Football Manager has been the catalyst for many hilarious stories down the years.But the best of them all involves Everton winger, Andros Townsend.No, not the virtual version of the Englishman, the real-life one. If you haven't heard the story before, then you're in luck, because it is absolutely magnificent.While he was with Tottenham Hotspur, Townsend received a message from his partner, Hazel O'Sullivan, questioning him on why he'd been fined for not showing up to training.But it wasn't true. Instead, she had been fooled by a screenshot from Football Manager that had been posted on social media.Back in March 2021, Townsend made an appearance on talkSPORT and explained what happened.
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Townsend's wife thought he'd skipped training
âI get a text from her one day and I receive a screenshot from Twitter,â Townsend said.
âAs you do, she was searching my name on Twitter and a fine came up â Andros Townsend accepts his fine for reporting late to training.
âSo her mind is going off; if he wasnât at training and he wasnât at home then where was he? It could have been a real sticky one!
âBut sheâs messaged me and it turns out the screengrab is from the popular video game Football Manager.
âSomeoneâs obviously posted in on Twitter having a laugh on Football Manager and sheâs thought it was real!â
Brilliant. In 2015, Townsend posted the conversation he had with Hazel over WhatsApp after she was adamant that he'd been fined by Spurs.
The WhatsApp conversation
Hazel: âWhen did you get fined for not showing up to trainingâ.
Hazel: âJust saw on Twitterâ.
Andros: âHuh?ââ
Andros: âI got fined?ââ
Andros: âShow meâ.
*Hazel attaches the Football Manager screenshot*
Hazel: â???ââ
Hazel: âMaybe itâs a joke is it?ââ
Andros: âHahahahaha are you joking??ââ
Hazel: âI dunno??â
Will that story ever not be funny? No, no it won't.