Tubes meets Vinnie Jones: Ex-Wimbledon star in talks over a Crazy Gang movie

Vinnie Jones has had a fascinating career as a football and movie star, and Soccer AM's Tubes caught up with the former Wimbledon midfielder to talk about the Crazy Gang and cracking Hollywood.

Jones' footballing career highlight was being part of the famous 1988 FA Cup-winning Dons side which saw off Liverpool - an incredible achievement for a side which had been in the Fourth Division just five years earlier.

The legendary hardman has since appeared in various big movies including Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Mean Machine and X-Men: The Last Stand.

Now he can tick off another grand achievement – being interviewed by Soccer AM's lyrical master...

TUBES: When you finished your football career, did you just think "I'm going to be a movie star, I'm going to smash America", which you've done?

JONES: No, it came around quite suddenly, with Guy Ritchie asking me to be in Lock, Stock. So I did a couple of scenes in that, then at the end of the season, some reshoots. I won Best British Newcomer, then I got a call from Hollywood to go and do Gone in 60 Seconds. I was at QPR at the time, as assistant manager, and I had to make a decision.

TUBES: You were a great footballer as well, and known for your Crazy Gang days. Have you ever thought about making Crazy Gang: The Film?

JONES: It's been talked about. I'm in talks with [former Wimbledon chairman] Sam Hammam about it and he's in talks with other people about it, so it's something we're thinking of. I know a lot of people were disappointed with the documentary that went out. There's two sides to it - there's the fairytale side, coming from non-league, which certain people thought they were interviewing us for. Then there's the other side which got brought forward, and some of the lads got a bit exploited.

TUBES: How's the game changed since you were playing?

JONES: It was a lot more physical when I played. A lot more tackles flying in. If you did any of those tackles now, it would definitely be a red card. I don’t know whether that was the good old British game and now we're in the good old continental game... maybe that's what it is. I said 20 years ago, if the Premier League gets overrun with foreign players, the England team would struggle, and I think we have a little bit.

TUBES: Vinnie Jones was known as a hardman. But you scored some great goals in your career - you were decent.

JONES: I scored one or two, yeah. At Chelsea, I scored a great volley against Bruce Grobbelaar in front of the Kop - that was a great moment for me. Scored a great one for Leeds against Hull - about a 35-yarder.

TUBES: Does that annoy you, though? You were a decent footballer but everyone goes 'Vinnie Jones, hardman, boots people up in the air'.

JONES: You had to boot people up in the air first to get their respect, so I didn't mind it.

TUBES: How does a film set compare to a football changing room?

JONES: It's quite different. For a film, you're in a trailer on your own, whereas obviously in the changing room you've got all the camaraderie of the lads. I was a leader so I'd get the lads up for it, and try and get everybody keyed in for running out at their peak at three o’clock. In the movies, you're in the trailer - you take your mates with you and all the rest of it, but you do miss the changing room.