“Apology accepted!” Former Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Regi Blinker buries the hatchet with Ian Wright over dreadlock tug

In the 54th minute of Sheffield Wednesday’s 4-1 defeat at Arsenal’s Highbury back in September 1996, the England international skipped past the Owls Dutchman and tugged – hard – on his famous dreadlocks.

The Owls were 1-0 up at the time and the incident went unnoticed by the referee, though not the FA, who slapped Wright with a three-match ban.

The most galling thing of all? Wright went on to score a hat-trick within half an hour after David Platt’s equaliser.

“Sorry Reg! I remember that,” Wright said looking back on the images on a recent TV show. “It was just so unnecessary. Look at Reg, he can’t believe it. These were the stupid things I did.”

Wednesday shrugged off the early season defeat to record a seventh-placed finish in the top tier that season, while Arsenal finished third.

A giggling Wright, who went on to share a changing room with Blinker at Glasgow Celtic a few years later, said it was the hustle and bustle of non-league football that came out in him.

“I think it’s the Sunday morning,” he said. “Everyone is constantly talking, giving people stick and it never left me.”

It seems any hard feelings were buried long ago it seems as Blinker tweeted on Tuesday: “Apology accepted long time ago! @IanWright0 These were unforgettable days in the @premierleague @swfc @Arsenal”