Ex-Nottingham Forest keeper quizzed by cops over PENGUIN theft

His brief stint with Forest in the mid-90s saw him don the gloves a mere five times for the Reds.

But he has certainly had an interesting career.

Pfannenstiel played on all six continents, coached an Antarctica XI, spent 101 days in a Singapore jail and was once declared dead on the pitch.

He has also stolen a penguin in the past. But not this time, he claims.

The 43-year-old, who works for Hoffenheim as a scout, was contacted by German police after the bird went missing from a park in Mannheim.

“The police phoned me about a stolen penguin,” he told The Sun. “They had received an anonymous tip-off that I might be involved.

“But it wasn’t me. I urge the thief to return the penguin, as this is no joke. I know it well from the sins of my youth.

“In 2003 I took a penguin home from its colony and put it in my bathtub.

But I returned it inside two days after my club chairman explained penguins were a protected species.

“Besides, my housemates were not delighted, as it stank like a fish factory. I did not steal it – I just borrowed it.”

The keeper includes Wimbledon, Huddersfield Town and Bradford Park Avenue among his lengthy list of former clubs.

He spent time in a Singapore jail accused of match fixing and not long after was declared dead on the pitch when his lungs collapsed after a collision during a game in England.