Forgotten players

Remove this Banner Ad

Lee Bowyer, Lukaku, Lua-Lua... well pretty much anyone who played for Portsmouth... David Bentley, David Nugent, David (?) Chopra, Billy Sharpe, Darren Anderton, Jose Antonio Reyes and his plastic hair, Franny Jeffers and his vegan physique and fifth-member-of-The-Rakes bobble head, Pennant, that McFadden dude who was a real gun for Brum and then Everton... Angel and that other guy with the long hair for Villa...

And of course – Jay Jay Okocha will always epitomise my favourite era of the Premier League.

Times, they are changing, in such a permanent way.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Man, early 2000s Chelsea were such a cool side. I used to absolutely love Gronkjear for his rat coloured hair and surname, Eider the Iceman, Jimmy Floyd, Mario Melchiot, Marcel Desailly (and his mobile phone soccer games), the little master up front... such an endearing bunch of players.
 
Scotland said:
James Beattie.
Click to expand...
I used to love this guy as a kid. His transfer to Everton copped a lot of attention I remember, it was talked up as this Shearer-like move once all the comparisons with Le Tiss waned. I think he was subbed off pretty shamefully in his first or second season at Everton – he was sulking along the sidelines and throwing bottles with his dead down... pretty sure that symbolised the worst career choice I've seen. He was like a 23-year old man banging them in for a team with an average midfield who had the pressure of England football heaped on him.

There were a steady influx of African Cissés at one stage, usually January transfers from Lille, who ended up doing precisely nothing for sides like West Brom, Pompey, Boro... They all bled into one.

Charisteas, scorer of the last great thing to happen to Greece, is another. I'm sure he's revered over there, though. Then Arjan De Zeeuw who must've played 500 games in the second divvy and was a staunch defensive midfielder I think? Steve Sidwell, who latched onto every single one of those beautiful through balls Reading would play in their first top tier season. He then went to Chelsea with the gall of expectation and ended up ruining his career.

OH and Jason Koumas – along with David Nugent, one of those players who tore up second tier teams. An EPL club, recently promoted or just slightly avoiding relegation, would then end up banking on him as their saviour. He never did anything at Premier League level but I have nothing but respect for his high fringe line and Weird Dude expression. He also seemed like he could be 19 or 35 simultaneously; truly one of the strangest heads I have ever seen. Could swing in a nice free-kick, though.

From the same school: Gary McSheffrey. Used to buy him all the time on FIFA because he was always in those FourFourTwo 'Best Players Outside The Premier League' lists. He also looked like this angry bloke, piss funny, I used to go to school with. I remember for this state carnival, we had to do a profile for the magazine for the week, and I put down Gary McSheffrey as the player I played most like. I barely even saw him play, I just liked how he looked like a sparkie from Worcestershire and played on the wrong wing as well.

Soccer used to be so cool. Sucks nurries these days.
 
TheGreatBambino said:
Some aussies

Kaz Patafta
Kristian Sarkies
Neil Kilkenny
Click to expand...

Kaz Patafta and Kristian Sarkies bombed badly in Europe and the A league and were both playing somewhere in the lower levels of Australian football.

Neil Kilkenny (who was a youth player at Arsenal btw ;)) is in league one with PNE
 
Silent Alarm said:
Lee Bowyer, Lukaku, Lua-Lua... well pretty much anyone who played for Portsmouth... David Bentley, David Nugent, David (?) Chopra, Billy Sharpe, Darren Anderton, Jose Antonio Reyes and his plastic hair, Franny Jeffers and his vegan physique and fifth-member-of-The-Rakes bobble head, Pennant, that McFadden dude who was a real gun for Brum and then Everton... Angel and that other guy with the long hair for Villa...

And of course – Jay Jay Okocha will always epitomise my favourite era of the Premier League.

Times, they are changing, in such a permanent way.
Click to expand...
Reyes is Ateltico I think.
 
Franny Jeffers came over to play with the Jets I think. Did nothing and was another example of footballers being the most boring people in the world. His interviews were excruciatingly bland.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

The Kaz Patafta story still interests me so much.

The more I think about it, the more I just assume he rode some coattails of hype and myth to Portugal. He does not seem, in the slightest, the kind of only ever half-try with sport and fully-try with partying.

He can still look back on a life well lived, however.
 


Freddie Sears: short, young, English, and ugly. He seemed like the next Wayne Rooney when he scored on debut for the Hammers at like 17. Now pillocking around for Cambridge United.
 
Silent Alarm said:
The Kaz Patafta story still interests me so much.

The more I think about it, the more I just assume he rode some coattails of hype and myth to Portugal. He does not seem, in the slightest, the kind of only ever half-try with sport and fully-try with partying.

He can still look back on a life well lived, however.
Click to expand...

Last I heard , he was doing a law degree and playing part time in the nswpl
 
David Dunn - good player but came through at the same time as Gerrard, Lampard, Scholes etc. Just the one England cap - would surely have had more under different circumstances.
 
Ludovic Giuly was highly touted french player was at Barca for a while

Mateja Kezman came to Chelsea with an amazing goal scoring record in Holland was a flop.

Adrian Mutu, played at Chelsea and then the whole drugs scandal, think he was at Juventus for a while?
 
LukasTheGreat said:
Benjani. Best celebration in world football.
Click to expand...
I lived in England for a couple of years Pompey was the local team, went many games at Fratton Park (best atmosphere ever witnessed at the Portsmouth v AC Milan game) Benjani was a crowd fav, always remember the song "Benjani whoahh Benjani, he comes from zimbabwe he's gonna score today, Benjani whoahh Benjani"
 
Silent Alarm said:
he was sulking along the sidelines and throwing bottles with his dead down... pretty sure that symbolised the worst career choice I've seen.
Click to expand...

I'd say getting involved in a naked wrestling bout with Tony Pulis probably trumps that. On so many levels.

Then Arjan De Zeeuw who must've played 500 games in the second divvy and was a staunch defensive midfielder I think?
Click to expand...

Is now a copper in Holland, or a doctor. Or a police doctor, or a hospital copper. Not sure which.
 
Silent Alarm said:
Lee Bowyer, Lukaku, Lua-Lua... well pretty much anyone who played for Portsmouth... David Bentley, David Nugent, David (?) Chopra, Billy Sharpe, Darren Anderton, Jose Antonio Reyes and his plastic hair, Franny Jeffers and his vegan physique and fifth-member-of-The-Rakes bobble head, Pennant, that McFadden dude who was a real gun for Brum and then Everton... Angel and that other guy with the long hair for Villa...

And of course – Jay Jay Okocha will always epitomise my favourite era of the Premier League.

Times, they are changing, in such a permanent way.
Click to expand...

Is Pennant playing in Spain now?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top