A poll carried out by The Sun newspaper recently has found out who the public have voted as their most hated footballer in the Premier League ever!
Putting six names together, the paper carried out a poll and highlighted the star’s past indiscretions before throwing it to the public to decide who they detest more.
Below, we’ve ranked the six unlucky ‘finalists’ and charted the percentage they gained in the quest to find out who the most hated player in Premier League history is.
However, without the likes of Vinnie Jones, Lee Bowyer, Robbie Savage, El Hadji Diouf, Kevin Davies, Lee Bowyer and Roy Keane present, we’re left with a contemporary looking list.
6. Craig Bellamy – 2%
The former Welsh international was a player that many opponents loved to hate as he caused controversy at most of the clubs he played for.
In 2002 he was cautioned for assaulting a woman in a night club before head butting Dynamo Kiev’s Tiberiu Ghioane.
But the moment that really took the biscuit was his alleged assault of Liverpool teammate John Arne Riise with a golf club that earned him the nickname ‘the nutter with a putter’.
5. Joey Barton – 7%
Barton is a player that often proves divisive, and got on the wrong side of the public at Manchester City when he attacked teammate Ousmane Dabo on the training ground, causing the Frenchman to be taken to hospital.
Then in 2008 he was jailed for assaulting a 16-year-old in Liverpool city centre, which he then topped up by stubbing out a cigar on the eye of a City youth team player in Thailand.
He’s a spiky character on the pitch, and his views and use of social media have made sure he remains a sticky customer.
4. Ashley Cole – 7%
The first Chelsea player to make an appearance on this list. Cole first got on people’s nerves when he publicly registered his disgust at ‘only’ being offered £55,000-per-week to stay at Arsenal.
When ‘Cashley’ left Arsenal it was revealed that he sent a message to a friend claiming that he hated English people, but his biggest crime was cheating on the nation’s sweetheart and then wife Cheryl Fernandez-Versini.
3. John Terry – 19%
Terry may well be one of the best defenders the Premier League has ever seen, but he is also one of the most hated.
During his younger years, if he wasn’t attacking nightclub bouncers he was mocking the 9/11 attacks in public.
He was then banned for four matches and fined £220,000 for racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand.
However, he really got people angry when it was discovered that he had an affair with teammate Wayne Bridge’s then partner and paid for her to have an abortion.
2. Luis Suarez – 25%
The Uruguayan striker arrived at Liverpool with a less than positive reputation and quickly built on that with consistent urges to bite, scratch and cheat his way to victory.
He missed a total of 32 games for The Reds through suspension, which was largely down to biting Branislav Ivanovic and racially abusing Patrice Evra.
Lesser remembered flash points include his one-finger salute to Fulham fans and handling the ball as he scored the winner in the FA cup clash at Mansfield.
1. Diego Costa – 39%
Costa may have a reason to feel hard done by to top this list. Having not done anything controversial away from the pitch suggests that his on-field antics have really rubbed people up the wrong way.
There’s no doubt that he is a chief wind up merchant, and he even has a violent streak by managing to stamp on Emre Can AND Martin Skrtel in the same game.
Most recently he managed to get Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny banned down to his play acting.
SEE MORE:
Alexandre Pato Liverpool: Arsenal & Tottenham join transfer war over former Golden Boy
Ranking Europe’s 12 richest clubs: Arsenal join Man United in list of biggest earners
Armando Izzo Arsenal: Transfer battle with Benfica expected for star Genoa defender