Players who never quite made it

[DE.]

One of my worst memories of WC 2010 is turning on the TV ten minutes into an England match and hearing "Heskey runs down the right wing". You knew it wasn't going to end well.

I always felt like Heskey could and should have been so much more, but he seemed to lose courage and conviction the older he got. A shame. 

[K-Hod]

Heskey looked unplayable when he first burst onto the scene, then initially at Liverpool.

IMO, it was simply a confidence thing with him. If enough people say you're no good, you'll probably start to believe it yourself if you're not the strongest-willed person on the planet....

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, K-Hod said:

Heskey looked unplayable when he first burst onto the scene, then initially at Liverpool.

IMO, it was simply a confidence thing with him. If enough people say you're no good, you'll probably start to believe it yourself if you're not the strongest-willed person on the planet....

I think you're right. He reminded me a bit of Devon Malcolm the old England fast bowler. He was playing against South Africa and at the time there was an unwritten rule you didn't bowl bouncers at tailenders  who couldn't bat. They ignored that and bounced him a few times, they may have even hit him with the ball.

He was still livid when he came on to bowl. He really got his mad up and bowled faster and more direct than I ever saw him bowl before or after. He gave the South Africans a taste of their own medicine and just blew them away. But he had to get mad first.

Edited June 15, 2018 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

2 hours ago, McClarky said:

I wouldn’t class Heskey as someone who never quite made it.  For a player of fairly l8mited ability he had a fantastic career. Played in the top flight year after year and won 62 England caps.  

I think what we're talking about is players who didn't reach the heights that were predicted for them when they first started out. I think you could class Heskey in that group although he had a good career. Having said that he seemed to find scoring against Rovers easy. 

Edited June 15, 2018 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Husky]

Danny Cademarteri ?

I seem to recall one time this youngster was touted as the next big thing. I remember him being raved about on MOTD.

Yet another one to add to a pretty substantial list of youngsters whose 'bad attitude' seemingly helped in their decline. Perhaps Samson like, the hair-cut sapped him off his remaining skill.

Edited June 15, 2018 by Husky

[perthblue02]

15 minutes ago, Husky said:

Danny Cademarteri ?

I seem to recall one time this youngster was touted as the next big thing. I remember him being raved about on MOTD.

Yet another one to add to a pretty substantial list of youngsters whose 'bad attitude' seemingly helped in their decline. Perhaps Samson like, the hair-cut sapped him off his remaining skill.

Currently at Burnley as a  development coach or something

[roverandout]

Remember seeing heskey at ewood as a teenager..bulldozed his way past our defence and hammered the ball into the roof of the net..could have been an awsome striker but went down hill

[Norbert Rassragr]

Even when he was crap, he scored against us, or so it felt.

[Mike E]

My Dad.

Played in the same team as Mike Summerbee growing up and was selected alongside him for trials at a few clubs.

Old school reports say he was brilliant but lacked the determination to really improve. Dad says that's what Summerbee had over him despite (so he believed) being a better player at school level.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

43 minutes ago, Mike E said:

My Dad.

Played in the same team as Mike Summerbee growing up and was selected alongside him for trials at a few clubs.

Old school reports say he was brilliant but lacked the determination to really improve. Dad says that's what Summerbee had over him despite (so he believed) being a better player at school level.

Summerbee had that killer instinct as a player. If you gave him a kick you had big problems. He was a really hard case for a winger.

[StaffordRover]

13 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I think you're right. He reminded me a bit of Devon Malcolm the old England fast bowler. He was playing against South Africa and at the time there was an unwritten rule you didn't bowl bouncers at tailenders  who couldn't bat. They ignored that and bounced him a few times, they may have even hit him with the ball.

He was still livid when he came on to bowl. He really got his mad up and bowled faster and more direct than I ever saw him bowl before or after. He gave the South Africans a taste of their own medicine and just blew them away. But he had to get mad first.

Completely off topic but I was there at the Oval and he was absolutely unplayable. Took 9 wickets if I remember correctly in their second innings. Devon never had a problem with pace, but his radar often played up, resulting in him not being as affective as he otherwise could have been. I think you're correct referencing the bouncers he received as he was hit a couple of times when batting. Unfortunately for the South Africans, that, together with some unpleasant sledging really wound him up, but rather than put him off his game, he came out and bowled like his life depended on it. They couldn't handle his raw pace and accuracy on the day. Truly memorable stuff!

[Dreyski]

Martin ‘Tiny’ Taylor had all the physical attributes to be a top class defender, but lacked something up top. Over 100 appearances for us, and had a fair career after leaving Rovers (if you can call Big club and Watford highlights) but never hit the heights we thought he could.

[pick32]

Fran Mérida

The next fabregas burst into the scene at arsenal but then moved to Spain and faded away. 

 

[tomphil]

Marlon Broomes.

[Tormund]

Abou Diaby.

Injuries killed him. Would have become world class.

[Mike E]

Macheda at Utd. Now it's Macheda who?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

16 minutes ago, Mike E said:

Macheda at Utd. Now it's Macheda who?

I never rated him Mike, he just got lucky.

[Speedie's Gonna Get Ya]

Corrado Grabbi ?

[Admiral Nelsen]

On 17/06/2018 at 14:06, Dreyski said:

Martin ‘Tiny’ Taylor had all the physical attributes to be a top class defender, but lacked something up top. Over 100 appearances for us, and had a fair career after leaving Rovers (if you can call Big club and Watford highlights) but never hit the heights we thought he could.

Ironic that he's now most associated with being a clogger because of the fallout of that Eduardo injury.

If he was more of a hard case then he could well have been a Rovers starter for the rest of the decade and even picked up a few England caps along the way. 

[Norbert Rassragr]

On 17/06/2018 at 19:48, Mike E said:

Macheda at Utd. Now it's Macheda who?

There was another Portuguese player called Beto or something Ferguson bought when the player was 16. He was supposed to be a great young striker, but disappeared.

[Mattyblue]

Bebe.

Bought him along with Kleberson and Djema-Djemba in the mid 00s. Fergie was rocking a bit at this stage, remember quite a bit of stuff about him maybe edging to retirement. Obviously he then went on and won a load more titles...

[Husky]

On 08/06/2018 at 17:15, Dreams of 1995 said:

Paul Scholes was a disappointment for England but more because the managers at the time underappreciated his talent. It was a crying shame he retired so early. The insistence to use 4-4-2 at a time when we had abundance in creative talent stifled careers and there was no bigger casualty to this than Scholes.

If only the World Cup was played in winter. The ginge might have lasted more than 20 minutes before flaking out.

[Pedro]

What was the gangster boy at Man City called? He may have had a spell at West Ham and in Italy too? 

[LeftWinger]

On 08/06/2018 at 13:05, Commondore said:

He probably wouldn't have become an England international, but I certainly had higher hopes for David Thompson than what his career turned out to be. Ravaged by injuries, and could then never realign his playing style when his place and tenacity went down a bit.

David Thompson was twice called up for England by Sven Goran Eriksen - but he never actually made an appearance - so he was on the verge of the England squad.

Absolute top player when he was fit and on form.

[Mike E]

31 minutes ago, LeftWinger said:

David Thompson was twice called up for England by Sven Goran Eriksen - but he never actually made an appearance - so he was on the verge of the England squad.

Absolute top player when he was fit and on form.

One of my faves from that era. Scrappy little shit but on his day as skilful as any in the league.