Aston Villa’s relegation to the Championship last season means we haven’t seen as much of Jack Grealish as in recent years.
The England Under-21 midfielder has been more involved than he was in the previous campaign, and has actually been on the winning side a few times after tasting defeat in each of his Premier League outings in 2015/16.
But when he took to the field against Tottenham in the third round of the FA Cup, it wasn’t his passing or movement which caught the eye.
Instead it was his shinpads – or apparent lack thereof.
#TOTAVL How can Grealish have his socks rolled down the whole match? #shinpads?
— Norma Morris (@Normslaw) January 8, 2017
Grealish needs some shinpads fella
— Phil (@Camtana25) January 8, 2017
https://twitter.com/sailo18/status/818141264076009478
It was a mystery to some, but thankfully our friends at SportsJOE.ie have an explanation, courtesy of an interview that Grealish conducted with BBC radio not that long ago.
The youngster explained that his use of junior shinpads is due to a superstition about wearing his socks lower down than others, something which dates back quite a few years.
“A few referees have tried telling me [not to] but I’ve got to keep it like that,” he explained.
“I haven’t had a kick on my shin yet and hopefully not any time soon.”
Unfortunately for Grealish, the tradition wasn’t enough to help Villa overcome their Premier League opponents, as goals from Ben Davies and Son Heung-min gave Spurs a 2-0 victory.
