Players that never lived up to the hype

Players that didn't live up to the hype.

Something that is well discussed with poor quality in the national team. The likes of Michael Johnson you can probably remember the hype around him, set to be a major part in the national squad. His future had been wrote for him. However no one wrote what would actually happen. Unfortunate injury and seemed to lost his way. Since then never came back to start where he left off. Last pictured a larger then life size, ironically in a takeaway. So maybe Michael's career failed due to his lifestyle.

This is no strange case we could be currently seeing the career of Wilfried Zaha going down the pan. The lad is only 21, and up to 2013 made over 100 appearances for Crystal Palace scoring 12 goals. He was voted young player of the season for them in the 2011-2012 seasons and was attracting ever growing interest from Premiership clubs, including Manchester United. In Jan 2013 they signed him and agreed to loan him back for the rest of the season. Writing this a year on Zaha has made a magnificent 2 appearances for United. It is reported they had paid between 10-15 million pounds on him, with performance add ons. Lets take the lowest and with my maths skills I make that, 5 million per appearance. Now i am writing this before we launch the donny pop website, so if he has since gone on the make another appearance then I am sorry, however this looks unlikely, Zaha was recently left on the bench during a Manchester United reserves game. How embarrassing for the kid that was bigged up to be the future of English Football. Some people say if Sir Alex Ferguson was still there then he would play more, but i'm not sure about this. Unless the rumors are to be believed about Zaha being found in bed with Moyes' Daughter..

Another example, Scott Sinclair, left Swansea for Manchester City, now just sits around with Jack Rodwell, you might of thought Scott would of learnt from his Chelsea days not to get carried away and kept his feet on the ground. It's not like Swansea wasn't paying him much, or are just a little club. So here are examples of players moving to big clubs when they shouldn't, either because they haven't developed enough enough or they never had the talent that the hype around them said.

Could this be because we as English people and media, get carried away? Could this be because we put too much pressure on them? Or were they just not good enough to be at the top of the game?

Now I know your thinking, why is this on a website about Doncaster Rovers, well, we have had our fair share of these players that didn't live up to the hype. We cannot ignore Federico 'Kiko' Macheda, signed in 2007 by Manchester United from Lazio. After decent form in the reserves he made his way to the first team and came on as a sub against Aston Villa on 5 April 2009 with Villa winning 2-1 C.Ronaldo Made it 2-2 and Kiko scored to get the victory. He was quickly dubbed to be a future star, however it didn't take long for his career to turn for the worse. Between 2011 and 2013 he had loan spells at Sampdoria, QPR and Stuttgart during these 3 seasons he scored just 1 goal, on his first appearance for Sampdoria in their Coppa Italia tie against Udinese. Kiko could of earned himself a move away Man Utd due to to loan agreement with Stuttgart which involved an option to buy, however after not impressing on loan, Stuttgart said no. So unwanted by many and with his reputation in tatters, he found himself on loan to the likes of donny, how embarrassing this must be. Now I, like many wasn't expecting much from this signing, despite his obvious ability, his attitude seemed to always let him down. He came to us, with a lot to prove especially with his contract up at the end of the season, and he started positively. Scoring 3 goals in 3 games, 2 against Forest and 1 against Sheffield Wednesday. A very promising start, however injury meant he returned to Manchester. When he did come back, he didn't live up to the promise. Now in January, he is back at Old Trafford, where the club are said to be assessing players such as Macheda on who to sign new deals and who to let go. What next for him? It looks likely he will be leaving Manchester in the summer, one thing is for certain, he won't live up to the hype around him likening him to Cristiano Ronaldo.

And now the strange case of Michael Woods. Currently playing for Harrogate Town. Spent his young days at Leeds Academy, until the age of 16 where he moved to Chelsea, along with Tom Taiwo. Ken Bates accused Chelsea of tapping these players up and after a saga in court Chelsea were ordered to pay a reported 5 million pounds for the pair. Tom spent a few seasons with Carlisle, even linked with rovers on a few occasions, now plays in Scotland for Hibs. Michael played regularly in the reserves at Chelsea, he made 2 appearances in the FA cup at the age of 16, there was much talk of how he would be in the England team in the future and all the usual hype. However injury hampered his progression. He was loaned to Notts County where he only played one time in the FA cup. In 2012 he had a trial with Aberdeen but then signed for Yeovil on non contract terms playing 5 games and scoring 1 goal. Manager Gary Johnson who was impressed at first decided not to renew his contract. Then in the next season, October 2012 we signed Woods, who was playing for an obscure non league team, who I believe to be Brigg Town. Michael made just 1 appearance for us, in our victory against Portsmouth. Michael had received caps for England at u17 and u19 level. Now Chelsea paid 5 million for two players, let's say 2.5 each. This 23 year old that was not long ago worth 2.5 now playing in the Conference North.
Yet another player that didn't live up to the hype.

