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Footballing late bloomers


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1 hour ago, eindhovendee said:

Craig Brewster.

Knew him as a young lad and would guess even he would be surprised at his career given he was still part time with  Forfar well into his twenties.

That's who I was going to say.

I just watched him play for Forfar against Dundee United in the 1987 Scottish Cup Quarter Final during a 2-2 draw just before United went to the Nou Camp and Brewster was anonymous.

You would believe then that he'd score the Scottish Cup Final winner for the opposition seven years later!

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5 hours ago, parsforlife said:

Barry Robson was really the epitome of this for this for a while

I was going to say him and Bartley, but both now mentioned.

Russel Latapy worth a mention? Was playing second division in Portugal before he signed for Hibs at about 28/29.

Craig Gordon just seems to get better as he gets older, but he was outstanding even as a teenager.

On a lesser scale, I think Scott Robinson is a better player now than when at Hearts.

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8 hours ago, gannonball said:

Fair enough I can just remember at the time Hearts signing Harley and Boyack thinking they had signed 2 average wingers but wasn't aware Hartley had moved to centre before then.

I appreciate he had reignited his career a fair bit at Rangers but he was an EPL defender for years and would say he only ended up at Rangers as his legs went a bit but Rangers played a way to counter this as well as having a rapid centre back in Bougherra beside him.

Hartley might well have been decent at St Johnstone, but it was at Hearts that he really flourished. And not right away either.

Weir began his professional career with Falkirk at 22, which is relatively late. I don't think anyone is saying he "bloomed" at Rangers. He was great at Hearts.

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Would Michael O'Halloran count?

22yo when he signed for us after doing nothing of note anywhere and, while hes fallen away recently, has had a fairly great career for middling Scottish side.

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Andy considine spent a long time around our first team ranging from ok to clownshoes. He won our player of the year in 2012 but that wasn’t a particularly high bar. 

It was only mcinnes coming in in 2013 where he became reliable and solid, before evolving into more of a goal threat and popping up with some really memorable moments in the latter era with Derek, obviously culminating in a first Scotland cap in his 30’s. 

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9 minutes ago, johnnydun said:

Duncan Shearer.

Garry Harkins.

Claudio Caniggia.

Caniggia was the breakout star of the Italia 90 World Cup at 22 years old and was already playing in the best league in the world at that point. 
 

Admittedly, I know a bit less about Garry Harkins career…

Edited by Junior_Arab
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Billy Stark was an atrocious football manager but he did one notable thing during a turgid three years with St Johnstone and that was convert Paul Hartley from a winger.

He was the only bright spot for a couple of seasons, hence the reason Craig Levein signed him. He was far more than "decent" for Saints, although obviously continued his upwards trajectory upon leaving.

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24 minutes ago, Dons_1988 said:

Andy considine spent a long time around our first team ranging from ok to clownshoes. He won our player of the year in 2012 but that wasn’t a particularly high bar. 

It was only mcinnes coming in in 2013 where he became reliable and solid, before evolving into more of a goal threat and popping up with some really memorable moments in the latter era with Derek, obviously culminating in a first Scotland cap in his 30’s. 

Even managed to move onto a more successful club in his mid-30s too.

The obvious Dundee shout is surely Greg Stewart, or Kane Hemmings?

Edited by RandomGuy.
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20 minutes ago, Junior_Arab said:

Caniggia was the breakout star of the Italia 90 World Cup at 22 years old and was already playing in the best league in the world at that point. 
 

Admittedly, I know a bit less about Garry Harkins career…

Lehs, Caniggia was at his peak age 33, playing in the best league in the world.

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10 hours ago, gannonball said:

Fair enough I can just remember at the time Hearts signing Harley and Boyack thinking they had signed 2 average wingers but wasn't aware Hartley had moved to centre before then.

We signed Boyack two and a half years before Hartley.

Boyack wasn't a bad player, to be fair. He just couldn't stay injury-free.

Hartley had picked up at St Johnstone, but nobody was particularly enthused when we signed him (he got booed when he and Wyness came to wave on the pitch) and his start was really poor.

I love him.

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3 hours ago, Kyle Reese said:

Russel Latapy worth a mention? Was playing second division in Portugal before he signed for Hibs at about 28/29.

Latapy had won the Portugese League twice under Bobby Robson at Porto, and the cup at Boavista, also starring for both sides in European competition, before he fetched up at Easter Road.

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Chic Charnley, floated about various teams like Ayr United, Clydebank and Accies. Had some top flight experience, certainly at Hamilton. Wound up the Rangers fans, or at least they knew he was a Celtic fan and got a red card at Ibrox. I don't think it was too long before he rocked up at Firhill for his first of three or four spells. 

Did well with Thistle and got a move alongside Davie Elliott to St Mirren, who were in the top-flight at the time.

Ended up at Firhill again when Thistle were in the top-flight and St Mirren were in the first division  

Played well and was even linked with Lou Macari's Celtic but that fell through despite playing in a testimonial for the Hoops.

Left and went to Dumbarton, got a move to Dundee where he was a bit of a cult hero too. 

Ended up going to Hibs where he debuted and robbed the ball from some dread-locked Swedish guy to fire a spectacular winner. No idea what happened to the Swede. . 

Not sure if Chic had anymore top flight games but had two further short spells with the Jags. 

Was abkut 23 when got a run with the Accies, was around 40 when he last played, for the Jags, around 2002/03.

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9 hours ago, Theroadlesstravelled said:

Morelos. He’s just now coming into his tits.

 

34 minutes ago, The Other Foot said:

I’ve been staring at this comment for several minutes, and still don’t know what to do with it. There’s an image in my head that won’t leave for a very long time. 

hippo-mother-in-law.gif.fe5cc62a7780af644344faa4f4ecfdc6.gif

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