Unremarkable players that had interesting careers

Classical Mechanic

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Not a thread for flopped wonderkids or mediocre academy players that rode the coattails of great sides.

I'll go with Matt Derbyshire

Had a few seasons being one of those Premier League strikers that doesn't really score many goals before dropping down levels on a few loans. Managed to find himself on loan at Olympiacos in 08/09 and scored 8 goals in 13 games winning the League and Cup double, winning Man of the Match in the Cup final in dramatic fashion

Derbyshire played a pivotal role in the Greek Cup final against cross-city rivals AEK Athens. With Olympiacos 2–0 down, Derbyshire was brought on at half-time. Three minutes after coming on, Derbyshire scored for Olympiacos. The game then went to 2–2 before AEK Athens had seemingly scored the winning goal in stoppage time. However, with the last touch of the game, Derbyshire popped up to head in the equaliser in the sixth minute of added time, bringing the score to 3–3, after having suffered a concussion following a clash with an opponent. It was obvious during celebrations that he was not fully aware, and he stated afterwards that he realised he had scored from the cheers of fans. Olympiacos went on to win the match 15–14 on penalties, and Derbyshire was handed the Man of the match award for his efforts

He then found himself at Loan on Birmingham in the season they beat Arsenal in the League Cup final, he didn't make the squad for the final but got a medal for appearing in the competition for them.

After bouncing around on a few more lower league loans he moved to Cyprus playing for Omonia where he's scored 52 goals in 76 games and bagged two Golden Boots.

He can also count himself the proud owner of an Intertoto Cup winners medal with Blackburn.
 
Kleberson. Mainly because he managed to reinvent himself and get called up to the 2010 World cup.
 
Vidyoyo said:
Neither. I'm just regaling you with an interesting football fact.

The entire Greek national team of 2004 springs to mind.
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Nothing personal, mate. But Pizarro was quite a very handy player at his peak. Yes, not a superb striker, but a very good plan B.

Ehehe Yes, that greek national team was quite underwhelming in terms of career wise. I might exclude Nikopolidis who was quite a good keeper who manage to kee his starting place at Olympiakos even as a veteran keeper (he was already 33 at Euro 2004), and probably Gianakopoulos who did quite well at Bolton.

But everyone else went downhill, even those who returned to greek league.
 
Are u from Greece? If not check what Olympiakos means for the Greek league, a lot of "strange" decisions in favour of over the last 20 or so years, all the owners/presidents of that club had their hands in the past goverments (such as PAOK now in Greece, the "new" Olympiakos). I'd say that they are one of the most if not the most dirty teams of Europe.

Anyways thing for another topic I guess.
I'd say that Welbeck has up until now an interesting career but being nowhere near the level that United and Arsenal command. I think that at a team such as Huddersfield or our new nemesis Brighton are his personal ceiling
 
Karlos PFC said:
Are u from Greece? If not check what Olympiakos means for the Greek league, a lot of "strange" decisions in favour of over the last 20 or so years, all the owners/presidents of that club had their hands in the past goverments (such as PAOK now in Greece, the "new" Olympiakos). I'd say that they are one of the most if not the most dirty teams of Europe.g
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So what about Matt Derbyshire's equaliser in the 96 minute of injury time in the Greek Cup Final, was it dodgy?
 
Karlos PFC said:
Are u from Greece? If not check what Olympiakos means for the Greek league, a lot of "strange" decisions in favour of over the last 20 or so years, all the owners/presidents of that club had their hands in the past goverments (such as PAOK now in Greece, the "new" Olympiakos). I'd say that they are one of the most if not the most dirty teams of Europe.

Anyways thing for another topic I guess.
I'd say that Welbeck has up until now an interesting career but being nowhere near the level that United and Arsenal command. I think that at a team such as Huddersfield or our new nemesis Brighton are his personal ceiling
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If you think Greek league games are dubious, just check the Cyprus league. Those are the real deal of shadey business. They don't even try to hide it :D Teams loosing 3-0 suddenly score 4 goals in the last 10 minutes and so :D

Not to mention Asian competitions :D
 
André Dominguez said:
Nothing personal, mate. But Pizarro was quite a very handy player at his peak. Yes, not a superb striker, but a very good plan B.

Ehehe Yes, that greek national team was quite underwhelming in terms of career wise. I might exclude Nikopolidis who was quite a good keeper who manage to kee his starting place at Olympiakos even as a veteran keeper (he was already 33 at Euro 2004), and probably Gianakopoulos who did quite well at Bolton.

But everyone else went downhill, even those who returned to greek league.
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Nah don't worry about it. It wasn't obvious what I meant (had to edit my post).

