Wimbledon's Crazy Gang
Football

Wimbledon's Crazy Gang

Piers Edwards, CNN

Updated 1654 GMT (0054 HKT) January 13, 2015
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Unorthodox in the extreme, Wimbledon provided one of the great FA Cup final shocks when beating league champions Liverpool in 1988. Lawrie Sanchez (in blue) scored the only goal of the game. David Cannon/ALLSPORT
Four days after winning the FA Cup final, Wimbledon's players lined up to "moon" their home fans during a testimonial match at their Plough Lane stadium for veteran striker Alan Cork. Pascal Rondeau/Allsport
Manager Bobby Gould, seen showing off the trophy to Wimbledon's fans, has described the 1988 squad as being like "the worst school(boys) in England." Pascal Rondeau /Allsport
Chief among the ringleaders were John Fashanu and hardman-footballer-turned-Hollywood-actor Vinnie Jones. Anton Want/ Allsport/Getty Images
Current Wimbledon manager Neal Ardley, wearing No. 25 and on the left of Fashanu, remembers the respect youngsters had for senior players two decades ago. "We would knock on the dressing room door and wait to go in," Ardley told CNN. "Fashanu was as good as gold with the younger players, but mainly because the younger ones knew their place and weren't disrespectful." Shaun Botterill/Allsport
Former goalkeeper Lutz Pfannenstiel, who has played around the world, said he found attitudes in Brazil just as tough as he did when training with Wimbledon in the 1990s. "In some ways, it was just too much," the German told CNN. "Many times, an older player slapped a younger player." Lutz Pfannenstiel
Pfannenstiel cites James Rodriguez's World Cup display as a good example of how times have changed. "Rodriguez is a boy but he was just as powerful as the older players who have been playing in Europe for years. 20 years ago, he would have been knocked down a little bit -- because the older players would have had him under control." Elsa/Getty Images
After the original Wimbledon were franchised out to Milton Keynes in 2012, supporters of the original club formed a new team: AFC Wimbledon. In 2012, an AFC fan holds up a placard ahead of the teams' clash in the FA Cup. Michael Regan/Getty Images
On January 5, AFC Wimbledon met Liverpool in the second round of the FA Cup, so reviving memories of the 1988 FA Cup final. After Adebayo Akinfenwa equalized, Liverpool went on to win 2-1. Michael Regan/Getty Images