Crazy Gang ride again
Dyed beards, crystal stones and late-night burgers – Wimbledon’s recipe for success
At around 2pm today, AFC Wimbledon midfielder Anthony Wordsworth will begin the routine. Emerging from the home dressing room prior to his side’s FA Cup tie against Millwall, he will pick out a set of crystal stones from his bag and, aided by team-mates, lay them in the Kingsmeadow goalmouths.
Wordsworth believes the stones impart a positive energy, which he hopes will help his club reach the FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time in their short history. After beating West Ham in the previous round, AFC are daring to dream that they could even emulate the fabled Crazy Gang who lifted the Cup in 1988 – long before the original Wimbledon was ripped apart and moved to Milton Keynes. As for the current Crazy Gang, Wordsworth will keep an additional set of stones in the dressing room for good luck, but says that he is reassured by having some close to him on the pitch: “If I’ve got them near me, I just feel a lot better.”
To understand Wordsworth’s stones preoccupation, and to appreciate how he has gone from watching his beloved Arsenal in the final two years ago to being on the cusp of a Wembley appearance himself, we need to rewind to the toughest period of his life.
It was November 2017 when Wordsworth’s world fell apart, with the news that his brother Steven had died at the age of 40 of a heart attack. Then 28 and playing for League One side Southend United, the north-london-born Wordsworth struggled to cope, and his form plummeted.
“It affected me massively, massively,” he says. “Initially, I couldn’t talk about it, I didn’t have any time off. It was affecting my performances. I kept getting niggles in my calves and I think that was down to stress. I had never had a calf injury up until that point. I was so desperate to get a goal for him. And when you are desperate for something, it just doesn’t happen.”
After a few months, a friend suggested that he see a crystal healer – a practitioner of what is a small sect of pseudo-scientific alternative medicine – to try to generate some much-needed positivity. A naturally cynical character, Wordsworth was initially dismissive, but decided to give it a go. He was quickly convinced. For almost a year now, he has kept a set of stones with him at almost all times, chosen from a pool of about 25 of all different shapes and sizes.
“If I start thinking about something, then I realise I’ve got the stones on me, I snap out of it straight away,” he says. “The ones I use are for positive energy and to try and help my mind. Hopefully nothing bad happens without them on my way home.
“The way they work is that you charge them by the moon and the sun and you bury them in soil. You can leave them out in the sun really to charge them up. And then intentions come out of them and when you feel like you’ve lost that intention, you recharge them under the moon.”
Such is the intimacy between Wordsworth and his gems, that he is known universally at the club as “John Stones” – a nickname coined by team-mates Mitch Pinnock and Tom King after Wimbledon scored from the very spot on the goal-line Wordsworth had laid the stones prior to their opening-day win against Fleetwood in August.
“A few of the lads are actually quite into it now,” Wordsworth says. “All of the boys are a bit curious. I bring them out on the pitch before games and the lads have been putting them in the goalmouth hoping they’ll help us
‘We got the lucky stones have we? Terrific. Won’t have to worry about any formations then’
score more goals.” Remembering that Wimbledon are bottom of League One, Wordsworth adds with a smile: “But, obviously, that hasn’t been working.”
Despite their struggles when on league duty, Wordsworth’s transformation both on and off the pitch has been stark since the dark days of 2017.
After being released by Southend and joining Wimbledon last summer, the 30-year-old has established himself as a pivotal member of the side, with his goals and driving runs from central midfield playing a key role in their FA Cup run.
As well as the positive energy provided by his stone collection, a major turning point for Wordsworth came in December when his emotional celebration after scoring against Halifax in the Cup prompted him to finally open up about his late brother.
“I did the celebration and dedicated it to him. I catapulted a kiss to the sky. Coming in after the game, the lads were on me again: ‘ What was all that about?’ I told them what it was about. It was the first time I had spoken about it. The lads all know now. I feel a lot better for speaking about it.”
Unloading the burden has clearly liberated Wordsworth, who lives with his partner and three young children in Hertfordshire. In true FA Cup salt-of-the-earth style, he still travels to training by public transport – braving a two-hour slog each way by train. He reveals that Kasabian and even Britney Spears provide the soundtrack to his commute.
When not in action for Wimbledon, Wordsworth’s favourite activity is to watch Arsenal, who he has supported since he was a boy. He has attended numerous FA Cup finals of theirs – including the 2017 win over Chelsea, when he sheepishly recalls he got a ticket through a friend who is a tout.
Wordsworth admits he is still star-struck when he sees an Arsenal player, even though he is only two wins from Wembley himself – starting with what he expects to be a “nasty” and “feisty” match against Millwall today. So, can the stones make a difference? Not everyone is convinced.
Wimbledon manager Wally Downes, one of the founding members of the Crazy Gang, laughs and says: “We got the lucky stones have we? Terrific. Won’t have to worry about any set-pieces or formations then.” Wordsworth is used to this kind of scepticism. “But In my mind, they help,” he says. “So, that’s good enough for me.”