The legendary double winning Tottenham Hotspur side of 1961 needs no introduction to the fans of the White Hart Lane outfit. Nor does former captain Danny Blanchflower.
Danny Blanchflower is a Tottenham legend and was arguably their best player at the beginning of the 1960’s. An old ‘right – half’ as it was referred to back then, a right sided midfielder in football terms today. Blanchflower in his prime between 1957 and …
So this Jack Rodwell fella then? He any good? Well, yes, he’s cracking as it happens. As another young Evertonian teenager becomes the talk of the blogosphere, what do we know about this hot young prospect?
Other than the fact he’s got a great name for a porn star.
A prodigious Everton talent, Rodwell made his Under-18 debut for the Toffees when he was just 14 and was in the Reserves but a year later. He became the youngest player to play for Everton in Europe a year after that and – continuing his convenient yearly progression – had made his Premier League debut by the time he was 17, coming on in the final game of the 2007/08 season.
He was captain of the England Under-16 side that won the victory shield against Scotland and gained the prestigious honor of grabbing the first winning goal at the new Wembley Stadium by scoring the only goal against Spain at the same level, presumably watched by an adoring crowd of youth football anoraks, family members, cleaners and the industrial wasteland Wombles of the Wembley area.
After scoring his first senior goal in the 3-1 FA Cup win over Aston Villa and being touted as the next big thing on Football Manager, Rodwell came to the attention of the casual observer after an impressive performance in the FA Semi Final victory over Manchester United.
He appeared for the England Under-21’s at last summers European Championships, scoring against ‘ze Germans’ and earning all round praise for his all round performance.
At the beginning of this season the youtube massive joined the fan club after he scored two long range belter’s in a 4-1 Europa super doper disco fairy lights League ™ win over obscure and possibly fictional Czech side SK Sigma Olomouc. And to cap off his meteoric rise he shot straight into the A list of “the new next big things” by scoring the crowning goal in the 3-1 defeat of Man Utd last Saturday.
A rambunctious defensive midfielder, Rodwell is possibly the brightest English talent not to hold down a regular starting spot right now and should a move be forthcoming in the future, he’d likely cost upwards of £15m.
A powerful lad with a mean right foot and an eye for a pass (which to be honest, is something all footballers should have at least some grasp of anyway) he’s certain to add to reputation – as well as his 38 Premier League appearances – this season under the cautious tutelage of the man who brought through Wayne Rooney.
Being a defensive midfielder there’s less opportunity – or ability – to make a sparkling trick filled youtube video to the soundtrack of “Remember the name”, so you’ll just have to make do with this one and my undeniably reliable word. The boy got skills…Trust me.
When Manchester United signed Gabriel Obertan, it was on the back of waving goodbye to Cristiano Ronaldo. He did not come with much expectation because he was largely unheard of; therefore statements such as “the new Ronaldo” did not come in to play.
The Frenchman, who can play as a striker if required, is primarily a winger as he demonstrates with great potential due to his searing speed. He is clearly a …
Prior to the closing of the January transfer window, there had been a lot of hype surrounding the potential of Adam Johsnon. Well, after signing for Manchester City from Middlesbrough, punters now have there chance to see what the young Johnson has to offer.
He is a product of Middelsbrough’s youth academy, and while his favourite position is left-wing, he is adaptable to playing on the right-hand side. As he showed in his …
We have been hearing lots of good things about new Wigan Athletic signing Victor Moses, his tipping for the top and how Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona were supposedly tracking his progress at Crystal Palace.
Yet what can this young talent bring to the Premier League?
The Nigerian born 19yr old made his way through the Crystal Palace youth ranks and was clearly a special talent.
In the under 14’s side alone Moses …
| Poor old John Terry. Here’s the cream of the Internet crop with thanks to everyone who contributed and of course to www.sickapedia.com .
I told my mate the other day that his new nickname was going to be “John Terry”. Fabio Capello is expected to name Gary Neville as the new England Captain … Apparently the decision is based on the fact that he hasn’t got a chance of sleeping with anyone’s wife. I don’t know why everyone is giving John Terry such a hard time.
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Roy Hodgson has to be credited for resurrecting Fulham and turning them into a genuine top half side. In Europe and flying high in the Premier League, he has also made a number of excellent signings, Damien Duff being one of them. A £2.5 million signing from Newcastle United, Duff has shown this season he can terrorise defences just as he used to in his Blackburn and Chelsea days.
Joining Blackburn as a trainee in 1996 after playing for Leicester Celtic, St. Kevin’s Boys and Lourdes Celtic as a schoolboy in Republic of Ireland. He made his Blackburn debut at the age of 18 against Leicester City on the final day of the 1996-97 season.
After being relegated, Duff helped Blackburn achieve promotion back to the Premier League in 2000-01 and then win the League Cup the following season. In the 2002-03 season he finished top goal scorer for Rovers with 11 league goals.
A £17 million transfer to Chelsea followed and he started his Chelsea career well but was somewhat disrupted by injury. The arrival of Jose Mourinho threatened to put an end to Duff’s Chelsea career as he signed Arjen Robben, though Duff found solace on the right-wing and formed a great partnership with the Flying Dutchman as Chelsea went on to win two League titles and a League Cup. Injuries plagued Duff during the latter stages his career and was eventually transferred to Newcastle United for £5 million in 2006.
Duff’s Newcastle career can be summed up with one word; injured. He spent most of his time in the northeast on the treatment table. In the final match of the 2008–09 Season, against Aston Villa in a crucial relegation decider, Duff unluckily scored the deciding own goal that sent his side down. He voiced his intention to help Newcastle back into the Premier League but Hodgson and Fulham stepped in and brought the Irish winger back to London and back to the Premier League.
