Football’s ‘hardest man’ crashed automobile into Vinnie Jones’ and requested ‘what you going to do?’
Billy Whitehurst was a feared figure in English football during his playing days, and once, apparently, left hardman Vinnie Jones lost for words
Billy Whitehurst left Vinnie Jones speechless after a car crash, taunting him with, “What are you going to f****** do about it?”
Whitehurst was a force to be reckoned with throughout the 80s and 90s, striking fear into the hearts of defenders with his intimidating style of play.
The 6-foot-tall striker was a dominant force in the air and on the ground, and many opponents dreaded facing him. Carlton Palmer wasat West Brom when he came up against Whitehurst at Sunderland. Speaking on the Under the Cosh podcast, Palmer sang Whitehurst’s praises and revealed how standing up to him earned his respect.
Palmer said: “I’ll tell you a story about Billy, I f****** love that boy to death. I just got in the first team at West Brom, we’ve got to play Sunderland. Guess who’s up front? Billy f****** Whitehurst.
“Who do you not want to play against ever? Billy Whitehurst, John Fashanu and Mick Harford. Three players straight off the top of your head you don’t want to fucking play against. So I’m thinking, ‘How am I going to approach this one with Billy?’
“I’m centre-half, how am I going to approach this one? Well, fire with fire. So I went, ‘F*** it,’ I’m just going to have to go toe-to-toe with him. He’s f****** elbowing me and all that.
“Half-time, I’m walking off, and he said to me, ‘You know something, son? You’ve got more balls than sense.’ That’s what he said to me! And then we became mates, I f****** love him, Bill.”
Palmer added: “Then he tells me the story about when Vinnie [Jones] came to the club because Vinnie thought he was a f****** hard man. I love Vinnie to death as well, another great lad, Vinnie. Vinnie was coming in, so Billy’s got this old f****** car.
“Vinnie’s turned up in a 7 Series, brand new BMW. Billy drives straight into the side of it with his old car. He walks in there and he said to Vinnie, ‘Somebody’s just f****** driven straight into the side of your car.’ He said, ‘Which c*** done that?’, and he said ‘Me, what are you going to f****** do about it?’ That’s f****** Billy for you.”
Since retiring, Whitehurst has taken a step back from the limelight, training greyhounds and running a few pubs in South Yorkshire. But his legacy as a force to be reckoned with on the pitch lives on, which is something Palmer and Jones would both agree with.
