West Ham legend Julian Dicks opens up on his training ground scraps, Harry Redknapp’s furious outburst and Paul Gascoigne’s prank that saw him run through the hotel naked in new book
- Julian Dicks has paid tribute to the old days when football had a rough edge
- Manager Harry Redknapp threw a plate of sandwiches against the wall in rage
- Dicks ran through a corridor naked after Paul Gascoigne pulled a prank on him
West Ham legend Julian Dicks has paid tribute to the old days when football had a ‘rough edge’. He’s revealed how Harry Redknapp threw a plate of sandwiches against the wall out of anger and given fans an insight into the punch-ups he witnessed at training.
The former West Ham player was disruptive in the changing rooms and never got on with his managers. He even squared up to his England youth team boss Dave Sexton before booting a bucket across the dugout.
Dicks – who was known for throwing his body on the line and clattering into tackles – says he preferred football that way. He even said John Hartson was within his right to kick Eyal Berkovic in the head during training in 1998.
Dicks went on to reveal how he once ran through a hotel corridor naked after Paul Gascoigne pulled a prank on him during international duty and admitted to cutting his cast off his leg so he could go out clubbing.
The 54-year-old’s revelations have been published in his new book, ‘Hammer Time’. It’s clear from the snippets Dicks has released that the book will be full of eventful tales from the past.
West Ham legend Julian Dicks has paid tribute to the old days when football had a rough edge
The ex-West Ham star was disruptive in the changing rooms and never got on with his bosses
Dicks (left) was known for throwing his body on the line and clattering into tackles
Speaking to The Sun ahead of the book’s release, Dicks said: ‘When I played it was the best time. We could go out, we could drink, we had fun’, before diving into the details.
Dicks started by talking about his trip to Toulon, France, with the U21 England team. He said no one would share a room with Gascoigne so he offered. However, he instantly regretted his decision.
He said: ‘No one put their hand up and I went, “Yeah, I’ll share with him”. F***ing wrong decision. He would wake up in the night and put his a**e on my face.
‘He put about 20 firecrackers around the rim of the toilet and they started going off and I thought it was a bomb.
‘I’m naked and I am running down the corridor and he’s just stood in the door, laughing his head off.
‘It was funny, although it wasn’t at the time because I was standing in front of Dave Sexton and other people.’
Dicks went on to discuss West Ham’s pre-season tour to Australia – claiming he asked the team doctor to cut his cast off with a carving knife after he was denied entry to a nightclub because of the plaster.
He said: ‘I went all the way back to the hotel and got the club doctor to cut it off with a carving knife so I could get in the nightclub. From what I can remember it was a good night.’
Dicks (pictured in the middle) said there was a lot more ‘passion’ in football when he was playing and claims the modern game has lost that element
Dicks said how Harry Redknapp threw a plate of sandwiches against the wall after they lost
Dicks also recalled how Redknapp lost his temper after being offered salmon sandwiches following their 4-0 defeat to Southampton.
Dicks said: ‘We came in, we’d got beat 4-0 by Southampton. Don Hutchison went, “Who wants salmon sandwiches after a game of football?”. Harry went, “F***ing salmon sandwiches”, and he just lugged them at the wall.
‘The managers back then threw pots of tea, cups of tea, stuff like that. It was a common thing. These days you’d probably lose your job for that. But if you lose 4-0 you should be able to b*****k the players and they should be man enough to take it.’
He went on to discuss Hartson’s bust-up with Berkovic in 1998 before reflecting on the state of the game today. He feels the passion is gone and says players are being booked for weak challenges in the modern game.
He said: ‘I remember playing against the Crazy Gang (Wimbledon FC) and we had a 21-man brawl.’ It’s a passionate game. A lot of the passion has gone out of the game. Now you can get booked for using too much force. To me, that’s the biggest load of b*****ks in the world.’
Dicks book ‘Hammer Time: Me, West Ham And A Passion For The Shirt’ will be published on Thursday, June 8.
Dicks went on to reveal how he once ran through a hotel corridor naked after Paul Gascoigne (pictured above) pulled a prank on him during international duty with the England U21’s
