Players that never fulfilled their potential

[COYBL25]

Joe Parkinson, Billy Kenny and Simonsen goalkeeper we bought from Tranmere.

Joe Parkinson did a great job in Royals " Dogs of War " team, until injured.

He looked more like a rugby league player, than a footy player though.

 

[Lanolin]

Surprised by the amount of people who have said Gosling. I'd have said the opposite to be honest, when I saw him as a youngster I thought he was extremely limited - although hard working and with a happy knack of scoring - and would do well to play 50 PL games. He's played just over double that now, so I think he's done pretty well for himself.

 

[Furey1878]

Mad how few shouts Jose Baxter’s got. Really is a great talent just got squandered.

 

[COYBL25]

Barkley for sure, never really rated Rodwell. The idea that Rooney didn't reach his potential is mad

Rooneys off the field life style, is probably the only thing that`s stopped him becoming a true great tbh

 

[Steve0]

Deffo Michael ball for me. He was a fullback but despite his lack of height he looked better in the centre.

A few more inches he'd have won 100 caps for England.

Also very comfortable on the ball which even just 20 years ago made him massively stand out.

Horrible injury at rangers didn't help.

 

[kev]

Some great shouts in this thread.
The two stand out disappointments for me were Danny Cadamarteri (Oh why did you cut the dreads Danny?) and John Paul Kissock.
Never actually saw much of Kissock TBH, but I remember in 2004, being told by somebody within the club that he WOULD be the next big thing. Pinned all my hopes on him.

 

[Alanbileysfeathercut]

Terry Curran

 

[Lanolin]

Think there's a bit of a discrepancy here between players who didn't reach their potential, and players you hoped would turn out better than they did. Players like Branch and Cadamarteri were just pace merchants with very little technical ability at all. We all wanted them to be the answer, but the truth is the careers they had probably reflected their level of talent fairly accurately.

Vaughan and Ball are two who I think had the ability to be top drawer but were crippled by injuries, and I've never been able to get my head round what happened to Jeffers. He had so much talent, it's truly bizarre that his career was such a damp squib.

 

[Steve0]

Some great shouts in this thread.
The two stand out disappointments for me were Danny Cadamarteri (Oh why did you cut the dreads Danny?) and John Paul Kissock.
Never actually saw much of Kissock TBH, but I remember in 2004, being told by somebody within the club that he WOULD be the next big thing. Pinned all my hopes on him.

Kissock was just Rooney methadone.

Remember hyping him up and I had literally never seen him play. Was pre youtube so didn't even have that.

 

[kev]

Think there's a bit of a discrepancy here between players who didn't reach their potential, and players you hoped would turn out better than they did.

That's a fair point.

 

[AdaBrummieblue]

It's been said a lot but little Jimmy Vaughan. Thought he was our version of Owen. Made of glass. Still doing ok though the lad.

 

[Alanbileysfeathercut]

Gazza
Without his demons
Imagine

 

[Saint Domingo]

I remember seeing Giovinco in a preseason game v Villa and couldn’t believe how good he was. Now he’s at the MLS, maybe it was just Villa...

 

[Black Belt Jones]

Vaughan and Ball are two who I think had the ability to be top drawer but were crippled by injuries, and I've never been able to get my head round what happened to Jeffers. He had so much talent, it's truly bizarre that his career was such a damp squib.

Jeffers is the standout for me - was obviously a class player whereas with the others it was like you say a case of hoping they were. If he'd come through 5 yrs later it might have been different - obv a player who needed a lot of guidance and Smith was hopeless for that.

Big Vic was badly injured by Nolan at Newcastle - think this set him back a lot. Absolute horror tackle that manages to look not as bad as it was due to Vic being a beast. Been said on here before but if Nolan had put that on Osman he'd have done time for it, would have snapped him in half. Believe Vic successfully sued Nolan for loss of earnings over it.

 

[Smig1878]

Peter Beagrie was one loved to watch if only that fella learned how to or when to cross we’d of had a supply line for years as he kept the ball so well.
Radzinski I thought he had all the right components for a top player but his confidence seemed to go not sure why though?