How Dennis Adeniran and Liam Palmer colluded to sort a faithful Sheffield Wednesday fan a striking first tattoo
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It was just a few minutes after Sheffield Wednesday’s historic play-off comeback against Peterborough United and the feeling within the changing room was electric; speakers pumping, players marching around embracing and swapping bucket hats.
When Adeniran parked his phone in Palmer’s face to remind him of a tweet he’d seen a day or two earlier, it sparked a run of events that ended with 24-year-old Luke Middleton sat in a tattoo artist’s chair with blue and white ink running up and down his arm.
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Hide Ad“I put a tweet out before the game saying I thought we'd go through – and I really meant it,” Luke told The Star just an hour after his tattoo had been completed. “People were calling me crazy but I thought we’d win 6-0.
“For some reason I said that if we won and went through I’d get a tattoo of Liam Palmer. Well Dennis Adeniran saw it and here we are!”
A few social media messages back and forth and Luke had been booked in for a session with Palmer’s favourite tattooist – Fatstans on Laughton Road in Dinnington. What he didn’t necessarily expect was that Palmer would rock up himself to admire the work being done.
From start to finish the intricate forearm tattoo took 80 minutes – the entire time Palmer spent chatting to Luke and his wife Savannah.
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Hide Ad“I the back of my mind I was thinking ‘It would be ace if he turned up’, but you don’t think he will,” said Luke, clearly still buzzing from a unique fan experience. “And then he was there!
“I had expected to have a few weeks rest but it was just a few days later – like Liam said to me, it’s one to celebrate me predicting that we would go through, it’s not a punishment for me getting it wrong.
“He stayed there the whole time, right from the start until the end. We chatted about all sorts – Wembley, the goal, the iFollow commentary. It was great, I never expected him to be there let alone stick around throughout the whole tattoo.”
So why Palmer? Luke’s response was simple; that he is a modern icon and not some fly-by-night hotshot that can come and go in a season or two.
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Hide AdThat the ‘Worksop Cafu’ came to sit with hi throughout the process was further testament to his commitment to the club’s fan base, Luke said.
“I’m buzzing with it, it’s ace,” he continued. “I’m so glad that it was Liam’s tattoist doing it because I knew he’d do a good job.
“He’s been at Wednesday since he was seven, I’m 24 and he’s been there his whole life. He scored that fourth goal on Friday which made it even better.
“But this isn’t a player who comes and goes, this is a player we’ll always remember at Sheffield Wednesday.”