Players that underachieved or what could have been

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

9 hours ago, Butty said:

Joe Garner was absolutely prolific for our reserves but never got a chance in the first team here, he’s gone on to have some sort of a decent career though. The Cotton lad is a name I remember as one of our most promising youth players, just shows you can have all the talent but if you don’t have the right mind-set and application you’ll never make it. We’ve always had good players in our youth and reserve sides since I’ve been a kid but it‘s crazy thinking about how few have made it here or elsewhere! At least we’ve seen the emergence of Travis, Nyambe and Lenihan here in recent years ??

It's only like any other walk of life - if your attitude's all wrong you'll never get anywhere. 

[Dreyski]

6 hours ago, Mike E said:

I seem to remember an Italian sounding kid being prolific. Rafael?

Raffaele De Vita might be the one. Never played in the first team, moved to Scotland and was reasonably successful. I would sometimes see his name on the videoprinter and wonder where I'd heard it before.

Going further back, I remember Beattie being touted as the next big thing, but couldn't get ahead of Newell, Gallacher and Sutton before moving to Southampton as part of the Davies deal.

[IrelandsRover]

Not sure if relevant to this but Gearóid Morrissey plays for Cork City in Ireland. Quality player, now 28 and was on the books at Rovers as a youngster. A lot of young Irish players go to England young but end up coming back for lots of different reasons 

 

 

[TruRover]

Reuben Rochina for me had incredible talent. I will always wonder how he would of turned out for us had he not got injured against Derby in the first game of the season under bowyer. He could of been on one of our main players that year. He career petered out here after that. Think he was mismanaged.

[RoverDom]

22 hours ago, Dreyski said:

Raffaele De Vita might be the one. Never played in the first team, moved to Scotland and was reasonably successful. I would sometimes see his name on the videoprinter and wonder where I'd heard it before.

Going further back, I remember Beattie being touted as the next big thing, but couldn't get ahead of Newell, Gallacher and Sutton before moving to Southampton as part of the Davies deal.

I would have been young at the time but I remember spending a couple of years wishing de vita would get into the first team purely cos he was prolific on football manager. 

[DE.]

I remember Brett Emerton having an absolute stormer on his debut against Wolves, but he rarely came close to hitting that kind of performance again. He ended up being decent but nothing special on the right wing, and from memory had a good spell at RB/RWB as well, but never fulfilled his potential.

[rigger]

14 minutes ago, DE. said:

I remember Brett Emerton having an absolute stormer on his debut against Wolves, but he rarely came close to hitting that kind of performance again. He ended up being decent but nothing special on the right wing, and from memory had a good spell at RB/RWB as well, but never fulfilled his potential.

In that debut against Wolves he did fulfil his potential . He just wasn’t consistent.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

20 minutes ago, DE. said:

I remember Brett Emerton having an absolute stormer on his debut against Wolves, but he rarely came close to hitting that kind of performance again. He ended up being decent but nothing special on the right wing, and from memory had a good spell at RB/RWB as well, but never fulfilled his potential.

I remember watching him play for Australia v England before he signed for Rovers. He played in the old inside right position and he was the best player on the pitch. We never played him there when he came to Ewood.

[Prelude]

Ruben Rochina

Matt Derbyshire

Paul Gallagher 

Carlos Villanueva

Corado Grabbi

Hakan Sukur

Barry Fergurson

Paul Robinson 

Mauro Formica

Nikoli Kalinic

Vince Grella

Varaslav Gresko

Junoir Hoilett

 

 

Edited May 10, 2020 by Prelude

[Amo]

On 10/05/2020 at 10:48, TruRover said:

Reuben Rochina for me had incredible talent. I will always wonder how he would of turned out for us had he not got injured against Derby in the first game of the season under bowyer. He could of been on one of our main players that year. He career petered out here after that. Think he was mismanaged.

Absolutely. Rochina gets referred to derisively here as a "Carlos Kickaball" but there's no doubt the guy had talent. When he had a run in the Championship. his output was decent, and teams would double-mark him, freeing up space for other players.

Think he suffered from playing under too many conservative managers.

[roversfan99]

35 minutes ago, Amo said:

Absolutely. Rochina gets referred to derisively here as a "Carlos Kickaball" but there's no doubt the guy had talent. When he had a run in the Championship. his output was decent, and teams would double-mark him, freeing up space for other players.

Think he suffered from playing under too many conservative managers.

I dont think anyone doubts the fact that he had talent but conversly I think that he is overrated simply because he came from Barcelona and of course had the ability for occasional brilliance.

He did a few things that were undoubtedly brilliant but didnt do enough to justify a place every week especially in a free role. When he scored it was usually a great goal but he would go 7 or 8 games doing absolutely nothing and whilst that sort of player will not necessarily be defensively the best he could be a particular liability at times. Im not sure he was as integral in other teams defensive tactics as you imply either.

Looking from afar quickly at his career since, he has been at a decent level but again has never had a particularly impressive season in front of goal.

