Wimbledon didn’t shower for a week so stench put Liverpool off in FA Cup final

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John Fashanu has revealed Wimbledon’s Crazy Gang used a dirty trick to win the FA Cup – they did not shower for a week before the final.

The striker reckons opponents Liverpool were put off by their stench. His minnows pulled off one of the biggest shocks in the tournament’s history when they won the 1988 Wembley showpiece 1-0 against the newly-crowned league champs packed with iconic players such as Peter Beardsley, John Barnes and Alan Hansen.

Fash, 59, said he and his unfancied teammates – including hod-carrier turned Hollywood star Vinnie Jones, Dennis Wise and Lawrie Sanchez, who scored the winner – tried every ruse they could think of to win the match.

The stinkers imposed a team-wide week-long shower ban on the Wimbledon stars did not shower for a week so stench distracted Liverpool in the FA Cup finale entire squad so their hum would keep Liverpool at arms’ length.

Vinnie even confiscated everyone’s toiletries. Fash told the Seaman Says podcast: "The cup final was absolutely marvellous.

"How on earth would we, in ‘88, get to the FA Cup final against the mighty Reds Liverpool. We were doing everything before the game.

"We went into a hotel and all of us together, as a squad, we said for the next week, seven days, nobody shower. If anybody showers we’re going to beat the hell out of you

"That was me, Jonesy, Wisey – we had some crazy guys there. Everybody made sure that when we went onto the Wembley pitch we were stinking.

"We felt horrible. We hadn’t brushed our teeth. Vinnie Jones had all of our bathing things, toothbrushes, he had them all in his room. He had them locked up. It was psychological.

Do you think we will ever encounter another 'Crazy Gang' again? Let us know in the comments section.


"When we got on that pitch we were ready for a fight. That’s what we thought about – fight first, football will come second. That’s the honest truth..

"The first six or seven minutes Vinnie Jones would do a crazy tackle that would almost break someone’s leg. "That would start the game off. "That’s telling you, `Motherf*****, you are in a game’."

Fash also made sure not one Wimbledon player shook hands with their opposite number.

The only smile he allowed himself before the game was when he spotted Princess Di in the crowd.

He said: "I remember when we came through the tunnel, there was Barnesy, John Barnes put his hand out to shake my hand and I went, 'Shut the f*** up, get that away from me’. "Nobody was allowed to shake friends. I don’t want to see anybody shake hands with anybody.

"The only one I succumbed to was when I saw Princess Diana and I had to give a little wave. That made me happy.’"

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  • AFC Wimbledon FC
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