ONCE upon a time, rock stars were the ones who destroyed hotel rooms, crashed their fast cars and got caught by the paparazzi in the arms of lingerie models. These days, it’s footballers who make tabloid headlines for the same things.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, two of the highest paid football stars in the world currently, still make the tabloid and newspaper pages for their stunning goals. But so do the likes of Ashley Cole and John Terry, for cheating on their spouses, and Steven Gerrard, for punching a nightclub deejay.