Rolling Stones guitarist Bill Wyman has revealed that he purposely aggravated a toothache while on tour with the band in order to get out of rehearsing and watch Crystal Palace in the 1990 FA Cup final.
Part of the Rolling Stones between 1962 to 1993, Wyman performed on the band's first 19 albums, but couldn't pass up the opportunity to watch his beloved Crystal Palace - whom he had followed since first watching them lose 2-1 to Port Vale at Selhurst Park in 1946 - in an FA Cup final against Manchester United.
The game at Wembley ended 3-3 after extra time, with Gary O'Reilly and an Ian Wright brace helping the Eagles draw with a Manchester United side containing Bryan Robson, Paul Ince and Mark Hughes.
Rolling Stones were without Wyman, who wanted to watch 1990 FA Cup final
"It was a toothache," Wyman tells FourFourTwo. "I was rehearsing in Amsterdam with the Stones and getting ready for the tour, and I had to find an excuse.
"I did have problems with my wisdom tooth, but I aggravated it so I could drive back to London and go to the match. I couldn’t make the replay as we were already on the Urban Jungle tour. They [the Stones] worked it out."
Wyman also appears on the latest Rolling Stones album, Hackney Diamonds, and while no other member of the band is quite as into football as he is, a couple still follow the sport...
"They asked me to do a track [Live By The Sword] that was unfinished, with Charlie Watts playing on it," Wyman says. "They thought it would be nice to reunite the original rhythm section.
"It was a hard one to play on, and busy – Elton [John] played the piano on it as well. Mick and the producer said my stuff was good and they were happy. I did two tracks and they’ll save one for another album.
"Mick and Charlie were big cricket fans; Mick watches some international football, though he earned a reputation as a jinx. He was cheering on Brazil when they got humiliated 7-1 by Germany, he’s been to England games where they’ve lost and he was a USA fan when they lost against Ghana."
