Vinnie Jones: ‘The FA Cup used to be massive – we need to make it worth something again’

The AFC Wimbledon game plan is 30 years old, or as vintage knuckle duster Vinnie Jones tells i: “It ain’t rocket science”. Yes West Ham can expect Crazy Gang II at the Kingsmeadow: a bish, bash, bosh retro tear-up authored by original cast member Wally Downes and aided by the voice of Jones in his ear.

Nostalgia for the old competition and his former club washes over Jones as he contemplates the historic import of AFC Wimbledon’s first fourth round fixture. The club was formed out of the wistful ashes of the 100-year institution shipped north to Milton Keynes 15 years ago. Jones doubts the born again version can ever recreate the unprecedented rise from football league debutants to FA Cup winners in a decade. The arrival of Premier League West Ham to the London borough of Kingston at least allows the club and its supporters to evoke once more a sense of the dream that died with the MK sellout.

Had Jones not been a part of the BT Sport commentary team he would have been there anyway, a mascot straight outta ‘88 offering first hand nuggets on how to squeeze a scrotum or chop the legs off jeans in the opposing dressing room. It is hard to imagine Jones falling prey to whimsy. Ask him about 1988 and the iron outer melts to reveal a puppy dog core. “Even now you sit there sometimes thinking was that a dream? Did it happen? Life goes on and time goes by but at the time it was a massive thing,” he said.

Jones laments the diminution of a once great competition. He echoes the many voices advocating a Champions League spot to the winner to restore prestige and significance. “It was a massive sporting event. We had a big family, everybody would gather at your nan’s house or your uncle’s, there’d be sandwiches, a tremendous build-up and then the game. When I’m in America I tell people winning the FA Cup was like winning your Superbowl. It used to be but it is not anymore unless they make it worth something.

“They need to make the prize bigger at the end of it. The Premier League, which has taken over [the game], has a duty to go to the FA and ask what it can do to bring this magnificent competition back. It’s the roots of our country. The only way possible is to make it the fourth Champions League spot.”

‘Football hasn’t moved on that much’

Jones’ interest in this contest has been galvanised by the Downes experiment at Wimbledon, now six weeks old. He sees the game the same way he always has and believes the old Wimbledon treatment of it still has relevance, evidence by Leicester’s own fairytale of 2016. “They could not handle us then and they can’t handle it now. When Leicester won it they might as well have had Wimbledon kit on. They got the ball forward early. All these pundits say we were a big lumpy team and all that. Absolute bullshit. Our boys could play. You talk about Glenn Hoddle, people like that, Andy Thorn could ping a ball as good, over 40, 50, 60 yards.”

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According to Downes the Jones wisdom has been freely and increasingly available as the match has drawn nearer. The advice is faithfully vintage, as if the continentalisation of the English game never happened. “Everyone says about the beautiful football in the Premier League. Have a look how many goals are scored every week from crosses and set plays. Football hasn’t moved on that much. That is what we were doing 30 years ago.

“Wally being appointed is fantastic. I wanted the club to regain its roots again. Neil Ardley did a good job but should have walked at the end of last season. Wally is Dave Bassett in disguise, the epitome of Bassett and that is what the club needs right now. This is Wally Downes’ team. It’s Wimbledon. He is taking them back to the old times. They are going to get it forward early, they are going to press you, to hussle, fight for every ball. It is not rocket science. You can bring in players from Spain, Italy, wherever you want. Yes technically they are fantastic players but look in the dictionary of football and it is still crosses and set plays for me, possession in the final third.”

Up and at ’em

Yikes. There’s more. “If the Premier League team turns up and doesn’t fancy that too much on the day, if it’s a bit cold and a bit frosty and they’ve got their gloves on. If they don’t want to be kicked and scraped down the back of the leg, pushed about and bullied then Wimbledon could get a result out of it. If West ham turn up and start knocking it about, pinging around and Wimbledon can’t get near the ball then the game is going to go the other way.”

Guest punditry is in vogue, of course. Jones follows Tony Adams into the BT chair for this tie. Mercifully there will be no repeat of the pale blue, three piece velvet number unveiled by the old Arsenal eccentric. “I was thinking of wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. Listen, I don’t know what Wally has done in the last six weeks but he was the biggest prankster of all of us. He instigated all of it. If he has something up his sleeve for me it ain’t going to be involving a $2,000 dollar suit. Tony Adams would not have got away with that anywhere near Wimbledon.”

Watch AFC Wimbledon v West Ham United exclusively live on Saturday from 7:15pm on BT Sport 2. For more info visit bt.com/sport