Andros Townsend has escaped injury after a bizarre accident during his warm-up in Thailand, where the former England winger was run over by a pitch roller.
The 35-year-old, who now plays in Thai League 1 for PT Prachuap, was preparing for a fixture at Pattani when a member of the host club’s staff appeared to lose control of the roller and it crashed into him. Footage of the incident emerged on social media on Saturday night and showed Townsend being taken out by the vehicle, with his left leg briefly trapped underneath it.
Despite the collision, Townsend was fit enough to feature off the bench late on as Prachuap completed a 3-0 win.
The former Tottenham and Crystal Palace attacker, who won 13 caps for England and is now a regular pundit on ITV, later took to Instagram to make light of what had happened. Referencing one of his recent posts in which he contrasted a sun-drenched away trip in Thailand with previous visits to Stoke’s windswept stadium, he wrote: “It turns out Stoke away wasn’t so bad after all. Swipe to see why.”
Another post labelled him “The King of Memes in Thai League history”, to which Townsend replied “trust me”, adding four laughing emojis.
The incident is the latest chapter in an unusual recent career path for Townsend, who joined Kanchanaburi Power in 2025 before moving to PT Prachuap this year.