Eight Football hair loss cover-ups: The Good, The Bad, and the downright Preposterous

2. The Wig – Stephen Ireland

When Ireland broke through into the Manchester City team, he caught everyone’s eye with his classy attacking play and his receding hairline. While in his early twenties, things didn’t look too good for Stephen’s locks, as in 2007, a full mane suddenly sprouted.

Happy days you would think, but things took a strange turn when, on national duty, Ireland requested compassionate leave due to the death of his grandmother. When his grandmother was found to be alive, he changed his story. It was his other grandmother who had died. She hadn’t.

Ireland has since claimed that his girlfriend had suffered a miscarriage, a tragic circumstance that may explain the bizarre lies, but the Irish Mail on Sunday reported that he was in fact subject to some vicious teasing. Two of his team-mates apparently held him down and tried to tug off his new hair the night before he went home. Whatever the truth, Ireland has not played for his country since.

Ireland has since left Manchester City, and is rebuilding his career at Aston Villa. Some encouraging performances recently have raised hopes that he, now thankfully sporting a shaved head, can start playing at the level that saw him voted Man City Player of the Season in 2008/09.