The Guardian’s view on the seven deadly sins of football

For most of us the Premier League is a golden idol that we come to worship every weekend. It doesn’t matter where we are, we find a way to make the trip home to sit in front of our telly and bask in the warm glow of the greatest league in the world.

Many of us also worship our club and the players that step on the pitch each week wearing the shirt we love. To us these players can do no wrong (until they give away a pass in the opening minute). We tend to look away from our club’s wrongdoings and the nightclub antics all in the name of the golden idol and the club that makes us happy.

But below the shiny football veneer most see on the top is a seedy underbelly just waiting to be exposed. The Guardian and Observer’s sports staff exposes that underbelly in a new seven part series called, ‘Foul play: the seven deadly sins of football.’

Starting on Saturday (16 May) the paper will run one of the seven deadly sins each day discussing everything from greed to slothfulness in the footballing world. Each of the seven sins features two players that for one reason or another fall into that sin category. Some of the names range from squeaky-clean John Terry (we’re talking about Terry; not his mum) to Mr five-iron, Craig Bellamy.

Here’s the complete list of the Guardian’s seven deadly sins of football:

16 May – Greed featuring David Beckham and Ashley Cole
17 May – Pride featuring Andrei Arshavin and Mike Ashley
18 May – Wrath featuring Craig Bellamy and Roy Keane
19 May – Envy featuring Bruce Grobbelaar and Daniel Lloyd
20 May – Gluttony featuring Mark Bosnich and Gazza
21 May – Sloth featuring John Terry and Ian Rush
22 May – Lust featuring David Mellor and Robinho

So go out and pick up a copy of the paper this weekend (or read it online) and follow along with the Guardian on their tales from the football underbelly.