@ReturnToSenda said:
I want Luton to go up - the sight of Kenilworth Road in the Premier League would be quite something
So do I, it would be a shocking experience for Premier League away supporters to visit the greatest shit hole ground in England!
It might be a shithole, but Kenilworth Road is still easily one of my favourite away grounds. Give me somewhere like that or Roots Hall over the soulless bowls in Colchester/MK any day of the week
@ReturnToSenda said:
I want Luton to go up - the sight of Kenilworth Road in the Premier League would be quite something
So do I, it would be a shocking experience for Premier League away supporters to visit the greatest shit hole ground in England!
It might be a shithole, but Kenilworth Road is still easily one of my favourite away grounds. Give me somewhere like that or Roots Hall over the soulless bowls in Colchester/MK any day of the week
It's lovely to reminisce of old days and see funny pictures of flats and people's washing and hope that it all somehow reminds people football existed before 1992 and isn't just for raising money but let's be real, it's still a shithole, there is almost nothing you might vaguely call a facility and if you're more than two foot tall you are squeezed in like a sardine, and it's in Luton.
I remember going as an away fan to Kenilworth Road in the late 70s/early 80s.It was a shitehole then & they've not spent any money for the away fans comfort in the meantime. I refuse to visit there now as I spend the entire game twisted half sideways trying to get my knees contorted in!
Anthony Grant made his sole appearance in the Premier League for Chelsea aged 17. That José Mourinho chose the midfielder to come off the bench at Old Trafford in the 90th minute on the day the Manchester United players formed a guard of honour for the newly crowned champions is a source of pride for Grant, who joined Scunthorpe United from Swindon Town in January.
“A lot of people think it was done sentimentally,” the 34-year-old says, “but if they knew the hard work I had to put in . . . I was good enough at the time, no one can ever take it away from me. I was 17 and only eight years ago did I start to realise the significance of it, as I saw other youngsters making their debuts.”
That brief moment was not only the reward for working hard through the Chelsea academy system from the age of seven, but it was supposed to be the start of the next, elite chapter of Grant’s career.
When playing for his local church team, the seven-year old Grant took part in a small tournament at which there was a Chelsea scout who had no paperwork with him but was
impressed with what he saw.
Word spread and the next week there were 25 scouts watching him play. “I had a lot of pace,” Grant says, “was very aggressive and energetic and could run for 90 minutes at the same pace.”
Because Chelsea were the first to show interest, he signed for them and became known
by everyone at the club as “Judge” because he would train in a Judge Dredd T-shirt.
“People would come to the training ground,” he says, “and ask for Anthony Grant and no
one knew who that was.”
His first-team debut was earmarked for the third round of the FA Cup, with Scunthorpe visiting Stamford Bridge, three months earlier. Mourinho promised Grant half an hour on the pitch once they were 3-0 ahead, but the game did not pan out as the manager had anticipated and Chelsea were a goal down in the eighth minute. Just before the 80th minute, Mourinho asked Grant and Arjen Robben to warm up.
“Robben says, ‘It’s going to be either me or you,’ ” Grant recalls. “In my head I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, he’s going to bring on you,’ and Robben comes on and five seconds later it’s 3-1, game over. Things work out for a reason.
Where would I rather make my debut? No disrespect to anyone, but at Old Trafford rather than at Stamford Bridge against Scunthorpe.”
@Onlooker said:
“A lot of people think it was done sentimentally,” the 34-year-old says, “but if they knew the hard work I had to put in . . . I was good enough at the time, no one can ever take it away from me. I was 17 and only eight years ago did I start to realise the significance of it, as I saw other youngsters making their debuts.”
That brief moment was not only the reward for working hard through the Chelsea academy system from the age of seven, but it was supposed to be the start of the next, elite chapter of Grant’s career.
When playing for his local church team, the seven-year old Grant took part in a small tournament at which there was a Chelsea scout who had no paperwork with him but was
impressed with what he saw.
Word spread and the next week there were 25 scouts watching him play. “I had a lot of pace,” Grant says, “was very aggressive and energetic and could run for 90 minutes at the same pace.”
Rumour has it he got booked every week for his church team too
Grant was mentored by Ashley Cole and John Terry, trained with both the under-19s and the first team and was praised by Mourinho, who spoke of how the teenager would soon fit into his midfield. Then, in September 2007, the Portuguese manager left the club.
“When Mourinho leaves Chelsea it means pressing the reset button on all that hard work between seven and 17,”
Grant says. “A new manager comes in, Avram Grant, who doesn’t have a clue who you are, and you’ve got to start over.
“With Mourinho still in charge you’re thinking, ‘Is what he said going to come true?’ And then he ends up leaving. Everyone’s crying at the training ground. John Terry, Frank Lampard, big men crying. Everyone was upset and for me it’s, ‘Where do I go from here?’”
Grant had loan spells at Oldham, Wycombe and Luton and tried to leave Chelsea for Fulham after a tip-off from Terry, but there was a conflict of interest involving his agent, who represented a midfielder already at Craven Cottage.
