Footballers behaving badly

By Caroline Cheese BBC Sport Online

With his four-month jail sentence for assault, Stig Tofting joined a growing list of footballing miscreants to have ended up behind bars for their crimes.

Tofting sent to jail

BBC Sport Online examines the worst offenders.

Peter Storey
Crime: Various
Sentence: Three years and 28 days

Former Arsenal stalwart Storey deserves his place at the top of football's league of shame for the sheer variety of his crimes.

The former England international was handed a £700 fine and a six-month suspended sentence in 1979 for running a brothel.

A year later, he was jailed for three years for financing a plot to counterfeit gold coins.

And in 1990, he was again behind bars, this time for attempting to import pornographic videos from Europe in his spare tyre.

Mickey Thomas
Crime: Handling forged notes
Sentence: 18 months

Thomas was jailed in 1993 for attempting to pass fake £10 and £20 notes to trainees at Wrexham, his club at the time.

But ever the opportunist, the 'Welsh George Best' made the most of his misfortune and has now forged a successful career in after-dinner speaking.

Sample joke: "So Roy Keane's on 50 grand a week? Mind you, I was on 50 grand a week until the police found my printing machine!"

George Best
Crime: Drink-driving, assault and jumping bail
Sentence: Three months

Best was jailed for assault and drink-driving

Best added one more item to his already impressive CV when he included Ford Open Prison in the list of teams he represented.

The Manchester United superstar had already been caught drink-driving when he exacerbated the situation by first assaulting a police officer and then jumping bail.

Duncan Ferguson
Crime: Assault
Sentence: Three months

Ferguson's reputation as one of British football's most dangerous strikers was given an entirely different slant when he became the first player to be jailed for an on-pitch misdemeanour.

Whilst playing for Rangers, the Scot headbutted Raith Rovers' John McStay but it was Everton who bore the brunt of his actions.

Ferguson moved to Goodison Park in 1995 but soon returned to Scotland to serve a three-month sentence.

Tony Adams
Crime: Drink-driving
Sentence: Three months

Adams has had to work harder than most to reach the iconic status he now enjoys.

Adams spent 58 days in prison

The former Arsenal defender hit the headlines in 1991 when he was convicted of drink-driving and given a three-month sentence, of which he served 58 days.

He later confessed to alcoholism and since his recovery has been back to various prisons to talk about his experiences.

Maradona
Crime: Assault
Sentence: Three years, suspended

Maradona's arrest in 1994 came as little surprise to observers of the Argentine legend's increasingly erratic behaviour.

Having been expelled from the '94 World Cup after a positive drugs test, the press attention became too much and Maradona took matters into his own hands.

The former World Cup winner took an air pistol and shot at journalists outside his Buenos Aires home, leading to a three-year suspended sentence.