Former Liverpool goalkeeper Tony Warner this week told the Magic Sponge podcast an incredible tale involving Stan Collymore.
The whole thing went down in the Reds dressing room ahead of match and it started with banter, before descending into unbridled violence.
Warner explained that it all began when somebody poured water on his chair, but things soon escalated when Collymore wrapped a similar piece of furniture around the keeper’s head.
Meaty centre-back Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock and 6′ 4″ England international David James then apparently pinned Collymore down, allowing Warner to get some revenge, until manager Roy Evans arrived to break up the scrap, only to get caught by a stray fist.
So, that’s the summary.
Below is Warner’s account, via quotes transcribed by Empire of the Kop, who have since asked Collymore for his version of events.
In a very jovial conversation with podcast hosts Jimmy Bullard and Rob Beckett, Warner said: “So I think David James has poured water on my chair, to start with. So I swapped chairs, left the wet one alone. Now, I’m really looking forward to the game – my first start. But Stan comes and looms right over me and says, ‘I want my f*cking chair back!” Im like, “No.” He raises his voice then and says again, ‘I want my f*cking chair back!’
“Everybody turns round at this point. Something’s going off. So I can’t get mugged off here, f*ck that. He picks the chair up and comes walking towards me… I’m thinking, f*cking naively, he’s just gonna pour the water on me.
“Next minute he just swings the chair, a big heavy chair, trying to properly take my head clean off! So I put my arms up, and the chair just clatters my forearms. I knew if my arms weren’t there my head’s coming clean off! After he’s swung it, he’s then punched me straight away – he’s straight on me with a sweet right.
“So then I just stand up, swinging, swinging, smacking him, getting in a few myself! The pair of us are just trading!
“At this point, Stan’s upset a lot of people. Nobody likes him. So David James and Razor come up behind me and lend a bit of weight to my cause… They get Stan down, get him on the floor. All I remember is one has their elbow across his throat and the other is leaning across his legs. So he’s pinned! I’m thinking, ‘this cheeky c*nt threw a chair at me’ – so I just keep hitting him as many times as I can, until I got pulled off!
“He jumped up, so now we’re just snarling at each other. Roy Evans comes in and asks what’s going on. We just start scrapping again and as Evans comes in to stop it, I’ve just nailed him. I’ve accidentally nailed the gaffer!”
Quite a tale from Tony Warner! What d’you make of this @StanCollymore? (Have a listen, was told in good humour!) https://t.co/fL5Hppkv8K
— Empire of the Kop (@empireofthekop) October 13, 2016
Based on Collymore’s Twitter reputation, there is every chance he is going to reply to Empire of the Kop, which could lead to round two!
Who would your money be on?
Collymore mentioned the incident briefly in a column for The Mirror back in 2014, but he didn’t go into much detail.