The Wierd and Wacky World of Tudor John

Pre-match rituals are experiences that both fans and players can share. Supporters often have certain pubs that must be visited, or routes to the ground that must be taken, some will not leave the house without their "lucky" undergarments.

Players often apply their kit in a specific order, or come out onto the pitch in a particular position, or use a certain dressing room peg.

But John Tudor's pre-match ritual - as related to the Sunday Sun prior to the 1974 Cup Final - takes superstition to another level completely. We'll let John tell you in his own words.

It all starts on the night before the match around 10.00 when I sit down in front of the television and have a bottle of Mackeson. Nothing else will do, it must be Mackeson. Then bed at 10.30.

The following morning it's breakfast in bed - tea and toast - at 9.30, then a stroll before lunch. And lunch is always the same, and always at the same time.

Menu? Beans on toast with a drop of rice pudding - just a taste really - to follow. And I must have it before 12.00. If, for some reason, it's later than that I get worried and sometimes refuse to eat it.

Then it really begins.

On the coach I must have a piece of spearmint chewing gum. And it must be unwrapped personally and handed to me by our physiotherapist, Alec Mutch.

This happens before every match, and when we're away it must be on the coach. I'll chew this piece of gum right through the game, only taking it out when the final whistle goes.

It gets funnier when we finally reach the dressing rooms.

First I must have a slug of whisky from a bottle opened and handed to me personally, again by Alec Mutch.

Then Malcolm Macdonald and I go into a Saturday routine that would probably get us certified anywhere outside a dressing room.

First, I take a large tin of elastoplast and start to strap up my ankles. I always do this for every match, strapping both ankles tightly and using all the plaster. Malc takes the empty tin and fills it with water.

Then he takes out his four front, false teeth, puts them in the tin, puts the lid back on, and puts them away!.

This is the routine I go through every Saturday, varying it only slightly depending on whether we're home or away.