understands my passion and is ready to pay the price.”

– We hope for Mrs Wenger’s case she’s a football fan.