MY BROTHER’S MEMORY IS SET IN STONES

ANTHONY WORDSWORTH is not your average footballer.

The AFC Wimbledon midfielder makes a threetrain, two-hour public transport trip to training every day. The Kasabian fan admits Britney Spears is one of the “embarrassing” artists he also listens to during the journey. And despite being a professional himself, the 30 year-old still gets a child-like excitement when seeing his football heroes up close.

Arsenal supporter Wordsworth (above) said ahead of today’s fifthround tie against

Millwall: “I’ve been to a few cup

finals. I went to the recent one when we beat Chelsea, sitting right by where Giroud crossed for Ramsey, and they came over and celebrated. It sounds silly but I got my hands on a few players in the celebration.

“We played up north recently, and Arsenal were playing Blackpool. We stayed in the same hotel. I was waiting about in the corridors to see a few of the players. I saw Alex Iwobi, gave him a little fist bump. A few of the lads were like ‘What are you doing?’ But I grew up an Arsenal fan, it was a big thing.”

Wordsworth, who helped Wimbledon beat West Ham 4-2 in the last round (below), might also be the only footballer to speak about carrying lucky, spiritual stones “for positive energy” after seeing a crystal healer.

That was while he was struggling to come to terms with the death of his brother Steven, aged just 40, following a heart attack. “If I start thinking about something (bad), I realise I’ve got the stones on me and I snap out of it straight away,” he said.

When his brother passed away, Wordsworth initially couldn’t talk about it.

I scored (for Southend) against Halifax. I did a celebration and dedicated it to him. It was like I catapulted a kiss to the sky.

“Coming in after the game, the lads were on me again: ‘What were you doing? What was all that about?’ Then I told them. It was the first time I had mentioned it. The lads all know now. I feel a lot better for speaking about it.”