Merson n Ruddock Sporting Dinner...

last night was a good night.

Ruddock just told gags including slating Jason 'Dave' McAteer (the old Jimmy White '180' story for anyone who knows it) and Sean Connery 'Petula Clark, 1964 up the arse' joke thats been about for years.

Merson, on the other hand talked a lot about his career, his drugs,drinking and his gambling addiction.

One of his many gambling stories was when Walsall drew Slough in 1st round FA Cup in Nov 2004. He expected their odds to be 1-6, but got a knock on his office door from one of the players who told him the odds were 8-13. He went and watched Slough and they had a midget of a goalie and they were shit. He called a team meeting and told everyone to beg,steal and borrow to put a shit-load of cash on them, which most of em did, bringing the odds in to 2-5.

Some of you may remember, that they got turned over 2-1. The old chairman went into the changing room ranting and raving 'you should be ashamed of yourselves' etc...So Merse was like, 'look they're all gutted' knowing damn well the reasons they had their heads on the floor was coz theyd all lost a shit load of cash. Merse had his head leaning back and could feel his phone vibrating knowing that his Mrs was just about to give him an earful as they'd borrowed money to bet on the game.

I went for a piss after Merson's speech (too much information I know), and I hears this bloke going 'so how did Forest do?' and 'what about Carlisle'....not thinking anything of it...only to then turn round and then hear Merse saying 'and what about Partick Thistle'....needless to say it doesn't appear that hes kicked the habit but a top man nonetheless.

A good night with good munch washed down with a couple of jars.

For those boxing fans, Larry Holmes is gonna be there (De Vere) doing something similar...although I think his tales may well be a little different.