Where did my career go (the Francis Jeffers Story)

mike65

But it could apply to any number of other high profile players (however briefly) who drifted out of contention and ceased to be mentioned by anyone bar the odd "whatever happened to..?" idle query down the pub or on the internet.

Jeffers is currently in talks with Floriana who almost sound respectably Serie B Italian but are in fact a Maltese club who play in front of no more than 3,000 people every other Sunday.

As a quick click of their website reveals they are quite excited by the news of a star strike, a fox in the box no less. Looking over his wiki entry it really is one under performing stint after another after Everton. A striker who has played barely more than 200 senior games and scored less than 40 goals at 9 different clubs.

Where did it all go wrong? and who else fits the bill?

Lumbo

The fox in the box Everton fans still call him "Wing nut" because of his incredibly large ears.

padd b1975

Did Roddy Collins manage Floriana at one stage??

On topic; Jody Morris, Luke Chadwick, Keith Gillespie, Seth Johnstone....









Torres.

Gillington

He's only 31!!!? He should be in the England squad

AgileMyth

padd b1975 wrote: »

Did Roddy Collins manage Floriana at one stage??

He did surely.

padd b1975

Lumbo wrote: »

The fox in the box Everton fans still call him "Wing nut" because of his incredibly large ears.

Hes a jug eared c**t and he plays up front,
Walking in a Jeffers wonderland!:cool:

Skid

Lee Sharpe ended up playing in Iceland when he was barely thirty. Strange to think he retired so long ago when Ryan Giggs is still at the top.

AgileMyth

A lot of Irish lads who would fit this bill are ending up back in the League here. A decent season or two here and you can head back over, much like Richie Ryan at Dundee united.

keith16

padd b1975 wrote: »

Did Roddy Collins manage Floriana at one stage??

On topic; Jody Morris, Luke Chadwick, Keith Gillespie, Seth Johnstone....









Torres.

Keith Gillespie? Hardly fell off the face off the earth now....

padd b1975

keith16 wrote: »

Keith Gillespie? Hardly fell off the face off the earth now....

Longford Town.

AgileMyth

Actually heres a story I was looking at recently. Check out this picture of United's youth team from a few years back:

Fair to say the lads have done quite well for themselves since. But who's the lad standing at the back?

Turns out his names Terry Cooke. He seems to have made a decent career for himself, spent a good bit of time playing in the States. His last club seems to be Gabala in Azerbaijan, where he played under Tony Adams!

Rekop dog

Think Leon Knight draws the dole and trolls twitter these days.

Xavi6

AgileMyth wrote: »

Actually heres a story I was looking at recently. Check out this picture of United's youth team from a few years back:

Fair to say the lads have done quite well for themselves since. But who's the lad standing at the back?

Turns out his names Terry Cooke. He seems to have made a decent career for himself, spent a good bit of time playing in the States. His last club seems to be Gabala in Azerbaijan, where he played under Tony Adams!

Surprised you didn't really know who Terry Cooke is, fondly remembered by City fans after his spell with us. Did very well for himself in the States.

Another forgotten man, Liam Miller, is playing lovely stuff in Australia at the moment. Such a good player on the ball and a very nice guy too.

Blatter

Michael Johnson is 24 now and just languishing at Man City. 19 senior appearances (9 on loan at Leicester) over the last 4 seasons or so. I'm pretty sure he's set to become a nobody like Jeffers (if he's not considered to be at that standard already) once his contract expires.

Timo Hildebrand is only 33 and is a reserve player at Schalke and has played a pitiful amount of games over the last few seasons. He was once touted as the natural successor of Oliver Kahn.

Javier Portillo, remember him? Currently 30 and has been languishing in the Spanish second division over the last number of years and isn't even anything like a consistent goalscorer there.

Asier del Horno, only 31 and currently a free agent. Has played a pitiful amount of games over the last several seasons.

AgileMyth

Xavi6 wrote: »

Surprised you didn't really know who Terry Cooke is, fondly remembered by City fans after his spell with us. Did very well for himself in the States.

I don't follow English football particularly closely. I'd never heard of him at all.

LiamoSail

Gary Charles is an interesting one. It was him who gaza fouled in the cup final that resulted in Giza been injured for a year or so. Every one knows what happened to gaza, but Charles was probably equally as messed up.

Don't know how many remember him, but he Played for forest and villa for a few years, then went to benfica around the time dean Saunders did, I think souness was in charge at the time there. Once his playing career fizzled out he developed a drink problem and wound up serving a fair few prison sentences

Gillington

Not saying he's a world beater but Nigel Quashie(who for someone reason I quite liked as a player) is player manager of Íþróttafélag Reykjavíkur in Iceland after a career around the Championship and Premier League

Rekop dog

Gillington wrote: »

Not saying he's a world beater but Nigel Quashie(who for someone reason I quite liked as a player) is player manager of Íþróttafélag Reykjavíkur in Iceland after a career around the Championship and Premier League

He never got over that miss did he?

