Premier League legend’s Armani go well with torched by team-mates as star rushed to place out fireplace
A Premier League legend once had his Armani suit set on fire as another one of his team-mates rushed to grab an extinguisher and stop the blaze
John Hartson had an interesting first day at Wimbledon
A Premier League legend had his Armani suit set on fire by his team-mates as another star had to rush to put out the blaze.
Wimbledon’s Crazy Gang were notorious for their behaviour on and off the pitch. The Dons’ glory days saw a team full of practical jokers off the pitch pulling some of the most brutal pranks on team-mates which kept them rock solid together on the pitch.
And ex-Wales forward John Hartson learned first hand about his new team-mates when he arrived for training on the first day following a club record £7.5million move from West Ham, in a moment that called midfielder Robbie Earle into action as an impromptu firefighter.
When former Arsenal and Celtic striker Hartson went out to train before his unveiling press conference, he recalled how the injured trio of Ben Thatcher, Carl Leaburn and Jason Euell decided to have a bit of fun.
Hartson was left in a panic when he returned to see a fire with Earle – who celebrated his 61st birthday earlier this week – hanging out of the window, but to his surprise there was no concern amongst his team-mates, who were instead laughing their heads off.
The Welshman soon realised it was his Armani suit and all of the clothes he’d brought with him had been torched. Leaving him attending the press conference in a pair of Wimbledon training shorts.
“I never got the suit back, I never got the expenses back, but that was all just part of it,” Hartson, now 50, wrote in The Guardian.
“It was the best team spirit I ever worked in. I played with Celtic under Martin O’Neill, we had some great times there – winning trophies and playing in Europe. But my days at Wimbledon were the best two years for morale and spirit I’ve ever had in my life.”
Former Dons keeper Neil Sullivan previously recalled how on edge the players would be at the training ground, “There was something going on every day,” Sullivan said speaking exclusively to Daily Star Sport.
“It was brutal at times, but that’s just the way Wimbledon was. You’d walk in the training ground and you wouldn’t know what was going to happen.”
Despite never being able to relax, Sullivan said he enjoyed the mickey-taking atmosphere, insisting it was a good way to get people out of their shells.
“We’d socialise during the week, a lot of us were local lads and we knew it each other’s friends. We had a really tight bond so we could get away with a lot,” he added.
“After I got lobbed by David Beckham [the iconic half-way line goal in 1996] everyone was trying that in training. The way of dealing with things like that was to take the p*** out of people, that’s how you get out of your shell.”
