Fake footballer bulls**ts his way to pro contract worth almost a million!

Here at Ozzy Man Reviews, we’re big fans of the old Chopper Reid quote that you shouldn’t let the truth get in the way of a good yarn. Yeah, nah, old Chops was a bit of character, but he was right about that one. Former ‘footballer’ Gregoire Akcelrod agrees. He even used the theory to get himself trials with English football clubs and a pro contract in Bulgaria! Check it out…

Fans of football and football trivia will no doubt know about Ali Dia, the fake player who tricked Graeme Souness and Southampton into giving him a contract after claiming he was George Weah’s cousin, but they might not know about Akcelrod.

Credit: Daily Mirror

This cheeky bugger was so f**ken bad at football – or soccer – that his old man banned him from playing between the ages of ten and eighteen. Despite that, he still managed to find himself playing for Paris Saint-Germain’s amateur team in France’s fifth tier.

And here’s where things get interesting: because he was a canny b**tard, he twisted that truth into an outrageous CV. He set up a website that claimed he played for the club’s professional reserves, altered news reports about pro matches to make it look like he was man of the match on a regular basis, and even snuck onto the PSG pitch in club colours so he could get photos.

Credit: Daily Mirror

From there, he started contacting pro clubs in England, including Chelsea, Manchester City, and Arsenal, asking for trials. While those teams gave him the big, ‘yeah nah,’ others took him on, and he eventually landed an offer from Bulgarian Champions League team CSKA Sofia worth almost a million Ozzie dollars over three years.

Unfortunately, s**t went tits-up in the funniest way. We’ll let Akcelrod – who seems to have taken it all with good nature – tell you how. “I did the two-day trial and on the Sunday the coach told my agent that he wanted to sign me. They took photos of me in the CKSA official jersey, I signed the contract, they published on the CSKA website that I was signing. But it was the PSG fans who destroyed me.”

Credit: Daily Mirror

He goes on to say, “Overnight, one CSKA Sofia fan contacted a PSG online forum and asked, ‘We are about to sign Greg Akcelrod, what do you think about him?’ All the PSG fans didn’t know me. They said I was fake; they checked my website. But some of it was true, the video at Swindon for example. The CSKA fan contacted every journalist in Sofia, and it was revealed the club were going to sign a fake player.”

Naturally, he was told to nick off after the truth came out. Still, he’s managed to spin a career as an agent, offering advice to young players. He’s even written an autobiography called Pro At All Costs!

Final thought: Look, dishonesty’s never good, but you’ve kinda gotta admire the dedication to the con. He clearly loves his football and seems to be in good spirits about the way everything’s worked out. So yeah, while we’re not sure this qualifies him as a ‘top bloke’ we still reckon he deserves a good onya. Yeah, nah, good onya, mate.

Just in case you missed it, here’s one of Ozzy’s latest commentary videos…Ozzy Man Reviews: The Cheese Rolling Race is Back!

Video Link: Hugues Le Foot

H/T: SPORTBIBLE.