<
        >

          Toe Poke Daily: Mark de Man, Wolfgang Wolf and the most ironic names in football

          • Chris Wright, Toe Poke writerOct 10, 2019, 02:23 PM

          The Toe Poke Daily is here every day to bring you all the weirdest stories, quirkiest viral content and top trolling that the internet has to offer, all in one place.

          Jump to: "Alex from Glasto" meets Thiago Silva | Sacked Barnsley boss does shots with fans | Braintree Town pay homage to Prodigy star

          We start with the unfortunate and somewhat ironic news that Toulouse have officially fallen out of love with coach Alain Casanova.

          - Muller's funniest moments; Man United make a signing
          - Almost naked Ibrahimovic statue unveiled at Malmo
          - Dani Alves and Sao Paulo teammates attacked by bees

          The 58-year-old, who also played for Toulouse in the early 1990s, has been sacked by the club after a poor start to the season left them wallowing around the bottom of Ligue 1.

          Casanova isn't the only footballing figure to labour under an ironic name. Here are 10 more for your perusal.

          Mark de Man

          Where else could we start than with the wonderfully named Mark de Man, most notably starting his career at Anderlecht and playing for Roda JC in the Dutch Eredivisie side and with Germinal Beerschot back in Belgium. A versatile player who can fill in at the back or in defensive midfield, which shouldn't come as much of a shock considering his name.

          Peter Crouch

          An obvious candidate seeing as, at 6-foot-7, "Crouchy" is one of the tallest players to have ever played in the Premier League.

          Norman Conquest

          An Australian goalkeeper who is primarily remembered for conceding 17 goals in one match, specifically a friendly against an England XI back in 1951. If you're wondering where the name "Norman Conquest" comes into this, well it was an 11th-century invasion and occupation of England.

          Andre Wisdom

          Failing to live up to his name, former Liverpool defender Wisdom once managed to get his luxury car marooned in a large puddle in the middle of woodland after taking a drastically wrong turn while driving to training.

          Claudio Gentile

          Perhaps the most ironically named footballer of all time, Gentile was a fearsome Italian centre-half who left his mark (quite literally) on Diego Maradona at the 1982 World Cup.

          Gerard Pique

          The Barcelona veteran's full familial name is Gerard Pique Bernabeu, though he likes to keep the last bit quiet for obvious reasons.

          Wolfgang Wolf

          Wolfgang Wolf's name wouldn't be anything spectacular... until you learn he managed Wolfsburg for five years between 1998 and 2003!

          Bekim Kastrati

          The former Fortuna Dusseldorf forward once almost lost his testicles in a hefty collision with Bayern Munich keeper Bernd Dreher. Thankfully, he underwent emergency surgery and was able to make a full recovery.

          Mike England

          England won 44 caps for Wales as a player before going on to manage them for eight years.

          Isaac Success

          Unfortunately, Success is still waiting to win the first major silverware or accolade of his career, though he did collect an FA Cup runners-up medal with Watford last season.

          "Alex from Glasto" meets Thiago Silva

          It's been months in the making, but PSG captain Thiago Silva came face-to-face with the young lad who earned surprise fame at the Glastonbury festival in June, with the video just released by PSG.

          Alex Mann -- otherwise known as "Alex from Glasto" -- was spotted wearing a PSG shirt and plucked from the crowd by UK rapper Dave to help perform his grime hit "Thiago Silva."

          Word of the duet soon reached Silva himself, who enjoyed the performance enough to track Alex down by putting out a plea on Twitter.

          Lo and behold, the pair met for a chat at the Parc des Princes, which was made a little awkward by the fact that they share no common language.

          Still, Alex snagged himself a special signed Thiago Silva jersey and the Brazilian defender was able to express his gratitude in person.

          Will Alex ever actually take his PSG shirt off? Who knows...

          Sacked Barnsley boss does shots with fans

          Daniel Stendel was sacked as Barnsley manager earlier this week having overseen just one win so far this season.

          Indeed, the Tykes are currently languishing down in 23rd place in the Championship, just one point off the bottom of the table.

          However, that didn't stop their fans from giving Stendel a lively send off after the German coach joined a group of fans for farewell drinks on Wednesday evening.

          And he was even persuaded to down a few shots with the supporters -- not that he seemed to enjoy them!

          According to the Barnsley Chronicle, both Stendel and his assistant, Chris Stern, arrived at the Garrison bar in the town centre where they were greeted by vociferous chants of "Daniel Stendel's red and white army."

          The 45-year-old joined the Tykes in the summer of 2018 and earned promotion from League One in his first -- and only -- season in charge.

          "It's been a very emotional time for me," Stendel said as he shook hands, posed for photos and signed autographs for his adoring public.

          "What a lot of people have said to me is this -- 'once a Red, always a Red.'"

          Lovely stuff.

          Braintree Town pay homage to Prodigy star

          If they were looking for a little inspiration, Braintree Town now have it in the shape of a giant neon Prodigy mural stood glaring at them from the side of their pitch.

          Produced by local artist Gnasher, the spray paint mural is a tribute to the Essex band's iconic frontman, Keith Flint, who sadly died earlier this year.

          The image of Flint has been created right next to the main stand at Braintree's Cressing Road home, replacing a small equipment shed that used to be located there.

          Throw-ins on the near side of the ground have just become 100% more terrifying.