not compared with this bloke anyway! Three broken ribs and a punctured lung. Any of our Stateside Toonsters see this?

BLACKBURN ROVERS target Mamadou Diallo of Tampa Bay Mutiny was involved in a shock challenge with Metro Stars goalkeeper Mike Ammann that has left the keeper in hospital with three broken ribs and a punctured lung. Souness, who was no stranger to a bit of physical engagement during his time as a player, is reportedly interested in bringing the Senegal striker, nicknamed 'Big Mama' to Ewood Park after having him watched on a number of occasions.

Diallo, who stands at 6'2" and weighs in at 190lb, went to see the injured Ammann in hospital the day after the challenge, but reportedly had his apology rejected by the custodian, who is now set to miss the rest of the season.

Metro stars general manager Nick Sakiewicz had no sympathy for the striker, saying: "That guy should be in jail, not on a soccer field.

"I have been in that situation hundreds of times as a player," he added. "Any good forward pulls out and jumps over the keeper. The player made no attempt to do that and kept running."

-- Anonymous, August 22, 2000

Answers

A clip of the incident was shown during the Revs game on Saturday. Hard to say if it was intentional or just very careless. I think the latter. He one of those very enthusiastic guys(with not alot upstairs) who forgets that enthusiasm + size = easy pain and injury to most people. Amazingly he wasn't even yellow carded for the incident. Intentional or not it was still dangerous play. Apparently not only was the hospital visit rebuffed, so were other attempts at apologies (phone call, flowers) during the week. There was some chatter amongst Revs staff before the game that there could be some retribution from our own lads, but fortunately nothing that seemed directly related to that. I think the embarrassment of being kept in the pocket of a 22yr old rookie starting only his 3rd game of the season was enough. ;-)

-- Anonymous, August 22, 2000