As part of its buildup for WC 2026, Netflix has released a few shows created for Untold UK. Two of them are quite similar rags to riches stories: that of Jamie Vardy and Vinnie Jones. Had they not been footballers, they would have been factory workers or bricklayers. Both films are excellent, but Vinnie’s documentary is more outlandish because of how he loves to talk about himself — and the stories he tells.
The Story of Vinnie Jones
Vinnie was working as a hod carrier — the guy who carries the bricks to the bricklayers. Playing non-league football around Watford, he got into Wimbledon, which had just been promoted to the First Division (now known as the Premier League). Manager Dave “Harry” Bassett says that if Vinnie didn’t work out, he could do maintenance of the grounds. But Bassett needed strength in the middle and signed Vinnie for the task. 18 months later, Vinnie was playing Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup Final.
To compete against the better teams, and for their own careers, teammate Justin Fashanu encouraged Vinnie to become a hatchet man.
“If the ball wasn’t there, you kick whatever else is there.” – Justin Fashanu
According to Vinnie, Wimbledon terrorized their opponents by playing hard. In 1987, the press captured his photo as he squeezed the crotch of Paul Gascoigne. The film shows his many red card-worthy tackles that, in those days, didn’t even get a card. Their game plan to win the 1988 FA Cup Final was to first “shoot the general”, in this case, Steve McMahon — and Vinnie got the job done.
In just a few years, the bad press was overwhelming, but as Piers Morgan points out, it sold papers. Vinnie was the most hated man in football, but he went to Leeds and got them promoted back to the First Division. But he was never really successful and played for 2 more clubs until he returned to Wimbledon, where he became “a caveman” again. Fashanu was still there and encouraged Vinnie to make money off the field, e.g. by coming on his TV show Gladiators. Vinnie played the villain in a show with strong WWF vibes.
In 1993, the First Division became the Premier League. The docu shows Vinnie making some pretty horrific tackles on Eric Cantona and Roy Keane in an 1994 FA Cup against ManU.
“Bang! Take it like a man!” – Vinnie Jones
But it became clear that the hard man days were over. No more trips to the pub after the game. The teams became more professional.
So when Vinnie was the presenter in the controversial Football’s Hard Men, there were calls to bar him from the sport. Taking advantage of the publicity, Piers Morgan signed up Vinnie as a columnist — at double his football salary, for just 8 stories. But a drunken Vinnie missed reporting on the Feb-15-1995 Lansdowne Road football riot and bit a journalist on the nose.
Luckily for Vinnie, in 1997 Guy Ritchie invited him to play a small part in Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels. It became the biggest British movie in years, and Vinnie became a veritable success playing pretty much himself — a hard man.
In Conclusion
Normally, I would get very annoyed with the success of such a “thug and hooligan”, to use Vinnie’s own words. Normally I wouldn’t want my tiny review to contribute to a reprobate’s continued success.
But Vinnie Jones is a mostly honest guy, not afraid to say what people want to hear. Although he will also accept money to make up things that reporters want to hear, and he clearly loves attention. So in the end, can you trust anything he says?
One thing that seems very obvious from this documentary is that the menacing, thuggish persona he shows in his action films is the natural one he’s been displaying since he was first interviewed as a young footballer. He’s always been a scary guy, with a face to match.
I feel a little guilty about liking this film. I wasn’t into soccer in the years he was destroying people’s knees, ankles, and bollocks. The film doesn’t show interviews of any victims other than Gascoigne, and I didn’t try to see how the injured players fared. Vinnie’s also had some rage incidents in the 21st century.
But according to the closing credit:
- Vinnie Jones still holds the record for the most red cards in English top flight history
- Since 1997, he has starred in over 100 films and TV shows
- He has been sober since 2013
Keep that in mind while watching this eye opener on how a thug and hooligan named Vinnie Jones became one of football’s top earners.
9 Soccer Movie Mom Rating = 9
Resources:
- Released: 2026-05-26 (Netflix)
- 1 hr 17 min
- IMDB
- Directors: Ben Nicholas , David Tryhorn
- Stars: Vinnie Jones (also spelled Vinny Jones)
- Watch the Trailer
