Players that underachieved or what could have been

[MarkBRFC]

2 hours ago, JacknOry said:

Wastnt his debut against Utd and he was superb? Cant remember who he kept in his pocket but I thought we had a gem on our hands.

He was up against Beckham that night at Old Trafford and was superb.

League cup semi final, we got the 1-1 there and think lost 3-1 at Ewood in the return leg despite going one up.

[Blue blood]

I think that Souness team was very unlucky with injuries and what might have been. Gresko, Jansen and Thompson all looked utter quality before getting injured. Losing those 3 them becoming or continuing as top performers could have helped us kick on well and truly. Maybe Souness wouldn't have lost the plot. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

6 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

I think that Souness team was very unlucky with injuries and what might have been. Gresko, Jansen and Thompson all looked utter quality before getting injured. Losing those 3 them becoming or continuing as top performers could have helped us kick on well and truly. Maybe Souness wouldn't have lost the plot. 

I thought the Premiership winning era team, was unlucky also. Shearer, Warhurst, Batty, Gallagher were all missing with serious injuries.

[Blue blood]

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I thought the Premiership winning era team, was unlucky also. Shearer, Warhurst, Batty, Gallagher were all missing with serious injuries.

Too true. Could have walked it - or made it a lot more comfortable with these guys fit all season. 

The difference being we had a ton of other quality players then but 3 from the Souness team was a huge hit. 

[roversfan99]

4 hours ago, Stuart said:

Well I do. Taking Keown instead of Jansen was a scandal.

Although I will say that maybe I was wrong about Grip and it was a decision taken by Eriksson.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/did-eriksson-have-a-last-minute-change-of-heart-over-jansen-9198712.html

You can blame him for changing his mind if you think Jansen was unfortunate not to go to the World Cup. To attach any extended blame for what happened in Rome would be incredibly unfair.

[speeeeeeedie]

30 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

Too true. Could have walked it - or made it a lot more comfortable with these guys fit all season. 

The difference being we had a ton of other quality players then but 3 from the Souness team was a huge hit. 

Wilcox missed the run in too as he did his knee. Without him the team didn't function the same. Le Saux had to play left wing with Kenna behind him. 

David Thompson is a good shout. He played his way into the England. He was superb for a while.

[Oldgregg86]

Does anyone remember a pre season friendly at Elwood against wolves. It was 1-0 to rovers. Awful game. Beautiful sunny day and in my young and hazy memory David Thompson scores an absolute worldie from about 35-40 yard near were the thrown in line is.

i swear it was one of the best goals I’ve seen but never saw it again and as I’ve got older I’m starting to think I made it up lol.

any clarity would be nice

[BlackburnEnd75]

For me those that really stand out

Adam Henley. Was a brilliant 1v1 (vs sterling in2015)  defender but never improved the weaknesses in his game, seemed to lack confidence and too many injuries.

Ruben Rochina - had an incredible left foot and technique but didn't develop his decision making. Seems to have improved since he left. 

Nikola Kalinic - had a poor start when he wasnt acclimatised to english football but I always rated him and thought he was very unlucky when he was here. 

[arbitro]

27 minutes ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Does anyone remember a pre season friendly at Elwood against wolves. It was 1-0 to rovers. Awful game. Beautiful sunny day and in my young and hazy memory David Thompson scores an absolute worldie from about 35-40 yard near were the thrown in line is.

i swear it was one of the best goals I’ve seen but never saw it again and as I’ve got older I’m starting to think I made it up lol.

any clarity would be nice

I remember Thomson coming on against Chievo in a pre season friendly and smashing one in from distance to give us a 1-0 win. 

[Displaced Rover]

42 minutes ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Does anyone remember a pre season friendly at Elwood against wolves. It was 1-0 to rovers. Awful game. Beautiful sunny day and in my young and hazy memory David Thompson scores an absolute worldie from about 35-40 yard near were the thrown in line is.

i swear it was one of the best goals I’ve seen but never saw it again and as I’ve got older I’m starting to think I made it up lol.

any clarity would be nice

We battered Wolves 5-1 (even big Lorenzo bagged on debut) in the sun on the opening day of the 2003 season. Thompson scored a good volley from edge of the area but not 35/40 yards out. Maybe mixing that day with another?!

[Stuart]

2 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

You can blame him for changing his mind if you think Jansen was unfortunate not to go to the World Cup. To attach any extended blame for what happened in Rome would be incredibly unfair.

Why do you continue to bait me on this? Are you that bored?

Of course I don’t blame him for the accident (FFS) but if he had picked Jansen like he had been intimating then he wouldn’t have been in Rome. I was angry with Eriksson at the time and I’m not about to forgive him now.

[Oldgregg86]

1 hour ago, arbitro said:

I remember Thomson coming on against Chievo in a pre season friendly and smashing one in from distance to give us a 1-0 win. 

I think it may have been this one. Was it a worldie

[MarkBRFC]

2 hours ago, arbitro said:

I remember Thomson coming on against Chievo in a pre season friendly and smashing one in from distance to give us a 1-0 win. 

That's the one @Oldgregg86 is thinking of. Summer 03 or 04.

