Footballer who 'pooed in Liverpool icon's bag' was found dead after drug binge
Robin Friday's final notable act on a football pitch was to kick Mark Lawrenson squarely in the face.
The story goes that after being sent off, the then-Cardiff City forward broke into Brighton's changing room and defecated in the centre-back's kit bag before exiting the stadium while the match was still underway. Within two months, he'd retired from football, aged just 25.
Then 13 years later, he was found dead in his flat, having suffered a heart attack following a suspected heroin overdose. He was only 38.
Once hailed as "the complete centre forward", Friday mixed the sublime with the ridiculous, scoring spectacular goals, while also grabbing his markers' testicles or kissing them on the lips. Off the pitch, his life was a whirlwind of womanising, alcohol and drug abuse.
He frequently shocked with outrageous acts such as carrying a swan into a hotel bar, stealing statues from a graveyard and performing an X-rated dance he liked to call 'The Elephant'. More on that later.
Friday lived fast and died young. His professional football career spanned just four years, yet he's still considered Reading's greatest ever player and Cardiff's all-time cult hero.
Friday and his twin brother Tony were born and raised in a working-class family in Acton, west London, during the 1950s and 1960s.
In his teenage years, around the time he began experimenting with drugs, he played for the youth teams of Crystal Palace, Queens Park Rangers and Chelsea. However, none of these clubs were willing to take a risk on the young non-conformist.
He dropped out of school at 15 and took up jobs as a plasterer, van driver and window cleaner before his criminal activities – primarily thefts – resulted in a 14-month stint in Feltham Borstal. His father Alf's verdict: "He didn't care."
Shortly after his release, he and his girlfriend, Maxine Doughan, welcomed their baby daughter, Nicola. Despite facing hostility and even violence from friends and family due to their interracial relationship – Maxine was of mixed race – they did not let this deter them from tying the knot, both at the tender age of 17.
Over the next three years, Friday frequently shone in the Isthmian League, playing for semi-professional teams Walthamstow Avenue, Hayes and Enfield, while holding down a full-time job as an asphalter.
By this point, he had already earned a reputation as a heavy drinker, but his first near-death experience had nothing to do with alcohol or drugs.
In 1972, while attempting to free a hoist rope on a scaffold, he fell and landed on a large spike, impaling himself through the buttock. The spike also pierced his stomach, narrowly missing a lung.
He returned to the pitch within three months. Finally, in 1973, Reading manager Charlie Hurley decided that Friday was a gamble worth taking and signed him as an amateur, allowing him to continue working as an asphalter.
His arrival on the scene was like a bolt of lightning. Just months into his tenure, following a string of standout performances, he secured a pro deal with the Royals.
Blessed with speed, strength and ball wizardry, coupled with a physical edge and tactical acumen, Friday instantly became every defender's worst nightmare. The fans adored him from the get-go.
However, with remarkable talent came substantial trouble. In practice sessions, Friday's enthusiasm often bordered on recklessness; he eschewed shin guards and had no qualms about getting stuck in.
Reading historian David Downs reminisced: "In his very first training session they were playing a six-a-side game and Robin went around trying to kick as many of the established Reading players as he could. He must have put two or three out of the game. Hurley had to call him off."
Off the field, Friday's penchant for Colt 45 malt liquor saw him frequently ousted from local watering holes. He even got himself banned from the upmarket Sindlesham Mill nightclub for performing an explicit 'Elephant' dance, involving his jean pockets and a lewd gesture involving his privates.
Friend Syd Simmons revealed that Friday duly followed manager Hurley's rule not to drink within 48 hours pre-match. Instead, he'd take LSD and spend the evening engrossed in heavy metal music.
The club's unconventional attempt at curbing his excesses involved moving him into lodgings above their retired groundsman – a strategy that certainly didn't curb his wild side, as Friday seemed to delve even deeper into his hedonistic lifestyle.
Friday made a promising start to his career at Reading, but it began under unusual circumstances. After undergoing surgery to remove tattoos from his fingers during the summer, he joined a hippy commune in Cornwall without informing the club.
He returned late, but that did not stop him from starting the season in excellent form, although his behaviour on away trips became increasingly erratic and unpredictable.
Following one match, during a temporary stop of the team bus, Friday climbed over a cemetery wall and stole stone angels from a grave, intending to place them next to the sleeping club chairman. Hurley told him: "You must never ever desecrate a graveyard."
