Football hardman Neil 'Razor' Ruddock revealed he has a heart of old gold after getting a Wolves tattoo to raise cash for a children's hospital.
The former Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham defender was touched by the plight of a Wolves fan's daughter, so decided to get a Hi Ho Wolves tattoo after visiting Molineux.
Jason Guy’s daughter Olivia, now three, was born with 1p36, a rare condition that typically causes severe intellectual disability. She spent around six weeks in the Neonatal Unit at New Cross Hospital from October 2020.
Jason has supported a host of fundraising events, working with the RWT Charity, and the garden project is his latest passion. He has managed to net £8,000 so far towards the £30,000 appeal.
The former Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham defender was touched by the plight of a Wolves fan's daughter, so decided to get a Hi Ho Wolves tattoo after visiting Molineux.
Jason Guy’s daughter Olivia, now three, was born with 1p36, a rare condition that typically causes severe intellectual disability. She spent around six weeks in the Neonatal Unit at New Cross Hospital from October 2020.
Jason has supported a host of fundraising events, working with the RWT Charity, and the garden project is his latest passion. He has managed to net £8,000 so far towards the £30,000 appeal.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 So here we are, New Inc Tattoo Studio, day's finally arrived.
00:05 Very, very nervous now.
00:07 You know, I've been confident, I've been happy, but when a day arrives, not too confident now.
00:14 Not too confident, scared.
00:16 Not what you'd expect to find in a technical tattoo studio.
00:21 Razor Ruddock.
00:22 How you doing?
00:23 How you doing Razor?
00:24 Very good.
00:25 Is it this man's fault behind that you're here? The big man Jason himself?
00:29 No, because it was my idea.
00:30 Oh right.
00:31 But he didn't think I'd follow it through you see.
00:33 Ah, got you, got you.
00:35 How long, took a couple of days?
00:37 Yeah, to decide. And he went right, that's it.
00:40 You have it done, and then you put the word out there. Money started coming in.
00:44 Yeah, so we raised just, well £8,000, £48,000, which is just incredible.
00:49 So just give us a bit of background then Jay.
00:51 So it's inspired by your own family's experiences with New Cross, yeah?
00:56 Yes, yes, so my daughter suffers from a genetic condition called 1P36,
01:00 which means she spends a lot of time in hospital.
01:02 Probably like Razor's going to do after this tattoo.
01:06 But she does spend a lot of time in hospital, bless her.
01:10 And the outside space, we saw the condition it was in sadly,
01:15 and how important it is to the children.
01:17 And when we got to speaking to Amanda and Amy at the trust,
01:20 they gave me the idea to put an initiative together to work on a...
01:25 They wouldn't let you go would they?
01:27 No, they wouldn't let me go.
01:29 That's why we're here.
01:31 Yeah, cut a long story short, Razor said he was going to have Wolves tattooed,
01:35 because he's now a Wolves fan.
01:37 Well done. Are you admitting to that Razor?
01:41 I went over there, and when they sang 'I Owe Wolverhampton', I fell in love with them.
01:47 So that's why, yeah, it was great.
01:49 They were lovely people, weren't they? All the staff, all the fans.
01:51 Absolutely.
01:52 They were lovely to me, so I thought I'd come back here, so it was nice.
01:55 And because Razor's such a gent, we put it on Twitter,
02:00 and we had 48 hours of Razor, just under £8,000.
02:03 And I've been doing fundraising for years, I've never ever, ever had an uptake like that.
02:06 It was just incredible.
02:08 And I put it down to this man, and what I think he's doing by the way, incredible.
02:12 So they do say, Razor, that the black country people, there's a lot of warmth,
02:16 and they're very welcoming. So you experienced a bit of that, did you?
02:19 There's a lot of warmth in the people.
02:21 Out on the street, it's freezing up here.
02:23 Yeah, yeah. You've just had a couple of cough medicines, so you're feeling...
02:26 I've been here a day and I've got a cough already.
02:29 No, they are, you know, I've done a few do's up there.
02:32 I've done a do last night, and then there was an auction for the charity.
02:35 Yes.
02:36 The money they put around in the pocket and donated to the charity,
02:41 and you know, times are hard, I mean, it's a struggle to really survive out there at the moment.
02:47 And them to, you know, put families and charities first is, you know, amazing people.
02:52 So your team's Millwall?
02:53 Yeah.
02:54 And partly still was.
02:56 Guys, right, the Millwall tattoo.
02:59 Millwall.
03:00 Do you know what? I'm not happy about it.
03:02 You're going to get some stick about that, isn't you, Jase, when you're playing for the veterans team?
03:05 Oh, listen.
03:06 In the Wolves kit.
03:07 When you play for the veterans team, make sure you don't break your wrist like you did last time.
03:11 It's the least I can do. The commitment this guy has given to the charity is incredible.
03:15 So the least I could do is do exactly the same.
03:18 He did say at the last minute that I want you to have a razor.
03:20 He did.
03:21 Yeah.
03:22 But I put my foot down.
03:23 Yeah, yeah. So you tried it on?
03:24 I tried it on.
03:25 You let him go through with that, didn't you?
03:26 I let him go first, I let him go first, and I walked out and he was like, where's he gone?
03:29 Because I should have gone home, really, I should have gone home.
03:31 Yeah, yeah.
03:32 So how do you two know each other then?
03:34 Oh, well, I think it was about eight years ago, I did a charity event at the mountain,
03:39 invited Razor down, went down a storm, and in a drunken stupor,
03:42 he said, "Oh, it's my 50th in Vegas soon, do you fancy coming along?"
