Vinnie Jones talks Crazy Gang, FA Cup glory in 1988 and what West Ham should expect when they meet AFC Wimbledon
Dons legend turned Hollywood film star is back in town for fourth-round tie with the Hammers and admits he fears for his designer suits if the players get hold of him
VINNIE JONES has to keep his wits about him when he makes a rare return to Wimbledon.
The Hollywood actor – once a Dons midfield enforcer and the undisputed leader of the Crazy Gang – is fully aware that the mad-hatter culture still exists within the cracks in the walls.
And preparing to swap the movies for a microphone as a BT Sport pundit for AFC Wimbledon’s FA Cup clash with West Ham at Kingsmeadow, Jones has a wardrobe dilemma.
He said: “There is no way I am wearing a $2000 suit anywhere near Wimbledon football players.
“If there is just a little bit of the old boys in this current lot then it will be ruined. You ask any of my old team-mates, they all had their suits, ties, cars ruined.
“I’m a little bit wiser so it will be minimal clothing for maximum damage.
“I have no idea why Tony Adams wears the stuff he does – he wouldn’t get anywhere near Wimbledon with that still intact.
“If they have something up their sleeve for me, it isn’t going to be involving my suit. I think I’ll just stick to jeans and a sweat top.
“You can’t take anything for granted in Wimbledon.”
Along with pranks, tomfoolery and a keenness for a bone-crunching tackle, the FA Cup is also something embedded within the very soul of football in Wimbledon.
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For Jones, it follows him still – 31 years after Wimbledon made history against Kenny Dalglish’s Liverpool titans at the old Wembley.
The 54-year-old added: “I was out shooting with this old boy the other day.
“He goes: ‘Oh, you were at Wimbledon? The 1988 final and all that?’ We will always be related to the cup.
“I try to compare it to the guys over in America. I say it’s like the Superbowl. They still don’t get it.”
Across the Atlantic, they have no idea just what Vinnie and his motley crew managed to achieve against the odds and on the grandest stage of them all.
In fact, there a lot of people in the UK who still have misconceptions over how Wimbledon – a side who had remarkably risen through four divisions at lightning speed in the 80s – actually pulled it off.
Sometimes, even Jones starts to question himself.
He said: “I sit there sometimes and look over my shoulder and think: ‘Was that a dream? Did that happen?’
“But we didn’t just limp into that final. And the claims we were just a lump it and hope team are just bulls**t.
“We really did our homework and trained obsessively until late. We were practising set pieces until 7pm the night before the final.
“John Aldridge had a lot of penalties that year and Dave Beasant watched every single one on a small crackly screen. We watched videos tirelessly.”
It wasn’t to be in vain. Lawrie Sanchez rose highest in the 37th minute to head over Bruce Grobbelaar from a Dennis Wise free-kick to give them the lead.
And Beasant’s binge-watching of penalties paid off as he became the first keeper to save a spot-kick in an FA Cup final by denying Aldridge to his left with 20 minutes remaining.
Jones added: “You talk about Glenn Hoddle and all these people, any of our players could ping a ball as good as them over 40 yards. We perfected dead ball positions.
“Has anybody analysed what Leicester did when they won the league? They played very similar football to us.
“Teams couldn’t handle us then and they couldn’t handle Leicester either. When Leicester won it they may as well as have had Wimbledon kit on.”
He added: “The FA Cup, Champions League and the league was the original treble. That was the big one. Liverpool were going for that when we beat them. That’s how good they were.”
It’s an achievement that Jones believes will still be in the air when the Hammers rock up with their Gucci wash bags and Beats headphones.
They’ll be walking into a club famed for its simplicity and love for the underdog, something that appears to have returned under former Crazy Gang member Wally Downes.
Jones added: “I wanted the club to regain its roots again, and they have done with Wally – he is Dave Bassett in disguise. He epitomises Dave Bassett and that’s what the club needs right now.
“And other fans know, whether it’s West Ham’s or Arsenal’s or Manchester United’s, that Wimbledon still carries a certain amount of prestige and mystique from days gone by.”
Despite their glory, forever etched in the thread of that blue and yellow kit, Jones admits it could have all gone wrong – making him a man remembered for all the wrong reasons.
He explained: “We could be having this conversation now and you could be asking: ‘Vinnie you lost 11-0, it’s the greatest cup game and score in history’ – anything could have happened."
He will be gunning for a home win from the punditry desk of course, but as much as the Crazy Gang were an unpredictable bunch, so are Downes’ current side sitting bottom of League One.
Jones insisted: “That famous final resembles the game on Saturday for the Wimbledon lads.
“If West Ham turn up and they don’t fancy it, if it’s a bit cold and it’s a bit frosty and they have their gloves on and they don’t want to be kicked and scraped down the back of the leg and bullied, Wimbledon could get a result.
“But they could just as easily get absolutely stuffed.”
Watch AFC Wimbledon v West Ham United exclusively live tonight from 7:15pm on BT Sport 2. For more info visit bt.com/sport