Chelsea captain Marcel Desailly has criticised the drinking culture in England.
In his book Capitaine, published in France yesterday, the 33-year-old describes the drunken celebrations on a flight back from Turkey that led then-manager Gianluca Vialli to impose an alcohol ban on buses and planes.
He also criticises former captain Dennis Wise, claiming "he kicked too many people and got too many yellow cards".
"The problem with certain Englishmen is drinking to excess, the systematic search for drunkenness," said Desailly, according to the Sun. "At Chelsea it got out of hand most seriously a few years ago.
"I remember, in particular, one fine victory against Galatasaray in Turkey. The bottles were going round the rows of seats on the way back in the plane," he said.
"This time the British were not the only ones to be lifting their elbows. French, Italians, South Americans, we were all in an incredibly euphoric state. I was more than happy, seriously tipsy.
"But two or three players went too far. Someone started to sing and made fun of the manager in abusive terms. Vialli remained impassive, but from the next day he imposed an alcohol ban on buses and planes".
Current Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri fined four players for drunken antics in a London hotel in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks on New York.
PA