Chrismas parties have dominated the headlines over the last week, particularly at Stoke City, while there are numerous tales of celebrations going too far over the years.

But Wade Elliott has more light-hearted memories of nights out earlier in his career, with an amusing anecdote about a current England star!: "The best Christmas party I can remember was at Bournemouth.

"The best ones are usually fancy dress. We all went in drag, and there were pictures!

"I walked through the high street and looked through New Look and four of the lads were at the back helping each other on with knee-high boots!

"Jermain Defoe turned up looking like one of The Supremes, and I looked like Barbara Windsor!

"I had a big beehive wig on, and that was a good party."

Letting your hair down can help with team spirit, but as Elliott has previously described, the players have a long-held tight-knit spirit in the dressing room, and enjoy each other's company on and off the pitch.

He feels that is a major plus-point: "We all care about what we're doing, so you can't forget about it.

"Sometimes it's good when we go out and eat together, it's good to sit down and talk about the game and different aspects and get things out in the open.

"It's good to do that away from the club.

"It's good we've got a group of lads who can be open and honest with each other, and we move on from it.

"We can be critical of each other without it being personal.

"We want to get on and do the very best we can. We'll all moving towards the same ends."

A lack of big-time charlies also helps the character of the group: "The gaffer and the staff wouldn't let anyone get above their station, certainly if you did, you'd soon get ribbed and probably knocked down a peg or two.

"I think we know what we're good at, we're not superstars, we're an honest, hard-working team, and when we're on our game, we'd like to think we're a decent side.

"We're not the type of lads who can just turn up and turn on the magic."