Widely regarded as one of the Premier League’s toughest-ever players, Vinnie Jones remains a polarizing figure. His legacy sparks debate, particularly over whether he was merely tough or outright dirty. Jones himself embraced the “hard man” label without hesitation.
Jones made his name during the 1980s and 90s, a period when football was undergoing significant change—such as red cards for professional fouls—but overall, officiating was more relaxed than today. At the time, aggressive tackles often went unpunished, and Jones regularly took advantage of this leeway.
In Jones’s view, only one player rivaled him in toughness: Liverpool’s Steve McMahon. The two went head-to-head in the 1988 FA Cup Final, where underdogs Wimbledon pulled off one of football’s greatest upsets by defeating Liverpool 1-0.
That day, Jones had McMahon firmly in his sights. Early in the match, he executed a notorious tackle on McMahon—fierce but unpenalized—that has since become one of the most memorable moments in FA Cup history. Speaking to TalkSport, Jones revealed his pre-match plan:
“I’d seen on video how [Alan] Hansen or someone would pass to McMahon, who’d then let the ball run across him to open up play. I told the lads I was going to hit him hard early on, knowing the referee likely wouldn’t send me off in front of 100,000 fans. It was a bit of a gamble since no one really responded when I said it.”
Sure enough, in the opening minutes, McMahon received the ball exactly as Jones had anticipated. Jones didn’t hesitate, seeing the chance to send a clear message:
“As the ball came to him, I was already running from about 30 yards away, thinking, ‘just open up’. When he did, I thought, ‘Merry Christmas’. BOOM!”
According to the Liverpool Echo, Jones later said McMahon was the only real contender for the title of “hardest man in football.”
Despite the intensity of the challenge, McMahon brushed it off. He quickly got back on his feet and downplayed any idea that Jones’s early tackle had rattled him or changed the game’s momentum. He commented:
“That tackle had no bearing on the match. I got up and carried on; it didn’t faze me at all. Maybe Jones thought it affected me, but it didn’t.”
Jones would later concede that McMahon got his own back. At one point in the match, McMahon caught Jones with a tackle so forceful it left him needing stitches from a deep gash.
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