Joleon Lescott details Jack Grealish's role in infamous car tweet that sparked backlash
Joleon Lescott has discussed his sole season at Aston Villa and Jack Grealish's part in him tweeting a picture of a car after a 6-0 defeat to Liverpool in 2016
Joleon Lescott has revealed that Jack Grealish is partly responsible for his infamous car tweet during Aston Villa’s doomed relegation season.
The defender had signed for Villa in 2015, reuniting with his old Manchester City team-mate Micah Richards. It was a summer of change for Villa, who made 11 signings in an attempt to freshen up the squad following the sale of star striker Christian Benteke to Liverpool. The experience of Richards and Lescott was mixed with the arrival of rising talents from abroad, such as Adama Traore, Jordan Ayew and Idrissa Gueye.
However, Lescott’s sole season at Villa Park was a disaster. Tim Sherwood was sacked as manager in October to be replaced by Remi Garde, with Villa fishing the season on a paltry 17 points and ending the club’s 28-year stint in the top-flight.
In a season of low points, there was little love for Lescott after he tweeted a picture of a Mercedes shortly after a 6-0 defeat to Liverpool on Valentine's Day in 2016. The centre-back insisted that the post had accidentally been sent from his pocket while driving - but Lescott claims that Grealish is willing to share some of the blame.
“We need to get Jack [Grealish] on to clear this up because Jack says to me all the time, ‘I’m going to do a podcast and tell them it was my fault’,” Lescott told The Rest is Football podcast. “ I’m like it’s not that deep, Jack, to be honest.
“Now, everyone tweets after games and thanks the fans and all that, I never did that anyway, win, lose or draw. The car was a bit wild but how it came about was Jack had sent it to me. Me and [Richards] were driving home and then my phone was blowing off and I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ I’m driving so I don’t know what’s happened.”
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“My mom was like, ‘You don’t even have that car’. I know, it’s not mine,” Lescott continued. “[Grealish] googled a picture of the car he wanted. My mom told me to post a picture of my real car and I was like, ‘No, Mom!’ It’ll look like I treated myself to a Rolls Royce - it doesn’t really work like that, I don’t think it’s going to go away so I just left it.”
Offering an explanation, Lescott added: “I must have checked Twitter [after the game] but history would suggest I never tweeted after games so to do that is a bit wild. After I put my phone away, it just uploaded it. I was like, ‘What is going on?’”
The tweet is still on Lescott’s profile, despite Richards arguing, at the time, that he should suggest his account had been hacked. Grealish is claimed to have sent the picture to Lescott as the defender ran a car leasing business and team-mates would often use his services.
It was not the first time that Lescott had felt the wrath of the Villa fans, though. After an FA Cup defeat to Wycombe, supporters began banging on the dugout while Lescott was on the bench. It happened during the January transfer window, when the ex-England international was days away from sealing a move to LA Galaxy and planned to finalise the deal after a midweek game against Crystal Palace - but his reaction to the fans’ anger ultimately backfired.
“We get to the [Palace] game, [Richards] was on the bench, I’m starting and I’m captain,” Lescott said. “When they read out my name, everyone booed. I don’t think I’ve ever been that mad, ever. I was fuming.
“In my head, I was like, ‘I’m going to prove to you today that I’m not the only reason we’re in this situation’. I think we’d lost like 12 on the bounce. We were playing Crystal Palace who had the best away record at the time. We win 1-0 and I score. I don’t even think I celebrated, I was fuming it had gone to that and the fans took it like I was the only person that put us in the situation.
“LA called the next day and Villa were like we’re going to need a fee, we think we can stay up. I was like, ‘What?!’ I ended up staying otherwise I’d’ve had to kick up a fuss and force my way out. I wasn’t doing that, it was a done deal four days ago. I ended up staying at Villa for the rest of the season and [LA] signed someone else. I was fuming.”
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