Rocky takes a ringside seat

The latest update from the funny side of football.

Whilst one of England's favourite sons in David Beckham is preparing to live a life of extreme luxury in Los Angeles come the end of the season, this weekend will witness some of the glitz and glamour of Hollywood making an appearance in the Premiership.

In the UK to promote the release of the sixth instalment of the 'Rocky' series, legendary actor Sylvester Stallone will be at Goodison Park as Everton aim to deal a knockout blow to Reading. Sly is close friends with Toffees shareholder Robert Earl and chief executive Keith Wyness is pleased that the actor will be the star attraction on Merseyside on Saturday.

"It is exciting news that Sylvester Stallone is coming to Goodison," said a star-struck Wyness. "I think of all the film stars around today, there are not many you can take on to the pitch at a sporting occasion and have some relevance. But Sylvester - and his part as Rocky - has a special place in the hearts of sports fans."

Fittingly, Sly may have the chance to cast his critical eye over Tim Cahill's boxing celebrations if the Australian international scores on his first appearance since November.

Blues red-faced...

Not even David Beckham's new weekly wage of £500,000 would make the marketing department at Birmingham City feel better at the moment, after Blues were left red-faced by an embarrassing printing error in their 2007 official club diary.

Turning to the honours page, fans of the Midlands side were somewhat surprised to discover that Blues had apparently claimed the European Cup in 1982, the European Super Cup, a total of seven FA Cup trophies and five League Cup victories. The haul actually belongs to bitter local rivals Aston Villa of course, with the Championship club absolutely fuming after ending up with egg all over their faces.

"Luckily we caught this early and were able to claw back the majority of the diaries before they went out, however some still got through," a club spokesman told the Birmingham Mail. "We have been dealing with the company who printed them for a number of years and on this occasion we were not sent any proofs before the diaries were printed. This is a massive cock-up and we are currently looking at cancelling the contract with the company in future."

Getting fruity...

Whilst footballers could expect the odd water-bottle to be thrown at them - or in Gary Neville's case against Liverpool last season, a hamburger - Sevilla goalkeeper David Cobeno was on the receiving end of a much more sustained bombardment in this week's Copa del Rey game. Rayo Vallecano fans who were positioned in a flat that overlooks the club's stadium adopted a medieval stocks approach and pelted the luckless keeper with spare fruit and veg throughout the 0-0 draw.

"I've never experienced anything like it. It must have emptied the larder. I know which one it is, it's on the fourth floor because I spent a lot of time there," the former Rayo keeper told Marca. "They threw everything at me. The potatoes were very big." At least he got his five portions for the day though.

Sneaky Sven...

Is there no end to Sven Goran Eriksson's sneakiness? After secretly seducing Faria Alam and Ulrika Jonsson during his time as England manager, the bespectacled Swede has now taken to having secret liaisons with his latest potential conquest - the Marseille squad. Eriksson is in line to take over at the French side should Canadian businessman Jack Kachkar complete a takeover at Stade Velodrome, but, like a jilted husband, current director of sport Jose Anigo was less than amused when the former England boss had to be ejected from the training ground on Tuesday when he tried to talk with l'OM star Franck Ribery.

"It is funny to see that," Marseille director of sports Anigo told La Provence. "At the moment, he is nothing at all. I don't know if they are really interested in l'OM, but if he is to join the club, he will have to do it with more discretion and class. He has invented a new way to sell himself and to communicate - to sound important in clubs where people already work."

Compiled by: Tom Adams
Make sure you catch the next edition of Back of the Net early next week for more tales of the unexpected from the footballing world.