Footballers / Athletes who failed to fulfill their potential

[Devon Malcolm]

If you're talking real childhood prodigy though, then I'm nominating Nicky Peng. Scored runs for England age groups all the way through the years, from Under 13s to Under 19s. I spent many a year bowling at the bastard as first for Northumberland and then for Durham he dispatched various attacks to all parts. But he didn't have the hunger for the game because basically his parents were loaded. Seriously. Had a couple of years at Durham, one at Glamorgan then packed instead. Gordan Muchall currently plays for Durham instead of him - they were best mates as kids - and Muchall couldn't lace Peng's jock. Look him up on cricketarchive.com - it all should be there.

 

Didn't know that about Peng's parents. That explains a lot. He really did look a serious talent as well.

[Stylin_and_Profilin]

Excellent thread this.

 

Also think it's important to distinguish people who have been crippled with injuries as opposed to bad attitude, lack of application or whatever else has caused them to never hit the heights expected of them. Some really promising careers have been shattered, as people have mentioned, purely by as much as a mistimes tackle

 

David Duval was a good shout by Max Power earlier in the thread which made me think of Notah Begay III

 

In the late 1990's this guy came roaring onto the golf scene and racked up a few PGA Tour wins in quick succession, stacks of money whilst amassing Ryder Cup points all over the shop. Like Duval he also is in the very select company of those who have shot a 59 in a competitive tournament and even cooler still he had a cool as fuck dual sided putter custom made by Nike which allowed him to putt both left and right handed depending on the putt. Then he seemed to implode off the course, got caught drink driving a couple of times and dropped off the face of the planet. He tried a brief return on the European Tour in the mid 2000's but had limited success and is now a commentator for the Golf Channel

[mikey]

A friend of mine was of a similar age and always said that the Sonny Pike, later known as Luke Pike, was massively overrated. He didn't stand out as special at Orient's youth academy but because his dad somehow got him in at Ajax, he had shitloads of hype on him and opponents wanted to make him look stupid. He was just too slow. A friend a bit closer to my age always said that if you're really slow, teams won't look at you. His best friend had more talent than the rest of the borough schools side put together, featuring guys like Konchesky, Zamora and Terry. However, he wasn't much of an athlete and had nicknames like "Tortoise" and "Titanic", such was his speed and turning circle. He could put a 70-yarder on a penny but getting caught in possession repeatedly and not being able to win it back trumps everything.

[air_raid]

Richard Wright.

 

All seemed to be going right when Ipswich won the Play Off final in 2000, but I don't think he ever recovered from giving away two penalties in his England debut. Pressure seemed to get to him..... in a friendly with Malta.

[cogitoergozoomo]

Tomas Brolin must be up there on unfulfilled potential. the darling of Euro 92 and USA 94 ended up a fat caricature of his former self playing only 50 games between his move from Parma and retirement at the age of 29.

 

I don't blame him entirely. English managers just didn't seem to know what to do with him. He was a Trequartista and there was no place for them in the mid 90s Premiership so he got shifted out wide or up front.

[air_raid]

He was a Trequartista and there was no place for them in the mid 90s Premiership so he got shifted out wide or up front.

 

Isn't this just a fancy word derived from Football Manager for "playing in the hole" which is exactly what Beardsley did most of his career?

[bAzTNM#1]

Add Liam Miller and Brian McLaughlin to this list. Both were incredible talents at Celtic.

Liam Miller is a good shout.

 

Problem with him is that he left Celtic at the wrong time. He should have stayed a few years. He was only playing his first full season wasn't he? Celtic were playing out of their skins in the Champions League and he goes and signs on a Bosman for Man Utd at the first possible opportunity. Claims Fergie is calling him the next Roy Keane but sticks him in the reserves when he finally joins. Bit of a sense of humour there from Sir. Alex. Only gets 9 games for Man Utd too. Was it really worth it Liam?

 

His departure from the Glasgow giants, after only 26 appearances for the Bhoys, led to outrage among the club's supporters who perceived Miller to be showing a distinct lack of loyalty considering the Celts' support of him through long-term injury

Currently plying his trade in Australia. What a waste.

[PunkStep]

He was a Trequartista and there was no place for them in the mid 90s Premiership so he got shifted out wide or up front.

 

Isn't this just a fancy word derived from Football Manager for "playing in the hole" which is exactly what Beardsley did most of his career?

Yep, or as is commonly referred- the number 10. Silly fancy Italian words. I hate the term 'Libero'even more, especially when the 1995 Merlin Premier League album listed this as Ruud Gullit's position. As a twelve year old, I was confused to fuck as to what a libero was.

[mikey]

Numbers differ from country-to-country though, depending on how the pyramid evolved there, which is why in some countries, 5 is a defensive midfielder and 6 is left back. We're said to have moved the centre half and then the left half back to central defense, whereas in Uruguay, they moved the right half and then the left half back to cover the wide defensive positions.

 

I genuinely think there is a breed of creative, lazy player that just doesn't work here. I said something similar about Alessandro Diamanti, who sharply divided opinion at West Ham between those who saw him as a creative hub and those who saw him as a defensive liability. In Italian football, the always had a culture of accommodating creativity by deploying a large number of defensive players behind them, and so you get the second forward who cuts in from wide, who's covered by a wingback behind him and box-to-box wide midfielder on the opposite side, or the greatly protected central playmaker, who's protected by having a defensive midfielder and a sweeper.

 

Since the back four became prevalent here, we've generally strayed little from it and so while we could accomodate a second striker that drops off, we never produced en masse these creative attacking midfielders that the Italians had in every team because they're a liability unless you deploy a sweeper. That's the trequartista role and it's most certainly not what Peter Beardsley did.