Footballers You've Met?

cson

I was staying in the Clarion Airport Hotel last night and on the shuttle over to it who stepped into it but a geezer that looked like Kenny Cunningham. On further inquiry it was, believe it or not, the Kenny Cunningham! Chatted him for a while about different stuff, he's dead on. I hadn't realised how small he was for a centre half. I'm around 6'1" and he was way smaller than me. Anyway it was nice to meet him.

Xavi6

I've met the City team once or twice years back, the Ireland team 4 or 5 times, Shels etc but the biggest coup for me happened in 2005. I was going up the escalator in a shopping centre in Chicago and who did I see coming down the other side only Cafu and Serginho! At first I was like "Nah it couldn't be" but the Milan tracksuits were a bit of a giveaway. Myself and my mate legged it up to the top and down the other side. We grabbed them at the bottom and managed to convince them to pose for a photo even though they had no English! They were over to play a friendly against the Chicago Fire and everyone thought we were weirdos cause no one had a clue who they were!

Peyton Manning

Eric Cantona, met him in Manchester Airport. Lots of people were asking for his autograph, I got him to sign my Cantona jersey, have it framed now. Its the reason I love him. That, and he was a frickin marvellous footballer.

Ive also had a couple of pints with Shane Long.

SectionF

I've met most of the footballers from the team I support.

evad_lhorg

I met Nicky Butt and Keny Cuningham on Grafton st two years ago.

mike65

No-one but my mother met Billy Wright if you don't know that name he was the Becks of his day (cos his wife was the Posh of her day)

Mike.

ShoulderChip

SectionF wrote: »

I've met most of the footballers from the team I support.

can you explain, or are you just annoying?

Mr. Presentable

Pat Jennings

(and Kenny Cunningham)

gaf1983

I met Gary Kelly, Jason McAteer and Phil Babb outside the Texas Steak Out in Limerick one evening in 1995 when they were down training for THAT match against Liechtenstein. They were wondering where the best golf courses in Limerick were. Saw Steve Carr in Newcastle Airport once - he flies Ryanair, for the record. And last year I met Younis Mahmoud who scored the winner for Iraq in the Asian Cup Final in 2007.

Guy:Incognito

Met Ian Wright at the acropolis (and got picture evidence)the day after the CL fnal. Top top bloke.

Ronan|Raven

Pretty much every longford player of the last few seasons!

DeadSkin

ShoulderChip wrote: »

can you explain, or are you just annoying?

Take a look at his sig.

Never met one, but bumped into Damien Duff on a plane once, and yeah he looked fuppin' wrecked

applehunter

This thread is GAY!

SantryRed

applehunter wrote: »

This thread is GAY!

Going to have to agree with you.

bizmark

Roy keane

Nice lad from what i remember

Guy:Incognito

applehunter wrote: »

This thread is GAY!

Yore Ma.

justfortherecor

Sir Bobby Charlton.

He was giving a private tour to some people in the old United Museum in OT and we pretty much just barged in asking for a photo. He was a bit annoyed I think, but still posed with us for the picture.

Bubs101

Never met a footballer but I was pretty chuffed when I met James Richardson in Rome with one of his gigantic ice creams. Football Italia is the reason I like football so it was great for me. He's bang on aswell

MrJoeSoap

Gareth Bale (and the rest of the Southampton squad).

The Ireland squad circa 2000.

Plenty of the Shels players over the years, and opposition players. Mark Schwarzer, Michael Hughes, Juninho, Dario Gradi a few times (nicest guy in football, imo, absolute gentleman) and there are probably more that I can't remember.

Closest I ever got to Le Tiss was touching distance (this was before the restraining order).

SectionF

ShoulderChip wrote: »

can you explain, or are you just annoying?

To explain: I've met Kevin Hunt, Joxer Kelly, Owen Heary, Brian Murphy, Liam Burns, Stephen Ward and a whole lot of other Bohemian FC footballers.
I've also met Dwight Yorke (when he was good) and Paul McGrath.
Which ones among those would annoy you, Chip?

OPENROAD

Met Ian Wright twice, firstly at his book signing back in 1996 in Brent Cross(Christ I feel old now) and then in North Bank Concourse at half time during a match, sound bloke.

Dennis Bergkamp, four times, three times in the same restaurant in Harrods, with his wife each time, very nice person.Other time was after FA cup final against utd in the Hilton Cardiff. Had just got back to hotel after the mtach, and he was already back with his family having tea.

