[Archived] What A Waste Of Talent

[Billy Castell]

What was the name of the fella, played for Wolves, supposed to have been a tremendous talent but packed it all in to be a Jehovahs Witness or summat like that.

That vaguely rings a bell. What position did he play?

I nominate Marlon Broomes (was mentioned in a 4-4-2 column along with the likes of Owen and Rio Ferdinand), Callum Davidson (once highly rated), David Hirst, Lee Thorpe (ex-Luton goal machine who never quite made it), Guy Wittngham, Brett Angel, Taribo West, G. Lentini, Massimo Maccarone, George Donis and Lee Hughes (is he out of prison yet?).

[Rovermatt]

European player of the year, played in three World Cups, has played for two of the world's greatest clubs and...er...Newcastle. Won FA Cup, League Cup, Uefa Cup etc. In the top ten list of goalscorers for his country despite an injury-raddled career and still only being in his mid-twenties. In fact if it wasn't for so many shocking injuries I do think we would be talking in much grander terms about him.

Not exactly Grabbi!

Yes but in comparison to greats like Ronaldo or Raul, he's not been as successful. Of course having said that he's still had a brilliant career and can rightly be classed as a great striker. Indeed that's why I said I would hardly class any of them as being wasted talents.

[Eddie]

Shearer may have won nothing at Newcastle but he is undoubtedly the best striker the British game has had in the last 20 years. There is no way he didn't live up to his potential or the hype.

I can see how you would put Shearer forward, depends what you mean by a waste of talent. Living up to your potential and becoming the best player you could have been or achieving everything that you could have within the game. Shearer did the former, but falls well short of the second definition.

[neekoy]

Yes but in comparison to greats like Ronaldo or Raul, he's not been as successful. Of course having said that he's still had a brilliant career and can rightly be classed as a great striker. Indeed that's why I said I would hardly class any of them as being wasted talents.

Read the thread and my comments again Matt.

Zola was everything in the premier league but never realised his rightful place in world football because of the generation he was in. Zola should be mentioned with the likes of Baggio, Meazza, Riva and Rossi, but is not.

Ronaldo, Raul, Owen all stella careers up to their mid twenties, now it is sad to see them all still in their prime start to drift away.

As I said to start with, I think they may have peaked too early, to compare the todays Ronaldo of the one in his Barca early twenties taking the ball from halfway beating man after man with skill and pace is not the same.

Raul and Owen the same, after taking the world by storm before they turned 25 it is a shame to see Raul struggling to get a place on the bench at Madrid and Owen going from WC 98 to 3 foot tap ins is sad.

It is not their always their fault, injury has obvioulsy played a major part in all three careers, but it is still difficult to watch for us that appreciate their early brilliance.

[rover6]

Raul and Owen the same, after taking the world by storm before they turned 25 it is a shame to see Raul struggling to get a place on the bench at Madrid and Owen going from WC 98 to 3 foot tap ins is sad.

Ah...yes Owen. I totally agree with that.

He's still a top Prem player when fit but he is not the world beater he should've been.

He could've developed into an all-round striker, a better version of Craig Bellamy. However, instead, he has become England's answer to Filippo Inzaghi. A reliable goal-scorer, with a penchant for tap-ins but very limited in comparison to players like Henry, Rooney, Eto'o etc.

[DP]

Is this thread titled "waste of talent, who buggered it all up?" or "which world class players didn't win every trophy on the planet?"

Owen, Ronaldo, Raul, Zola, Cantona all world class players who certainly didn't "bugger" it up. Won trophies, will go down in history, now rich as f**k

Grabbi, Donis, Davidson, Broomes, Whittingham etc etc .. bang average players who made a career out of football and are considerably richer than most of us on here. Again, not wasted talent.. not much to waste really.

Lee Hughes? Not that good but decent enough and certainly buggered things up. Collymore? Definitely, in terms of a waste of talent. Gazza? Yes to both questions. Matt Jansen, again yes, messed up by accident.

Not that many to think of as you often never know how good they were going to be. Can think of Stephen McPhail at Leeds. Was tipped as their best prospect but career cut short by injury.

[SamTheShrew]

jay bothroyd?

and joey beuchamp....that guy just loved oxford united!

[daveoftherovers]

Gazza, yes, but doesn't genuine EXCEPTIONAL football talent and a total void between ears ALWAYS go hand in hand?

[Radagast]

Carl Cort. £7m wasted by injuries.

Duncan Ferguson is one of the biggest wasters imaginable. Something in the neighbourhood of £16m was spent on a guy who could have been sensational if he could only be bothered.

Recent years have also seen an endless list of promising Scottish youngsters tipped for greatness who are now plodding away in some lower league on either side of the border. Kiegan Parker, Simon Lynch, Brian Carrigan and Graham Weir are a few examples.

[SamTheShrew]

Carl Cort. £7m wasted by injuries.

Duncan Ferguson is one of the biggest wasters imaginable. Something in the neighbourhood of £16m was spent on a guy who could have been sensational if he could only be bothered.

