I’m a former Chelsea star – a rival keeper threatened to rip my head off for putting him in my ‘ugly’ team of the year
ANDY TOWNSEND has recalled the time he made an “ugly” team of the year, only for it to backfire on him.
The former Chelsea and Aston Villa star, who won two League Cups with the latter, lifted the lid on the day he was “most frightened” as a player.
Townsend had been handed a ballot sheet to vote for the PFA Team of the Season.
However, the ex-midfielder picked his XI based on how “ugly” a player was.
And this left then-Coventry goalkeeper Steve Ogrizovic fuming.
Speaking on talkSport, Townsend said: “The most frightened I’ve ever been going to any match in my career. This is about 30 years ago. Almost to the day.
“You know how you get the ballot sheets for the PFA Team of the Season? So messing about I picked an ugly team. 11 of the ugliest lads in the division. And I had big Oggy in goal. Steve Ogrizovic.
“And that Saturday we had Coventry away [where Ogrizovic played his football at the time]. What I didn’t realise, I was only messing around, was that I put this up on the wall in the dressing room.
“Wisey [Dennis Wise] gave this to an up-and-coming young journalist called Lee Clayton, who was working at The Sun.
“All of a sudden this ugly team gets printed in The Sun. We’re playing Coventry away on the Saturday and of course big Oggy’s in goal.
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“I’ve walked through the doors and Gary Mac [McAllister] says to me ‘By the way, loved the team.
“The goalie is gonna rip your head off, bounce it three times and volley it down the high street if you go anywhere near him’.
“Let me tell you. Stood in the tunnel. You know that look where the captains stand at the front and they’re so focused?
“I was petrified cause I could feel the steam coming out of Oggy’s nostrils about two foot behind me.”
Townsend later added: ” I don’t remember how I played. I think I went over the halfway line once. I didn’t go near the edge of the box.”
The 59-year-old was himself voted into the PFA Team of the Year on three occasions, while also winning Chelsea’s Player of the Year award in the 1990/91 season.
Townsend made 215 Premier League appearances across stints at the Blues, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough after playing 146 times in the First Division.
After retiring in 2000, Townsend moved into commentary and punditry work.