Football really is a dog eat dog world. Just ask the great Dane, with the spirit of a rottweiler and the heart of a terrier, affectionately known to some of his fans as 'Mad Dog'. No, this is not a weird breeding experiment involving three dogs. This is the tale of a midfielder who terrorised his opponents on the pitch, let off fireworks on the training ground, dangled his crown jewels over his team-mate, bonked an adult model and allegedly knocked the tooth out of one of the game's greats.
These were the antics of one Thomas Gravesen, the former Denmark star who now whiles away his latter years with his model wife in his homeland after years in Las Vegas, by way of Hamburg, Everton, Celtic and - astonishingly - Real Madrid, alongside 'Galacticos' like Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham.
Early Career and the 'Madness' Begins
Born in 1976, his career kicked off at his local club, Vejle Boldklub, in the mid-1990s, when he sported slicked-back blond hair and a large hoop earring. By the time he joined Everton in 2000, the jewellery and hair were gone, but rumours of his 'unusual' personality were growing. Former Denmark manager Bo Johansson was one of the first to comment on the 'madness'. At Vejle, a young Gravesen stood out against Superliga opposition, earning a move to Hamburg in 1997. His performances in the Bundesliga were equally noteworthy. Johansson, however, had his doubts, questioning if Gravesen was 'psychologically stable' enough to perform on the international stage. His worries were unfounded as between 1998 and 2006, Gravesen represented his country 66 times, netting five goals.
Training Ground Pranks and Controversies
But there were a few hiccups along the way. In 2002, Gravesen found himself in hot water after a training ground prank escalated into a fight. He and fellow tough guy Stig Tofting ambushed team-mate Jesper Gronkjaer during a pre-World Cup session, dousing him with water and shoving ice cubes down his shorts. The Chelsea winger didn't find it amusing. After consulting the team doctor for an injured eye, he exchanged heated words with Tofting which led to a brawl, according to BBC reports. Unfortunately for all involved, the press captured the initial incident. A Danish FA official commented: 'These players need a kindergarten teacher to sort them out.'
The following year, Denmark's chief jester was at it again – Gravesen was caught on camera with his shorts hoisted up, exposing himself just inches above team-mate Claus Jensen's head. The outrageous moment was snapped by a photographer and made headlines. Gravesen later expressed regret for the incident at a press conference, as reported by Danish newspaper Berlingske. He admitted: 'It was supposed to be a joke, but it ended up like a stupidity. Nor did I know that there was one who took a picture of it.'
Everton and the 'Mad Dog' Persona
By then, he firmly established himself at Everton and was dubbed Mad Dog by fans for his intense playing style and memorable celebrations. He was both admired and approached with caution by team-mates and staff, proving his bark was just as powerful as his bite. Mick Rathbone, Everton's former physio, even named Gravesen as the 'maddest' player he's encountered, sharing anecdotes in his book The Smell of Football, including a peculiar tale involving a stop for fuel while taking Gravesen for a scran. 'He then followed me into the shop and stood next to me while I paid,' he recalled. 'Then he followed me back to the car and got back into the passenger side – without saying a word.'
In the book, he painted Gravesen as a likeable character who turned into a 'complete headcase' when he crossed the white line. After one injury during a match, the physio recalled: 'On the occasion in question I ran over to him and asked what the problem was. 'What's the problem? What's the problem? You f***ing tell me, you f***ing idiot! You are the medical man!' he screamed in his perfect English, but with the Danish accent that made him sound even more crazy. 'Nothing, no amount of teaching, can really prepare anybody for that kind of reaction, and I didn't have a clue how to react, so I asked Tommy if he wanted a drink. That really infuriated him.' He screamed: 'A drink? A f***ing drink? The game is only five minutes old, you f***ing moron!' The physio attempted to calm the situation: 'Fortunately, he was beginning to recover from the knock and got up. I took his arm to escort him to the touchline, and he went berserk. 'Take your f***ing hand off me! Take your f***ing hand off me or I will f***ing knock you out!' He pushed me away.' Once at the touchline, Gravesen seemingly snapped out of his rage. Rathbone wrote: 'Eventually we got to the touchline at which point he politely thanked me for my help and trotted calmly back onto the pitch. The incident was never mentioned again, but it really spooked me and I used to sit in the dugout praying that Tommy never got injured.'
Fireworks with Rooney
Wayne Rooney, who was only a teenager when he played alongside Gravesen at Everton, regaled at the time they both caused a ruckus with fireworks at the club's Bellefield training ground. 'Me and Thomas Gravesen were setting big rockets off one end of the gym to the other, at each other, and [Everton manager David] Moyes walked in!' he told The Overlap podcast. 'You mean fireworks?' asked the show's host Gary Neville, visibly perplexed. 'Yeah,' Rooney replied. 'Moyesey's walked in and you can see him, like, 'What is going on?' I was 16! You'd light them and you'd hold them and they're going all over the gym!'
Real Madrid and the Galacticos
Even more fireworks were in store in 2005 when the Bernabeu came calling and bought Gravesen for £2.6m – a move by which he was shocked. He told Sky Sports News: 'My agent called me and said: 'Madrid is calling'. Everton or Atletico Madrid… I was fancying Everton. He then said it was Real Madrid! I was as surprised as anybody.' As the saying goes, you can't teach an old dog new tricks. And Mad Dog continued his crazy antics in La Liga, much to the chagrin of manager Fabio Capello, who once said: 'His behaviour? I don't like it. He wants everyone to do what he wants, and I have told him so.'
