CRAZY GANG GO TO WAR
A TV documentary portraying Wimbledon’s FA Cup heroes as a bunch of bullying, violent, feuding psychopaths has left …
WiMBleDon’s Crazy gang are furious about a new television documentary they claim has depicted them as brutal thugs.
The club’s former owner sam Hammam has complained to BT sport and demanded they make alterations to their programme The Crazy Gang, which is due to air on Boxing Day and charts their remarkable rise from non-league football to winning the Fa Cup at Wembley in 11 years.
in it, Vinnie Jones describes a horrific attack by John Fashanu on a team-mate at the club’s training ground, while Fashanu himself is on camera appearing to glory in intimidation and violence around the club, saying at one stage: ‘We ruled by fear. Wonderful.’ Hammam attended the film’s premiere in london on Thursday night with former managers Dave Bassett and Bobby gould and ex- players Terry gibson, John scales, Terry Phelan, Dave Beasant and andy Thorn — all of whom were interviewed for the programme — and was outraged at what he sees as a lack of balance.
‘Wimbledon was a group of people who worked hard and fought against heavy odds for 20 years and came up trumps,’ said Hammam, who flew from lebanon to attend the screening.
‘We represented the little person, the working-class fan who doesn’t have a lot but works hard and doesn’t give up.
‘ everyone at the club i have spoken to was appalled at the way the programme made us look.’
Hammam and Bassett were seething that Fashanu was given more airtime than anyone else and gave the impression the team’s core ethics were threats and bullying. Hamman said: ‘ The programme portrayed the group as violent thugs as if that was all they had to them. The suggestion was that the players were just a bunch of Fash’s boys and they were all terrified of him. it was far, far from the truth.
‘it wasn’t the Fash show. We had some very good players. Dennis Wise, Dave Beasant and John scales played for england, lawrie sanchez went on to manage northern ireland.’
Bassett felt his time as manager between 1981 and 1987 when they shot up the leagues to reach the First Division was undervalued and the sense of fun and camaraderie had not been properly represented.
in the no-holds barred documentary, Jones, who now plays tough guys as an actor in Hollywood, admitted he had been shocked by the savagery of one Fashanu attack on an unnamed Wimbledon player.
‘Fash literally lifted him up, swung him around and smashed him down on the floor and his calf just obliterated. The fella had to have 20 stitches or 30 stitches in his calf, split it to bits,’ he said. ‘Fash could be hilarious, a very funny man. But when he was angry, he was a very tough man.’
The programme also highlights a feud between Fashanu and sanchez that ended with the latter calling a reporter and telling him Fashanu had tried to karate-kick his legs.
Defender scales was a witness. He told the programme: ‘We were used to seeing very unusual things but that face-to-face, coming to blows was the most shocking thing i saw.’
striker Terry gibson said: ‘For six years they never spoke to each other. They were in the same changing room but wouldn’t even celebrate together.’
sanchez said: ‘ From the first moment, he knew what i was and i knew what he was.’
Beasant thought sanchez, who holds a university degree, regarded the more streetwise Fashanu as pretentious.
Fashanu comes across as unapologetic in the film but does admit: ‘sometimes i wince at some things we made them do. locking them in the boot of their car, dragging them around the pitch.
‘i grabbed scales by his nostrils. He had one of two choices, you either sink or swim. There were days when you thought scalesy was almost breaking. But if he and Phelo (Terry Phelan) saw us today, they would say, “Thank you Fash”, you may have beaten the hell out of us but you changed our character.’ While some of the Crazy gang loved the atmosphere instigated by Bassett and assistant Wally Downes, some of the later signings found it hard to cope.
scales, signed from Bristol Rovers, admits: ‘The first thing i’d think about was getting down to the pub and getting away from it, having a drink. Was it conducive to me playing well? obviously not as an athlete. But at that stage it was a coping mechanism.
‘i remember getting in the car and getting psyched up for training so i would be able to cope for it. The Crazy gang would swallow me up.’
Phelan recalls seeing some players cry at the abuse they received. He said: ‘it was like a pack of wolves going out looking for
blood. It wasn’t normal. I’ve seen players cry, physically break down. It was a place for me that was really dark for six months, socially and emotionally.
‘As a footballer you have dreams; for six months I had no dreams. I used to sit in my bedroom upstairs, and I’d say, “My career is gone, where can I go from here?”’ Downes is unrepentant at creating a culture where only the strongest survived. ‘Very tough love,’ he calls it.
Scales and Phelan did survive and shared in the FA Cup glory. But some of the most savage treatment was saved for opponents, with centre half Andy Thorn admitting: ‘We went too far loads of times.’
Striker Alan Cork recalls putting Steve Bruce’s nose out of place in the opening minutes and then catching him on the other side.
Jones summed up the deliberate intimidation. ‘There were a few punch-ups, there were a few confrontations. We’d look for an opponent who was weak and play on it. I’d say, “Wisey, we’ve got one here”.
‘We’d shout, “Put it in the mixer”, when the ball was in the air, you’d see their legs going, they’d be thinking “Oh, s***”. We were a proper organised force.’
For many Wimbledon players, it was a final chance to beat the odds. Barnardo’s child Fashanu, hod carrier Jones and Southampton reject Wise all went on to great careers after leaving Wimbledon, their characters moulded by learning at a tough school. There was black humour, too, with Bassett suggesting setting Cork’s car on fire after he had blocked him getting a pay rise. ‘He said, “What am I going to do?”. I said, “Go and burn your car and claim on the insurance”,’ said Bassett. And the fire did take place.
It was the violence, though, that will divide opinion as to whether Wimbledon’s story was a fairytale or a nightmare.
The last word went to Fashanu who was asked if he had any regrets. ‘ Not striking Lawrie Sanchez sooner,’ he replied. BT Sport is to premiere the next instalment in its BT Sport Films series, on December 26 on BT Sport 1 at 9pm.