Yeah that Greek team was unremarkable but I suppose they had unity, spirit and the head of Charisteas (who was Eder before Eder).
 
André Dominguez said:
Nothing personal, mate. But Pizarro was quite a very handy player at his peak. Yes, not a superb striker, but a very good plan B.

Ehehe Yes, that greek national team was quite underwhelming in terms of career wise. I might exclude Nikopolidis who was quite a good keeper who manage to kee his starting place at Olympiakos even as a veteran keeper (he was already 33 at Euro 2004), and probably Gianakopoulos who did quite well at Bolton.

But everyone else went downhill, even those who returned to greek league.
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I think you are forgetting Karagounis who had quite a remarkable career for a Greek player that is (Inter, Benfica, Fulham IIRC) and even played at the 2012 Euro which got him premier league football.

Giannakopoulos was fairly good player but hugely infamous in Greece for his diving(think of Sterling x10)
 
Yossi Benayoun had that weird period where he played for Liverpool, then Chelsea, then Arsenal, and none of them actually seemed to fancy him at all
 
Vidyoyo said:
I'd also like to nominate Phil Neville and Nicky Butt. Water carrying types who happened to play a part in some of the greatest United squads ever.
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Nicky Butt was a bloody good player.
 
Karlos PFC said:
I think you are forgetting Karagounis who had quite a remarkable career for a Greek player that is (Inter, Benfica, Fulham IIRC) and even played at the 2012 Euro which got him premier league football.

Giannakopoulos was fairly good player but hugely infamous in Greece for his diving(think of Sterling x10)
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Katsouranis did better at Benfica, by the way. He was a starter while he was here and only left because he was homesick. He was a very solid destroyer midfielder who had a very strong shot. His passing accuracy was not the best, but he had a brave heart.

Karagounis was a player with lots of ability, but he was very incosistent, which made him spend more time at the bench than on the pitch. But his free-kick and corner taking were very accurate which made him a very dangerous player on set-pieces.
 
Classical Mechanic said:
So what about Matt Derbyshire's equaliser in the 96 minute of injury time in the Greek Cup Final, was it dodgy?
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No I'm just saying that going to Greek league and permanent champion doesn't qualify to me as interesting. Cheers

Massive Spanner said:
Original Fred.

John O' Shea.

Aidan Mc Geady (somehow ended up playing for Moscow).
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O'shea was my first choice but apart from United which was an anomaly in his career I think that fits Sunderland perfect:p
 
Vidyoyo said:
Nah don't worry about it. It wasn't obvious what I meant (had to edit my post).

Yeah that Greek team was unremarkable but I suppose they had unity, spirit and the head of Charisteas (who was Eder before Eder).
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Ehehe. Charisteas is still a bit more skilled than Eder, imho. Eder has become a sketch like Bendtner. He was basically hired by Lokomotiv because he scored the goal who decided the title, despite only scroing four goals in the whole season!
 
Panduru: managed to get a place in Benfica and Porto squads! He had a good drible and shot, but other than that he was pretty useless.

He was more know for his fat belly than for his football skills :D
 
i nominate Hamit Altintop.
technically gifted, but not outstanding by any stretch of imagination. His move to Bayern already was unlikely, but ater just 63 apperances in 4 years he landed actually a 4 year contract at Real Madrid, of whch he played 5 game 155 minutes total.
 
André Dominguez said:
Ehehe. Charisteas is still a bit more skilled than Eder, imho. Eder has become a sketch like Bendtner. He was basically hired by Lokomotiv because he scored the goal who decided the title, despite only scroing four goals in the whole season!
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And then he went on to score the goal that gave Lokomotiv the russian league title :lol:
 
Karlos PFC said:
No I'm just saying that going to Greek league and permanent champion doesn't qualify to me as interesting. Cheers
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So he comes on as sub at half time when the team is losing 2-0 and scores a goal as the team gets back to 2-2

Then his team falls behind to 3-2

Then he scores the equalising goal in the last minute of injury time with the last touch of the game whilst getting knocked out at the same time

Then his team goes on to win 15-14 on penalties........................

He wins man of the match.

You don't think that is interesting career highlight for him?
 
Jonathan Biabiany

Inter player who goes on Loan to Parma, then signs for Parma. Who then signs back to Inter before leaving to Sampdoria shortly who then goes back to Parma. Before going to Inter again, then a loan spell abroad before signing back for Parma.
And hes 30. lol
 
Karlos PFC said:
No I'm just saying that going to Greek league and permanent champion doesn't qualify to me as interesting. Cheers
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I think you're missing the point a bit here. No one's saying it's a particularly impressive achievement for him to have won something with Olympiacos, just that his career has been quite interesting, with a couple of particularly interesting highlights.

