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Wolves fan tricked into being Brentford mascot on his stag do

“The Brentford captain didn’t want to hold my hand sadly,” said Nick Goff, 38.

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A Wolves fan got quite the surprise on his stag do when his friends signed him up as the matchday mascot for Brentford.

Nick Goff, a professional gambler who is getting married in Barbados next week, said he had no idea what was in store for him after being told to be in Chiswick at 11am on Saturday morning.

“I’m the last one of my group of friends to get married, I’m 38 and told them I’m too old for a stag do and didn’t want one,” he said. “They disagreed and said I had to have one.

“My guess was we were going to Kempton races as we’re mostly bookmakers or professional gamblers.

“Then we got to Brentford, they gave me a full kit to wear but I thought that was all.”

But that was far from all, and within a few hours he was leading the Bees out at Griffin Park for their Championship game with Bolton.

“I thought they were joking. Then they took me up to the hospitality area with all the other nine-year-old mascots. Bit awkward! But made sure I didn’t do anything to spoil their big day,” he said.

On seeing his mate on the pitch, friend Jim Boyle, 44, a racehorse trainer who organised the stunt with a group of friends, tweeted: “Weeks of planning have finally come to fruition.”

Mr Boyle said: “We weren’t sure Brentford would go with it, but they’ve been great sports all along.”

Brentford later posted a video of the whole affair and Mr Goff, from Epsom, said: “The Brentford off the field team were all amazing, made sure everything ran smoothly and that it didn’t interfere with the day for the “real” mascots.”

“[I] did a little warm up on the pitch, took a few shots – walloped an unstoppable one past the keeper into the top corner, obviously, then led the teams out onto the pitch much to the amusement and bewilderment of some of the players. The Brentford captain didn’t want to hold my hand sadly.”

Asked how the rest of the club’s on-field staff reacted, Mr Goff said: “On the pitch I definitely spotted a few players trying not to laugh but no one said anything.”