Sir Bobby Robson, Alan Smith and Paul Walsh all in Hilton Cardiff bar, again all really nice.Got photos taken with them but lost my laptop bag a few months later and the camera was in it :mad:

Niall Quinn at breakfast in Hilton Cardiff, he was reading his Racing post, so got chatting to him about racing, he likes his Horse racing, again a top bloke.

Went over with a mate to a Man utd match back in 1996,we went to Utd training ground and met good few of players, Brian McClair, Cantona, David May,Lee Sharp, Giggs and Beckham, have to say Beckham was very very sound.

Mikeyt086

Ive met a good few at Irish training sessions. My favourites were Dennis Irwin and Shay Given who i had good chats with.

I met Dwight Yorke in a lift in Heathrow airport.

I plan on meeting Nemanja Vidic when Serbia come to play Ireland in May.

Chardee MacDennis

cson wrote: »

On further inquiry it was, believe it or not, the Kenny Cunningham!

evad_lhorg wrote: »

I met Nicky Butt and Keny Cuningham on Grafton st two years ago.

nipplenuts wrote: »

(and Kenny Cunningham)

Is Kenny stalking boardsies again?

Sizzler

Steve McManaman, and he still continued the conversation when I said I supported Utd

I asked him what he thought opf Rafa and he said " I f**kin hate the way he f**ks around with team, no need for this squad rotation bollox".

LeixlipRed

I can meet any of the players from my team whenever I want. The beauty of EL football. Gary Kelly was in DCU with Drogs futsal team today. Or was it Jimmy from Fair City...

Sizzler

LeixlipRed wrote: »

I can meet any of the players from my team whenever I want. The beauty of EL football. Gary Kelly was in DCU with Drogs futsal team today. Or was it Jimmy from Fair City...

He's double jobbing. I wonder if Robyn knows

Harpy

i met the whole irish team in 1995. ive also met george best,john o'shea, michael owen and silvestre..i think that's it..george best was really nice

Royale with Cheese

Lukas Podolski, that's about it. Saw Michael Essien on the street once, but didn't really meet him.

Oh yeah, Niall Quinn... but I think everybody's met him.

Nunu

Too many to list them all:cool:

...so, I'll pick out my favourites:

Eric Cantona (playing beach soccer in Lisbon!)
Eusebio
Franz Beckenbauer (and he gave me a Germany '06 t-shirt:D)
Zvonomir Boban
Dejan Savicevic (eating hot dogs behind the West stand in Lansdowne!)
'Pep' Guardiola
Jurgen Klinsmann
Giacinto Facchetti R.I.P. (had dinner with him at Italys Euro '04 HQ)
Massimo Oddo (beat him in a game of Pro-Evo:D...i'm not joking!)

Met jason mcateer and jamie redknapp at a one day soccer school in golden co tipp back in summer 95. Mcateer bit of a tosser but redknapp really sound bloke. Complimented Steve Chettle on his goal before a pre season friendly v shels in 96 at tolka park, to which he smiled and said "thanks mate". seemed a nice fellow.

wasn't there a thread on this last year or maybe it was another site im thinking of?????

Drag00n79

Nunu wrote: »

Dejan Savicevic (eating hot dogs behind the West stand in Lansdowne!)

I remember that. What a legend!

estebancambias

Nunu wrote: »

Too many to list them all:cool:

...so, I'll pick out my favourites:

Eric Cantona (playing beach soccer in Lisbon!)
Eusebio
Franz Beckenbauer (and he gave me a Germany '06 t-shirt:D)
Zvonomir Boban
Dejan Savicevic (eating hot dogs behind the West stand in Lansdowne!)
'Pep' Guardiola
Jurgen Klinsmann
Giacinto Facchetti R.I.P. (had dinner with him at Italys Euro '04 HQ)
Massimo Oddo (beat him in a game of Pro-Evo:D...i'm not joking!)

How you meet all these?

Can someone explain the Dejan Savicevic incident for me.

Nunu

estebancambias wrote: »

How you meet all these?

Can someone explain the Dejan Savicevic incident for me.

Cantona, Eusebio, Beckenbauer, Klinsmann, Facchetti, Oddo and many more I met all in the space of a few weeks.

I spent a whole summer working as an accreditation officer for UEFA in Euro '04 so was lucky enough to spend time with loads of football personalities in private settings were they were much more relaxed and open than they might be in public.
The most memorable day was spending a whole day at Italys tournament HQ - first watching the players train and then hanging out with reporters/Rai Unos TV team/ex-players etc for the rest of the day...I was like a kid at Christmas!