But not just these BIG clubs players that are overhyped by the media and fail to make the grade, 

Let's look at Jordan ball, banged them in for the youth team, us fans picked up on this and thought he must have something about him. The managment team thought so too and at the age of 19 came on as a sub in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy against Chesterfield, scoring with his first touch. He then got his chance in the league and against hartlepool, coming on as a sub and scored, however the goal got ruled out due to a foul on the goalkeeper. However Jordan was still showing promise, whilst at Rovers he was loaned out to Belper Town in the Northern Premier League Division One South, scoring 8 goals in 10 appearances. Us fans, were disappointed at the level he was sent out on loan, but he still made an impact, and was thought he had potential. Then to the shock of nearly everyone, including Jordan, he was released in the summer of 2013. I was disappointed by this as I thought he could of had a future with us, however his career after us maybe explains why he was released. Playing for Halifax, Rainworth Miners and now Mickleover Sports in the EVO-Stik League Northern Premier.

It's a simular story with Bradley Grayson, Waide Fairhurst and Craig Nelthorpe, among others.

Bradley Grayson who played for us in the League cup, nearly scoring with a powerful header, left us when his contract was not renewed and played for Frickley and Matlock, before following Kit Man's advice given to Robbie Clark and moved to Sweden. Robbie Clark who was praised for his attitude, was given a job at the Keepmoat after leaving Rovers as a player, in 2011. He was advised by MUD to move to Sweden and apply his trade there now at his second Swedish club Skellefteå FF, he seems to be settled. However as for Bradley who played for Ånge IF for 7 months scoring a staggering 24 goals and helping the team earn promotion, he decided to move back to Matlock where he plays with another ex Rover, Oscar Radford. Matlock is Managed by another ex Rover, Mark Atkins.

Another player that I was surprised hasn't had a better career is Waide Fairhurst, 10 League appearances for us scoring 2 goals. With a great assist for James Hayter on Waide's debut against Crystal Palace. In the 2009–10 season, he made his first start for the club against West Bromwich Albion and scored. His second start, came against Ipswich, which he opened up the scoring with a goal. A promising start, whilst at Rovers he had loan spells at Solihull Moors, Shrewsbury, Southend and Hereford. He was released from Rovers at the end of the 2011 season and moved to Maccesfield Town where he remained until 2013, making 58 appearances scoring 13 goals. He now plays for Lincoln City.

Why do players often not live up to the hype?

Well I think a lot comes down to our expectations, maybe because unlike countries like Spain and Brazil, who produce a lot of good talent, we don't have as many promising players coming through, we don't have the next Neymar or Xavi coming through our ranks in this country. Therefore if a player shows any promise, we get carried away. This puts pressure on the youngster, who might get carried away and ruin any chance he had of becoming the player we had hyped him up to be. There is the argument that the players were never good enough in the first place. People also say the player attitude is to blame. The same can be said for Rovers, we do not produce the talent of some clubs such as Crewe and Southampton and then get carried away. My opinion, the biggest problem is these players often go to the BIG clubs too earlier, and sit in the reserves team not doing much, whereas if they would of stayed at their own team such as they would of got more game time and could potentially progressed further.

How can Rovers improve the youth to pro ratio?

The answer could be player management, maybe with better management the players will be able to nurture their talent. But I also think we need to improve our scouting, and try to attract young players to our academy. At the moment we often lose players in our area to Leeds, and the Sheffield clubs. This could be due to our track record of not getting the youth players through to the first team.

However sometimes it is the other way around, 

Paul green, deemed too small by sheffield Wednesday. Rovers took him on at a 16 and stayed with us for 8 professional years, not only was he a good player at conference level, but he grew as a player as we was going up the leagues. Paul can also be thanked for his role in our League 1 playoff final win against Leeds, however he left us after. And unlike most Rovers trainees, Paul went on to have a good career at championship level, with derby. He is now 30 and plays for Leeds however down the peking order. Paul has also won 20 caps for the Republic Of Ireland, not bad for a player that is too small. I would definitely welcome him back. But thats another topic. Anyone who has met Paul and spoke to him will know how much of a model professional he is.

A player that came to us after deemed not good enough by Leeds is James Baxendale, he only made a few appearances with us but showed promise however after two unspectacular loan spells at Buxton and Hereford was released in 2012, James then Joined Walsall, where he is popular with the fans, and scored some screamers.

James husband released from leeds academy, now arguably one of our best players and was certainly missed when injured. I remember hearing about how this lad was doing well in our youth team, and when i first got to see him in the first team I recall his big tackles, for a kid, he certainly wasn't scared. He has since played 49 league games scoring 4 goals, including that stunner against Blackburn! Now aged 20, as a Rovers fan I really hope to see James have a good career here with us, and I hope a lot of kids look at James and think, 'I want to play for Donny!' James himself could inspire our future talent, credit also to Alex peterson and Liam Wakefield, as well as Paul Dickov due to given these a chance, even if at times he didn't have many options.

    

And even at the 'big' clubs, Robbie Savage told wasn't going to make it by Man Utd, love him or hate him he seemed to do alright for himself. Even if his dance moves are questionable.

And there are more that didn't make it at Doncaster but still doing well, Andrew Boyce recently signed for Scunthorpe from Lincoln.

Hopefully in the seasons to come, we can produce a lot more talent through our academy, and therefore will have more success stories then flops.

Thanks you for reading, I would love to hear your comments about this topic, and what you think can be done to improve this problem.