David Bentley Punched In The Face

'What gives someone the right to walk up and attack me when I'm enjoying a meal?'

- David Bentley, who should've read the fine print in his contract

As reported from the Mirror, David Bentley was having a meal at a restaurant when another diner walked up to him and hit him in the face. As Robert Segal, Bentley's agent, recounts:

"David is pretty shaken. He was in the restaurant with his best friend and their respective partners. A guy walked over and started talking gibberish to him, then he just took a swing and punched him. David's fiancée, who is seven months pregnant, had just been to the loo and saw the whole thing. Obviously, she was very upset about it.

"David's mate jumped up and ran after the man and he got punched as well. It was obviously premeditated because the other people at the table got up and ran out of the restaurant. They had taxis waiting outside."

It's not clever, and it's not something I'd condone... but I've got to admit that I had a giggle over it. It must be quite shocking in the immediacy of the moment, but when you're reading about it halfway across the world, it's got a bit of a Benny-Hill-meets-The-Godfather feel to it.

I'm struggling to figure understand the assailant's motives. A lot of people would've been quite chuffed at seeing an England international. It doesn't happen every day. If they were sycophantic, they might have been tempted to ask for an autograph. But these guys weren't the sycophantic sort. Instead, they sat stewing in their righteous anger all throughout dinner, until one of them decided to get up and hit Bentley.

So why? Or could it be that David Bentley is so obnoxious that his mere presence provokes people into acts of rash violence? He does play for Spurs, after all.

Maybe I'm being unfair. Maybe it had nothing to do with David Bentley per say. Maybe punching David Bentley in the face was on that guy's "100 Things To Do Before You Die" list. Maybe he's from Fight Club and his homework assignment was to get into a fight with a footballer and lose. Or maybe he figured that since Premier League footballers always get into fights anyway, he'd save everyone some time and make a preemptive strike?

I'd be amiss if I didn't dredge up this quote by David Bentley, back in 2007 when he was still a Blackburn player and rival football fans only talked about wanting to punch him in the face while having dinner at a nice restaurant in the presence of his heavily-pregnant fiancee:

"People boo me, but most of them don't even know why. It's all heart and no brains. Sheep following sheep. I play up to it - stick two fingers up at them behind my back to wind them up. It's all good banter and, hopefully, when the pantomime stops, the fans at least see me as someone with a bit of personality on the pitch. I don't want to be boring, and the truth is I enjoy it."

I wonder if he's still enjoying it?

Bentley's all grown up

"Hopefully they want to see characters. They don't always go just to watch the football, they'll come to abuse me. I'll get the banter but I'll enjoy that. You don't to have a boring life as a footballer. If you don't get a buzz off that's probably where you fail."

- David Bentley, anticipating his first north London derby

David Bentley gets off on abuse.

I don't have that kind of personality and I must admit, I've always admired people who have. It must take a great deal of self-belief to listen to all those insults and just laugh it off as good fun. Then again, I guess a footballer's wage helps cushion the ego.

Bentley's done the obligatory "I've been a life-long supporter of X" interview, but something about it rings true. Bentley doesn't seem like a guy who would suck up for the sake of sucking up. He sounds like he's really, really looking forward to shoving it up us Bentley-detractors. He wants to show us that he warranted a place in the Arsenal first team when he was younger, and he wants to show us what we've been missing.

It's going to be really strange for all parties. David Bentley was hailed as the next big thing at Arsenal, and I'm sure spent a lot of his teen years anticipating future matches against Spurs. He would've imagined lining up with Henry and Cole, Cesc and Reyes, and being part of a dominant Arsenal side. He would probably have expected to be a first-teamer for England, as well. Back in the early 2000s, all that would've been a distinct possibility.

It's gone a bit pear-shaped since then.

Well done to Bentley for making the England squad, for forging a Premiership career and for signing for a reasonable sized club. He's always had the talent, and he's making the most of it now. I'm not sure about everyone else, but I regret his departure. I wish he'd waited at Arsenal, because he would be a quite handy player to have around. He's probably not as good as Nasri, but less injury-prone than Rosicky and better than Walcott.

Tottenham have a lot of creative players now. Bentley, Giovani dos Santos, Luka Modric, and possibly Arshavin and Pavlyuchenko, give them quite a threatening side. And Ramos is a very good manager who's had six months to observe how English teams play. So it'll be interesting to see how they'll go next year.