FORMER Arsenal goalkeeper Graham Stack has revealed that he used to sell knock-off luxury brand items to his team-mates.
Stack was a member of the Gunners’ Invincibles who won the Premier League in the 2003/04 season.
However, he only played 10 league games in his six-year spell for the North London-based side, having gone on multiple loans before leaving in 2006.
As a back-up player, he did not qualify for a Premier League medal during Arsenal’s famous campaign nor was paid to the same level as the likes of Thierry Henry or Robert Pires.
But he did make up for it with his off-field antics as he saw an opportunity to make a bit of cash from his team-mates.
Stack exclusively told Ladbrokes Fanzone: “I grew up in pubs in West London and it’s fair to say we had quite a few characters who used to drink in our pubs.
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“We had a number of football teams, darts teams, karaoke nights, it was a proper old fashioned blokes pub with the football and racing on and it was full of colourful characters.
“One of them used to bring in some knock-off clothes, bags, wallets etc, and again, because I wasn’t on a lot of money at the time I saw a bit of a gap in the market.
“So I started off buying four or five boxes of ‘Gucci’ from him and within a week I’d sold it all, so I thought I may as well up my intake and fill the whole car up.
“I went to the training ground with a boot full of ‘Gucci’ gear, I’m in the car park and all the youth team lads were coming out and before you know it some of the first-team lads were coming over to see what all the fuss was about.
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“I just remember Liam Brady calling me over saying ‘this isn’t Camden Market, this is Arsenal Football Club, you can’t be selling goods out of your boot in the club car park’.
“I got a bit of a telling off, but Liam knew what I was like and it was harmless really, I was just trying to earn a few extra quid.”
And it wasn’t just Stack who found himself in trouble after his pals got found out at the Gunners’ Christmas party.
He added: “To be fair to the lads, some of the first team boys, they weren’t ones to go into town and start shopping.
“But it was funny because we had a Christmas party at the Landmark Hotel in central London about three or four weeks later and all the lads had the same ‘Gucci’ shoes on and all their partners has the same ‘Gucci’ handbag.
“Which was quite embarrassing for the lads because obviously, they’d told the missus they’d been into the shop especially to buy it.
“Needless to say a few of them got in trouble that night and a few truths came out.”
His best moment for the Gunners came in the League Cup in 2003 as he was the hero in a penalty shootout against Rotherham.
After leaving Arsenal, Stack went on to have spells at Reading, Plymouth, Hibernian and Barnet.
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He then joined Kerala Blasters, which is when he started coaching while also playing.
In March last year, he came out of retirement and played for Chesham United in the Southern League Premier South, the 7th tier of English football.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
