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HARDMAN footballer Julian Dicks doesn’t do regrets or apologies.Branded an “animal” by former Tory minister David Mellor and red-carded eight times, the legendary West Ham defender was never one to shy away from trouble in the 1990s.
Hardman footballer Julian Dicks, in action for West Ham in 1997, doesn’t do regrets or apologiesCredit: Rex
Julian, at a cafe near West Ham’s ground in 2018, was branded an ‘animal’ by former Tory minister David Mellor and red-carded eight timesCredit: Times Newspapers Ltd
Julian is applauded at his 2000 testimonial game between West Ham and Athletic BilbaoCredit: Getty
While other players from that era talk about toxic dressing rooms or bemoan its boozy culture, Julian prefers the no-nonsense approach of the past — and pulls no punches in his new memoir Hammer Time.
It’s an ode to the days when ­football had a rough edge, and he has no problem with his old boss Harry Redknapp throwing a plate of sandwiches against the wall in rage, ex-manager Lou Macari calling him “fat” or for players getting into punch-ups in training.
About his former teammate John Hartson kicking his colleague Eyal Berkovic in the head during training, ­Julian says “these things can happen.”
Off the field he ran naked through a hotel corridor on England duty after being pranked by Paul Gascoigne, branded a team mate with a hot iron and had the plaster cast on his leg cut off so he could get into a nightclub.
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Julian, 54, doesn’t even regret playing on through a knee injury which has left him in so much agony that now he can’t ride a bike with his little daughter.
Ahead of the release of his book, Julian, who also played for Liverpool and Birmingham City, tells The Sun: “Back then you were concussed, it was, ‘It’s OK, carry on’.
“You got cut, you got elbowed, my eye socket was cracked in four places. Nowadays it isn’t like that.
Sly elbow
“When I played it was the best time. We could go out, we could drink, we had fun.”
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Julian, originally from Bristol, learned from a young age that the football pitch was no place for whingers.
In a youth game when he was 12 he told his dad Ron he was coming off due to a swollen hand, and was ordered to get back on the pitch.
Just a couple of years later the talented youngster was living in digs in the West Midlands away from his family, and at 16 he started training with senior pros at Birmingham City, who would “kick s*** out of you”.
Having joined West Ham in 1988, Julian became an instant fan favourite on his debut for pole-axing a winger with a “sly elbow”.
In the same year he was called up by England’s under-21s — and made the mistake of offering to be Gazza’s room mate during a tournament in Toulon, France, when Dave Sexton was manager.
Julian says: “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.”
Julian, who married in the same year and had twin daughters Katie and Jessica, didn’t obey the rule of being in bed by 10pm when he was on international duty. He says: “I was 21 years old. F*** off, leave me alone. I was never going to be that person.”
Instead, Julian recalls, he would be drinking Jack Daniel’s whiskey and smoking cigarettes the evening before a game.
He says: “I trained when I was p***ed sometimes. But not during the game, because I loved football too much.”
On a stop-over in Singapore on the way to a pre-season warm-up in Australia with West Ham, Julian was barred from a nightclub for having his leg in plaster.
He was undeterred, and recalls: “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.” And it turns out Julian wasn’t a much better room mate than Gazza.
He confesses to scalding team mate Mark Ward with an iron so hot that bits of his skin were left behind.
Julian suspects it was his reputation for being too aggressive on the pitch that cost him the chance of winning a senior England cap.
Former England boss Glenn Hoddle had been in charge of Chelsea in 1995 when Julian was accused of stamping on the head of his player John Spencer during a match.
Julian insists it was an accident.
He says: “I remember John coming back on with a bandage and he said to me, ‘Did you mean it?’ I said, ‘Mean what?’
“And he said, ‘Julian, I’ve got eight stitches in my head’, and I said, ‘If I meant it you’d have f***ing 28’.” The public outrage was so intense that even Julian’s daughters were affected.
He says: “My kids got bullied at school. That crossed a line.
“What I did on the football pitch shouldn’t interfere with my family life, they were six or seven years old.
“It’s wrong. I went down to the school and sorted it out.”
There are very few lines that are uncrossable for the West Ham stalwart. As far as he is concerned, John Hartson was unfortunate to have Sky TV cameras recording the Hammers training session when he kicked team mate Eyal Berkovic in the head in 1998.
Julian says: “These things can happen. Players have a fist fight in training.
“There were fisticuffs and people throwing punches in five-a-side. John regrets it, but unfortunately Sky was there.” He also accepts managers giving players the hairdryer treatment — a furious telling off — with Harry Redknapp showing a tougher side than the one viewers saw when he was on I’m A Celebrity in 2018.
Julian says: “We came in, we’d got beat 4-0 by Southampton. Don Hutchison went, ‘Who wants salmon sandwiches after a game of football?’
Physically sick
“And 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.”
Unsurprisingly, Julian has little time for players rolling around after receiving the slightest touch, or being booked for thundering into tackles in the modern game.
