Players Who Had It But Mysteriously Lost It

Sport
21

was having a conversation with a few of my leeds united buddies and we came to the conclusion with the exception of maybe robbie keane,rio, robinson and woodgate no one else from the dave o learys young guns have kicked on and become top player…even the 4 above mentioned you can pick holes in…

a few examples:
Danny Mills was playing in the world cup 5 years ago for england and aquitted himself well, think he is at burnley or hull now

Dominic Matteo cant get a game at blackburn(not even sure if he is still there)

Alan Smith is playing shocking stuff for a shocking newcastle team

Lee Bowyer for me was the best right sided midfielder in england during his time at leeds is only the shell of the player he used to be

Ian Harte was never a world beater but was a fairly consistent performer and scored some big goals for leeds cant get a game at sunderland…was never the same player after the world cup in 2002 drained the confidence out of him

Harry Kewell struggles to get in the liverpool team affected by injury but had the potential to be one of the best in the world

Mark Viduka who on his day is unmarkable cant get a game at newcastle currently

Seth Johnson is at some stuggling championship team(cant remember who)

Eirik Bakke went to villa and struggled dont know where he is now another one affected badly with injury

there are a few more i could mention but ye gat the jist of my point…

22

he went a bit nuts by all accounts; when he was playing he had headphones with dolphin music playing to relax him.

I never thought that the Big Show ‘got over’, even with this floyd mayweather stuff ahead.
Another big shout is for Djemba-Djemba for man yoo, or jimmy jimmy as he was called in my parts.

23

or Keleberson, joining Utd after a great world cup performance and did shite and into obscurity.

In American Football you’d find a lot of no.1 draft picks at absolutely nothing now, some classics would be Tim Couch, Ki Jana Carter and then Heisman Trophy winners who never got anywhere after an outstanding college year, Eric Crouch, Jason White, Chris Weinke

24

[quote=“The Puke”]was having a conversation with a few of my leeds united buddies and we came to the conclusion with the exception of maybe robbie keane,rio, robinson and woodgate no one else from the dave o learys young guns have kicked on and become top player…even the 4 above mentioned you can pick holes in…

a few examples:
Danny Mills was playing in the world cup 5 years ago for england and aquitted himself well, think he is at burnley or hull now

Dominic Matteo cant get a game at blackburn(not even sure if he is still there)

Alan Smith is playing shocking stuff for a shocking newcastle team

Lee Bowyer for me was the best right sided midfielder in england during his time at leeds is only the shell of the player he used to be

Ian Harte was never a world beater but was a fairly consistent performer and scored some big goals for leeds cant get a game at sunderland…was never the same player after the world cup in 2002 drained the confidence out of him

Harry Kewell struggles to get in the liverpool team affected by injury but had the potential to be one of the best in the world

Mark Viduka who on his day is unmarkable cant get a game at newcastle currently

Seth Johnson is at some stuggling championship team(cant remember who)

Eirik Bakke went to villa and struggled dont know where he is now another one affected badly with injury

there are a few more i could mention but ye gat the jist of my point…[/quote]

Looking at those players I’m not sure any of them were ever truly world class. In that sense it was a pretty impressive achievement to get to a Champions League semi-final with them. But their fall was even more spectacular in many ways too.

Mark Viduka sickens me. He was a prick at Celtic, a talented prick but a prick all the same. What kind of fool signs for a club and then disappears for a month citing stress and then there was his refusal to come out after half time in the infamous cup defeat to Caley Thistle that prompted the ‘Super Caley Go Ballistic Celtic Are Atrocious’ headline. Then he went to Leeds and was initially good but gradually lost motivation too. It seems like all through his career he only gave 100% when his contract was winding down and he needed to assure himself of a new one and another big pay-day. Hence he performed really well in the latter half of last season for Middlesboro’ when he was on a Bosman and that prompted Newcastle to offer him a lucrative deal. Once he signed that he reverted to type and has happily lazed around all season.

I think Bakke’s now at Locke’s beloved SK Brann. I don’t know where Johnson is (scary signing at the time by Leeds) and I last heard of Matteo at Stoke.

25

Yes, Bakke is at mighty Bergin. Matteo is a squad player at Stoke. Johnson went back to Derby last season, fooked up his knee in the playoff final and was released. Kewell is a squad player with Merseyside team Liverpool where he also does some work for MTV. Ian Harte has been told by his old buddy old pal Roy “Keano” Keane that he can fook off at the end of the year. Danny Mills is now with Derby. Lee Bowyer is with the Irons; yeah, he’s okay, east end boy true and true, grew up within a stonesthrow of Upton Park blah blah. Squad player.

26

Just thought of Sebastian Deisler there. He was touted as one of the boggest things to emerge in German football in years yet had retired by the age of 26/27 due to chronic depression.

27

Might be a bit premature but I’d lump for Theo Walcott. We were told he was a world beater at Southampton. How long has he been at Arsenal now?

Kurt Angle - he’s now messing around in some TNA crap that I just saw on Bravo on Saturday night.

Mike Tyson - is he now looking for another re-match with Holyfield

Add the following players to the Leeds list:

Olivier Dacourt - where is he now?
Michael Bridges - as above
Jason Wilcox - ah, hold on now, maybe Im going too far here…

Maybe we should start another thread on “great white hopes who never made it” - Paddy Wallace, Jeremy Staunton, Terry Dixon etc…

28

The most expensive footballer at one time - Lentini
The little shit from spurs - Nick Barmby
The injured - Jamie Redknapp

Jeff Hardy
Booker T

Jasper Parnivek

29

Harsh call on Jeff Hardy there Fran imo - he’s getting a serious push right now and has been involved in some classic matches lately. It seems he’s put his drug problems behind him and I expect to win the Money-In-The-Bank Ladder Match at 'Mania and possibly win the title in the summer. Lentini’s a cracking shout alright.

