Wombles’ quirky star can be real lucky gem

LISTENING to Britney Spears during his London Underground commute to training, waiting in hotel corridors to bump into Arsenal players and placing gemstones on the goalmouth — meet Anthony Wordsworth, the most humble and quirky player in this season’s FA Cup. Wordsworth helped Wimbledon, the side bottom of League One, stun Premier League West Ham 4-3 in the fourth round last month and is craving another upset against Championship side Millwall today. It is a competition the 30year-old adores after being fortunate enough to watch Arsenal, the club he supports, defeat Chelsea 2-1 in the 2017 final at Wembley. Last month, he happened to find himself staying in the same hotel as the Gunners. Arsenal had faced Blackpool in the FA Cup so Wordsworth hung around to catch a glimpse of the Premier League players he idolises. Another quirk of Wordsworth’s is that he carries ‘lucky stones’ with him wherever he goes. He sometimes places them in the goalmouth to inspire Wimbledon to score. His team-mates now call him ‘John Stones’ as a result. Asked for the story behind them, Wordsworth (above) said it started when his brother Steven died at the age of 40 after suffering a heart attack. ‘One of my friends told me: “Try going to a crystal healer, have a chat with her”,’ Wordsworth said. ‘So I thought I would give it a go. Could be coincidence, could be a load of rubbish, but if I have got them on me, I just feel a lot better. ‘If I start thinking about something, then I realise I’ve got the stones on me, I snap out of it. ‘How do they work exactly? ‘You charge them by the moon and the sun and bury them in soil,’ he explained. Wimbledon believe that luck will be on their side against Millwall too, courtesy of his game of stones.