Ryan Babel

I'm a huge fan of reading a long drawn out Twitter rant, and Kanye West is still the master at them, but today is still first time I've heard about a footballer having a moan!

Liverpool striker Ryan Babel took to Twitter to publicly criticise referee Howard Webb after Manchester United were awarded a slightly dubious and maybe a little soft clearly legitimate penalty in the first minute of today's E.On sponsored F.A. Cup Third round tie at Old Trafford.

Babel sent out the following tweet after the game: "And they call him one of the best referees? That's a joke. SMH."

Here's the picture in question. It depicts match referee Howard Webb in a Manchester United shirt.














Note: It is at the moment unclear exactly who made the picture, but I would really like to think that Babel put the hour he spent on the substitutes bench to good use!

Although he later apologised - "Sorry Howard Webb. My apology if they take my posted pic seriously. This is just an emotional reaction after losing an important game." Babel is likely to be on the receiving end of an FA disciplinary hearing for allegations of bias.

The FA should add another game onto the ban for trotting out the old 'in the heat of the moment' type excuse...

Still, at least he can spend the time on the sidelines dabbling on Photoshop!

Paul