He says: “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.”
Julian says he would have been “embarrassed” to have been floored by another player and would have got up as quickly as possible, even if he had been in agony.
But in 1990 that proved to be a mistake when he went against the advice of a medical assistant and played in a game, despite carrying a serious knee injury.
He lasted for just 38 minutes of the match and recalls: “When I done my knee the first time and I was told I was going to be out for 14 months I felt physically sick.
“I could have threw up all over the surgeon.
“I ended up bordering on being an alcoholic, I felt sorry for myself. I’m going down the pub drinking, going home, going down the pub drinking and doing it all over again.”
A young Julian at Birmingham City in 1986Credit: BPM
Julian was accused of stamping on the head of Chelsea player John Spencer during a match, aboveCredit: Sky
A cheeky Sun Sport headline during Julian’s playing daysCredit: .
In 1997 came a recurrence of the knee injury — and when Julian was ruled out for the rest of West Ham’s season, The Sun’s then Sports Editor Paul Ridley couldn’t resist writing Swollen Dicks Out as the headline.
The injury led to Julian’s retire-ment aged just 31 a couple of years later, as well as permanent pain.
He says: “Basically my legs are f***ed. It stops you doing everything. I can’t ride a bike. I can walk into town with my daughter, but I can’t go on long walks.”
Julian, who was divorced from wife Kay in 2001, became a dad for the third time two and a half years ago when his partner Lisa gave birth to daughter Eliyanah Grace.
He says of her arrival: “It was a shock because my partner was told she could never have children. But it was a good shock.” Julian says he never felt down about losing the routine of training, mainly because he hated running.
 Since his playing career ended he has tried dog breeding, owning a pub, playing pro golf and managing other football teams — until a few months ago he was assistant manager at Watford.
But he admits he would prefer to be playing than standing on the touchline yelling at footballers.
Even so, he insists he wouldn’t turn back the clock to escape that crippling injury.
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He says: “People say, ‘Would I change anything?’ but no, everything I got, I got through football. This might be the down side of that, but it is what it is.”

 Hammer Time: Me, West Ham And A Passion For The Shirt, by Julian Dicks, is published on Thursday.

Since his playing days ended he has tried dog breeding, owning a pub, playing pro golf and managing — until a few months ago he was assistant manager at WatfordCredit: PA:Empics Sport
Julian pictured at the pub he ran for a whileCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
Hammer Time: Me, West Ham And A Passion For The Shirt, by Julian Dicks, is published on Thursday. More

THE biggest-money game in football isn’t the Champions League final for the top clubs in Europe – it is the one to get in to the Premier League.And on Saturday afternoon two teams who couldn’t be further removed from the glamour of Manchester City or Italy’s Inter Milan will battle to triumph in a match estimated to be worth more than £200million to the winner.
Coventry City keep getting evicted from their troubled stadium
If they win Premiership status, Luton Town will have to knock down one side of their dilapidated 118-year-old ground to meet top flight standardsCredit: Reuters
Away fans have to enter Luton Town’s ground through Victorian terraced houses – with residents saying their homes shake when goals are scoredCredit: Damien McFadden
Luton Town, who will have to knock down one side of their dilapidated 118-year-old ground to meet top flight standards, will face Coventry City, who keep getting evicted from their troubled stadium.
If Luton win, they will be the first side to go from the non-league up to the Premier League. On the other hand, Coventry were just 15 minutes away from going out of business a decade ago because they didn’t have anywhere to play.
As former Manchester United striker Mark Robins, 53, who manages Coventry, says: “It’s one for the romantics.”
Premier League fans have been shocked by the prospect of watching the beautiful game at Luton’s Kenilworth Road. The turnstile to the cramped away end goes through Victorian terraced houses.
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Multi-millionaire stars such as Man City’s Erling Haaland will make their way to the tiny dressing rooms via a potholed car park and a door under a concrete bridge.
This week the club’s chief executive, Gary Sweet, joked about the way in under people’s homes, saying: “Haaland isn’t going to walk through that entrance, he’ll go through the other s*** entrance we’ve got.”
Coventry City’s star striker Viktor Gyokeres will be hoping to fire his side to the Premier LeagueCredit: PA
Luton Town striker Carlton Morris’s goals helped the Hatters to third place in the Championship and a Playoff finalCredit: Getty
Away fans hoping their section of the ground is going to be redeveloped will be disappointed.
The club plans to knock down the neighbouring Bobbers Stand, containing executive boxes, and put up a temporary one in 14 weeks at a cost of £10million to fit in cameras and pundits.
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The headache faced by Coventry isn’t much better.
Their stadium is owned by retail magnate Mike Ashley, 58, much hated by Newcastle United fans when he owned their club.
Ashley, who isn’t part of Coventry’s football set-up, bought the Coventry Building Society Arena in November last year. He is now leasing it to the football club for five years.
