From Football Star to Film Star!

Firstly, it has to be said that chat-shows are not my cup of tea!

Over the years I`ve gotten fed up to the back-teeth with celebrities going on these sort of programmes merely to promote their latest film, book, record or simply to keep themselves in the public eye.

I guess on my list of dislikes they run reality TV shows a very close second.

Normally, as the first few notes of the signature tune are broadcast it`s an indication for me to reach for the television remote and channel hop.

However Saturday evening was different!

For once there was a guest being interviewed that intrigued me, the fact that he`d managed to carve out a new career as well as having once played for our fine football club might possibly have had something to do with it.

On Saturday night, Piers Morgan spent the best part of an hour chatting to a certain Vinnie Jones.

Now you may or you may not know, Vinnie came into professional football late, arriving at Plough Lane after being noticed playing for non-league Wealdstone before progressing to play for, amongst others, Leeds United, Sheffield United and Chelsea.

On his debut, for Wimbledon, he scored the winner against Manchester United, the stuff fairy tales are made of. Throughout his career he established something of a reputation as a hard man, someone not to be mixed with, someone you`d want alongside you in the trenches.

But there was more to his game than just that.

It was only when he came to Stamford Bridge that you realised there was more to his game than intimidation, sure he got booked before the ten second mark when we played against his former team, Sheffield United, in the FA Cup, but anyone who was at Anfield to see him beat Bruce Grobelaar, all ends up from thirty-five yards, in front of the Kop will have some sort of affection for the man.

Indeed, on a personal level, I can recall visiting a public house in Hemel Hempstead with my younger brother, it was an establishment with a fearsome reputation and upon entering every eye in the place was directed towards these two strangers that walked in.

I can recall being stood at the bar, a little nervous to say the least, glancing across into the public bar and seeing Vinnie entertaining a few friends. I ordered two pints and then asking the bar man to provide Mr Jones with a pint of whatever he was drinking.

Instantly, the atmosphere changed. In a flash normality was restored, banter filled the air and in some strange sort of way us two strangers had been accepted.

So, returning to Saturday night and the interview, I`m guessing you`d like to know which pertinent subjects Piers touched upon. Well thankfully very little was spared, all the grisly bits, all the funny bits were all recounted with glowing honesty by a man who, showed that life isn`t all a bed of roses and that, despite the fame, does have his regrets.

Vinnie talked about the nut-grabbing antics with Gazza, his openness about the shame he felt about biting the nose of the journalist in a Dublin bar and his subsequent plunge into depression at the recollection of what he`d done, he talked about the recent incident whereby he was arrested in America but, outside of all the trappings that go with being a film star residing in Los Angeles, he came across as a man whose greatest love is his family and in particular his wife Tanya who had life changing heart surgery some twenty-odd years ago.

Like I said in starting this article, I`m not usually one for chat-shows but this one silenced me, it grabbed me, it captivated me and it left me wanting more, a bit like that night in that public house in Hemel Hempstead I suppose!

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