Vinnie Jones Named His ‘Only Real Rival’ for ‘Hardest Man in Football’

Although considered one of the hardest players in Premier League history, Vinnie Jones still divides opinion. This is where the distinction comes in between being a hard player and being a dirty one. Jones certainly had no qualms blowing his own trumpet and describing himself as a hard man.

His era was the 1980s and 90s. Although major changes in the game took place in that – for example, giving a red card for a professional foul – refereeing was generally more lenient. So you could happily scythe opponents down and not always be immediately carded. More often than not, this is what Jones did.

As far as he was concerned, he only had one rival in the game when it came to being a hard man. That was Liverpool’s Steve McMahon, The two faced each other in the 1998 FA Cup Final. In that final, Wimbledon upset the odds, beating Liverpool 1-0. That remains one of the biggest shocks in football.

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Vinnie Jones was up against Steve McMahon in midfield

Jones had targeted McMahon in the cup final and got the opportunity to make his mark in the opening moments. The resulting tackle is one of the most famous in England’s showpiece game. It was brutal too, but did not result in any cards. In a conversation with TalkSport, Jones explained his thinking prior to the big game:

This exact scenario played out in the opening moments of the cup final. True to form, McMahon received the ball just as Jones had envisaged he would. There was no time to hesitate. This was an opportunity for Jones to lay down a serious message to Liverpool.

Per Liverpool Echo, Jones would later claim McMahon was his ‘only real rival’ in modern-day football for the accolade of ‘hardest man in football’.

McMahon Played Down Significance of Jones’s Tackle

Liverpool man was not affected

Such was the time, there were no histrionics from McMahon. He simply got to his feet. McMahon plays down any belief that Jones’s tackle was the catalyst that enabled Wimbledon to believe they could win the game:

Jones acknowledges McMahon got his revenge in the end, connecting with Jones with his studs and forcing him to have stitches on a major cut.