Football has long had a dysfunctional relationship with the English language. No more so than during the frantic close season transfer market. It is around now that words change meaning entirely. When Gael Clichy, for instance, insists that he left Arsenal because they didn't "love" him enough, we quickly realise that in this instance the word "love" actually means "pay". And when we hear that Carlos Tevez is desperate to leave Manchester in order to be closer to his daughters, what that actually means is "be closer to another vast signing-on fee".
But no word changes its meaning quite as much as "adviser". This is a word which those of us outside the game take to denote someone who offers wisdom, provides information relevant to our position and impartially helps us to reach a conclusion of our own that is in our best interests. In football, however, it means a parasite whose sole purpose and intent is to leach as much money as possible in as short a space of time, regardless of the longer term consequences.
Take the case of Adel Taarabt. The Queen's Park Rangers captain, the player who
But no word changes its meaning quite as much as "adviser". This is a word which those of us outside the game take to denote someone who offers wisdom, provides information relevant to our position and impartially helps us to reach a conclusion of our own that is in our best interests. In football, however, it means a parasite whose sole purpose and intent is to leach as much money as possible in as short a space of time, regardless of the longer term consequences.
Take the case of Adel Taarabt. The Queen's Park Rangers captain, the player who
