British Players That Did Make It In Europe
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In contrast to my other thread about the ones who didnt make an impact in Europe, these guys did, and still get the respect of the clubs that they played for.
Paul Ince at Inter, they loved his truly English style of hard play. He probaly had been studying Italian defending as a kid.
David Platt at Sampdoria. Ok so he didnt do it at his first Italian club which I think was Empoli, I know it wasnt one of the fashionable clubs. But he came good at Sampdoria. maybe he was in a class team, who knows.
Liam Brady at Juve. His naturel skills made him a joy to watch and Juve would of been an awsome side to watch with Brady and Platini in it.
Chris Waddle/Glen Hoddle at Monaco, Class players, can play anywhere, and thease guys were great to watch. Wenger signed them both together, and again im not sure weather he had Hatley aswell.
Tony Woodcock at Colonge. I only remeber this one, as we signed him from them. But I think that he won a couple of Bundasleague titles. Again, I think Cologne wanted him after his performances for Forest in the European cup final.
Luther Blissett at Inter. It was a strange time in football, but he did very well for Inter.
Steve Macmanaman. When Real Madrid want to make you a stupid offer for a long time, you say Yes, especially if you feel undervalued by your current team.
Didnt Robbie Keane also leave Coventry for Inter, and stayed there for 6 months? Im sure he was upfront with Vierei when I watched the Italian league.
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Yeah Keane did go to Inter.
Platt started at Bari if I remember rightly and later played for Sampdoria and Juventus.
Remember Joe Jordan going to AC Milan?
Laurie Cunningham at Real Madrid. Played in European Cup final against Liverpool.
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way back didn't John Charles make a good go of things in Italy
tigers2008-06-06 16:35:23
and Denis Law did ok over there , i think
oh yeah - and Keegan for Hamburg
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Lineker did ok at Barca didn't he? Steve Archibald also went there and did ok and Laurie Cunningham and a bit of an up and down time but he did play for Real.
Peoples Republik of Aucklandia
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way back didn't John Charles make a good go of things in Italy
and Denis Law did ok over there , i think
oh yeah - and Keegan for Hamburg
I was going to mention John Charles but didn't think anyone would have heard of him
Around about the same era, Joe Baker who also played for Arsenal had a stint in Italy.
Around about the same era, Joe Baker who also played for Arsenal had a stint in Italy.
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Butch Wilkins also did pretty well at AC Milan
Peoples Republik of Aucklandia
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way back didn't John Charles make a good go of things in Italy
and Denis Law did ok over there , i think
oh yeah - and Keegan for Hamburg
I was going to mention John Charles but didn't think anyone would have heard of him Around about the same era, Joe Baker who also played for Arsenal had a stint in Italy.
Around about the same era, Joe Baker who also played for Arsenal had a stint in Italy.let's do our bit to 'educate' da yoof G4L
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way back didn't John Charles make a good go of things in Italy
and Denis Law did ok over there , i think
oh yeah - and Keegan for Hamburg
I was going to mention John Charles but didn't think anyone would have heard of him Around about the same era, Joe Baker who also played for Arsenal had a stint in Italy.
Around about the same era, Joe Baker who also played for Arsenal had a stint in Italy.let's do our bit to 'educate' da yoof G4L
Well for the Arsenal fans that are younger than me at 34, Joe Baker played for Torino, and we bought him from there, and Laurie Cunninham (the first black player to play for England) finished his career with Leyton Orient
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Trevor Francis and Graeme Souness at Sampdoria. Mark Hateley played for an italian team as well didn't he.
Tony Cascarino scored a fair few goals at Marseille after they got dumped into the French 2nd division.
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Paul Lambert did well at Borussia Dortmund when he went there from Motherwell
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"Being a Partick Thistle fan sets you apart. It means youre a free thinker. It also means your team has no money." Tim Luckhurst, The Independent, 4th December 2003
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Didn't Cunningham die in a car accident in Spain? I thought that's where he was playing at the time
Peoples Republik of Aucklandia
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Born in Archway, London, Cunningham joined Leyton Orient after a start in schoolboy football. He joined West Bromwich Albion in 1977, where, under manager Johnny Giles, he teamed up with another black player, Cyrille Regis, and the following year (under Ron Atkinson) with Brendon Batson. This was the first time an English team simultaneously fielded three black players, and Cunningham, Batson and Regis became known as the Three Degrees.
