Paul Gascoigne and Vinnie Jones recall iconic, crown-jewel squeezing moment in incredibly honest interview
IT IS one of the most iconic sports photographs of all time.
The image is right up there with Cassius Clay standing over Sonny Liston and Bobby Moore brandishing the Jules Rimet trophy.
Vinnie Jones redefining ball control by applying a vice-like grip to Paul Gascoigne’s crown jewels with an eye-watering ferocity.
It was a close encounter that changed the lives of both young men for ever.
And 30 years on, not a day goes by without one or the other being reminded of the incident.
For Gascoigne, still making his way as Newcastle’s emerging young star, it was a painful foretaste of the lengths opponents would go to to curb his extraordinary talent.
I just squealed out in a high-pitched voice…
Paul Gascoigne
But it was former hod-carrier Jones whose reputation as the ultimate midfielder enforcer was set in stone by the episode.
Gazza laughs as Vinnie insists: “I’d never done it before and I never did it again.”
Vinnie casts his mind way back to February 1988 and Wimbledon’s goalless draw with Newcastle at Plough Lane.
He says: “It was a spur-of-the moment thing and it definitely wasn’t planned ahead of the game.
There was no fiddling about… straight on the button. To be fair, he had a bit of luncheon on him.
Vinnie Jones
“But an old Under-12s manager of mine had once told me, ‘Just grab ’em by the balls if they get too close’. And that had obviously stuck in my mind.
“So I just reached out and I was spot on. There was no fiddling about… straight on the button and I didn’t let go.
“And to be fair to the boy, he had a bit of luncheon on him.”
Even today Gascoigne still winces when he recalls the moment.
He says: “People still ask me if it really hurt. Just look at the picture. Look at my face and look at the veins in his neck as he’s grabbing my knackers.
“I’m trying to call out to the linesman but I couldn’t get my words out. I just squealed in a high-pitched voice.
“I remember in the pre-match team-talk the manager giving all his instructions to everyone and then just turning to me and saying, ‘Good luck, son’.
“I didn’t know what he meant until we got into the tunnel.
It’s the only game I was glad was over
Paul Gascoigne
“Vinnie came up and said, ‘It’s just you and me today, fatty. I ain’t playing football — and neither are you’.
“Three minutes into the game, I asked the referee how long there was to go!
“What was embarrassing was that the ground was really small and everyone could hear what Vinnie was saying and they were laughing at me.
“At one point he goes, ‘Oi, fatty, I forgot to tell you that I take the corners. So you just wait there until I’m back’.
“I was so petrified I just said, ‘It’s OK, I’m not going anywhere’.
“It was probably the only game in my life that I was pleased when it was over.”
Yet it is only now that Vinnie admits he was even more nervous than his young opponent that day.
He believes it was the fear of being humiliated by Gazza’s skills that sent him over the edge.
He reveals: “In the build-up to the match, manager Bobby Gould had done a practice game and he put me up against Andy Clements, who was our reserve right-back.
“He told him, ‘You be Gazza, go everywhere, and we’ll do pattern of play’. And he ran rings around me.
“I got so worked up I walked off the pitch, had a shower and cleared off in my car.
“I’d heard all this stuff about how good this Newcastle kid was and all I was thinking was, ‘I’ve just been embarrassed by the reserve team right-back playing in midfield, what’s Gazza going to do to me?’
“So I’d psyched myself out. I was so pumped up about it because he could have destroyed us and I just didn’t want to be embarrassed and let the boys down.
“Did I go too far? Probably. I never played in training like I did in games. I didn’t smash anyone in training. I loved pinging it about.
“But when I crossed that line at five to three on a Saturday, I had a chemical imbalance that kicked in. And that’s what happened that day.
“There was so much circus going on before the game and me and Wisey (Dennis Wise) wanted to kick if off in their dressing-room before the game and cause a bit of nonsense.
“For some reason that didn’t happen. But I knew that I had to stop Gazza — and I was pretty proud of the way I did that.
“You have to remember that there was no foul, no yellow card and no aftermath with the FA. Nowadays I’d probably get a six-month ban.”
Gazza famously sent a bunch of red roses to the Wimbledon dressing room for Vinnie after that match and received a toilet brush in return from his tormentor.
And it was not to be their last encounter by a long way.
Gazza recalls: “I remember walking along the corridor at Elland Road when Tottenham played at Leeds and seeing Vinnie in the gym, pumping iron, ripped to bits.
“I’d forgotten he’d just signed for Leeds and I was going, ‘Oh s***’. He was my toughest opponent ever, without a shadow of a doubt.
“He was the only player I was ever worried about playing against and it was always a scary 90 minutes. But I would have loved him in my team to protect me.”
Vinnie prefers to remember Wimbledon’s 3-1 win at St James’ Park just two weeks after that infamous Plough Lane clash on their way to winning that year’s FA Cup.
“It all kicked off after that game,” he says. “Dave Beasant was coming off and Mirandinha comes running up and tries to karate kick him.
“The Geordies were going mad, chucking stuff at us, and me and Wisey chased after him so he dived into the crowd to get away.”
Gazza has his own memories of Newcastle’s maverick Brazilian.
“Mirandinha? He was just mad. He always had problems with some of the lads in training and some of them couldn’t stand him.
“I was the first one to have a row with him. We had a free-kick in our own half at Norwich. He walks back, pushes me out of the way and says, ‘I take free-kicks’.
“He thought he could score from 60 yards away and I think he hit a corner flag. We had a row about it afterwards and he slapped us in the face. He was a little madman.”
Gazza did manage to get his own back, though.
“I remember him sitting next to me in the team hotel for dinner soon after he’d joined us,” he says.
“I was having steak and chips and he asked me how to order it. I told him to ask the waitress for ‘hairy f***er’.
“I think she gave him a slap and after that the gaffer put a ban on me speaking to him.”
