'Football's Hardest Man' Played Match With Nose Stapled And a Hole in His Cheek

“If you’re talking hard nuts, give me ‘Big Bad Billy’ Whitehurst over Roy Keane any day," said Vinnie Jones, who is widely regarded as one of football's ultimate hardmen. "Billy was different class."

For those unaware, Rotherham-born Whitehurst was the most feared footballer in England during the 80s and early 90s.

In fact, such was his reputation, former Wimbledon midfielder Jones was hosting an 'Evening with Vinnie Jones' speaking tour when a member of the crowd asked what it was like to be the hardest man in football.

Jones is said to have pointed to the front row where special guest Billy Whitehurst was sitting and said: “You best ask that man.”

“Billy threw one of the best right-handers I’ve ever seen – inside or outside a prize-fight ring," Jones said in his autobiography, describing a scrap he witnessed between Whitehurst and a Sheffield Wednesday fan.

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Whitehurst was Newcastle's record signing in 1985. He joined the club from Hull City for £232,000. Image credit: Getty

Whitehurst, who scored 99 goals in 454 appearances across a career which featured spells at Hull City, Newcastle and Sheffield United, was involved in numerous scraps over the years.

Perhaps the most infamous came during his playing days at Oxford United in the late 80s, when he started fighting with "this kid" following an argument inside a pub.

"Basically I’ve put my thumb in his eye, smashed his head against the wall, then his friend has pulled one of those coshes that you can extend and he’s smashed me over the nose with it," he told The Guardian in 2009.

"His other mate has hit me on the other side and as I have turned round he has hit me on the cheek.

"I’ve got a hole straight through my cheek near the side of my nose, my nose is all smashed up and I had 30-odd stitches in the back of my head. It looked horrendous: my nose was hanging off when it actually happened but then they stitched it back on."

Whitehurst explained that the incident took place around 10 days before a game against Nottingham Forest.

"I had gone in and done a bit of training but normally they wouldn’t play you with facial injuries like that. But Maurice Evans, who I thought was very wise and a smashing man, asked me if I wanted to play," he continued.

"I thought I could and I said: 'No problem Morris'. It was just stitches – I didn’t think that it was a big deal."

Whitehurst during his Oxford days. Image credit: Getty

Whitehurst knew he would "get a smack on the nose" at some point against Forest, and around 10 minutes before half-time, Forest goalkeeper Steve Sutton came to get the ball and punched him straight on the nose.

"It didn’t hurt because you have got the adrenaline running through you haven’t you?" he said.

"I went off at half time, and the doctor ripped all the stitches up and stapled me up, literally put staples in and to be fair they were a lot better than stitches. So he’s stapled me up and I’ve gone out for the second half.

"I had a hole in my cheek so you could see the whole way through my mouth.

"I can’t remember what Sutton’s reaction was, I just jogged back to the halfway line because it was a goal kick. I must have headed it over the bar or whatever – physios came on and just wiped the claret off.

"There was none of this, 'You have to come off when there’s blood'. I wouldn’t have known if I was allowed to play with the state I was in because I looked like Frankenstein’s monster. I played the whole game."

Whitehurst has previously admitted that 99.9 per cent of the stories said about him are about "being a hard man and kicking people, elbowing people, biting people, doing whatever to people."