Instead, Grant signed for an extra year at Stamford Bridge, which he soon regretted as he
felt he stagnated.
“It was a waste of a year,” he says. “I didn’t realise how good I was.
I was very good from 16 to 19. If Mourinho had stayed, who knows what would have happened? Avram Grant didn’t even take a training session. That’s how bad it was.”
I am speaking with Grant as his team-mates at Scunthorpe arrive for their evening meal before the next day’s game against Crawley Town. He is happy, having felt that the coaching staff at Swindon resented his call-up by Jamaica, which came late in his career.
“Everyone knows Jamaicans are laid back,” he says, laughing, and relates how he thought he had made the squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica last September but by 10pm on the Sunday before the first match he had heard nothing. “At 2am, I looked at my emails and there’s one from the Jamaica Football Federation saying my flight is at 11am.”
He had to drive from his home in Dulwich to Swindon to fetch his passport, then pack, then take his PCR test and wait for kitman to wake up to ask him to drop his boots at the airport — but he made it.
@micra said:
Phew! Is this to be “continued in our (your) next” as editors used to say?
The piece featured a few players (full list below) and began..."It only takes a second to score a goal, but an entire career can provide just a single opportunity to touch the ball once and once only in the Premier League. This is the story of those whose football journey incorporates that astonishing statistic.
This feature, however, almost did not happen because of the mysterious whereabouts of the undisputed king of the one-touch wonders. There are debuts that are limited because of being afforded a late cameo in the dying seconds of a game before moving on to another division or another country — and then there are the single touches that are dramatic enough to warrant a film script."
Interesting that Marcello Trotta features in the list
Players since 2003-04, when Opta started collecting the stats, whose entire career consisted of one touch
Andrew Barrowman
For Birmingham City, lost 1-0 v Leicester
City March 2004
Christian Negouai
For Manchester City, lost 2-1 v Everton
December 2004
Anthony Grant
For Chelsea, won 3-1 v Manchester
United May 2005
Arturo Lupoli
For Arsenal, lost 1-0 to Blackburn
February 2006
Kieran Agard
For Everton, drew 3-3 v Chelsea
December 2009
Louis Laing
For Sunderland, lost 3-1 to Wolves
May 2011
Marcello Trotta
For Fulham, won 3-0 v Bolton April 2012
Rafael Camacho
For Liverpool, won 4-3 v Crystal Palace
January 2019
Sonny Perkins (West Ham), Jayson Molumby and Red Khadra (both Brighton) have only had one touch but are still owned by Premier League clubs
@Chris said:
3 from 8 is a surprisingly high proportion of Wycombe players in that list
I remember Marcello Trotta of course (arguably the best finisher for us this century!) and the fabled Anthony Grant but needed to google to confirm my suspicion that the third Wycombe player was Louis Laing.
Comments
Not sure the prawn sandwich brigade will agree!
It's lovely to reminisce of old days and see funny pictures of flats and people's washing and hope that it all somehow reminds people football existed before 1992 and isn't just for raising money but let's be real, it's still a shithole, there is almost nothing you might vaguely call a facility and if you're more than two foot tall you are squeezed in like a sardine, and it's in Luton.
I remember going as an away fan to Kenilworth Road in the late 70s/early 80s.It was a shitehole then & they've not spent any money for the away fans comfort in the meantime. I refuse to visit there now as I spend the entire game twisted half sideways trying to get my knees contorted in!
I had the same knee problem at Fratton Park on Saturday.
Well, the view I had from Vippiene suggested that there were plenty of spare seats which you could at least stretch out a bit?
Can't deny that was true but nonetheless...........?
Excuse me, I’m lost. Can someone direct me to the definitive ex-player news thread, please.
A little bit about Anthony Grant here: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/terry-and-lampard-were-crying-i-thought-where-do-i-go-from-here-premier-leagues-one-touch-wonders-crmm69dt7
I have no VPN to get around the pay wall.
Nor me.
Josh Umerah scores an 89th minute equalizer for Wealdstone against Bromley,1-1.
Anthony Grant made his sole appearance in the Premier League for Chelsea aged 17. That José Mourinho chose the midfielder to come off the bench at Old Trafford in the 90th minute on the day the Manchester United players formed a guard of honour for the newly crowned champions is a source of pride for Grant, who joined Scunthorpe United from Swindon Town in January.
“A lot of people think it was done sentimentally,” the 34-year-old says, “but if they knew the hard work I had to put in . . . I was good enough at the time, no one can ever take it away from me. I was 17 and only eight years ago did I start to realise the significance of it, as I saw other youngsters making their debuts.”
That brief moment was not only the reward for working hard through the Chelsea academy system from the age of seven, but it was supposed to be the start of the next, elite chapter of Grant’s career.
When playing for his local church team, the seven-year old Grant took part in a small tournament at which there was a Chelsea scout who had no paperwork with him but was
impressed with what he saw.
Word spread and the next week there were 25 scouts watching him play. “I had a lot of pace,” Grant says, “was very aggressive and energetic and could run for 90 minutes at the same pace.”
