A brutal debut for Scott Carson, and most likely Steve McLaren’s final game in charge : Croatia’s 3-2 win over England left the hosts on the outside looking in for next summer’s Euro 2008 tourney, but more importantly, provided terrific entertainment for one gentleman sorely in need of consolation. From the Daily Mail :
The boss of the Croatian Football Association has been arrested for suspected shoplifting minutes after arriving in the UK for his team’s Euro 2008 match against England.
Zorislav Srebric (above, center), the general secretary of the eastern European country’s FA, was arrested at Gatwick Airport’s WH Smith store after allegedly stuffing pens and paper into his bag.
He was taken away by police yelling and screaming as stunned players from his national team looked on.
Srebric, 67, wandered into the newsagent’s and book store just after the team’s flight landed at 2pm yesterday. Minutes later he was detained by staff.
A police source said: “We had a call from WH Smith at Gatwick to say staff had caught an elderly, chubby man apparently pinching pens and paper.
The source added: “When Srebric gave his name and said he was the head of the Croatian FA we were stunned. He seemed so dignified but was arrested for apparently doing something most commonly associated with teenagers.”
Croatia are claiming the above incident was “a misunderstanding”, but you’d say the same thing if one of your officials was caught shoving a copy of Razzle down his trousers.