The transfer can only be described as a bargain; Duff has regained some of the form that led Chelsea to pay £17 million for his services an age ago. Reunited with his first boss Roy Hodgson, it seems he is happy playing once more and with 21 games so far this season for Fulham, it seems his injury problems are behind him. Hodgson has employed Duff mainly on the right-wing allowing him to cut inside more often and with a tremendous work rate he fits into the Fulham system extremely well.
At £2.5 million he could well prove to be the bargain of the season.
First you had Gianluca Vialli, then you had Gianfranco Zola; Italians coming to England were having a great time and in 2001 Blackburn Rovers decided to get in on the act, signing Corrado Grabbi from Ternana for a fee of £6.75 million, 2 goals in 30 matches were all he could muster during his time in England, that’s £3.38m per goal.
Somewhat of a journeyman player, he began his career in the Juventus youth side and on his debut for the first team against Lazio, he scored, one of his total two appearances in the 1994-1995 season. Despite a great start he failed to cement a place in the squad as was loaned from Juventus to Lucchese and then Chievo, despite a poor goal scoring record Modena took him off Juve’s hands in 1996 where he found his goal scoring prowess.
Ternana were quick to snap up Grabbi but he couldn’t replicate his Modena form and was loaned to Ravenna after only one season, 13 goals in 29 games for Ravenna was a decent return and he was duly welcomed back to Ternana with open arms.
Back at Ternana he was again a regular scorer, with 91 goals in 84 games and became idol for the local supporters, who still remember him as the best player to ever have played for Ternana.
This amazing form alerted the likes of AC Milan and Juventus, however it was the lure of Premier League football that swayed Grabbi and he joined Blackburn Rovers for £6.75 million. Injury and personal problems blighted his Rovers career, 2 goals later he was on his way back to Italy on loan with Messina. Failure to reignite his career upon return to England resulted in a permanent transfer to Ancona.
In an interview with an Italian TV Station, Grabbi stated that he was finding it hard to acclimatise himself to the British weather and game, and also said that he was finding it hard to fit in with the team. The team was accused of singling him out, and not being friendly to him, which also accounted for Blackburn’s slump in form.
In the same interview, Grabbi stated that the only person who he became friends with in this time was Tugay Kerimoğlu.
After 7 games with Ancona and a year out the game he signed with Genoa in the third tier of the Italian league system, scoring 9 goals in Genoa’s promotion campaign. After promotion Grabbi considered retirement after a number of injury concerns, but was persuaded to stay on by fellow players and the Genoa fans, but he was sold during the transfer window in 2006 to Arezzo. A half season with them and he moved for the final time in his career to Swiss second division side AC Bellinzona.
A World Cup third place with Sweden in 1994, a vital part of Manchester United’s treble winning side of 1999, but whatever happened to Jesper Blomqvist?
Starting his youth career with hometown side Tavelsjö IK, he was very quickly snapped up by Umeå who were in the second tier of Swedish football. His performances for Umeå caught the eye of IFK Göteborg who signed Blomqvist on 11th September 1993. This was the big break that Blomqvist waited for and he grabbed it with both hands.
Scoring in a 3–1 win over Manchester United in the Champions League, knocking them out of the competition. This performance caught the eye of United manager Alex Ferguson. Winning four consecutive Allsvenskan (Swedish Championships) with IFK Göteborg, goal of the season for a goal against Helsingborgs, midfielder of year in Sweden and fans’ player of the year in 1996. He was then bought by AC Milan who were champions of Italy.
In his only season with Milan they finished 11th in Serie A and failed to qualify for Europe, during this season Blomqvist spent most his time on the bench, despite Manchester United trying to sign the player, Milan refused to sell but surprisingly he was later transferred to Parma. His reason for leaving was the search for first team football. After a relatively successful season with Parma Sir Alex Ferguson eventually snapped him up for £4.4 million.
Commenting on the signing, Sir Alex said, “Looking back I should have tried harder to bring cover for Ryan Giggs on the left side. I did try to buy Blomqvist from AC Milan but they wouldn’t sell him. They eventually let him go and perhaps I should have pushed them harder.”
Essentially at Manchester United for three years, he only played in his first; the magnificent 1999 treble winning season. He was bought as cover for Ryan Giggs on the left wing, and managed to play 25 games for the club scoring only one goal, against Everton in a 4-1 victory. He also started in the 1999 Champions League Final eventually making way for Teddy Sheringham who went on to score the equalizing goal. But this was his last game for the club as a serious knee injury prevented him making any more appearances.
Two years after this final United released him and Everton manager Walter Smith snapped him up on the recommendation of Sir Alex Ferguson. Only 15 games were managed as injuries ravaged his career and new Everton manager released him in June 2002 only to sign for Charlton Athletic with whom he managed four appearances.
A return to Sweden came when he signed for Djurgårdens IF; Blomqvist played a part as the side became Swedish champions that year. Injury problems, however, restricted him to only nine league appearances. As with Manchester Unied he stayed at the club for two years without kicking a ball, before eventually announcing his retirement in 2005.
Blomqvist joined Enköpings SK as a coach in 2008 and has since made a playing return in the Superettan, the second tier of Swedish football. Ironically, a shortage of players at the club due to injury forced Blomqvist’s playing return. He left Enköping after one season and later signed a contract with newly relegated Hammarby IF as assistant manager.
After officially retiring in 2005, he became a pundit for Swedish television station TV4. He also owns a nightclub in Stockholm.
As any Newcastle United fan will tell you, The Toon army have made an art of wasting large amounts of cash on overpriced foreign players who arrive with big reputations only to leave with their tails between their legs, reputations destroyed and in some cases careers in tatters. The names Hugo Viana and Albert Luque are just two complete wastes of money that spring to mind. Yet surely Marcelino has to …
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