Soccer Team Owner Selling Team After Crotch Shot Dropped
The fortunes of English soccer club Notts County were once proudly upstanding, but after the team was sold to Alan Hardy — a.k.a., "Big Alan" — in 2017, their status in the rankings drooped. The team is now up for sale following Hardy's inadvertent public posting of a photo showing his privates, though Hardy has issued a statement that the sale isn't a result of the gaffe, Deadspin reports.
The accidentally intimate posting was put up at Twitter, reported New Zealand newspaper the Herald, and the tweet was later taken down... but not before the internet had taken notice.
The revealing image was a thumbnail at the bottom of a screenshot that Hardy had posted, not realizing that images from his camera roll were also visible.
Hardy announced the sale of the team in a statement in which he said he had engaged in "considerable soul-searching" and determined that he could no longer "continue as the owner of Notts County Football Club" — though he hastened to add that his decision to sell was not related to the posting, which he described to the BBC as having left him "devastated" and "mortified."
"I would like to make it clear from the outset that the club's current league position is not a factor in this decision, nor are any of the events which have unfolded in the media this weekend," Hardy said in the Jan. 27 statement.
But Hardy also indicated he was taking the mistake very seriously.
"I've apologized to my family, friends and work colleagues. Clearly, it was an accident and I'm devastated by it," Hardy told the BBC. Calling the error "huge," Hardy also offered reassurances that he was not simply turning his back on the team, saying, "I'm still there, ultimately until the last day when we find an investor."
The BBC noted that the team ranks "bottom of the English Football League."
Adding to the turmoil, the Football Association — a governing body for the sport in England — has launched an inquiry over the posting, reported Sky Sports.
Watch Hardy's interview with the BBC below.