Guy:Incognito

Carlo Cudicini should have played a huge amount more games in his career than he has.

If Cech was a few years older and gone to Chelsea earlier, old wage collecter Carlo might not have broken 80-100 games.

kitakyushu

Francis hasn't been totally forgotten about. I saw Jeffers in the paper not so long ago.

Frisbee

Blatter wrote: »

Michael Johnson is 24 now and just languishing at Man City. 19 senior appearances (9 on loan at Leicester) over the last 4 seasons or so. I'm pretty sure he's set to become a nobody like Jeffers (if he's not considered to be at that standard already) once his contract expires.

tbf in Johnsons case it's because of a ridiculous injury record.

geeky

Leon Knight has to take the prize. Waste of f**king skin.

Honourable mentions to Lee Sharp - he didn't drop off the face of the earth but certainly squandered his talent - Jody Morris and Michael Ricketts. He's had a decent career all told, but Jermaine Pennant certainly made a good fist of wasting his talent too.

Also, slightly peripheral, but there's this one lad on CM4 at Chelsea, Joel Kitamirike. A super right-back, and he was highly rated at the time. Got done a few years ago for selling crack. True story.

Jason Todd

Remember the young Irish lad at Liverpool, Richie Partridge. I always gave him games in old Championship Managers as he was Irish, but I'm not sure if he even made a handful of appearances for the first team. Last I heard he was in League 1 or 2. Can anyone shed some light on his story?

Jason Todd

Here's someone I always wondered about as I was given a present of his actual jersey when I was small. Keith O'Neill.

Wiki:

Keith began his playing career with Dublin side Tolka Rovers at the age of 6 but transferred to Home Farm at the age of 13. He was spotted by Norwich at the age of 14 and invited over for trials with Mike Sutton's youngsters. Arsenal and Chelsea were also keen and he had visited the Gunners on several occasions. However they lost interest due to his injury niggles whilst Norwich showed faith and so he joined the Canaries. At the same time, he won his first international honours for the Republic's Under 18 side.

O'Neill went on to play for Middlesbrough F.C. and Coventry City F.C., as well as making 13 appearances for his country, scoring four goals including scoring twice against Bolivia at Giants Stadium in 1996. He was diagnosed at Coventry City with two degenerative bone conditions in his spine called spondylolisthesis and spondylosis, essentially a double fracture of part of the cord that threatens to leave him disabled.

That's a horrible way for a career to end.

Kerrydude1981

Danny Cadamarteri burst on to scene with Everton in the mid 90s but since then he has slipped away down the leagues and is now with Carlisle United

Colin Healy was been touted as the next Roy Keane,but injury ruined his career and is back with Cork City,his fellow Corkman Liam Miller
is still playing down in Oz with Perth Glory

LuckyLloyd

Sean Thornton

partyguinness

1. Lee Sharpe- To be fair, he went to Leeds and then had an horrendous injury and was never the same. Played away with Bradford.
2. Liam Miller- never undertood this. I saw him playing for Ireland and Sunderland and on every occasion he was the best player in the pitch. I think there were just more effective players in his position.
3. Seth Johnson- terrible run of injuries
4. Drunkin Ferguson- another who never lived up to expectations
5. Colin Healy- again terrible luck with injuries. Broke his leg a few times.

What about Denilson? Remeber him...went for silly money after 1998 WC.

geeky

Jason Todd wrote: »

Remember the young Irish lad at Liverpool, Richie Partridge. I always gave him games in old Championship Managers as he was Irish, but I'm not sure if he even made a handful of appearances for the first team. Last I heard he was in League 1 or 2. Can anyone shed some light on his story?

Bad injury run, to put it simply. He was always quite slight, even for a winger, and didn't have a long enough run of fitness to make it.

Ashbourne hoop

Xavi6 wrote: »

Surprised you didn't really know who Terry Cooke is, fondly remembered by City fans after his spell with us. Did very well for himself in the States.

Read an interview with Terry Cooke where he was very bitter about the way he was treated at City. It was something about if he played say 50 games for City, then they had to give an appearance based fee to Utd so they left him on 49 appearances and refused to pick him. I think Joe Royle was the manager at the time. (The numbers used are random but the story is basically the same)

Seaneh

Frisbee wrote: »

tbf in Johnsons case it's because of a ridiculous injury record.

And he's about 4 ston over weight, doesnt train and really just collects a wage cheque at this stage.

Seaneh

geeky wrote: »

Bad injury run, to put it simply. He was always quite slight, even for a winger, and didn't have a long enough run of fitness to make it.

He's married to Michael Owen's sister.

Knex*

Blatter wrote: »

Javier Portillo, remember him? Currently 30 and has been languishing in the Spanish second division over the last number of years and isn't even anything like a consistent goalscorer there.

God, had completely forgotten about him. Didn't he play for Real Madrid?

Mezcita

Michael Bridges was another one. Currently with his 14th club - Newcastle Jets in Australia.

