These days, Vinnie Jones is better known for his film roles, starring in such movies as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch and Gone in 60 Seconds. However, in spite of his very limited footballing abilities, Jones was once a Premier League player, and astonishingly eked out a topflight career for a very long time, playing for such teams as Leeds United and Chelsea. Vinnie Jones was never too far away from controversy. His reputation as a 'hard man' made him a hate figure among many, and he soon became known as a bit of a thug. In 1992, towards the end of his very brief Chelsea career, Jones released a video in which he was the presenter of the now-infamous Soccer's Hard Men, which contained archived footage of himself and many other "hard men" of the game, and included advice for budding "hard men". The former midfielder was hammered in the wake of the video's release. He was fined fined £20,000 by the FA and given a six-month ban (suspended for three years) while fellow-pro David Ginola fumed: "Jones does not deserve to be considered a footballer. Getting kicked is part of the job in France as well as England, but the real scandal is that someone like Jones gets to be a star, to make videos and become an example for kids."
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
