Gallagher Endangers International Career In Love Nest Shocker!

Football can throw up many tough choices. Pass or shoot? Put your body on the line, or endure the pain of letting the team down? Should Bizzly be dick of the day this week (any more stupid questions?)?

But deep into coronavirus lockdown, it appears that Milner Street captain James Gallagher has avoided tough decisions altogether. Snapped by this newspaper’s indefatigable camera crew, we can now exclusively reveal that Gallagher has spent much of the lockdown period commuting between his multi-million pound home in Stockwell to a secret love nest on Wickersley Road. Whilst others have been forced to choose which of their nearest and dearest they will stay with during the lockdown, Gallagher has been living the high life in his south London loveshack, complete with an attractive blonde and organic sourdough.

When approached for comment, Gallagher’s advisers were unable to explain who the mystery blonde bombshell was. After all, his regular girlfriend Beurre surely remains in quarantine on the other side of the river?

Milner Street’s board are understood to be furious at their captain’s lack of judgement. ‘It is completely unacceptable,’ said one anonymous source on the club’s board. ‘I lent him the house on the strict injunction that he use it for serious training. Now I’m stuck in Kent with my husband, painting Warhammer and trying to get rid of George Huntley, whilst Gallagher is cavorting in my living room back in London. If I’d known he would be ruining the furniture with his antics, I wouldn’t have lent it to him!’

To heap more misery on the Big White Machine’s beleaguered captain, it turns out that his dreams of international honours this summer may also have been cruelly dashed by his antics. The FA have looked askance at the circus surrounding Gallagher this season, and may well decide that enough is enough: rumours are that his place in the squad for this summer’s Amsterdam tournament are in jeopardy, after his drop in form and womanizing ways coincided with the debacle surrounding the squad’s preparation. It is unclear whether the team have accommodation, transport, or indeed will be able to take part in the competition at all. Gallagher, as a key part of the tour committee, is besieged on all fronts.

After such a sordid shambles, this columnist is reminded of another Northern Ireland qualified maestro. According to the story, after a big night out in a casino with a bevy of Miss Worlds, George Best woke up on a pile of his winnings, soaked in champagne and with a naked beauty queen sleeping beside him. Looking through the open door was the hotel porter, shaking his head sorrowfully. ‘Where did it all go wrong, Mr Best?’, the old man said.

Unless Gallagher mends his ways, we could be looking at a similar scenario. Can Milner Street afford to lose their talisman?