One fan crossed the line and it's not something you wanted to do with a man known as 'Tank'

It was a like a scene from Rocky V when Alan Mullery decided to shut a mouthy fan up in a car park brawl only much less dramatic, as retrofootballblog.com explains.

This story is unlikely to cause as any real surprise to anyone who saw the midfielder play.

Tottenham’s captain was fearless, and could look after himself in an era where rough justice was the norm on the pitch.

3 Alan Mullery joined Spurs for £72,500 in 1964

Spurs’ half man, half tank of a midfielder certainly wasn’t afraid to stand his ground and there are stories of blazing rows between him and White Hart Lane overlord Bill Nicholson.

And his all-action displays in the centre of the park, as well as endearing him to the fans, also landed him in trouble.

Opponents knew it was easy to rile Mullery; he was quick to lose his temper and he made history in 1968 against Yugoslavia when he became the first England player to be sent off during a game.

Even when the crowd got on his back, he wasn’t afraid to give as good as got and, in Hunter Davies’ book, The Glory Game – one of the best sports books ever written and the first of its kind – he explained what happened when one fan went to far.

Davies had been granted exclusive access to all areas of the club for the duration of the 1971/72 season and Mullery was recalling an incident from the previous year when him and his wife, June, as well as his dad, were approached by a supporter outside White Hart Lane.

They were making their way through the car park when “this yob opened the door and pushed my wife and said I was fucking useless,” Mullery explained.

“I got out [of the car], took me jacket off, and knocked him out.”

“The police were rushing round trying to calm me down, and I began fighting the police,” he said, adding that it took three of them to eventually send him on his way.

“I must have been mad.”

Mullery’s evening only got worse when a couple of reporters arrived at his front door.

“They said they’d interviewed the boy and got a full statement,” he told Davies, explaining the journalists told him the ‘kid’ was prepared to prosecute as they read his statement to Mullery.

“It was right, word for word,” he admitted. “I let them finish and said if one word was printed I’d sue them for everything they’ve got.”

Getty 3 Bill Nicholson is Spurs’ most successful manager, winning eight major trophies between 1958 and 1974

Nothing made it into the papers the following day and when he turned up on Monday for work, Nicholson called him in where the young lad he floored was waiting.

Mullery apologised and the yob – a Spurs ‘fan’ – agreed not to sue.

“Luckily nothing came out in the papers about it.”

If camera phones existed back then, there’s a good chance ‘One Punch’ Mullery would have had a standing order straight to the FA’s disciplinary office.

The midfielder left Tottenham in 1972, ending an eight-year golden period at the club, with his last act as skipper being to lift the UEFA Cup in its first ever final.