I’ve seen a bit of Walcott and he looks a bit clueless to my discerning eye. He doesn’t seem to know how to time his runs or even where to run on some occasions and just basically seems to lack game intelligence and instead relies purely on speed. I’d hold off on writing him off completely though as pace is an important quality in the game these days and with decent coaching he could come good. He’s still very young and the likes of Ronaldo was getting pelters at that age so I’ll sit on the fence for the time being. That said I’d expect to have a player who can immediately contribute to the first team and be a regular if I paid that kind of money - it was a lot to pay for potential.

30

Didnt think Lentini would be a consideration, he did well in his first year at Milan, but never fully got back to his best after he was in a horrific car crash where he went into a coma, so wouldnt think he mysteriously lost it.

Nick Barmby was a useless fook alright. Darren Anderton was just like Redknapp.

What about players who were shite at a club and then mysteriously found their form again? Ian Rush after his sojurn at Juve? Zola on the way out and did wonders at Chelsea. Likewise Ivan Campo. JS Veron. Schevchenko when he moves from Chelsea I think will be back to somewhat better form again.

31

[quote=“Mac”]
Add the following players to the Leeds list:

Olivier Dacourt - where is he now?
Michael Bridges - as above
Jason Wilcox - ah, hold on now, maybe Im going too far here…

QUOTE]

Dacourt is at inter milan after a few good seasons at roma…always thought he was very underrated and terry venables sold him because he didnt think he was as good as paul okan…

Michael bridges had a great year at sunderland when phillips got injured…think they got promoted the same year joined leeds and looked the part helping us qualify for the champions league was on the verge of breaking into the england team and fooked his knee up against besiktas…was never the same,believe he is at carlisle now…an absolute shame as he had a lot of potential

i would say that wilcox is retired now nothing more than a squad player…i never really rated him…

32

[quote=“The Puke;36404][QUOTE=Mac”]
Add the following players to the Leeds list:

Olivier Dacourt - where is he now?
Michael Bridges - as above
Jason Wilcox - ah, hold on now, maybe Im going too far here…

QUOTE]

Dacourt is at inter milan after a few good seasons at roma…always thought he was very underrated and terry venables sold him because he didnt think he was as good as paul okan…

Michael bridges had a great year at sunderland when phillips got injured…think they got promoted the same year joined leeds and looked the part helping us qualify for the champions league was on the verge of breaking into the england team and fooked his knee up against besiktas…was never the same,believe he is at carlisle now…an absolute shame as he had a lot of potential

i would say that wilcox is retired now nothing more than a squad player…i never really rated him…[/quote]

Paul Okon - now there was a completely useless waste of oxygen. Trace his deal - I’d wager Venables somehow made money out of that deal.

33

therock67 imho

34

Surely a piss-take with Veron.

Would have been a cracking call for someone who had it and lost it

As would Shevchenko

35

[quote=“farmerinthecity”]Surely a piss-take with Veron.

Would have been a cracking call for someone who had it and lost it

As would Shevchenko[/quote]

veron is currently playin the football of his career back in argentina helpin some backwater side(the eqivalent of wigan) win the league over there a season or 2 ago cant remember the name(think its estudante or something similar)…i believe diego simone is the manager of them

36

Back in the Argentina squad too, though don’t think he’s getting his game all the time.

37

[quote=“farmerinthecity”]Surely a piss-take with Veron.

Would have been a cracking call for someone who had it and lost it

As would Shevchenko[/quote]

wasnt taking the piss with Veron, what he lost in England he recovered and somewhat redeemed himself, but onthese shores he’ll probably remain as a failure. I was getting ahead of myself with Shevchenko, he has lost it, just that I think when he moves he’ll regain it, too good a player to be completely washed up after being at Chelsea.

Also, I couldnt think off hand of any players that were good, transfered and lost it, and then transfered and became good again. Maybe Morientes would be one. Mutu? David james?

38

Chris Sutton: good at Blackburn, shite at Chelsea, good at Celtic.

39

[quote=“Gman”]wasnt taking the piss with Veron, what he lost in England he recovered and somewhat redeemed himself, but onthese shores he’ll probably remain as a failure. I was getting ahead of myself with Shevchenko, he has lost it, just that I think when he moves he’ll regain it, too good a player to be completely washed up after being at Chelsea.

Also, I couldnt think off hand of any players that were good, transfered and lost it, and then transfered and became good again. Maybe Morientes would be one. Mutu? David james?[/quote]

Diego Forlan??

40

Damien Duff?

Was playing consistently well for Blackburn, had an excellent World Cup in 2002 and then got a transfer to a Chelsea side that was building a title-winning squad. He played regularly under Ranieri and then featured most of the time in Mourinho’s first season. I recall him scoring at home to Barcelona in a Champions League tie where they eliminated them. Mourinho made certain defensive demands of his wide players and an argument went around that this was ruining Duff’s game. He played a fair bit in Mourinho’s second season too but gradually became more of a squad player and the same argument was put forward again that the attacking flair was being coached out of his game.

I disagree and I thought Duff showed a distinct lack of fight and pretty much decided he was going to leave as soon as he realised he wasn’t an automatic first choice. Then, quite ridiculously, he joined Newcastle and he’s on record as saying he wanted to revert back to his dribbling winger style and they’d be the club that would allow him to play with this attacking freedom. I was more of the opinion that they’re the only club outside the top 4 who pay ‘top 4’ wages and he’s lost his hunger and desire and is happy to take Stg70k a week from the hapless fools that run that shoddy, joke of a football club.