[arbitro]

2 hours ago, Oldgregg86 said:

I think it may have been this one. Was it a worldie

It was. I remember it because I was the fourth official and I was supervising the substitution Saunders said to Thompson something like 'go and get the winner'. When he did he ran over to Saunders to celebrate with him.

 

[Commondore]

At one point I really thought we had a player in Ben Marshall. He had a great season in 14/15 as a winger, then Bowyer moved him into central midfield/number 10 role (something I remember a lot of people here, me included, were excited about) and it never really came off, and he somehow never found his feet again before succumbing to injuries and a bad attitude.  

[tomphil]

Marshall had a decent stint at right back for a spell. 

Sadly another from that period who seemed more interested in his recreational life. 

Also the longest Sheff We'd medical in history.

[frosty]

12 hours ago, tomphil said:

Marshall had a decent stint at right back for a spell. 

Sadly another from that period who seemed more interested in his recreational life. 

Also the longest Sheff We'd medical in history.

For a spell when we were struggling under Lambert, it felt like Marshall was our biggest threat - from right back. Certainly in terms of who was most likely to create a chance or come up with something unexpected.

He did look good at right back I thought, he had a good touch and close control, and picked out some decent passes with him being able to see the whole pitch in front of him.

Ultimately though he's done barely anything since (and he was very inconsistent here) which speaks volumes really.

[tomphil]

6 minutes ago, frosty said:

For a spell when we were struggling under Lambert, it felt like Marshall was our biggest threat - from right back. Certainly in terms of who was most likely to create a chance or come up with something unexpected.

He did look good at right back I thought, he had a good touch and close control, and picked out some decent passes with him being able to see the whole pitch in front of him.

Ultimately though he's done barely anything since (and he was very inconsistent here) which speaks volumes really.

Yes he was quite bright for a spell there and looked better than when he was on the right wing. Like you say that extra bit of seeing what's going on in front of him seemed to suit. Best spell under GB was when he went on the left, usually switched for the last ten mins 'right good go' when we were chasing a draw or something.

Never really rated him as a right winger and he was non existent in the hole, definitely fits the underachiever tag he should be an upper end championship wing back imo.

[G Somerset Rover]

On 02/04/2020 at 14:59, Oldgregg86 said:

I remember watching o Connell for our youth team saying he should have been given a chance. Same sort of feeling when I saw travis. Couldn’t believe we let him go

Been named in Sky Sport's team of the season to date and not far off an England call up (whenever that could be). Another Rovers balls up.

[Vinjay]

On 03/04/2020 at 17:04, speeeeeeedie said:

Man U said the same about Ben Thornley. Nicky Marker crocked him in a reserve game at Ewood. Thornley sued and won for damages. Misty eyed people had him being the left sided savior that England needed during the 1998-2008 "golden generation".

 

Yeah that would be Man United's press stooges. He didn't even sue until over 2 years later and I wouldn't be surprised if Ferguson encouraged that.

I saw Dunn mentioned. Obviously I've commented on him before so I'll just mention this. I remember Brian Clough in his 442 column complimenting Souness on how he handled the situation. Have wondered sometimes what Clough thought of Jack. He wasn't beyond paying big money for players (or for that matter wanting to "play in a palace" as he put it after Forest fell into debt on a new stand Clough wanted) so I don't think he would have felt threatened unlike another manager telling press to shove "bought the title" and "Shearer only signed for the money" line down people's throats. He did shout at Don Mackay after having to match Rovers bid for Edward Sheringham though. ?

Edited December 5, 2024 by Vinjay

[Sparks Rover]

I know at least a  couple of players who definitely would have made careers in the game  if it was not for the Blackburn party scene that started around 88-90....drugs and the lifestyle proper affected the rovers classes of 90/91/92....?

[Amo]

Kevin Davies.

Pressure of the record signing fee, injuries and playing on Woy's sinking ship, scuppered his potential here.

If you watch these highlights, you see the makings of the player he'd become at Bolton.

 

[Tom]

I remember around the horrible Kean days a couple of young lads had been promoted to the senior squad and a highly thought of.

One was Zac Aley; was on the bench at old Trafford, got released and went onto semi pro level I think.

The other met a similar fate, Robbie Cotton, had bags of talent but apparently a Terrible attitude.

Jemal Johnson was an earlier one I had high hopes for and there was a striker a little before who seemed to be banging them in for years in the reserves but never made the cut 

Amazing how many young lads get to the cusp of breaking through and it goes to their heads and all goes to pot 

Edited May 8, 2020 by Tom

[Butty]

34 minutes ago, Tom said:

I remember around the horrible Kean days a couple of young lads had been promoted to the senior squad and a highly thought of.

One was Zac Aley; was on the bench at old Trafford, got released and went onto semi pro level I think.

The other met a similar fate, Robbie Cotton, had bags of talent but apparently a Terrible attitude.

Jemal Johnson was an earlier one I had high hopes for and there was a striker a little before who seemed to be banging them in for years in the reserves but never made the cut 

Amazing how many young lads get to the cusp of breaking through and it goes to their heads and all goes to pot 

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 ??

[Mike E]

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