Untold story of Vinnie Jones' eventful Sheffield United spell and truth about football's hard man

Vinnie Jones was the larger than life character who gained a reputation for being football's hard man.

Now making a name for himself as a Hollywood movie star, stories of his time on and off the pitch during the Eighties and Nineties are never far away.

Known for his crunching tackles, mind games and intimidating tactics, Vinnie thrived off his tough guy image.

But he was more than that, much more.

This is the untold story of the real Vinnie Jones and his eventful Sheffield United spell as seen through the eyes of his Blades team-mates.

Signed on September 13, 1990, United were just starting out in the old Division One following two back-to-back promotions under Dave Bassett but had made a winless start.

So winless, in fact, that it took 17 matches before finally securing their first three points against Nottingham Forest at Bramall Lane on December 22.

It was the start of a remarkable run that would see United lose only six of their remaining 21 fixtures and included in that was eight wins in nine matches.

Their survival was dubbed the Great Escape and it was one we are unlikely to witness again.

Key to that was belief within the dressing room. Once United got that first win there was no stopping their climb up the table and Vinnie was a massive part of that.

United also lacked top level experience, but Bassett pulled off a masterstroke in also bringing in Glyn Hodges from Crystal Palace.

"He epitomised everything about us, but never got the credit as a player, he was a lot better than people thought," Hodges told Yorkshire Live.

"He was always seen as a player who would just kick it, head it and cause havoc, which to be fair he did, he used to cause havoc everywhere he went, but in a good way.

"Don't get me wrong,