Because Chelsea were the first to show interest, he signed for them and became known
by everyone at the club as “Judge” because he would train in a Judge Dredd T-shirt.
“People would come to the training ground,” he says, “and ask for Anthony Grant and no
one knew who that was.”
His first-team debut was earmarked for the third round of the FA Cup, with Scunthorpe visiting Stamford Bridge, three months earlier. Mourinho promised Grant half an hour on the pitch once they were 3-0 ahead, but the game did not pan out as the manager had anticipated and Chelsea were a goal down in the eighth minute. Just before the 80th minute, Mourinho asked Grant and Arjen Robben to warm up.
“Robben says, ‘It’s going to be either me or you,’ ” Grant recalls. “In my head I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, he’s going to bring on you,’ and Robben comes on and five seconds later it’s 3-1, game over. Things work out for a reason.
Where would I rather make my debut? No disrespect to anyone, but at Old Trafford rather than at Stamford Bridge against Scunthorpe.”
Rumour has it he got booked every week for his church team too
Grant was mentored by Ashley Cole and John Terry, trained with both the under-19s and the first team and was praised by Mourinho, who spoke of how the teenager would soon fit into his midfield. Then, in September 2007, the Portuguese manager left the club.
“When Mourinho leaves Chelsea it means pressing the reset button on all that hard work between seven and 17,”
Grant says. “A new manager comes in, Avram Grant, who doesn’t have a clue who you are, and you’ve got to start over.
“With Mourinho still in charge you’re thinking, ‘Is what he said going to come true?’ And then he ends up leaving. Everyone’s crying at the training ground. John Terry, Frank Lampard, big men crying. Everyone was upset and for me it’s, ‘Where do I go from here?’”
Grant had loan spells at Oldham, Wycombe and Luton and tried to leave Chelsea for Fulham after a tip-off from Terry, but there was a conflict of interest involving his agent, who represented a midfielder already at Craven Cottage.
Instead, Grant signed for an extra year at Stamford Bridge, which he soon regretted as he
felt he stagnated.
“It was a waste of a year,” he says. “I didn’t realise how good I was.
I was very good from 16 to 19. If Mourinho had stayed, who knows what would have happened? Avram Grant didn’t even take a training session. That’s how bad it was.”
I am speaking with Grant as his team-mates at Scunthorpe arrive for their evening meal before the next day’s game against Crawley Town. He is happy, having felt that the coaching staff at Swindon resented his call-up by Jamaica, which came late in his career.
“Everyone knows Jamaicans are laid back,” he says, laughing, and relates how he thought he had made the squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica last September but by 10pm on the Sunday before the first match he had heard nothing. “At 2am, I looked at my emails and there’s one from the Jamaica Football Federation saying my flight is at 11am.”
He had to drive from his home in Dulwich to Swindon to fetch his passport, then pack, then take his PCR test and wait for kitman to wake up to ask him to drop his boots at the airport — but he made it.
Phew! Is this to be “continued in our (your) next” as editors used to say?
Good read btw.
Malachi Linton not in Kings Lynne’s lineup. Recalled for the run-in?
The last remaining ground in the EFL with stanchion goals
Paul Smyth. That wee man is an intermittent genius. And his co-commentary contributions were a gas.
The piece featured a few players (full list below) and began..."It only takes a second to score a goal, but an entire career can provide just a single opportunity to touch the ball once and once only in the Premier League. This is the story of those whose football journey incorporates that astonishing statistic.
This feature, however, almost did not happen because of the mysterious whereabouts of the undisputed king of the one-touch wonders. There are debuts that are limited because of being afforded a late cameo in the dying seconds of a game before moving on to another division or another country — and then there are the single touches that are dramatic enough to warrant a film script."
Interesting that Marcello Trotta features in the list
Players since 2003-04, when Opta started collecting the stats, whose entire career consisted of one touch
Andrew Barrowman
For Birmingham City, lost 1-0 v Leicester
City March 2004
Christian Negouai
For Manchester City, lost 2-1 v Everton
December 2004
Anthony Grant
For Chelsea, won 3-1 v Manchester
United May 2005
Arturo Lupoli
For Arsenal, lost 1-0 to Blackburn
February 2006
Kieran Agard
For Everton, drew 3-3 v Chelsea
December 2009
Louis Laing
For Sunderland, lost 3-1 to Wolves
May 2011
Marcello Trotta
For Fulham, won 3-0 v Bolton April 2012
Rafael Camacho
For Liverpool, won 4-3 v Crystal Palace
January 2019
Sonny Perkins (West Ham), Jayson Molumby and Red Khadra (both Brighton) have only had one touch but are still owned by Premier League clubs
I liked Smyth, shame it didn't work out here
3 from 8 is a surprisingly high proportion of Wycombe players in that list
He went off after 15 mins in the midweek game - suggests an injury
Ah, thanks for that, @PJS. Incomplete research on my part!
I remember Marcello Trotta of course (arguably the best finisher for us this century!) and the fabled Anthony Grant but needed to google to confirm my suspicion that the third Wycombe player was Louis Laing.