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Alex Samuel Joins....

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  • Good question Malone and I probably wouldn’t post a negative description, however I very much doubt that anyone involved in professional football would describe a player in that way as they would know just how difficult it is to become a pro in the first place. Of course, some players are better than others but no one who has come through the demanding process of becoming a professional footballer could ever be described as a waste of space-except by some of our friends on the FB page, perhaps!

  • Yep, agree. It's funny isn't it, you get the same terminology used at all levels.

    Talk of Premier league footballers being "crap" is always ludicrous, when anyone who has ever played against someone who is semi pro and been utterly embarrassed by them recognises what even a lower league footballer must have quality wise.

  • Agreed. I play 5-a-side with a bunch of fellow veterans and we recently had a guest appearance by the former Reading striker Dave Kitson. Needless to say, he reduced the average age by 20% and increased the level of skill by 100%!

  • edited August 2018

    @glasshalffull said:

    Agreed. I play 5-a-side with a bunch of fellow veterans and we recently had a guest appearance by the former Reading striker Dave Kitson. Needless to say, he reduced the average age by 20% and increased the level of skill by 100%!

    Has he admitted to being the Secret Footballer yet?

    Seems odd to keep up the pretence when everyone knows it's him

  • I retain the right to call out DDH as a waste of space despite his gainful employment as a ‘professional’ diver

  • @eric_plant said:

    @glasshalffull said:

    Agreed. I play 5-a-side with a bunch of fellow veterans and we recently had a guest appearance by the former Reading striker Dave Kitson. Needless to say, he reduced the average age by 20% and increased the level of skill by 100%!

    Has he admitted to being the Secret Footballer yet?

    Seems odd to keep up the pretence when everyone knows it's him

    The Secret Footballer has passed me by so could you be kind enough to explain?

  • @glasshalffull he wrote a newspaper column and four (I think) books revealing lots of behind the scenes football shenannigans. Lots of conjecture about his identity. @eric_plant there is a chance he could be sued for some of the content if he outs himself I think, therefore it is unlikely he'll be at a book signing near you anytime soon!

  • Started off as an article in the guardian years ago. A professional footballer giving anonymous insights into the game. Was really good, and his anonymity allowed him to say things he wouldn't have otherwise got away with

    He went on to publish a few books (still writing now I believe)

    Anyway, he's dropped a few clues over the years and it's now pretty obvious who it is. Well worth catching up with though, they're really well written and really interesting

  • Thanks Eric and Wendoverman. If he turns up again (unlikely given the standard of his team mates and opponents) I will quiz him closely.

  • I played against Shaun Goater once. He was just mucking around with his mates. 1-0 up after 70 mins while he was in defence 5-1 down after 80 mins when he went upfield.

  • After watching Alex Samuel's away day initiation I'm thinking maybe Gareth is looking for band members too!

  • Wasn't the "secret footballer" well accepted to be a number of different players in the end, with Kitson just being one?
    A number of things didn't add up to just be Kitson.

    Played against Mike Keen, ex QPR. Ok he was in his 60s so we just ran past him, but on the ball he still had it, and was enthusiastic as ever.

    Rowan Vine turned up at a footy tournament we were at once, which we worrying. He didn't play in the end, but his non league brother did and was plenty too much for us himself.

  • @Malone said:

    Rowan Vine turned up at a footy tournament we were at once, which we worrying. He didn't play in the end, but his non league brother did and was plenty too much for us himself.

    Reading Uni 6 a side? I didn’t play against him but I remember watching him decimate another team pretty much single handed.

  • No, some work tournament in Berkshire somewhere.
    I believe Mr Vine loved his footy so much he'd turn up anywhere. Although he did decide perhaps this one wasn't a sensible one!

    Best player I ever played in the same side as played in the league of Wales, and absolutely obliterated everyone we faced.

  • @DevC said:
    I played against Shaun Goater once. He was just mucking around with his mates. 1-0 up after 70 mins while he was in defence 5-1 down after 80 mins when he went upfield.

    Similar experience, as I knew Hakeeb Adelakun - who has just been signed by Bristol City after many years at Scunny - when he was a kid. He ran rings around big bulky adults (many of whom were decent players) in 7-a-side, aged only about 9 or 10. His opponents were extremely frustrated by this humiliation! I've never come up against anyone else with even half as much skill and trickery.

  • Played against Mark West years ago against Stokenchurch u16s.... they won 10 -2 and he scored 8 of them !! Still to this day one of my favourite Wycombe players

  • @DevC Did you ever play in the Devon Wednesday League? That was a real game-changer for me. Much better getting the afternoon off to play football than having to force yourself out of bed with a hangover to travel to Saltash or whatever.

    That was packed with players who also played in the South West League. My mate (who was on the books of Bradford as a kid as it goes) played for Dartmouth and was regularly the best player on the pitch.

    There was also a young lad from Dartmouth who was a great player and had trials with the likes of Yeovil and Plymouth, as well as Notts County, but had such a shocking attitude that he never made it anywhere, not that I think he really cared. On his trial at Yeovil, Gary Johnson asked him to take his baseball cap off, so he took it off and put it on Johnson's head, saying 'you ****ing wear it then son'. That was the end of that.

    Last I heard (some years ago now) police came to arrest him at halftime in a game and he escaped out the changing room window. Shame that was his mindset, as he really was a cracking, very natural player.

  • There's something magnificent about calling someone much older than you, son.

  • I can only assume he was a closet Gasroomer.

  • You sure that wasn’t you @Malone ?

  • My use of son is always a lot more respectful... son

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