Call Yourself A Fan?: Tim Sherwood reveals hilarious encounter with Elton John

As a lifelong fan and Honorary Life President of the club, Elton John is adored by all those affiliated with Watford FC, but one player in particular left a lasting impression on the iconic singer, for all the wrong reasons. 

Speaking on quiz show series ‘Call Yourself A Fan?’, Tim Sherwood revealed the hilarious moment he left the star rolling around in agony during a club trip to China.  

I was 16 and I was an apprentice at Watford - that's where I came through the academy. After the end of one season we went to Chinato play a friendly game, and I loved it because I was in and around the first team. Elton came with us for the duration of the trip, and I remember him getting ready, when he had his tracksuit on. We played an 11 vs 11 and Elton decided he wanted to join in. So he put his tracksuit on and joins in on the other side.

Because I was 16 years old, the boys were there [egging me on]. It was about 40 degrees over there and had just been raining, so it was a bit slippy. Someone plays a ball into Elton when he’s on the half turn, and as he takes a touch I have just smashed him.

There was aman named Eddie Plumley who was the chief exec, and when he saw me do this he marched onto the pitch, Elton is rolling around on the floor, and said ‘What the **** are you doing!’. He was alright with me and didn’t hold any grudges.

A long, long time after, I was with my eldest who was probably 10 at the time, and we walked past Richard James [the shop] and they had closed the shop for Elton. As I walked past the security go ‘Tim’, so I went in there with my little girl, Elton was in there on his own and he told everyone that story while I was in there. He said ‘I cannot tell you how many times I told this story’!

Tim Sherwood was a recent guest on ‘Call Yourself A Fan’ a weekly quiz show sponsored by Coral which sees football fans of a specific club go head-to-head against a team of football legends and celebrity supporters.