I flogged dodgy TVs like Only Fools’ Del Boy – I was petrified when cops threw me in the slammer, say Vinnie Jones

VINNIE JONES was celebrated for his bone-crunching tackles and postulation of reddish cards during his shot career.

But the erstwhile Wimbledon midfielder’s team-mates besides retrieve him for different crushed — his wheeler-dealing.

That’s wherefore Vinnie believes helium has landed his imagination relation successful Only Fools And Horses: The Musical — due to the fact that he’s a real-life Del Boy.

Speaking exclusively to The Sun, Vinnie, 59, says: “I emotion a spot of wheeler- dealing, you don’t hide wherever you travel from.

“Pairs of knocked-off Gucci shoes successful antithetic sizes, sheepskin coats, what­ever we could get clasp of — we were each astatine it.”

Vinnie, who is playing villain Danny Driscoll successful the deed stage show, says his go-to interaction for “hooky gear” was a notorious trader who had an bureau astatine his section play club, contempt the information his goods were wholly unrelated to the sport.

He explains: “I would spell determination and spot him, and helium would beryllium sitting determination with a henchman. It was coming up to Christmas and helium said to me, ‘I’ve got these beauteous nests of tables and these toasters’.

“He said, ‘Maybe your boys astatine shot mightiness privation them for Christmas?’

“So I took these tables, mahogany-looking things, and achromatic toasters to the grooming crushed and knocked them each retired to the lads. Bought them for £3, sold them for a fiver, fing lovely.

“Anyway, I aboriginal recovered retired each the nests of tables had a limb missing, successful each box, and the toasters — the outpouring was truthful beardown they’d sprout retired and deed the roof.”

Russian tellies

He added: “One of the players got 1 for his mum for Christmas and they’d conscionable decorated the room and the toast comes out, ‘Bang!’ and it’s each achromatic connected the ceiling.

“So I had a measure for the f***ing decorator and ended up with each the toasters and tables back. It outgo maine a fortune.”

And Vinnie’s dodgy dealing did not extremity there.

Indeed, helium says helium was aboriginal landed with an assortment of knock-off Russian televisions, which helium had to store successful his garage.

The prima did not deliberation that would beryllium a occupation until the police popped circular to his location to apprehension him aft an altercation with a neighbour.

Vinnie explains: “I got sent astir 100 of these Russian tellies to my house, aft I told him I sold a few.

“We enactment them successful the garage, and successful that location you had to spell done the store to get to the kitchen.

“That was the clip I had a punch-up with the neighbour, truthful each the constabulary crook up astatine the house. There’s spotlights everyplace and lasers connected me, equipped effect and helicopters.

“They inquire maine to unfastened up the store and they shimmy betwixt the partition and these TVs, which were partition to wall, ceiling to floor, and I ne'er got asked astir it.

“I’m sitting successful the compartment that nighttime thinking, ‘F***! How americium I going to explicate the tellies?’ But it ne'er came out.”

He adds: “Anyway, they each went f***ing wrong. I ended up getting a skip and dumping the lot, but I inactive had to pay.”

Vinnie kicks disconnected his tally successful the Only Fools philharmonic this Christmas, starring successful 28 shows astatine London’s Hammersmith Eventim Apollo from December 17.

The amusement is present connected a nationwide circuit until July 5 adjacent year, pursuing its record-breaking four-year sold-out tally successful the West End.

Funnyman Paul Whitehouse, who features arsenic Grandad, wrote the philharmonic with Jim Sullivan, lad of precocious Only Fools creator John Sullivan.

Vinnie, who volition lone look successful the Hammer­smith dates, reveals helium was offered a portion successful the signifier accumulation earlier it archetypal launched but felt it was not the close clip to instrumentality it on.

But this clip helium could not accidental nary — aft a chat with movie shaper Guy Ritchie, his adjacent person and the antheral who sparked his acting vocation by casting him successful 1998 Brit gangster flick Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels.

Vinnie says: “They called maine a fewer months ago, asked if the clip was close and I said, ‘Let maine marque a telephone call’.

“So I phoned my aged mate Guy and said, ‘What bash you think?’ And he’s a large instrumentality of it and said, ‘Yeah, you’ve got to bash it.’ It’s similar the Royal Family of comedy, truthful to beryllium asked is incredible.

Striking tallness difference

“I was rehearsing past week and I’m loving moving with the cast.”

Vinnie’s quality is 1 fractional of the TV show’s notorious Peckham-based gangsters the Driscoll Brothers.

The duo — played by 6ft 4in Roy Marsden and 5ft 1in Christopher Ryan — terrified Del Boy, Rodney and the remainder of the Nags Head regulars connected the show.

And Vinnie says the brothers punctual him of himself and ex-Wimbledon teammate Dennis Wise, fixed their striking tallness difference.

He says: “There’s a small spot of this with my football, with maine and Wisey, don’t forget. I was with Wisey each time Saturday — we’re inactive large mates, precise close. When we played astatine Wimbledon successful the Cup Final, we were precise overmuch the Driscoll Brothers.

“It would person got mentioned some-where down the line.”

Vinnie is nary alien to playing hardmen connected surface but ne'er earlier has 1 of his villainous characters had to burst into opus — until now.

Of the imaginable of singing live, Vinnie, who came sixth connected Celebrity X Factor successful 2019, says: “I’ve got a large aged opus successful it, called Being A Villain. But I don’t for 1 infinitesimal marque myself retired to beryllium a singer.

“The formed reminded maine astir X Factor, but my performances were much of a amusement than maine being a singer. That’s what I bring to the party. You’ve got to bring something.

“Guy has ever said to me, ‘You’ve got 2 monolithic things going for you. One is your surface beingness and the different is your timing.’

‘Football was my life’

“And I’m not consciously alert of that, truthful that’s however I got Lock Stock successful the archetypal place.”

Vinnie, who besides played for Chelsea and Leeds during his 15-year vocation connected the pitch, has present been an histrion longer than helium was a nonrecreational sportsman.

So with that other acquisition successful beforehand of the camera, does the erstwhile Welsh planetary deliberation he’s a amended histrion than helium was footballer?

He responds: “No, I was a amended footballer.

“I had to play successful a strategy for immoderate teams, I had a relation to play.

“But erstwhile I went to Chelsea and Leeds, that was me. You saw maine arsenic the footballer I cognize I americium then.

“We had a strategy astatine Wimbledon and we won the FA Cup. You knew your lines, you knew who you were picking up.”

He adds: “I bask the acting, but shot was my life. You could person chopped my limb disconnected for football. Like these radical I’m moving with now, acting is their everything, but my parallel is football.

“I’d ne'er chopped my limb disconnected for the acting, whereas I would person done for the football. I was a bully player, I was skipper of Watford schoolboys, the schools of Hertfordshire, skipper of that — you don’t get that for being an aged clogger, bash you cognize what I mean?”

Vinnie’s ever-expanding acting CV volition soon see a reunion with Ritchie connected the 2nd bid of Netflix deed The Gentlemen, positive a caller movie helium is acceptable to sprout successful LA afterwards

So volition we spot the accomplished histrion treading the boards erstwhile again aft starring successful his archetypal signifier show? Perhaps doing a spot of Shakespeare?

“No, no,” helium says defiantly. “I’m 1 and done probably, but I’d similar to spell retired with a bang.”

Just similar those exploding toasters.

•  Vinnie Jones stars successful Only Fools and Horses: The Musical astatine London’s Hammer­smith Apollo, December 17 – January 5. Get tickets astatine onlyfoolsonstage.com.