Best players you have played with who never made it

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Played with JOHN Anderson ( ex Newcastle and Rep Of Ireland FB) at school level
There was a lad Michael Egan who was a much better player
Played CM
Tall Athletic fast great ball control and could score from range and pick a pass.
Found out about Cider when he was 17 and that was the end of that.
A super player though
Last I heard he was a homeless alcoholic with a broken marriage
 
I became very academically focused in my mid-teens and dropped out of football.

Up to then I had trials at Leeds and Crystal Palace but I didn't stand out in either of them.

I can't recall anyone standing out in the trial games I played as I was a bit too nervous all round but there was some fantastic stuff played in the district leagues in my locality. I can't remember the guys real name but his nickname was "Jipe" (sp?) for some unknown reason, at least to me. Mostly played against him, but on occasion we were both selected at county level, him in midfield and I was up front usually.

He was ginger haired and stood out in both appearance and ability. In addition he seemed to have the most elastic football jersey ever known to man. On one occasion he was pulled back about 25 yards out, caught by the jersey and continued his run, rounded the keeper and scored! Nobody was interested in the goal, everyone had stopped playing in howls of laughter at the sight of his jersey becoming an elastic band.
 
Can I count myself?

Had trials for St Helens and Wrexham back in the day, never made it. My younger brother did play for Wrexham for a time but he also never quite made the grade in the end. Both of us pretty much moved away from the game after that. My talent was never in question, it was just my attitude & application that was never quite right and is one of the few regrets I have in life.

Other than that I know two lads who went semi-pro but are now also done with the game.
 
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Friend of mine got scouted by Ajax, took him over for a trial. Was just after they won the champions league. Had him over for a week but told him he was to small. Got to have a kick about with a few of the 1st team and got to get his picture taken with them all. He's an insurance broker now said he was too heart broken after being turned down, hardly kicked a ball after it.
 
Friend of mine got scouted by Ajax, took him over for a trial. Was just after they won the champions league. Had him over for a week but told him he was to small. Got to have a kick about with a few of the 1st team and got to get his picture taken with them all. He's an insurance broker now said he was too heart broken after being turned down, hardly kicked a ball after it.
He mustn't have been any good if they took Davy Klassen on as a professional.
 
Back in the 1970's I played in goal for Lincolnshire U15 and U19 schoolboys. I was signed on schoolboy forms by Grimsby Town and got on well with another young 'keeper there called Andy Fairfield who I thought had a great chance of making it.

Imagine our collective surprise when we both decided against a pro career, both joined the RAF and found ourselves on the same pilot training course. We then both played for 'Icarus' the RAF officer's football team.

He now flies for BA and I am with Emirates.

Small world.
 

Not football. Basketball instead.

A kid named Chris Grice. Played high school basketball with him. He was an freakish athlete and a very skilled player. We went to a relatively small school, so at his size, 6' 6" he was by far our tallest player.

Most kids his height would be played as a center, but from a young age he showed that he was perhaps one that could make it. So he was groomed to be a guard.

He averaged something like 30 points, 15 assists, and 12 rebounds our senior year. In our junior year we played against Shaquille Oneal's team in the playoffs. We lost a close game, but Chris dominated that game by both being our best offensive player and shutting down Shaq defensively.

Sadly despite all of his talent, Chris wasn't gifted in the classroom. He was given a pass essentially because of his athletic prowess. He was heavily recruited for college, but his SAT score was abysmal, which meant he'd have to go to a junior college first. Which he did...for a couple of months.

He ended up dropping out and returned home. No idea what ended up happening to him.

Still can't believe he didn't make it.
 
Wasn't Gauld the prime mover in the betting scandal that destroyed the careers of Kay, Swan and Layne @Steve Wigan ?

Apparently, yes he was. And of course, quite a few on here will have met/been acquainted with Tony Kay(and his big cigar!). As well as playing a few friendlies with him at the old Silcocks Playing Fields in Litherland, I worked bar with him a couple of barbeques.....pleasant guy with a sense of humour. I was about 19/20(?) and played on the wing...and I wasn't very good.Kay used to put beautiful passes for me inside the full back, which I was always to slow to catch, either speed or reaction wise. Kay used to call me 'the grand old man of football'(!!) a reference to Stanley Matthews, who played top division football well in to his 50s!

Off topic...I played regularly with Sammy Leach,when we were both teenagers...Sammy of course went on to become one of the pioneer entrepeneurs behind Merseybeat and the Beatles.
 
Played with a few lads who did make it. Danny Cold who ended up at Blackpool and spent pretty much all his career there. Also played with Ricky Lambert at youth level.

I myself had trials at Oldham when I was younger but it never happened.
 

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