Tom Wrigglesworth told Soccer AM how his beloved Sheffield Wednesday missed out on a young Eric Cantona.
Wrigglesworth talks Owls, trains and getting arrested...
Not many people have seen Eric Cantona wearing a Sheffield Wednesday shirt... but Tom Wrigglesworth has.
The Yorkshire comedian and lifelong Owls fan saw the future Manchester United legend don the blue and white stripes in January 1992 when he was on trial at Hillsborough.
After some bad weather disrupted the trial, manager Trevor Francis was not sure whether to sign him and Wrigglesworth still can't believe that his club let a future Premier League legend slip through the net.
Speaking on
Soccer AM, he said: "It's a kind of little known fact that he first went to Sheffield Wednesday before he went to Leeds - and then on to Man United, where he became massive of course.
"Sheffield Wednesday trialled him for a week in winter, but our pitches were frozen so we asked for another week so we could see him on grass. He turned us down and went to Leeds.
"It's awful because between Wednesday and United, Sheffield have got a real pedigree in letting tomorrow's legends slip through their fingers.
"Sheffield United turned down a teenage Maradona - and we let Eric Cantona just sail away!"
Lose
Wednesday could certainly do with some of Cantona's flair right now after going on a terrible run which has seen them fail to win a league game since December 11.
The slump saw manager Alan Irvine axed earlier this month to be replaced by Gary Megson and Wrigglesworth believes that was a good decision.
However, he is at a loss to explain why results have been going so badly for his team.
"I don't think anyone knows, but it's always been like that," he said.
"When I was a teenager they used to beat the good teams and then lose to the rubbish. And now they've just forgot to do the first bit, they just seem to lose to everyone.
"It's completely topsy-turvy, but hopefully now with Gary Megson it should settle down a bit. We've had about 50 managers in three years, so they need things to settle down.
"He got a good reception at Hillsborough because he was a player of course, and his dad was, so he's come home in some ways."
Train
The funnyman was on
Soccer AM to promote his new show 'Tom Wrigglesworth's Nightmare Dream Wedding', which tells the true story of why he nearly missed his own marriage ceremony.
That comes on the back of his award-winning show 'Tom Wrigglesworth's Open Return Letter to Richard Branson', which was inspired by a train journey where he rescued a little old lady from the jaws of Virgin train bureaucracy, only to be arrested for begging.
Wrigglesworth told us the full story behind the show - and how it had a real impact on Virgin Trains' ticketing policy.
I" was on a train and an old woman had the wrong ticket," he explained.
"You know how when you buy an advance ticket you have to get the exact train? Well she was on one half-an-hour too early.
"The train manager made her pay £115 for a new ticket, which was outrageous. The train was running 15 minutes late, so if our train was delayed then she'd have actually been on the right train and everyone else would have been on the wrong one!
"He made her pay all that money, so I had a whip-round to get all the money back. I got a pound off everyone and gave her the money.
"The train manager said he was going to get me arrested and there was nothing I could do. It was the opposite of a traditional police chase because normally criminals would run away and be pursued by the police, but here I was stuck on a train on a fixed rail hurtling towards Euston where the police were waiting to arrest me. I could have got off, but I'd have killed myself!
"So I got arrested for begging. Extraordinary isn't it?
"I got spoken to by the police and then I got into an argument with Virgin about their ticketing policy. What it used to be is that if you were on the train without the correct ticket you could only buy a peak time single, which is hugely expensive. Now Virgin have changed the rules and you can buy a fair ticket on board the train.
"I've got a
petition now on the internet called Lena's Law and that's to make all the train operators have a much fairer policy."