Recent years have also seen an endless list of promising Scottish youngsters tipped for greatness who are now plodding away in some lower league on either side of the border. Kiegan Parker, Simon Lynch, Brian Carrigan and Graham Weir are a few examples.

he may have wasted his talent, but he's certainly had no talent wasted on him, he stuck it to jade goody

[Jimmy Jupiter]

I think Franny Jeffers will be in anybody's top ten "wasted talent list", especially after today's news he's messed up his (probable) last chance in the top flight.

[tcj_jones]

Andy Booth looked a brilliant player at Sheffield Wednesday before his injury set back his career.

[Fife Rover]

I think Franny Jeffers will be in anybody's top ten "wasted talent list", especially after today's news he's messed up his (probable) last chance in the top flight.

That's a bit harsh. Jeffers has not had much chance to improve himself since he came here. On the few occasions he has come on, he has looked Ok; nothing special but OK. There is nothing wrong with his movement and vision it is just that he has yet to score from open play. He needs games; regular and preferably 90 minute ones. Hopefully he will get this with Ipswich and (fingers crossed) will come back much improved, and maybe having re-discovered the knack of scoring regularly.

[rog of the rovers]

Going way back to the first post.

I agree Duff, he was awesome back in 2002/2003, I saw him the other week in the UEFA Cup and to be fair he was unfit and generally poor.

[Billy Castell]

Would Diego Maradona count? He could have had a much better career in the latter stges if he had kept away from the Colombian party powder. Yes he did win a world cup, but after 1990 he lurched from one disaster to another.

[Radagast]

he may have wasted his talent, but he's certainly had no talent wasted on him, he stuck it to jade goody

Amazing!

[Pugg]

What about SWP, a great prospect at City but wasting away on the Chelsea bench.

[blue phil]

You'd think McClaren would tell SWP to either move and play regular football or forget about representing England again . I've no doubt he'll carry on picking him for the squad , though ....

[Drummer Boy]

There are a handful of players over 50 years who possess remarkable skills that take them onto another level from being simply great to being blessed with genius - this country has produced four IMO:

Duncan Edwards

George Best

Wayne Rooney

Paul Gascoigne

Now, when you put it in that context there really can only be one contender for the all-time wasted talent stakes.

I am of an age that I was able to watch Gascoigne make his debut for England in the same way I watched Rooney do likewise - both of them made you smile with their effortless ability to make the outrageously difficult look simple and their total unpredictability.

There ends the similarity, unfortunately for Gascoigne - what happened to, or if we are being honest, what he allowed himself to become, saddens me as an Englishman, a football fan and reasonable human being.

If only ......................

[broadsword]

Duncan Edwards - makes me sad just reading the name. :'(

[Alan75]

What was the name of the fella, played for Wolves, supposed to have been a tremendous talent but packed it all in to be a Jehovahs Witness or summat like that.

Peter Knowles. talented midfielder. Brother of Cyril Knowles, of Spurs

[falzer]

There are a handful of players over 50 years who possess remarkable skills that take them onto another level from being simply great to being blessed with genius - this country has produced four IMO:

Duncan Edwards

George Best

Wayne Rooney

Paul Gascoigne

Now, when you put it in that context there really can only be one contender for the all-time wasted talent stakes.

I am of an age that I was able to watch Gascoigne make his debut for England in the same way I watched Rooney do likewise - both of them made you smile with their effortless ability to make the outrageously difficult look simple and their total unpredictability.

There ends the similarity, unfortunately for Gascoigne - what happened to, or if we are being honest, what he allowed himself to become, saddens me as an Englishman, a football fan and reasonable human being.

If only ......................

Eh, when last I checked your country didn't produce Bestie!!

[Drummer Boy]

Eh, when last I checked your country didn't produce Bestie!!

I used the word "Country" to mean UK. If I wanted to refer just to England I would have used the word "Nation" - sorry for any confusion.

p.s. Should I capitalise "pedant"?

[falzer]

I used the word "Country" to mean UK. If I wanted to refer just to England I would have used the word "Nation" - sorry for any confusion.

p.s. Should I capitalise "pedant"?

Not trying to be pedantic - It just frustrates me to see English people claim the good to be one of their own, but not the bad. Eg, when Andy Murray is winning, he's "british tennis player Andy Murray", but when he's losing he's "scottish tennis player Andy Murray". Never heard of anyone in England claiming Ian Paisley to be a fellow countryman!!

Biggest waste of talent I've seen is probably Kanchelskis. Used to frighten the league with his pace for a few years, but then lost his way with dodgy agents and never became the legend he could have been...

[cn174]

Not trying to be pedantic - It just frustrates me to see English people claim the good to be one of their own, but not the bad. Eg, when Andy Murray is winning, he's "british tennis player Andy Murray", but when he's losing he's "scottish tennis player Andy Murray". Never heard of anyone in England claiming Ian Paisley to be a fellow countryman!!

Biggest waste of talent I've seen is probably Kanchelskis. Used to frighten the league with his pace for a few years, but then lost his way with dodgy agents and never became the legend he could have been...

He did perform the two greatest showboats ever though! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc7y2Zr91FI