Feature
ON THE BALLS
Paul Gascoigne and Vinnie Jones recall that iconic ball-grabbing moment 30 years ago as part of talkSPORT’s Re:United series
Football's most charismatic duo remember that day at Plough Lane on talkSPORT at 8pm on Sunday
THIRTY years on from that iconic moment when Vinnie Jones grabbed Paul Gascoigne's crown jewels, the two men are to come face-to-face as part of talkSPORT's Re:United series.
Listen on Sunday night at 8pm as Gazza and Vinnie relive that classic moment from 1988 in the first of a two-part feature interview.
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IT’S Saturday, February 6, 1988 and Wimbledon are hosting Newcastle United in a First Division clash at Plough Lane.
All the pre-match talk is dominated by one man – the Magpies’ prodigious young talent, Paul Gascoigne.
Earmarked as the future of English football, the 20-year-old midfielder has been winning rave reviews for his performances at the heart of Willie McFaul’s side.
Quick-witted and blessed with sublime skills and almost balletic grace on the ball, Gascoigne, not surprisingly, has also been attracting interest from many of the country’s big clubs – and with good reason.
Paul Gascoigne hands out pies to excited fans at England vs Switzerland clash in Leicester
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Certainly, Wimbledon boss Bobby Gould knew all about the kid they called ‘Gazza’ and between him and his influential coach Don Howe, they hatch a plan to nullify the clear and present threat he poses.
Step forward Vinnie Jones.
The polar opposite of Gascoigne as a player, Jones was the classic uncompromising, no-nonsense midfielder, a warrior who had left behind the building site to make a name for himself as one of football’s hardest of hardmen.
His remit for the Newcastle game is simple. Stick to Gascoigne like a limpet and deny him the time and space to work his magic.
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But there’s a problem.
Jones’s idea of man-marking isn’t exactly the one they teach in the coaching manuals. In fact, for man-marking, read hatchet job.
But Jones still isn’t happy with the role he has been given. “I had a right row with Bobby Gould before the game. I said ‘Get out of it’. I didn’t want to run round after that fella,” he said in a previous interview.
“I went into the dressing room fed up. I said ‘I’m not marking him’. I left the training ground. I wanted to play my game, I didn’t want to man mark him.”
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Jones recalled how he feared Gazza would embarrass him at Plough Lane
But Jones did as he was told and throughout the game, he is constantly in Gascoigne’s ear, giving him grief.
He tugs his shirt, clips his heels and leaves his boot in. And, as his Jones’s teammate Dennis Wise explains, he never leaves his side.
“He made me think ‘Oh my god’ because we had a throw-in and he went to take it,” he recalls.
“But before he did he turned to Gazza and said ‘Fat boy, I’m coming back in a minute’. He ran over, launched the throw and came back and stood right next to him. I thought ‘I can’t believe he’s just called him that!’”
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But matters come to a head in the second half when Gascoigne gives his marker a little shove and Jones, with his back to Gazza, simply reaches behind him and with his face contorted in rage, grabs the Newcastle star by what Gazza calls his ‘family allowance.”
The look on Gascoigne’s face is priceless. Part pain, part surprise and part Carry On, it’s no wonder the image has gone down in football folklore.
But the Crazy Gang’s plan works.
Clearly intimidated and unable to impose himself on the game in his usual manner, Gascoigne drifts out of the action, leaving Wimbledon to claim a point from a hard-fought goalless draw.
Then one of the most iconic images in football was caught when Jones grabbed Gazza's crown jewels
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“I remember after the game, I was still shaking, I was in shock,” Gascoigne said recently.
"I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I didn’t want to get pushed about.
"I never ever hurt anyone, I just gave him a little shove and honestly talk about nearly losing your family allowance, it was incredible!”
It’a a view backed up by his teammate that day, Darren Jackson: “He [Gascoigne] was the star of the team and Vinnie targeted him for that.
"I can remember him coming off the pitch terrified, so much so that he was crying in the dressing room.”
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But the anomisty didn’t last.
After the game, Gascoigne sent Jones a red rose and the Dons’ midfielder responded by sending him a toilet brush.
And, in 1991, Jones paid £1,750 – equivalent to a week’s wages for him back then – to have a painting of the infamous incident made for his new home in Hollywood.
Thirty years on and despite their careers taking wildly different paths, Gascogine and Jones remain good friends.
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The moment started one of the most surprising friendships in football
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Jones has forged a successful career in the movies, starring in films such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Gone In 60 Seconds and X-Men: The Last Stand.
Gascoigne has overcome personal problems off the pitch to remain one of the nation’s most-loved footballers.
And Gazza nearly got his revenge too, albeit accidentally.
During a clay pigeon shooting event they attended, Gazza almost shot Jones, narrowly missing his old nemesis.
“Imagine that: ‘Gazza gets his own back!’” he said. “I dropped the gun and he just stood there for a bit and said, ‘It’d be a good idea if I take that off you.’”
Paul Gascoigne talks with England boss Gareth Southgate in tunnel before Switzerland clash at King Power Stadium