On another occasion, he walked into a hotel bar with a live swan under his arm that he had found outside.
Towards the end of the 1974-75 season, he celebrated a last-minute winner against Rochdale by kissing a policeman behind the goal. When asked why, he replied: "He looked so cold and fed up standing there that I decided to cheer him up a bit."
With 20 goals for the season, Friday was named the club's player of the year.
In the following campaign, he improved even further, endearing himself to fans by doing a full lap of the pitch every time he scored. And on March 31, 1976, against Tranmere, he scored his greatest ever goal, an acrobatic overhead kick into the top corner.
Renowned referee Clive Thomas praised Friday, saying his play was superior to that of Pele and Johan Cruyff. Friday responded: "Really? You should come down here more often, I do that every week."
Shortly after, Reading earned a promotion to the Third Division, marking the peak of Friday's career. However, things began to take a turn for the worse.
Following a contract dispute, Friday tied the knot with his second wife, Liza Deimel, in a wild and eventful wedding. Friday wore a bold outfit, including a tiger skin shirt, brown velvet suit and snakeskin boots, and was filmed rolling a joint on church steps. The reception was marred by intoxicated guests, fights and stolen presents.
Friday's partying and substance abuse took a toll on his performance and he began the new season in poor shape. Hurley was aware of his drug use and its detrimental impact on his game.
The club considered selling him and Hurley cautioned Friday: "The squad needs you but I owe it to the club because I can't have you using drugs. If I know you're using drugs, it won't take them [major clubs] long to find out. You have got to get your act together."
In one of his final appearances for Reading, Friday expressed his discontent with the team's performance by breaking into the opposing team's dressing room and defecating in the team bath during a match against Mansfield. Cardiff secured his services with a modest bid of £28,000 in late December 1976 and he reluctantly joined Jimmy Andrews' team.
However, his tenure with the Bluebirds got off to a rocky start. Upon arrival at Cardiff Central railway station, he was arrested for fare evasion, prompting Andrews to bail him out.
The night before his debut against Fulham on New Year's Day 1977, Friday stayed up drinking until 5am, but still managed to score two goals and outmanoeuvre England legend Bobby Moore, even subjecting him to his signature "squeeze" move.
Nevertheless, his most memorable moment for Bluebirds fans came in an April match against Luton. After repeated clashes with goalkeeper Milija Aleksic, Friday celebrated scoring by walking past Aleksic and making a V-sign gesture, much to the delight of the fans.
This act of defiance inspired the Welsh indie band Super Furry Animals to dedicate their 1996 single The Man Don't Give A F*** to Friday, featuring the image of his obscene gesture on the cover.
Despite this, Friday's time at Cardiff was marked by more lows than highs, as he increasingly isolated himself. Former teammate Paul Went reminisced: "He wouldn't even bother to have a shower. He'd just get dressed, take his carrier-bag with his dry Martini and he'd go – no explanation."
The footballer's career was marked by controversy, including an incident where laughter at a ball hitting him on the head triggered an outburst that left a teammate in a neck brace for two weeks.
After the team's demotion to the Fourth Division and a 3-0 defeat in the Welsh Cup final against Shrewsbury, Cardiff experienced his fury first hand as he rampaged around their hotel in his underpants, hurling snooker balls in anger. His only notable contribution in the following season was his assault on Lawrenson.
By 1978, he was back in Acton, living at his parents' house and working as an asphalter.
His aggression on the pitch was notorious, once declaring: "On the pitch I hate all opponents. I don't give a damn about anyone. People think I'm mad, a lunatic. I am a winner."
Post-retirement life saw Friday marry for the third time and serve time for impersonating a police officer to seize drugs.
Then on December 22, 1990, he was found dead in his flat aged 38.
Though he suffered a heart attack, Paolo Hewitt and former Oasis bassist Paul McGuigan, who both wrote the 1997 biography The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw, claimed in the book Friday died of "a suspected heroin overdose".
Ten years ago, a film about his life was said to be in the pipeline with The Hunger Games star Sam Claflin rumoured to be playing Friday. Nothing has emerged since.
For Reading and Cardiff fans, Friday is the quintessential cult hero. A football genius whose career stayed under the radar. His prowess on the pitch left an indelible mark on those who saw him play.
Recounting an exchange with former Reading manager Maurice Evans, the enigmatic striker famously quipped: "I'm half your age and I've lived twice your life."
Of that, there was certainly no doubt.
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