Terry Venables was challenged by ‘Mad’ Frankie Fraser – but pal cooled situation

The late, great Terry Venables once very nearly came to blows with a notorious gangster in a pub in London.

The former England, Tottenham and Barcelona manager, who passed away at the age of 80 on Saturday, was an incontrovertible man of the people, aptly demonstrated by his penchant for karaoke. According to The Times, he was drinking in an east-end pub when he got chatting to an elderly bloke about football.

The conversation turned sour when Arsenal came up, and the Machiavellian-looking punter demanded to know why he'd rejected the Gunners both as a player and as a coach. With tension in the air, Venables was pulled away by the barman who revealed his drinking partner was in fact 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, a violent criminal, and die-hard Arsenal fan, who regularly rubbed shoulders with the Kray Twins in the 1960s.

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"He's old, but he can turn. Watch yourself," Venables was warned, and rightly so. Fraser had spent more than 40 years behind bars and was certified insane back in the 50s.

Nevertheless, a short while later, Venables turned up at the same pub for karaoke night. After spotting Fraser, who had been given an ASBO [antisocial behaviour order] aged 90 a few weeks before, sitting at one of the tables, 'El Tel' urged his friend and former agent Eric Hall, who would MC the karaoke, to pay him no mind. But Eric didn't listen.

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He stood up, as he often did, to introduce himself and any famous faces to the room, and tension filled the air as he turned his attention to Fraser. "At table nine, we have 'Mad' Frankie Fraser," Eric began. "He'll be treating us to a personal medley of favourites, starting with a big hit for Elton John and Kiki Dee, Don't Go Breaking Your Legs.

"Then that old standard, You Only Hurt the One You Love and Everybody Else. And finally a lovely song with a monster special meaning for Frankie, If I Had a Hammer."

The room apparently fell deathly silent before everyone burst out laughing. Crisis – and potential bust-up with Venables – averted.

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