The coaching staff all arived early with a twinkle in their eye. Nobody was admitting to sticking a Whoopee cushion on Roberto Mancini’s chair but Chappy was conspicuous by his absence...
April Fools’ Day is a new experience for Mario Balotelli who has just discovered his hands are glued to the exercise ball. He left Carrington with the ball still attached. None of the lads behind, all playing musical statues, owned up.
Well, not until later when Aleks Kolarov came clean. Mario got his revenge by asking him to go and fetch a tin of tartan paint and a left-handed paint-brush which he is currently at B&Q waiting for.
Joe Hart looks happy with his morning’s work. He’s just told the squad that Roberto passed on a message to do 100 press-ups and 50 laps of the pitch as a warm-up before training. He was last seen being parcelled up in a laundry basket marked ‘Ecuador’ with a TNT waiting to take a special delivery direct to Manchester Airport. He should be back by Sunday...
Meanwhile, Shaun Wright-Phillips has been chatting with Adam Johnson about his goal tally for the season. “See that big rectangle with netting attached? Try putting the ball in between the sticks...”
The last jape was played by Carlos Tevez, who spent almost an hour drawing tiny moustaches and glasses on the team pictures that adorn the corridor. This country...
That’s it - there’s loads more Carrington in pictures on the related items below so if you liked these, you know what to do?
