Premier League

Lincoln’s Maguire explains why he celebrated in Sunderland boss Johnson’s face after scoring hat-trick against old club

SE Team

Published

12th January 2022

WIND-UP merchant Chris Maguire produced a ‘masterclass in s***housery’ by celebrating in his former manager’s face.

The Lincoln winger, 32, was released by Sunderland last summer in acrimonious fashion.

Chris Maguire got the opening goal of Sunderland vs Lincoln and initially refused to celebrate

He then sprinted from the end of the pitch to the dugouts

Maguire gave it large to his former boss Lee Johnson as he ran past

The Black Cats boss let Maguire leave as a free agent last summer

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But on his return to the Stadium of Light, he smashed in a hat-trick in a shock 3-1 win for the Imps.

And the two-cap Scotland international could not resist rubbing it in Black Cats manager Lee Johnson’s face.

After his sweetly-struck opener on 31 minutes, Maguire initially looked as though he would apologise by holding up his hands at his former home.

But then he sprinted halfway up the pitch to scream in Johnson’s face as his old gaffer stood on the edge of his technical area.

Explaining his incredible celebration, Maguire said: “It was a build up of things.

“I thought I was hard done by in my time here – it didn’t end the way I wanted to. I got a yellow card early on, and I looked over he was trying to get me sent off.

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“It worked in the favour of us – because at the end of the day he’s been sent up the tunnel.

“I can’t tell you what I said but I think I did my talking on the pitch. It was just a bit of tongue in cheek for my last six months here. It ended badly for me.

“I hope the Sunderland fans are okay with me. I was getting booed but I’ve got nothing but admiration and respect for them. I loved my time here.

“I wasn’t meaning to be disrespectful to them at all. I hope they can see from my point of view the way it ended for me here.”

Unsurprisingly, fans on Twitter were absolutely loving the elite-level taunting.

One said: “Chris Maguire is delivering a masterclass in s***housery against his former club tonight.”

‘BOX OFFICE’

Another wrote: “This is absolute box office from Chris Maguire.”

A third added: “From the strike to the non celebration to the screaming in Lee Johnson’s face everything about this Chris Maguire clip is superb.”

And a final user commented: “Brilliant, simply brilliant. Football s***housery done well, by Chris Maguire.”

Maguire, who escaped a red card for an early lunge, added a penalty just before the hour-mark and completed his treble with a fine finish with a quarter of an hour remaining.

That marked the first league hat-trick scored against a Johnson side.

And to top it off for the ex-Bristol City boss, he was red-carded for grabbing an opposition player by the throat in a furious melee as Maguire well and truly got the last laugh.

The defeat also dealt a major blow to Sunderland’s promotion hopes as they failed to overtake Rotherham at the top of League One – and the Millers have two games in hand.

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