West Bromwich Albion became one of the most attractive and exciting English sides in the late 1970s and Cunningham soon attracted attention. He became the first black player to wear an England shirt at any level[1]in England under-21s' friendly against Scotland at Bramall Lane on April 27, 1977, scoring on his debut. He subsequently earned six full England caps, making his debut against Wales in a Home International on 23 May 1979. Although Viv Anderson had made his England debut in a friendly six months previously and thus was the first black player to play for the senior England team, Cunningham was the first black player to play in a competitive England match.
In 1979 he made a historic move as the first British player to transfer to Real Madrid, for �995,000 Though he never recaptured his early brilliance he was adored by the fans being labeled 'Black Flash'. His later career saw him increasingly distracted by off-field interests and a series of unfortunate injuries, eventually being loaned to Manchester United before leaving Madrid in the summer of 1983 for permanent spells with Sporting de Gij�n of Spain, Olympique Marseille of France, England's Leicester City and Charleroi of Belgium. He returned to the English game with Wimbledon midway through the 1987-88 season. Although he had limited first team chances, he made a substitute appearance in the famous 1988 FA Cup final win over Liverpool. Soon after that he was transferred to Rayo Vallecano in Spain.
Laurie Cunningham was killed in a car crash in Madrid at the age of 33, on the morning of 15 July 1989.
In 2004 he was named as one of West Bromwich Albion's 16 greatest players, in a poll organised as part of the club's 125th anniversary celebrations.[2]
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The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
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That was an interesting piece on Laurie Cunningham. I had no idea he played in the 1988 FA Cup final.
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Neither did I, I thought he had died by then, well you learn something new ever day. Totally agree about Paul Lambert, he was a star, and again if memory serves me correctly, he won the European Cup.
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Didn't really work out for Gazza at Lazio, struggled to make the team.
The most successfull would have to be John Charles. Juve fans still worship him.Dino102008-06-11 11:24:10
Manager was under immense pressure to play him, even to the detrement of the team.
Keegan at Hamburg was a great success.
The most successfull would have to be John Charles. Juve fans still worship him.
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Facts to be corrected by Derek the Pedant.
1) Luther Blissett played for AC Milan, not Inter. It has been rumoured for years that Milan made an error and thought they were signing John Barnes from Watford. However, Blissett was kind of a success there and became a cult figure, so much so that a minority political party named itself after him.
2) When Laurie Cunningham left The O's for WBA they were called just plain Orient, not Leyton Orient. They reverted back to Leyton Orient circa 1987.
3) The best ever export was John Charles, The Gentle Giant. He left Leeds for Juve, then after five hugely successful years, playing at both centre-back and centre forward, returned to Leeds but soon moved back to Italy to Roma, where he wasn't as successful (he was getting on by then). I read his autobiog a year or so back and it's a good read. And as Dino says, the Juve fans worship the man even today. He died of an Alzheimers-related illness in 2004.
TheJam2008-06-11 12:58:24Nix, Leyton Orient and Alloa Athletic supporting schmuck.
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Juventus came to Leeds and played a testimonial to JC and Bobby Collins (who I'm sure didn't export himself) in the mid 80s - long after they'd finished playing. The pair were usually to be found in those days standing at the south-west corner of the ground prior to games, happy to chat. Nice guys. Both Leeds fans, and in it for what they could give.
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I think Becks did a pretty good job in Madrid. And I remember Owen scoring a bunch of goals for them off the bench.
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Facts to be corrected by Derek the Pedant.
3) The best ever export was John Charles, The Gentle Giant. He left Leeds for Juve, then after five hugely successful years, playing at both centre-back and centre forward, returned to Leeds but soon moved back to Italy to Roma, where he wasn't as successful (he was getting on by then). I read his autobiog a year or so back and it's a good read. And as Dino says, the Juve fans worship the man even today. He died of an Alzheimers-related illness in 2004.
Fair call. Although Keegan at Hamburg must run him close. Had quite a defining effect not only to the club (as HSV escaped Bayern's shackles for a time), but the Bundesliga. Also conducted himself very well as a person. I had sort of forgotten about Keegan's time in hamburg, but he was very impressive.
More impressive that Ian Rush ... " it was like being in another country".
I know, I know, its serious!
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Ian Harte (?) in the spanish second division
Normo's coming home
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