Best players you have played with who never made it

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Mate's father was best mates with this lad. They went everywhere together.. including a summer trip to the Isle of Man where the two of them got into a footie tournament. Stoke City were watching and offered mate's dad reserve level football whilst his mate (playing under a false name) was offered a proper contract with the first team as he was banging in goals left right and centre. He just said it was a fluke and declined the offer...(because he shouldn't have been playing)

He went on to play top Division football for ten years, played for England, hit an FA Cup Final winning goal in 1966 and scored 83 goals for Everton. You may have heard of him..it was my mate's father who didn't make it though he's still cheering us on as he's a massive Blue.
 
Lad in my school team who played in centre midfield was a top talent. We won everything as a team with him at the hub of it all. Scouts from Everton, RS and united were monitoring him, but then disaster struck in a school match when he was 14. He suffered a horrific double break of his leg. He never played football again for the school and to my knowledge no football for any team, the break was so bad. This happened over 30 years ago and I wonder if this injury occurred now and the advancement in medical procedures would he have made a full recovery. So sad to see a talent like that go to waste, through no fault of his own.
 
Mate of mine played for United reserves up until he was around 22. Even shared the pitch with the likes of Rio Ferdinand etc. He now plays in the Irish league as United let him go. Must be hard to take like.
 
Always found it strange watching some players and thinking how's he made it say for instance your average west brom or boro defenders / midfielders but is it right place right time for them or are they a class above anyone we have grew up with or watched . I think a bit of luck and your environment you grow up in matters a lot IE a good family and no drugs or gangs around you .maybe am wrong and them players mentioned are better but I don't think so . I seen quite a lot of good players growing up around Liverpool in 70s/ 80s
Worked with a lad once who played in the same Sunday league team as John Ebrell. He said they had a top side and won everything in sight as kids. Ebrell was then selected to go to lilleshall with England and of course signed for Everton, making a very decent career for himself. Don’t get me wrong, the lad said John was a very good player, but said there was at least 5 other players better then him in that particular Sunday league side. He had nothing against John (said he was a top lad) but it always puzzled him as to why he was the chosen one, when there was other better kids in the team.
 
Our very own DAVEK .had the football brain of berasi the first touch of beckenbauer and the vision and gile of pele .And a set of town halls on him like our very own baines
Just kidding Dave don't go all black Saturday on me now
 

Played in a 5 a side game against Scott Brown, after he left Everton, he was like Messi. Thought he would get signed by a premier league team. He is still playing for Accrington Stanley in league one, are we classing this as “making it” or not?

A lad I went to school with was scouted by Wimbledon, when they were premier league, he was a real deadball specialist, tough tackler and could run all day. Went on a preseason trip with the u18s to Cyprus, but didn’t get signed
 
My nephew, but I never played football alongside him. He was on Everton's books and they let him go and he ended up at Newcastle. Had real potential but got homesick and gave it all up 'cos he missed his mum. Ended up as a postie, then nicked all the xmas cards with money in them and ended up in jail.
My postman scored a hatrick for wales under 19’s against England in about 1995.... he ended up playing in the same team as me before we both got too old to play. He was a very talented boy... spent a fair bit of time at wolves under the tutelage of Chris Evans who ran their academy at the time.
 
Remember seeing Slippy G playing on the field at the bottom of whitelodge ave, he was full of himself but who wouldn't be when you're skinning a bunch of 14 year olds, not one of whom were signed
 
....many years ago Bobby Charlton apparently mentioned a Liverpool lad called John O’Leary as the best amateur he’d ever seen. Some on here might have seen him. O’Leary must have been 17stone but nobody could get the ball off him, amazing ability. Nice lad, and if I remember rightly a big Evertonian (hope my memory is right) but he was a player.

Aye, played for the Fantail. My uncles played either with him or against him at different stages, but all say he’s by a distance the best player they’ve ever seen, and some have played at a very good level so that’s high praise indeed. He just didn’t fancy professional football apparently, Spurs were interested but he didn’t want to move away.

Makes you wonder how good he really was/could have been. Ask anyone of a certain age who’s played Sunday football in Liverpool and they’ll know John O’Leary.
 

Johnny Morrissey's youngest son, Steven was in my class at school. He was a brilliant little footballer and I think had trials at Everton, but I never heard of him playing or making it. His brother (also called John) played a couple of times for Everton (Inter Bratislava at home in the ECWC was one I remember well)
 
I played with a guy throughout high school and Sunday league who was different class. He would beat a man then go back and beat him again. There were times when I couldnt stop laughing at him in the middle of a game. I'd play next to him in midfield and would literally be in stitches, not because of him taking the piss out of other players but because he was so good. He'd run rings around everyone on the pitch.

He had trials for Leeds and Bradford and didn't turn up. They both came back for him on so many occasions and every time he'd say he would go but he never did. The last time Leeds came the bloke said to him just come to a training session with the youth team, to not even go to a trial, and he was yea yeah will do but he didn't bother. They were desperate for him to give them a go.

Last I heard he was a part time Bricky who smokes loads of weed. Never played sport with someone who was so naturally gifted, he was just on a completely different level
 

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