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Scenes we absolutely want to see in meaningless friendlies.

Five times pre-season friendlies turned nasty ft. Leeds, Chelsea, West Brom…

Andrew Martin โ€ข

Pre-season friendlies are supposed to be a way of getting the legs pumping, increasing fitness and match sharpness before the new season begins. A nice calm run around. No blasties, no massive tackles, no big risks.

Doesn’t always work out that way, though, does it? To some players (and fans, for that matter), there’s no such thing as a friendly. If a match is worth playing, it’s worth playing properly. We get that. That’s how sport should be. That’s easy to say until your star striker gets snapped in half by a third tier Bulgarian centre-half.

This pre-season seems to have been more violent than most, so far. It’s like the goddamn wild West out there. Punches being thrown, legs getting obliterated, controversy wherever you look. Let’s take a look at what’s been going onโ€”we’ll throw a few classic clips in there for you too because we’re nice like that. Nicer than this lot, anyway.

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Como

Let’s get this out of the way first. In the run-up to the 2024-25 season, Wolves played newly promoted Serie A side Como in a pre-season friendly in Marbella. A Como player was reportedly heard making racist remarks about Wolves forward Hwang Hee-chan by the Wolves players.

Wolves’ winger Daniel Podence heardย  the comments, and promptly sparked the Como player out. Heroic, in our opinion.

Como then released this genuinely appalling statement:

Just to be clear, Como admitted that their player, in reference to Hwangโ€”an ethnically East Asian footballer from South Koreaโ€”said, “Ignore him, he thinks he’s Jackie Chan.” And Como are disappointed at the reaction of Wolves’ players.

Podence was sent off for punching the Como player. Personally, we’d have given him the Player of the Match award and shook his hand but, listen, that’s just us.

West Bromwich Albion v Mallorca

Fresh off the press, this one. We don’t know exactly what was said between the two players, but whatever it was, Jayson Molumby of West Brom was not happy about it, and thrusts his head toward Samu Costa, before chucking a haymaker right at his dish.

Costa had brought Molumby down with a rough tackle just before this clip, and reached out to shove the Irishman, but still… Jesus Christ, Jayson!

Both players were sent off.

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Chelsea v Wrexham

Literally two minutes into a pre-season friendly, Chelsea’s Levi Colwill and Wrexham’s James McClean were at each other’s throats. Looks like Colwill wasn’t pleased with the lateness of McClean’s challenge. Still… Didn’t seem like there was too much in it. It’s a long season ahead, boys. We’ve all got work in the morning.

Bolton Wanderers v Fiorentina

In an exceptionally odd pre-season friendly fixture, Bolton played Fiorentina at the Toughsheet Community Stadium recently. Imagine travelling from your gorgeous Tuscan home, just to get absolutely halved in the deepest depths of Bolton.

Fiorentina’s new signing, Moises Kean was welcomed back to England by a tackle from George Johnston that… Well, he did get the ball. Unfortunately, he has nearly evaporated Kean’s leg and sent it floating into the land of ghosts and spirits with one of the most…ย Enthusiastic…ย tackles we’ve seen in a pre-season friendly.

Leeds United v Eintracht Frankfurt

Don’t know what the bloody hell is going on here, to be honest. Looks like a classic gala day mass scrap. Why Leeds and Frankfurt songs have taken it upon themselves to lay into each other in a field somewhere in pre-season is beyond us. Just have a pint and eat some currywurst, surely?

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