Midfielder didn’t expect to play so hit the booze
Arsenal hero Ray Parlour has revealed how he once played for the club when drunk after expecting not to be involved in the match.
The former-midfielder, who is nicknamed ‘The Romford Pele‘, has revealed a story about his playing days at the North London club, and he discussed one time when he didn’t expect to play, so he went to the bar beforehand.
Parlour discussed how he drank several pints with other team-mates who were not set to be featured, before suddenly being told he was on the bench due to an injury to someone in the warm-up.
Parlour Reveals Drunken Story
“It was at Anfield, I was a youngster and in those days there was a lot of the players left out of the squad – six or seven [due to less named substitutes], he told Talksport.
“George Graham was the manager and Stewart Houston was the assistant and I was a youngster learning my trade and I said to one of the older pros ‘what do we do now?’
“And he said ‘let’s go and have a few pints before the game’, we’ve got our suits on so off I go – obviously we’re not involved in the game.
“We were in the Carlsberg lounge – free beer which was great so we were all in there having a few pints and about 10 minutes before kick-off Stewart Houston opens the door.
“‘The boss is going made what are you doing’, he said and I told him I was having a few pints and then I’m going to go and watch the game now.
“And he said ‘no you get downstairs now’, someone was injured in the warm-up so I was now a sub.
“I was like ‘oh my God’, I got changed and I thought, George Graham won’t put me on, I was stinking of booze on the bench.
“Twenty minutes to go he told me to go and warm up, ‘you’re going on’ and I was like ‘what? I don’t mind doing two minutes’.
“I got on the pitch and I had a really good game to be fair, I think I set the goal up and it was one of those situations where I got in after the game thinking ‘how did i get away with that?'”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt
