Beijing Guoan a “shambles” says former player

Journeyman Scottish defender didn’t set the Gongti alight during his season-long stay at Beijing last year – he looked slow and was “lost” at times according to Guoan-supporting blog Modern Lei Feng. But it seems Ross himself wasn’t much impressed with what he saw at the club either.

According to a story in Murdoch rag The Sun, he was shocked by the level of unprofessionalism in the team and said Japanese and Korean sides he played against in the Asian Champions League were miles ahead.

Surprisingly, Ross’ revelations did not go unnoticed in the Chinese sports press. Sina Sports picked up the story; it contained one amusing mis-translation. Ross quote “Some of the boys were overweigh” was translated as “some of the young players were overweight” (一些年轻球员体重超重) . An easy mistake to make for non-native english speakers, boys being an informal term for anyone in a group of men of any age.

It seems odd quoting two such appalling organs of journalism side-by-side, however, the rest of Ross’ complaints were faithfully and accurately reported by the Chinese sports site – including that the captain, chairman and coach pick the team together so he stood no chance of being picked once he clashed with the club captain over what he considered to be a lack of professionalism.

Of course, Ross’ comments don’t come as a shock. Neither does that fact that he neglects to mention in his Sun interview that his performances for Guoan bombed after being arrested for an altercation with a taxi driver on Beijing’s famous bar street Sanlitun…