Relegating your rivals with a late screamer to come back from 2-0 down is often something many players dream about.
But for Paul Merson, his ulterior motive was to make sure his manager let him jet off for his brother’s stag do.
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Playing for Aston Villa and having arranged a trip to Orlando, he asked his manager, John Gregory, if it was all good to jet off.
It was scheduled before Villa’s last game of the 2000/01 season, but there was little to play for so Gregory had no problem.
However, that all changed at half-time when Coventry went 2-0 up as they looked to preserve their Premier League status.
Merson’s big trip looked as Gregory’s blood boiled in the dressing room but the Magic Man had a trick up his sleeve.
It was his spectacular 86th-minute winner that completed the comeback, relegated Coventry after 34 years in the top flight, and most importantly, allowed Merse to jet off into the sun.
Merson remembered the occasion in 2020 speaking to Sky Sports. “It was the year where the FA Cup final was played before the final day of the season, and my brother had a stag the weekend of the FA Cup final, I’d organised it in Orlando.
“We were playing Coventry on the penultimate game week of the season.
“I went to Villa manager John Gregory, asked him if I could go to Orlando after the game and he said: ‘Not a problem, you can go, we haven’t got a game!’
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“We came in 2-0 down at half-time at Villa Park. Our season was over anyway.
“But Gregory said to me: ‘You’re not going to Orlando tomorrow if this game doesn’t get turned around.’
“And then, low and behold, I scored the winner with the last kick of the game, and Coventry went down. The next day, I went to Orlando!
“You can imagine what I said to Gregory when I got back in.
“I was putting my suntan cream on when he was having his post-match chat!
“People say that goal sent Coventry down, I don’t believe that and I hope it didn’t. It’s a long season, and don’t just blame it on one goal.”
Merson is revered at Aston Villa despite joining them in the latter years of his career.
The former attacking midfielder is best remembered for his time at Arsenal, where he played for 12 years and made 423 appearances, scoring 99 times.
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He spent a season at Middlesbrough in 1997, helping them back into the Premier League, before signing for Villa where he spent four years.
Further stints followed at Portsmouth, Tamworth and Walsall before calling it a day in 2006.
However, he came out of retirement to play the odd game for non-league outfits such as Welshpool Town, Caerau and Hanworth Villa.
Merson is now often found in the Sky Sports studio, where he appears as a Soccer Saturday pundit where he is much-loved for his wild stories and sometimes off-the-cuff analysis.
