Flattery gets you everywhere in football, especially when royalty is on parade at the FA Cup final.
Brian Laws still chortles at the memory of his brief encounter with the future King Charles III and Princess Diana during the pre-match formalities at Wembley.
Some 31 years on, being left out of Nottingham Forest's starting XI, Paul Gascoigne's wild tackles, referee Roger Milford's dereliction of duty and a 2-1 defeat against Tottenham are all sore points for Laws, one of the best right-backs never to win an England cap. But in a sombre week for the Royal Household and the nation at large, his mind wandered back to Forest sovereign Brian Clough introducing himself to the late Princess of Wales in 1991.