The Dejan Savicevic incident was brilliant - Ireland were playing Yugosalvia in a qualifier and he was subbed at half-time. He was obviously well pissed off because he left the dressing room and headed out behind the stands to gorge on hot-dogs!! Couldn't believe it when we saw him there in his tracksuit. Not many fans even realised who he was, but us and a few others chatted with him and he was offering hot dogs all around...just wish i'd had a camera.

s_carnage

Scored a penalty on Dwight Yorke at a soccer camp years ago.

kev_s88

met the whole irish team on many occasions.they always stay in the hotel just up the road from me so we always talk to them when they're just walking about.

funniest was the time when we found gary doherty in our local spar buying about 4 or 5 porno mags.we laughed for days....

also hit jason mcateer's room window with a firework


got to meet the whole celtic team back in '03 i think.they had an open training session before a match against Shels.just walked in and got pics taken and talked to them for a while

Jazzy

i ignored Niall Quinn at a bus stop before
in fairness, i had just left a bag on the bus i had got off with 200 quids worth of stuff in it so Big Niall wasnt exactly a priority

Xavi6

s_carnage wrote: »

Scored a penalty on Dwight Yorke at a soccer camp years ago.

That wouldn't have been at the airport training ground would it? With Andy Townsend and Mark Wright as well?

CountryWise

Sizzler wrote: »

Steve McManaman, and he still continued the conversation when I said I supported Utd

I asked him what he thought opf Rafa and he said " I f**kin hate the way he f**ks around with team, no need for this squad rotation bollox".

Hardly surprising that old Stevie boy isnt a fan of the rotation system, didnt they rotate him at Real Madrid and forget to rotate him back in for a while

ibh

Met Paddy Kluivert in Barcelona not long after Ireland beat holland at Landsdowne. We had a great laugh with him and he took the slagging really well.
Also met Joseba Etxeberria who plays for Bilbao. Was wearing my Bilbao jersey in Barca and he approached me.. Never thought to get his autograph though..

Also met Quinner and had a pint with him. He was at a function in a hotel i worked in and when i finished i sat and had a bullsh1t about football in general.

gracehopper

I was in UCI in coolock watching batman begins and in walks the entire irish team. All the players looked chilled and relaxed and were drinking bottled water. Then Gary dohery strolls in last with a large popcorn, coke and a packet of maltesers in his tracksuit pocket. I broke my sh*te laughing.

Being a united fan i was obviously looking for keano and o shea. It turned out that these two decided to go and see monstor inc. i didnt get to meet them. They legged it onto the bus. Stephen Hunt stood outside the bus and signed autographs for all the kids.

_blank_

gracehopper wrote: »

Stephen Hunt stood outside the bus and signed autographs for all the kids.

Top, top bloke is Hunty

I met himself, Doyler and Longy in Coppers the night of the LoI Cup Final in December. I'm sure Steve Coppell would love to see them photos.

Met most of the United squad in The Point backstage bar the night before Bex's wedding, it was a Fatboy Slim concert, I used to work there. I called Phil Gary I asked Giggs where Keane was, but he wasn't there.

I met David James in there once too, really nice fella, he gave me an autograph for my brother because they have the same birthday.

Met a shedload of LoI footballers, too many to mention really.

prendy

i met the entire Liverpool team a few years ago in the tunnel at pride park as they were getting off the coach.
was gutted at the time as mcmanaman wasnt in the squad that day.
remember havin a good chat with david james and steve staunton as they walked out to check the condition of the pitch. jamie redknapp was also awfull sound that day!

have photos with most of them.

_blank_

prendy wrote: »

remember havin a good chat with ... steve staunton

:eek::eek:

prendy

i know i know!!!
but he WAS a good footballer once upon a time!
okay maybe it wasnt a great chat!:D

DSB

Was in Lee Hendrie's house back when I was 11.

MrJoeSoap

DSB wrote: »

Was in Lee Hendrie's house back when I was 11.

And what did Lee say to you on the occasion in question?

DSB

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

And what did Lee say to you on the occasion in question?

Just asked me was I going to the match the next day and gave me an autograph etc. It was ten years ago and I was a little lad so I can't remember much.

MrJoeSoap

DSB wrote: »

Just asked me was I going to the match the next day and gave me an autograph etc. It was ten years ago and I was a little lad so I can't remember much.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I rest my case.

DSB

...

_blank_

What happened there?

Xavi6

Lol I await the explanation