Former England star Carlton Palmer has revealed ex-boss Ron Atkinson helped him cheat a drugs test.
While at Sheffield Wednesday, midfielder Palmer, now 53, came clean to Big Ron about smoking cannabis.
Owls fans even had a chant: "We've got Carlton Palmer, he smokes marijuana."
When asked about the origins of the terrace song, Palmer admitted he had used a physio's urine sample in order to dodge failing a drugs test after taking the substance.
He told Wednesday podcast The Owl Sanctuary: "It’s what I used to smoke. I like a spliff.
“I got drug-tested the week before and you normally don’t get drug-tested two games on the trot.
"So we’re playing Crystal Palace — on the Thursday night I’m on the f***ing wacky baccy — and then Ron says, ‘You’re up again’.
“I said, ‘Gaffer, I need a word’. So we had to get the physio to p**s in a bottle and pass it through.”
Big Ron, who also managed Aston Villa and Manchester United , denied any knowledge of the incident.
He told The Sun: "I don’t know anything about it. He was a very good player — much better than he was ever given credit for.”
Palmer played for Wednesday between 1989 and 2004 and said the incident came in the 1989-90 season.
He played 205 league games for the Owls in that time, scoring 14 goals, and helped them to the Rumbelows Cup in 1991 - the last team from outside the top flight to win a major honour - and to both cup finals in 1993.
He returned to Wednesday on loan in 2001 before calling time on his career in 2005.
Palmer won 18 England caps under Graham Taylor between 1992 and 1993 and underwent a five-hour heart operation in 2016.