Take this alleged altercation with Robinho, as recalled by former Madrid man Julio Baptista. He told Spanish radio station Cadena SER: 'It was funny. Imagine Gravesen, who was a bit crazy, running at Robinho and grumbling angrily. He gave him a kick, then another one. Robinho stopped, looked at him and shoved him in the chest, and then it kicked off. Gravesen wanted to kill him. They were separated but Robinho went back to the changing rooms and Gravesen looked and me and said, 'I'm going to kill him'.' Then there was the one time the great Brazilian Ronaldo apparently crossed paths with Gravesen. The Dane had allegedly wrestled 'O Fenomeno' to the ground so hard, his tooth fell out. Ronaldo recalled Gravesen's roughhousing in a chat with fellow Seleção legend, Romario. So much so that he called the Dane 'the worst team-mate ever', adding: 'Gravesen was a really great guy. A very good person. But in football, he was very bad. He scored, but he gave a lot of beatings.'
Celtic and Further Antics
But no sooner was Mad Dog in the doghouse that he was out – Madrid had enough of him and sold him to Celtic in August 2006. Former Celtic team-mate Aiden McGeady had fond memories of his time with Gravesen. He once told Si Ferry's Open Goal podcast: 'He'd stop training completely. I remember one time, he was just about to shoot, and I'm going 'Tommy! Tommy! Tommy!' and he's just went, about to shoot, the leg comes back and he just then stops the ball. He's holding someone off and he's going 'Don't shout when I'm about to shoot, la! I hate it! It's the worst thing in football! I hate it, la!' And I'm like, 'Tommy, I'm just shouting for the ball!' And he's going, 'No! Don't ever shout at the shooter! I hate it!'' He added: 'I was quite close to him, though. He used to come and kind of hang about with me, like the two of us were quite close, but I remember another time we were in the dressing room and [manager Gordon] Strachan's giving a team-talk, he's just finished and I look over at Tommy… He's sitting in the corner with a newspaper with eyes cut out of it, looking through.'
Another ex-teammate, Paul Caddis, had another remarkable memory of Gravesen – involving his then-girlfriend, adult star Kira Eggers. He told the Under The Cosh podcast in 2023: 'His missus was a porn star wasn't she? We used to say to him, 'Tommy, you got any pictures of your missus?' 'Just Google her, lad. Loads on Google'.' Caddis also revealed how Gravesen used to spend his time off between the end of the season and pre-season. He said: 'He used to go back in pre-season and stay at either his mum's or his dad's in an attic probably about the f***ing size of this full table. In this little attic, a tiny room for six weeks, just used to sit on his PlayStation. He was like number one or number two for COD (Call of Duty) at one point. Honestly! He was f***ing mental, but what a brilliant guy.'
Retirement and Life After Football
Gravesen's time in Celtic wasn't much of a fairy tale. He spent a year on the green side of Glasgow before returning to the blue side of Merseyside on loan. But his second spell at Everton was not a patch on his first and sadly, he retired in 2009 aged just 32. Mad Dog had been put to pasture. Not that it mattered as he enjoyed life after football rather handsomely. He was said to have made some savvy financial investments during his playing career – and that did not go unnoticed. James McFadden, his ex-Everton team-mate, once revealed: 'He had no outgoings, no bills. He used to stay in Lee Carsley's flat. He didn't like having bills. He had a nice motor, but in the winter he'd sell it and buy a Renault Megane, because that's a 'winter car'. In the summer he wore new Hummel boots, but in the winter he dug out some leather ones and called them his 'winter shoes' – never boots.'
Having saved a lot of his £85,000-per-week earnings and invested wisely, he was able to relocate to Las Vegas - with Czech model Kamila Persse. Moving in with Kamila and her son from a previous relationship, they embraced the Vegas lifestyle, buying a huge villa in a gated neighbourhood called The Canyon Fairways in 2013 for more than £1m. The property boasted 10 rooms, four bedrooms, seven bathrooms and swimming pool, while they even lived next door to fellow mavericks Nicolas Cage and Andre Agassi. Driving around in a £400,000 Mercedes SLR McLaren sports car, according to Danish tabloid BT, Gravesen also put his wealth to good use in Nevada's legendary casinos, where he developed a passion for poker, and won more than £100m.
But he remains coy about this news to this day. When asked about this a few years back, he responded: 'Only £100m?! Where's the rest?' Kamila continued her work as a real estate agent while Gravesen continued to rake it in from home, starting a company called Thomas Holdings. But his glitzy Vegas life did not last however, as they packed up their bags and moved back to Denmark in 2018. Gravesen now resides again in a £1.6m penthouse he bought in 2010 in his hometown of Vejle. And started working as a football pundit. His main motivation for coming back? 'I miss football and all teethings around it, so it was a chance to be a part of it again.'
It's true what they say – every Mad Dog has its day. Now 50, Gravesen may not be butting heads or causing a commotion on the field now, but his zest for life and love of the game show he still has a lot of bite. He's more than just any man's best friend. He's one of football's exciting mavericks. A great Dane indeed.
