Before he was the Republican candidate for the presidency, Donald Trump was a businessman with a brand to promote: himself.
So, when he was asked if he would be interested in appearing on television in the United Kingdom, he decided that it sounded like a good idea.
Popping up on television screens on the BBC alongside Jimmy Greaves, he helped to make the fifth-round draw for the League Cup or Rumbelows Cup as it was known in the days before hashtags were invented and we could all refer to it simply as the #EFLCup.
Trump was on the Saint and Greavsie show, a Saturday afternoon hit starring Greaves and former Liverpool striker Ian St. John.
The show was in the city that never sleeps to film the qualifying draw for the 1994 World Cup, and while Trump stated that he was excited about FIFA's big tournament coming to town, the New Yorker had no idea what the League Cup was, according to what St. John told The Guardian.
Still, that didn't matter if it meant time on screen, and although the original plan was to simply interview The Donald, the production team decided that they would ask him to get involved in the draw too.
"He agreed, even though he clearly knew nothing about football," revealed St. John. "I think the appeal for Donald was being on a TV show that had a large audience in Britain. He saw it as an opportunity to promote himself and his company.
"To be fair to Donald, he was really good with us. He respected the fact Jimmy and I were former pros and asked about that as the crew set up to film the draw. We also had a good chat about golf, as he was really into that and we played a bit. But, as I say, he had no idea about football and certainly no idea what Rumbelows was. We didn’t bother explaining it to him."
Trump goes on to draw Leeds United against Manchester United, a massive match, much to the delight of the presenters and David Dent of the Football League, who was also in attendance in the boardroom of Trump Tower.
Thankfully, we know that at least this draw was not rigged, as Donald had direct supervision over it.
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