Great couple of seasons for Leeds. Think a lot of these players were just never the same after a few serious injuries.

upandcumming

padd b1975 wrote: »

Did Roddy Collins manage Floriana at one stage??

On topic; Jody Morris, Luke Chadwick, Keith Gillespie, Seth Johnstone....

Torres.

Keith Gillespie is in fact playing with a massive club at the moment... Longford Town!

COME ON THE TOWN!

osarusan

Lee Hendrie is another who ended up as a wandering minstrel after such a bright start.

And pineapple head, although he was never the brighest of shining stars.

mike65

osarusan wrote: »

Lee Hendrie is another who ended up as a wandering minstrel after such a bright start

Declared bankrupt January 2012, you'd have to wonder how that happens even if he has been out of the top flight for 5 years.

Ares

Jason Todd wrote: »

Remember the young Irish lad at Liverpool, Richie Partridge. I always gave him games in old Championship Managers as he was Irish, but I'm not sure if he even made a handful of appearances for the first team. Last I heard he was in League 1 or 2. Can anyone shed some light on his story?

He's a physio at Liverpool Academy.

He's doing more studies at the moment as far as I know.

Fair play to Liverpool for looking after one of their own.

Jayob10

Ares wrote: »

He's a physio at Liverpool Academy.

He's doing more studies at the moment as far as I know.

Fair play to Liverpool for looking after one of their own.

the running joke at the time was Liverpool were keeping him on the payroll as a player for so long in order to keep Michael Owen sweet, Richie is married Owen's younger sister I believe.

Gringo180

The tan fella with the dreadlocks who played in Brian Kerrs Euro winning Irish team his name escapes me, think he was at Millwall at the time.

Ashbourne hoop

Gringo180 wrote: »

The tan fella with the dreadlocks who played in Brian Kerrs Euro winning Irish team his name escapes me, think he was at Millwall at the time.

Liam George. Was at St.Pats a few years ago, heven't heard anything about him since.

Gringo180

Ashbourne hoop wrote: »

Liam George. Was at St.Pats a few years ago, heven't heard anything about him since.

Yeah thats him, looked a decent prospect at one stage.

The Mulk

osarusan wrote: »

Lee Hendrie is another who ended up as a wandering minstrel after such a bright start.

And pineapple head, although he was never the brighest of shining stars.

They used to give Lee a death on Fantasy Football League, I think Prince Naseem was the only one to get worse treatment from Baddiel and Skinner

Xavi6

partyguinness wrote: »

2. Liam Miller- never undertood this. I saw him playing for Ireland and Sunderland and on every occasion he was the best player in the pitch. I think there were just more effective players in his position.

There was more to it than that. Liam, by his own admission, had "application" problems (turning up to training late regularly etc) and talent was never the issue really.

He's streets ahead of most players over here now and both him and the family are settled which has made a difference.

Oat23

Kerlon maybe? Playing in the Japanese 3rd Tier. But he never really got past the ''he is showing a lot of potential'' stage so maybe he doesn't count.

Only scored once and has about 20 failed seal dribbles so far

Guy:Incognito

partyguinness wrote: »

1. Lee Sharpe- To be fair, he went to Leeds and then had an horrendous injury and was never the same. Played away with Bradford..

He done his cruciate while at Utd. Theres a bit in Roy Keanes book where he talks about him and sharpe having their cruciate injuries at the same time and the different way they went about recovery (Keane went to a guy that deals with rugby injuries iirc) . Keane made a full recovery and Sharpe never really did. May be coincidence.

Helix

mike65 wrote: »

osarusan wrote: »

Lee Hendrie is another who ended up as a wandering minstrel after such a bright start

Declared bankrupt January 2012, you'd have to wonder how that happens even if he has been out of the top flight for 5 years.

The word is he invested most of his income in south American produce

djemba djemba

What happened Ronnie O'Brien after he left Juventus and the great Irish international joe lapira

Paz-CCFC

partyguinness wrote: »

5. Colin Healy- again terrible luck with injuries. Broke his leg a few times..

Plays for Cork City at the amount, but he mightn't be here for much longer. He's missed out on a lot of games (although he did play a half a League match recently).

I think there were rumours of Miller joining City as well, before he went off to Australia.

_blank_

djemba djemba wrote: »

What happened Ronnie O'Brien after he left Juventus and the great Irish international joe lapira

What happened to YOU

djemba djemba

Des wrote: »

What happened to YOU

I post on boards.ie now

Xavi6

djemba djemba wrote: »

What happened Ronnie O'Brien after he left Juventus and the great Irish international joe lapira

O'Brien is another who had a great MLS career. Played against Chelsea as part of the Allstar Team in 2005 I think it was. Retired as a player a couple of years ago to take up youth coaching with FC Dallas and concentrate on his golf handicap. Last I heard a couple of months ago from a Dallas fan, he's not far off being good enough to go pro.

Really should've had more Ireland call ups, very tidy central midfielder in his day.