![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/al-fayed-gave-wenger-viagra-convinced-jacko-to-call-me-what-a-tour-de-force/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/da-piers-off.jpg&description=WHEN I heard about Mohamed Al-Fayed's death, my mind went back to the time I was standing in the centre-circle at Fulham's football ground Craven Cottage with him and then Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. It was 20 minutes before kick-off in a Premier League clash, and we were exchanging jovial chit-chat when Fayed – Fulham's owner at the time - suddenly reached into his pocket and produced two blue pills which he handed to Wenger . 6 Mohamed Al-Fayed, pictured with Piers in 2007, passed away this week aged 94 Credit: Getty 6 Starting from nothing, he fought his way up to become one of the world's richest men Credit: AP 6 Fayed was a flawed, complex man, says Piers, but also 'one of the most extraordinary tour-de-force characters I've ever met' "Give these to your boys," chuckled the billionaire Egyptian tycoon. "It will help them get it up later." Wenger looked bemused. "Get what up?" I studied the distinctive pills a little closer, realised it was Viagra , and burst out laughing. "Put it this way, Arsene, I don't think he's talking about getting up for a header…" Wenger suddenly clocked what was in his hand, went bright red, and hastily gave them back. It was all very awkward and embarrassing, but also laugh-out-loud funny. And that was often the case when in the company of Mohamed Al-Fayed. The first time I met this remarkable character was over lunch at Harrods , the lavish Knightsbridge store he bought with his brother in the mid-1980s. He was hilarious company that day, mixing the latest dirty jokes he'd heard with shocking claims about newspaper editors being spies – I was editor of the Daily Mirror at the time but wasn't one of his MI5 suspects - the Royal Family being full of illegitimate children, and all politicians being crooks. I found it all most entertaining. And behind all the flamboyant, outrageous, provocative bombast there was a razor-sharp mind. Oddly, he wore clip-on ties. When I asked why, he chuckled: "So they come off quickly when a nice girl c){kind=link}
WHEN I heard about Mohamed Al-Fayed’s death, my mind went back to the time I was standing in the centre-circle at Fulham’s football ground Craven Cottage with him and then Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
It was 20 minutes before kick-off in a Premier League clash, and we were exchanging jovial chit-chat when Fayed – Fulham’s owner at the time – suddenly reached into his pocket and produced two blue pills which he handed to Wenger.
“Give these to your boys,” chuckled the billionaire Egyptian tycoon. “It will help them get it up later.”
Wenger looked bemused. “Get what up?”
I studied the distinctive pills a little closer, realised it was Viagra, and burst out laughing.