03:46 And that's where the bromance started.
03:49 That's where it went wrong.
03:50 Coming to Vegas then, he's since been out to Spain with us.
03:53 Whoa, eight years ago? It was five years ago.
03:55 Oh, sorry.
03:56 Eight, seven years.
03:57 I swear, about eight years ago I went to Vegas with you.
03:59 You were out?
04:00 I was out for about two years, wasn't I?
04:02 Yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry, sorry.
04:03 When you met me, it was eight years ago.
04:05 And then Razor came out to Spain as well, and we did two charity geeks in Spain,
04:10 and we raised a couple of grand as well, so it's just been incredible.
04:14 You're giving a talk tonight, aren't you, Raz?
04:16 Yes.
04:17 At Roussly, is it?
04:18 Cricket Club, yeah.
04:19 Yeah, yeah.
04:20 And you've just come back from Thailand, was it?
04:22 Been speaking out there.
04:23 So is that a big thing for you now, the after dinner speaking?
04:26 Yeah, it's quite big, really, after the speaking.
04:27 That's why I'm not really that brave, closing my eyes, going to sleep,
04:30 and I'm having a tattoo of just jet lagged.
04:32 Yeah, you're shattered.
04:34 And how's things your end, health-wise, talking of hospitals?
04:37 Yeah, it's all good, touch wood, touch wood, it's all good.
04:40 Yeah.
04:41 The party days, that to come to an end, or?
04:43 Oh, I tell you what, at the time, it was great.
04:46 [Laughter]
04:47 I'm not going to deny, you know what I mean.
04:49 Be careful, when you're getting a bit older, man, slow down.
04:51 But at the time, in my 20s and 30s, what a lot.
04:55 Yeah, you made the most of those years, it's fair to say.
04:57 Oh, yeah, I did, yeah.
04:58 Get it out of your system.
04:59 Yeah, yeah.
05:00 So have you got any connections with the area, other than Jason, how many, and a Wolves tattoo?
05:05 The Mountain Hotel.
05:07 I might go to Free River next time.
05:09 The Mountain Hotel, Wild Hotel, that is, oh, what a place.
05:12 We're facing more rent here.
05:14 Oh, well, it's a big restaurant.
05:16 It is a big restaurant.
05:17 What's that called again?
05:19 [Laughter]
05:22 So you still live down south, don't you?
05:24 I live in Kent, Ashford in Kent.
05:26 Yeah, yeah.
05:27 Far away enough from Jason that we don't get a red ticket when we come up with silly ideas again, you know what I mean.
05:32 They keep us apart, our wives keep us apart.
05:35 They've been here, haven't they, dear?
05:36 Well, I was wondering before I met you if this was going to be your first tattoo, but you know, you've got a few, haven't you?
05:42 I've got Millwall, I've got Tottenham, I've got You Never Walk Alone, Liverpool, and now I've got the greatest team the world's ever seen, is Wolves.
05:50 The Hampton Wanderers.
05:51 The Hampton Wanderers.
05:52 Love the Hampton Wanderers.
05:53 An honorary fan.
05:54 You and, is it Tito Jackson?
05:56 He ended up being a Wolves fan, didn't he, when he came to town?
05:58 Did he?
05:59 Yeah, that was crazy.
06:01 And it's not too painful, is it? Says the man who's never had a tattoo.
06:05 It doesn't.
06:06 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:08 He was, you know, he was here.
06:10 Oh, aye, aye.
06:11 Jason must cry.
06:13 He's gritted my teeth and when he talks it's every bit of pain's worth.
06:18 So you entered a, which Wolves match did you go to then?
06:21 Classic, Wolverhampton 1 v Forest.
06:24 Oh, it was an unbelievable game.
06:25 1-1.
06:26 1-1, oh, right.
06:27 If it weren't for IHO, Wolverhampton song, I would have fallen in love with them.
06:31 But we was in Bangkok in a pub and we went and watched, no, we was in Pattaya, actually.
06:35 Yes, we was.
06:36 We went and watched in a sports bar.
06:38 Yeah.
06:39 We went and watched Tottenham v Wolverhampton 1s.
06:41 Yeah, yeah.
06:42 So where'd...
06:43 So I needed a free three to play for Tottenham, so.
06:45 So where did your loyalties lie with a game like Tottenham vs Wolves then?
06:48 Free three, loads of goals.
06:50 Yeah.
06:51 So I couldn't really lose after that.
06:53 Yeah, yeah.
06:54 Whatever happened.
06:55 Yeah.
06:56 I remember that game.
06:57 Yeah, yeah.
06:58 Yeah, I remember that.
06:59 Liverpool 1.
07:00 Liverpool 1.
07:01 So I can't remember any of that.
07:02 Liverpool and Thailand, I'll be completely honest.
07:03 We was Liverpool and Thailand.
07:04 This is what I'm starting to sweat.
07:05 You know why?
07:06 It's like kick-offs out there at the time, isn't it?
07:07 We go to the...
07:08 There's seven hours there.
07:09 There's seven hours at the end, so.
07:10 See you later.
07:11 See you later.
07:12 That means I have seven hours to get my story straight, what I did the night before.
07:13 Wolverhampton.
07:14 I'm not going to be able to get my story straight.
07:15 I'm not going to be able to get my story straight.
07:16 I'm not going to be able to get my story straight.
07:17 I'm not going to be able to get my story straight.
07:39 I'm not going to be able to get my story straight.
08:07 I'm not going to be able to get my story straight.
08:22 So, yeah.