Premiership: Harris wants game toughened up

Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris - one of soccer’s hard men - has appealed to Premiership players to sort out a game that has gone soft.

Defender Harris, renowned for his tough-tackling during a club record 655 league appearances for Chelsea, says there are no true hard men left in English football.

He also accused some of today’s footballers of being ‘‘pampered, spoilt, over-paid kids’’ intent on cheating each other.

Harris bemoans the physical aspect being removed from modern encounters.

‘‘Things like that never happened in my day. If I had been caught by someone’s elbow after half-an-hour I would be thinking that I still had 60 minutes to get them back,’’ said Harris.

‘‘Could you imagine me running up to the referee complaining when I had dished it out for 21 years?

‘‘Football has gone soft with players moaning and groaning on television; why can’t people take the rough with the smooth?’’

He added: ‘‘The game has gone soft, and it’s down to the players to clean it up.’’