Different player but Rhodes played under different managers and his output was consistently brilliant.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

On 11/05/2020 at 00:45, Prelude said:

Ruben Rochina

Matt Derbyshire

Paul Gallagher 

Carlos Villanueva

Corado Grabbi

Hakan Sukur

Barry Fergurson

Paul Robinson 

Mauro Formica

Nikoli Kalinic

Vince Grella

Varaslav Gresko

Junoir Hoilett

 

 

Hakan Sukur? Joined Rovers rather late in his career to wonder what might have been? If we including player like this then Nuno Gomes and Ossie Ardiles

The one Keen signing I wonder what if would be Simon Vukcevic

[MarkBRFC]

I think if a Souness type of manager had got hold of Rochina he could have turned out to be a good one, similar to how Jansen thrived under Souness.

Rochina was never going to flourish under Ke*n, Berg, Appleton or Bowyer though.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

28 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

I think if a Souness type of manager had got hold of Rochina he could have turned out to be a good one, similar to how Jansen thrived under Souness.

Rochina was never going to flourish under Ke*n, Berg, Appleton or Bowyer though.

The nearest big club to where we go on holiday in Spain is Granada. Some of the locals are fans but lots are Barca or Real fans. The locals I spoke to rated Rochina when he was at Granada.

[Dreyski]

7 hours ago, dingles staying down 4ever said:

Hakan Sukur? Joined Rovers rather late in his career to wonder what might have been? If we including player like this then Nuno Gomes and Ossie Ardiles

Might be more about him breaking his leg soon after arriving (before playing a game?).

[joey_big_nose]

On 10/05/2020 at 10:48, TruRover said:

Reuben Rochina for me had incredible talent. I will always wonder how he would of turned out for us had he not got injured against Derby in the first game of the season under bowyer. He could of been on one of our main players that year. He career petered out here after that. Think he was mismanaged.

Rochina's had a bit of a resurgence and playing well for Levante in La Liga.

Player I always think could have been really good is Paul Gallagher. Such a smart footballer, had real quality. But seemed to not really make the most of it.

In terms of wasted talent biggest I've seen at Rovers is probably Junior Hoilett. Unplayable on his day but totally sabotaged himself.

[Sparks Rover]

Hignett.

Quality player, unsung really and was always one of the better players in the seniors soccer sixes on Sky a few years after his retirement,  a proper player

[Oldgregg86]

Has anybody mentioned Steven Reid. Dogged with injuries but was decent on his day

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

11 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

Rochina's had a bit of a resurgence and playing well for Levante in La Liga.

Player I always think could have been really good is Paul Gallagher. Such a smart footballer, had real quality. But seemed to not really make the most of it.

In terms of wasted talent biggest I've seen at Rovers is probably Junior Hoilett. Unplayable on his day but totally sabotaged himself.

Gallagher had all the skill and a really good football brain - as he's shown over the years- but he was lacking in the pace department. Not such a handicap in midfield but you need it up front. If he'd have had Hoilett's pace you would have had another Craig Bellamy.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

7 hours ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Has anybody mentioned Steven Reid. Dogged with injuries but was decent on his day

I wasn't his biggest fan. Everybody goes on about that great goal at Wigan but how many of those shots ended up in row Z.

[K-Hod]

10 hours ago, Sparks Rover said:

Hignett.

Quality player, unsung really and was always one of the better players in the seniors soccer sixes on Sky a few years after his retirement,  a proper player

Rovers showed a replay of the 4-0 away win from years ago at Spurs the other day. 
Forgot about his volley that day, what a cracker!

[frosty]

10 hours ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Has anybody mentioned Steven Reid. Dogged with injuries but was decent on his day

Reid was excellent in the second half of the 05/06 season to help us finish 6th, he just seemed to drive powerfully from box to box and scored a cracker at Sunderland after a surge forward from our own half.

Just checked his Wikipedia and in seasons 06/07, 08/09 and 09/10 he played 3, 4 and 4 Premier League games for us, so as you say he was just dogged with injuries unfortunately.

[Prelude]

On 12/05/2020 at 10:29, dingles staying down 4ever said:

Hakan Sukur? Joined Rovers rather late in his career to wonder what might have been? If we including player like this then Nuno Gomes and Ossie Ardiles

The one Keen signing I wonder what if would be Simon Vukcevic

Hakan had only just turned 31 when he joined so still had plenty of legs left which was proven with his follwoing 5 years at Galatasary where he scored better than 1 in 3. 

[simongarnerisgod]

The one Keen signing I wonder what if would be Simon Vukcevic

i thought watching his cameos he had undoubted ability,unfortunately it looked like he`d rather be anywhere else than east lancashire!!,on the other keen signings,formica was pretty good,just to lightweight for english football,the one i do remember who had prodigious talent was carlos villanueva,the chilean,not one to impress big sam though?

[joey_big_nose]

13 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Gallagher had all the skill and a really good football brain - as he's shown over the years- but he was lacking in the pace department. Not such a handicap in midfield but you need it up front. If he'd have had Hoilett's pace you would have had another Craig Bellamy.

Yeah, but I thought Gallagher didn't really need pace, in the same way Sheringham or Cantona didn't. Not saying he was as good as them, just that his game was more about finding space and picking passes and making late runs.

It's s bit of an overused phrase but just seemed to me he didn't really want it that much. Dunn gets a lot of stick but he really worked hard to make it at Rovers. I dont think Gallaher did really unfortunately.

He must have done something right though - according to wiki "Gallagher was voted Preston North Ends player of the decade 2010–2019 by fans in January 2020.^[35]"

Edited May 13, 2020 by joey_big_nose