Paul Gregory - Sheffield Wednesday's Tango Man

This article was generously provided to ClubFootball by the British Council, which operates in China as the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy.

He's big, this fan. His name is Tango Man.
 
Sheffield Wednesday, England, look fondly on fan Paul Gregory who has come to be known as "The Tango Man".
 
Paul first came to the club's attention during their triumphant march to winning the Rumbelow's Cup in 1991 when he stripped his shirt off to reveal his ample figure against Derby County in sub-zero temperatures.
 
In 1993, on a trip to Crystal Palace, he took with him a large orange hand, the opposing Palace fans duly christened this half-naked, orange handed figure "Tango Man", the similarity to the character from a British TV commercial, being obvious.
 
His devotion may appear extreme, risking everything from ridicule to hypothermia, but he loves his club, so anything goes - usually the shirt.
 
Since then he has become a figurehead for a very, very noisy group of fans. In fact, Sheffield's finest was once accompanied in his strip act by another Wednesday devotee, a far slimmer version, who was automatically dubbed "Diet Tango-man". In fact, whole rows of topless men have been spotted at Sheffield Wednesday games.

May 2001