Jump to content

Which player had the biggest drop off after the amount of potential they initially showed?


Recommended Posts

20 hours ago, Jacky1990 said:

Adam Strachan.

Mind making his debut at Thistle. The first genuine youth prospect I had seen break through as a kid. Got you proper on the edge of your seat whenever he got the ball. Thought he was destined to be a star.

Sadly passed away earlier this year after a heap of legal troubles and a bang average lower league career. Shame.

He had talent but was such a bampot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What about the expectations  regarding the Scotland team that went all the way to the Under 16 World Cup final?

A good few made a career out of football but could any of them deemed to have been in the underachieving category?

I think their opponents in the final were all retired and collecting their old age pensions ten years after that final ;)

Edited by Sugar_Army
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Stylish Kid said:

Josh something. On loan at Aberdeen. Possibly England youth captain. Absolutely bossed it, possibly against Bayern Munich. Disappeared and possibly retired early 

Mr Walker is playing for Dunbar United now. Nice guy too 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, dezz said:

Paul Slane. 

The laddie openly admits he'd never have made it due to anxiety.

10 hours ago, Tynie Bagstock said:

Ricky Gillies.  His manager Tony Fitzpatrick said he was good enough for AC Milan. 

Ivano Bonetti said Gavin Rae could play for Juventus (or some other equally preposterous nonsense.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Craig Wighton is our obvious one.

I know he's a slaver at the best of times but Bomber Brown basically put all the pressure in the world on him as he applied for permission to play him at 15 (but was denied by the SPFL/SFA whomever is in charge of such decisions) and then pretty much said he's one of the best players he ever worked with and ranked him alongside talents such as Barry Ferguson. Peter MacDonald also said he was the best young talent he'd 'ever seen'. MacDonald went on to say that Wighton was even teaching him stuff in training at just 16.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Couple more Pars ones. These guys were never going to massive players but seemed destined to be big players for us, or even move on to bigger things.

 

Chris McGroarty was a regular starter for us in the SPL. He got called in some Scotland under 21 squads. He played well for us. Then something happened and he very, very quickly sank down through the levels, all the way down to the juniors I think.

 

Chris Templeman was a highly promising youth player at East End. He was regular said to be the standout in reserve games and began to feature in the squad for the first team. However, he never made it in to the first team, only amassing a handful of appearances. He'd have a decent career further down the leagues though, including Morton paying a ludicrous transfer fee for him.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Mr. Alli said:

I've said it numerous times but Craig Wighton should have went abroad when he had the chance. He'd have had a very different and more successful career. The mi use he was told to bulk up it absolutely ruined him.

Was it Neil McCann that did that? I know Hartley was famous for telling players to pretty much not bother with trying to put on 'mass' and just focus on cardio instead.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alex Williams for Morton.

We signed him for £50k from Stirling when we’d just been relegated to the Third Division, and by that point he’d already had a brush with the law involving a golf club and someone’s napper iirc.

Scored a shit-ton of goals to help us to the title, won the division’s player of the year and was top goal scorer. Scored a couple of goals in a cup win at then First Division Ross County and took his form into the following season as Morton took the Second Division by storm.

That was of course the season of our most infamous collapse (there’s been a few) and the alleged betting scandal, to which Williams’ name was prominently linked. He eventually left the following season and did reasonable jobs at Clyde and Ayr, significantly being part of Clyde’s team that beat Celtic and scoring in an Ayrshire derby in the cup, but he was never the player he was in that first season at Morton.

I remember someone saying he’d either play for Scotland or end up in the jail. He ended up doing time at some point further down the line.

Never seen a better natural finisher in all my time watching Morton though, and even after years of playing at a higher level, he’s still thought of fondly by a certain generation of Morton fans.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 23/12/2022 at 22:01, Jacky1990 said:

Adam Strachan.

Mind making his debut at Thistle. The first genuine youth prospect I had seen break through as a kid. Got you proper on the edge of your seat whenever he got the ball. Thought he was destined to be a star.

Sadly passed away earlier this year after a heap of legal troubles and a bang average lower league career. Shame.

I had missed the story about his passing. I take it he took his own life? What a sad end.

I read up online in the Daily Record and was enraged to see a comment from some wee jobbie in a tinfoil hat about SUDDEN FOOTBALLER DEATHS SKYROCKETING COZ OF COVID VACCINE!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...