Many fans will have heard the story about Wojciech Szczesny smoking in the dressing rooms at Southampton - but what does our former goalkeeper have to say about it?

The incident, which came following a 2-0 defeat on New Year's Day in 2015, gained a lot of media attention and now we can reveal what really happened.

"Back at that time I was smoking regularly and the boss knew it very well," Szczesny told our In Lockdown podcast. "He just didn't want anybody smoking in the dressing rooms and I knew that also.

"Because of the emotion of the game, I had a cigarette after the game when the team was still in. I went in the corner of the showers, so it was at the other end of the dressing room and nobody could see me, and I lit one up.

"Somebody saw me, it wasn't even the boss himself, and just reported it back to the boss. I saw him a couple of days later, he asked me if that was true and I said, 'Yes'. He fined me and that was the end of it.

"He then said, 'Look, you're going to be out of the team for a little bit' but there was no big bust-ups or big confrontations. I was very professional about it.

"I was fully expecting to be back in the team a few weeks later but we had a good run of form and David Ospina, who came in goal, played really well for those few games. He stayed in.

"That meant I was waiting and trying to win my place back in the team, or trying to convince him that I was still the best goalkeeper at the club by going out on loan. That sounds strange but sometimes it's the best way of doing it."

Make sure you don't miss an episode by subscribing to In Lockdown now on the following platforms:

Spotify

iTunes

Acast