Ghanian-born ex-France international football captain, Marcel Desailly, has won the World Cup (1998), two Confederation Cups (2001, 2003), the European Championship (2000), two European Champions League titles (1993, 1994), two European Super Cups (1994, 1998), two Italian Serie A titles (1994, 1996) and one FA Cup (2000) over a glittering career at Marseille, AC Milan and Chelsea.
He is also "a f**king, lazy, thick nigger" according to "Big" Ron Atkinson, a former Manchester United and Aston Villa manager, disgraced English television commentator and, very nearly, the new Trinidad and Tobago national coach.
Atkinson was set to replace Bertille St Clair as T&T coach yesterday only for the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF) to make a hasty about-turn after the national players allegedly threatened to revolt.
The England-based duo of team leader Dwight Yorke and ex-captain Shaka Hislop were alleged to be particularly defiant and mortified.
Yorke played for Atkinson in the early 1990s at Villa where the manager once ordered his teammate, Ugo Ehiogu, to punch and kick him during a session to toughen him up. Yorke, who was racially abused by two supporters at a Premiership match at Blackburn last year, allegedly refused to play under Atkinson.
Hislop, who is a co-founder and Hall of Fame member of the British anti-racism organisation, Show Racism The Red Card (SRTRC), also objected strenuously, according to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Jack Warner, the T&TFF special advisor and FIFA vice-president, presided over the meeting and accepted the judgment of the players, although the T&TFF initially promised to unveil Atkinson as coach at 2 p.m. yesterday.
The T&TFF has often been accused of incompetence, dishonesty and dictatorial tendencies. Some might argue that gross insensitivity and stupidity be added to the list.
Last April, Atkinson resigned his £200,000-a-year job as commentator for top English television station, ITV, after calling Desailly "a f**king lazy thick nigger" following a Champions League match involving Chelsea and Monaco. ITV had stopped broadcasting to Britain and Atkinson was unaware that the microphone was still on. His racist jibe was aired live in the Middle East.
It was not the first time that Atkinson was guilty of racial insensitivity-at best-nor was it the last.
At the 1990 World Cup in Italy, Atkinson suggested that a Cameroon player had no brain but was quickly made to retract his statement on air. He had the final word during the halftime interval when he joked to his co-commentator that "I'll only get into trouble if his mother's back home watching the game sitting up a tree". His comments were again relayed in some countries because of a live microphone.
Remarkably, Atkinson put himself in more hot water, two months ago, with some disparaging remarks about Chinese women in a fund-raiser at Sheffield Wednesday. This time, he told an audience of more than 250 people that "the Chinese people have the best contraception in the world-but I can't understand why there's so many of them because their women are so ugly".
Chinese national striker Hao Haidong retorted that Atkinson "should be beaten black and blue and made to thoroughly shut up", while Manchester City defender Sun Jihai accused him of ignorance and racism.
Atkinson, as in each incident, thought too much was made of nothing.
"I cannot believe anyone has complained about anything I said," he told the Sheffield Star. "I went there to help them out and to raise money. I stayed for ages and did photographs. I can't believe this...I just can't believe this.
"I can't say anything now. I've been ultra-careful about everything."
Warner was allegedly ready to give Atkinson a chance of redemption-or a public relations ploy-by allowing him to take charge of the Trinidad and Tobago squad.
Atkinson is rumoured to have topped a shortlist that included former Holland, Ajax and Real Madrid coach Leo Beenhakker and Newcastle, England and Manchester City manager Kevin Keegan.
Warner could not be reached to confirm his selection of Atkinson, or to explain the reason for his choice.
Still, Atkinson is not without his own supporters.
He is considered to be a hero to the black community, in some circles, for his work at West Brom who he coached from 1978 to 1981 and famously selected three black players-Brendon Batson, Cyrille Regis and Laurie Cunningham-when most clubs did not field even one.
Carlton Palmer, one of a handful of black players to win England caps in the 1980s or early 1990s, said he considered Atkinson to be a friend and insisted he was not racist, while Jamaican-born former Liverpool star John Barnes said he preferred to judge Atkinson by his "actions".
The Trinidad and Tobago football team disagreed.