Whatever happens with the stadiums, fans of both sides will just be excited by the prospect of a return to the big time for two teams that were at their peak in the 1980s.
Coventry pulled off one of the greatest FA Cup final shocks in 1987, beating Tottenham 3-2.
A year later Luton defeated Arsenal by the same score­line in the League Cup final.
The past two decades have been a struggle for survival for both clubs.
Twenty years ago, Luton was taken over by chairman John Gurney, whose pie-in-the-sky plans included build­ing a Formula One racetrack around a 70,000-capacity stadium over the M1 motorway.
He held a Pop Idol-type vote for a new manager, charging fans 50p to take part, and talked about merging with rivals Wimbledon.
Coventry City manager Mark Robbins used to play for Man UtdCredit: Rex
Luton Town manager Rob Edwards will be hoping to do the unthinkable by taking the Hatters up to the top flightCredit: Damien McFadden
Even though the fans wrestled back control of the club from Gurney, their problems were far from over. In 2006 their then-manager Mike Newell promised to tackle a “bung scandal” in the game, which led to an investigation of the club’s dealings with players’ agents.
Two years later, they were deducted ten points “for paying agents via a third party”, then docked a further 20 points for being in administration, when they had no money but those put in charge believed they had a chance of saving the business.
They started the 2008-2009 season in the fourth tier with minus 30 points — then the worst penalty ever handed down by the Football Association. Their then-manager Mick Harford was unable to pre­vent relegation to non-league status.
But former England striker Harford, 64, who played in Luton’s League Cup final, saw it as the moment the Bedfordshire club was reborn, because it was in the hands of devoted fans. He told The Sun: “I said to the players, this is the time the new Luton Town starts.”
The club had so little money that the players trained on a public field where locals complained when balls hit their dogs.
Midfielder Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, 29, who has been with Luton since their non-league days, recall­ed: “We were on a dogs’ field with a few Portakabins.”
He was part of the team that won promo­tion back into the football league in 2014 and will be the first player to climb up all the divisions with one club if Luton win today.
Locals know how much Premier League action will mean to the team and the town.
Coventry City were FA Cup winners in 1987Credit: Getty
Luton Town won the League Cup in 1988Credit: Getty
The stadium’s wooden boards that make up some of the stands rock when the fans roar.
 Musamoth Lucky, who lives in a housing asso­ciation property over the ground’s entrance, felt the walls shake when the team won the home clash that put them in the play-off final. She said with a smile: “My living room was vibrating.”
The town council owns Luton’s Kenilworth Stadium and is considering plans for a new 20,000-capacity ground which would be owned by the club.
All the shareholders are local businessmen and Luton Supporters’ Trust has a one per cent share.
Kevin Harper, from the trust, says: “It will be sad to leave, but if we are to have any chance of competing in the Premier League we need a bigger stadium.”
Coventry City appear to be a cautionary tale for any club thinking of a stadium upgrade.
In 2001 there were plans for a 90,000-capacity ground with a retractable roof, but that was soon scaled back.
In the top flight for 34 years until May 2001, rising debts from the new ground forced Coventry to sell their best players.
Before the stadium was even finished, it was sold by the club in 2005 to property developers and rented back at a high cost.
Coventry City super fan will hope to see his team back in the big timeCredit: PA
It would be a dream for Luton Town supporters to be in the Premier LeagueCredit: Getty
In 2013 the club was forced to ground share with Northampton Town following a rent row.
Supporter Ian Davidson, 70, says: “I was told we were 15 minutes from going out of business before we went to Northampton.”
The club have had points deduct­ed for going into administration and failing to fulfil fixtures due to the state of their pitch, which they used to share with Wasps rugby club. In 2017 they were relegated to lowly League Two, before climbing back up the leagues.
Premier League status would be a much-needed boost for Luton. It is estimated that half a billion pounds has poured into Brighton since they made it into the world’s richest football league in 2017.
Nearly a third of all children in Luton live in poverty, and its jobless rate of 8.5 per cent is almost twice the national average.
Gary Sweet praised the local community, saying: “It’s an indus­trial town, tough, hard-working and kind-hearted. More is don­a­t­ed to charity than anywhere in the UK.”
Neither Coventry nor Luton have splashed cash in the promotion push. Their wage bills are in the lowest three in the Championship.
Gary claimed: “A couple of Championship clubs spent more on agents fees than we did on players.”

For that reason their rise has been described as a fairytale.
Mick Harford, who is in charge of recruitment at the club and is undergoing treatment for prostate cancer, concludes: “They should make a film out of it if we win.”
Coventry fan Ian Davidson, 70, says: ‘I was told we were 15 minutes from going out of business before we went to Northampton’Credit: Supplied
Luton Town supporter Kevin Harper says: ‘It will be sad to leave, but if we are to have any chance of competing in the Premier League we need a bigger stadium’Credit: Damien McFadden More