It's unusual for any British player to go abroad, usually reserved for the odd superstar going to Real Madrid, so 10 goals in 63 games for Blackburn Rovers Matt Derbyshire suddenly turning out in the Champions League for Olympiacos and playing a big role in them winning a cup final is quite a diversion from the norm for players of his calibre. When you add on to that his return to England and subsequent unremarkable performances for various Championship clubs (even in League One at one point), heading to Cyprus and banging in goals for fun in the Cypriot First Division to be the top scorer for two consecutive seasons is certainly far more interesting than continuing to clog it out in the English lower leagues.
 
Brad Jones-
  • Played 57 games in a 9 year spell at Middlesbrough, which included loans spells at Shelbourne (4 game), Stockport(1 game), Rotherham(0 games), 2 spells at Blackpool (17 games) and Sheffield Wednesday (15 games).
  • Joined Liverpool in 2010 for £2million, played just two games in first season (one of which was that Northampton game), gets loaned to Derby as well. 2011/12 sees only two appearances. He makes his Premier League debut for Liverpool as a sub for Doni (who was sent off). First touch is saving a Yakubu penalty, Liverpool go on to win the game. His other appearance is a FA Cup semi final against Everton (Liverpool win 2-1)
  • Jones therefore made history as the first Liverpool player to make his first four appearances for the club in four different competitions (from Wikipedia, so....)
  • 2012/13 he makes 15 appearances (in all competitions), his most productive spell at Liverpool.
  • 2013/14 he only plays 3 FA Cup games, 2014/15 sees 5 appearances. Jones is released by Liverpool and Bradford City get him on a free. However 2 months, 3 games and 6 goals conceded later he is released by them.
  • He moves to Holland, signs for NEC on a 6 month contract, and has a strong season, playing 17 games
  • Then joins Feyenoord, keeps 17 clean sheets, wins the Eredivisie (Feyenoord's first in 18 years). Next season wins the Dutch Community Shield and the Dutch Cup
  • This month, he signed for Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr
 
Classical Mechanic said:
Not a thread for flopped wonderkids or mediocre academy players that rode the coattails of great sides.

I'll go with Matt Derbyshire

Had a few seasons being one of those Premier League strikers that doesn't really score many goals before dropping down levels on a few loans. Managed to find himself on loan at Olympiacos in 08/09 and scored 8 goals in 13 games winning the League and Cup double, winning Man of the Match in the Cup final in dramatic fashion

Derbyshire played a pivotal role in the Greek Cup final against cross-city rivals AEK Athens. With Olympiacos 2–0 down, Derbyshire was brought on at half-time. Three minutes after coming on, Derbyshire scored for Olympiacos. The game then went to 2–2 before AEK Athens had seemingly scored the winning goal in stoppage time. However, with the last touch of the game, Derbyshire popped up to head in the equaliser in the sixth minute of added time, bringing the score to 3–3, after having suffered a concussion following a clash with an opponent. It was obvious during celebrations that he was not fully aware, and he stated afterwards that he realised he had scored from the cheers of fans. Olympiacos went on to win the match 15–14 on penalties, and Derbyshire was handed the Man of the match award for his efforts

He then found himself at Loan on Birmingham in the season they beat Arsenal in the League Cup final, he didn't make the squad for the final but got a medal for appearing in the competition for them.

After bouncing around on a few more lower league loans he moved to Cyprus playing for Omonia where he's scored 52 goals in 76 games and bagged two Golden Boots.

He can also count himself the proud owner of an Intertoto Cup winners medal with Blackburn.
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The story of him signing for Blackburn is interesting as well, they signed him from a local team called Great Harwood Town, barely non league, dream come true stuff that very rarely happens.
 
David May.

Spent a decade at united picking up trophies for not being awful when called upon. Was then gradually phased out for vastly better backup players without anyone noticin.

If not for that diving header he once scored to win a game late, he would have been the perfect ninja.
 
Sassy Colin said:
Not really, another Cafe myth.
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Of course he was. He was a slightly worse version of Roy Keane i.e still a very good player. He was a starting player in league and cup winning teams all through the mid-late 90s.
 
A bit of a stretch but Diego Forlan for me. From being a laughing stock with us, to genuinely proving himself in spain, and winning the Golden Ball at the WC. I would describe him as unremarkable in almost every way, however his was a real success story and history may place him as a legend of the game.
 
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