Around December there are always suggestions that footballers could try to get banned – and memorable former Arsenal, Newcastle and Liverpool players are among those who have raised eyebrows in the past.
“I've always found it strange that the old rule about being suspended from Boxing Day and New Year's matches so you can enjoy yourself is revived every year,” former Sunderland goalkeeper David Preece wrote for The Non-League Paper in 2016. “The fact that it's even a thing just baffles me, but it does happen.
“Everyone jokes about pulling and injuries or getting that yellow card that triggers a ban. I've actually played with guys who are so specific about it that they've gone out of their way to ask the club secretary about the possible permutations if certain 'incidents' happened – just out of interest of course.”
And former referee Howard Webb told BT Sport in 2016: “A few times around Christmas in the Premier League, players will want time off. They will say that a yellow card might suit my purpose. It's not what fans really want to hear.”
We've looked back at six players who were reportedly handed a conveniently timed suspension. We are not, of course, suggesting that they actually did so; of course it's all a coincidence.
Nothing surprises us at Parlor anymore, but it was particularly bad form to see the former England international being targeted by his former Arsenal teammate Martin Keown.
“I remember Ray Parlor had four yellow cards and tried to get a booking against Newcastle in December 2001 to put him over the yellow card limit,” Keown told the Daily Mail in 2016.
“He ended up getting two yellow cards and being sent off, which he wasn't trying to do!”
It didn't work: the Gunners conceded two late goals as they were beaten 3-1 by Newcastle.
READ: 12 of Ray Parlour's best anecdotes: Kolo Toure, Spurs, playing drunk and more
Nolan raised suspicion in 2013 when he was suspended for the fifth consecutive season in December.
Apart from the first ban, which came at the start of the month, everything happened just in time for the Christmas and New Year period, with two similar outright stamp red cards for Nikola Zigic and Jordan Henderson.
However, speaking at a West Ham fan forum in 2013, Nolan refuted suggestions that the fouls were deliberate.
“I will work hard on the training pitch,” he said. “I certainly won't get away with it. I'll come on Wednesday, while all the other boys are free.
The midfielder even went so far as to cancel the Hammers' Christmas party, proving once and for all that guilty feet have no rhythm.
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Lynch has had terrible luck with an injury or suspension at this time of year. In fact, you have to go back to the 2007-08 season at then League One Brighton to find his last uninterrupted December.
The following year, Lynch was subbed off at half-time after Nottingham Forest's 4–2 defeat to Doncaster on Boxing Day 2008, and a pattern began to emerge.
In fairness to the defender, he missed QPR's trip to former club Nottingham Forest in 2018/19 in their last game before Christmas, but did return on Boxing Day.
In 2019-20, Lynch was given a break before Christmas as Sunderland faced Bury, who had been expelled from the Football League at the time.
After being on the bench for the previous two matches, he was then left out of the squad entirely for the Boxing Day draw with Bolton, only to return to the starting line-up for a win at Doncaster three days later.
Just like Parlour, nothing surprises us with Ruddock. And Razor was certainly one to enjoy the Christmas spirit, especially at his various clubs' Christmas parties – so much so that he was arrested during a festive outing with his West Ham teammates.
“Looking back, it was madness. It used to always take two days,” he told the Mirror this year.
And so it was probably for the best that he was often banished during the Christmas season.
“In the 14 years I played in the top flight I was suspended six times at Christmas,” he said. “People always said I was sent off on purpose, but you just want to play football, especially at that level.
“If I get sent off and the team wins, I won't come back to that team. If the team won, nothing changed. You don't change the systems. When a team changes systems, it is a sign of weakness.”
Jermaine Jenas seems unconvinced by his former Newcastle teammate's explanation…
Leandro Paredes
Okay, so this isn't Christmas, but one of the stories of 2018 came courtesy of suggestions that Paredes was deliberately sent to Zenit Saint Petersburg to attend the Copa Libertadores final between his former club Boca Juniors and River Plate – allegations which he quickly denied.
“I was supposed to arrive in Argentina on Sunday, but because we were playing for the Europa League in France on Thursday, they suggested that I not return to Russia and travel directly from there on Friday,” he told Fox Sports Argentina.
'It's all a lie. Nothing happened here. It's something that was invented in Argentina. I didn't deliberately earn a red card, I would never do something like that.
“When I heard that this was being discussed, I spoke to the sporting director of Zenit and he told me that they trust me.”
Honestly, when we heard that the second stage would take place in Madrid, we would be sick if we managed to get a ticket.
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