Forgotten Rovers: Damien Plessis

January 2012 saw Rovers sign a number of players including three on the same day, Mamadou Bakayoko, Habib Bamogo and Damien Plessis. With all three coming in as part of the dreaded 'experiment'. 

The idea was these players were brought in by their agent Willie Mckay, be cheap for the club, help the club stay in the championship and boost the reputation of these players, putting them in 'the shop window' for a move to the Premiership. 

None of these players really made an impact, and will be quickly forgotten, however one player, many Rovers fans will find it hard to understand existed. 

Damien Plessis. Making a magnificent 0 appearances, in fact pop star Louis Tomlinson has had more of a playing infact, in fact a 52 year old has made more of an impact.

So who is he?

He is a towering, strong, defensive midfielder, the Frenchman was 15 when he was a highly rated talent. If you read an earlier article about failed talents I wrote, he would certainly fit into that list.

He began to be recognised whilst playing for Lyon's youth before a 2007 move to English giants, Liverpool. Manager Rafa Benitez holding him in high regard. In 2008 his impressive reserve team form earned him his first team debut.

This form also earned him international call up for the French u21 team, having previously been capped at u20, u19, u18 amd u17.

His career was certainly looking promising. However had tough competition for places with Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso.

In 2010 he joined Panathinaikos for an undisclosed fee, he was signed with lots of potential, however, he failed to impress his manager with poor performances. In July 2011 the Greek club allowed him to go on trial to Sven Goran Eriksson's Leicester City, however the former England manager cut this trial short due to Damien failing to impress. He was also rumoured to be in talks with 1860 Munich, however this came to nothing and he returned to Panathinaikos.

After 6 months he then came to the keepmoat on loan to try and resurrect his career. Or did he?

Well we have no idea if he actually found the keepmoat. 

All we saw of him was his signing picture along with Bomogo and Bakayoko. 

This was strange, especially considering at the time, a strong, towering defensive midfielder was well needed, but we never saw him.

I would love to talk more about his time at Rovers, but there is nothing more to say. We don't know why he never played, many of use a few years on, don't really care.

The fact that Chris Black played more games for Rovers then Plessis. 

Forgotten? Well it is easy to.

So where is he now?

As you can imagine, his time at Rovers did not re start his career and he didn't return to the Premiership. Instead he was released by Panathinaikos and signed for French Ligue 2 side, Arles-Avignon. 

Infact, he seemed to find his feet here, and played regularly making 40 appearances in 1 and a half seasons.

In January 2014 he moved to Swiss Super League side, Fc Lausanne-Sport.

So there you have it, Damien Plessis, forgotten Rover, however maybr this has been a waste of time as he never seemingly was here. Infact I have probably spent more time and put more effect into writting the badly written article, then Damien did for Rovers. And for that reason, be sure to give us a follow on twitter and facebook, share with friends and leave a comment. 

My honest opinion, maybe he already had the move to Ligue 2 lined up. But this is just an opinion. 

Thanks for reading.
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Promising Luke

Young centre back Luke has a bright future ahead of him, we take a look at why.

Luke McCullough joined Rovers in the summer 2013 from Manchester United, whom he had joined in 2010 from Irish club Dungannon Swifts. At the age of 15, he played in the IFA Premiership, which is the top league in his native country, Northern Ireland.

Upon moving to Manchester, he made 25 youth appearances as team captain for the 2011-2012 season. And in January 2013 he made a short term loan move to Cheltenham making 1 appearance. Luke was released from Old Trafford in the summer 2013, and joined Doncaster on trial.

After impressing Paul Dickov, he was quickly signed up as one for the future, signing a 2 year contract. 

However, Paul needed to use the youngster quicker then expected with injury to Rob Jones andJamie McCombe, he made his debut and played the full game against Brighton in November. He has since made 13 appearances for Rovers.

Many people have been impressed with Luke, whilst he is not the defender that Rob Jones is, he does show a lot of promise. Especially with his ball playing skills, in fact it has been this that has called for many fans wondering if he could provide cover further up the field as a defensive midfielder.

During his first run in the side, he was partnering Khumalo, however, with the South African picking up an injury, fellow youngster Liam Wakefield was called on to step up. Unfortunately this partnership didn't have a great effect, mainly due to lack of experience of the two 20 year olds. This was not a decision Paul Dickov had wanted to do, but he was forced due to injury. The next game Liam moved to right back, and Paul Quinn partnered Luke, which worked much better and took the pressure off the too youngsters a bit.

Against Watford, with Tamas missing the game due to injury, the back 4 consisted of Coppinger, Quinn, Meite and Husband, however, injury to Meite saw Luke McCullough take his place, he put in a solid display despite the incident which led to Watford's goal, which seemed to involve lack of communication from Husband, allowing his man to run behind Luke who was watching the ball. This is expected with a defense that doesn't play together.

Watching Luke, reminds me a bit of Sam Hird, not in the style or way they play, but Sam was fantastic, when he had a strong character such as Matt Mills next to him, however when Sam was playing the lead role at the back, he wasn't as good. And I think at the moment Luke is the same, he would be great playing with and learning from a leader such as Rob Jones, but he is not ready to be the lead man.

One further thing that impresses me is his professionalism off the field, now I am aware of his naughty behavior whilst at Manchester United, but on the social media he does come across very well. Much more mature then a lot of youngsters, you only have to look at ex Rover Oscar Radford to see what I mean. This tells me Luke is the type of player that can develop and reach his potential.

Pior to joining Rovers, Luke had been capped for Northern Ireland at u16, u17 and u19 level. His move to Doncaster earned him his first call up for the u21 squad and he has gone on to make 6 appearances so far. I would certainly tip him to make a full international appearance within the next few years.

The future looks bright for Luke, he has shown he is quite capable at this level and will only improve the more experience he gains. Next season could be very important for him, with Rob having a career threatening injury and Jamie McCombe unknown how he will return. Also with Tamas and Meite only on short term deals and contracts expire at the end of the season, finally Khumalo is unlikely to play for Rovers again after a season ending injury picked up on international duty and will return to parent club,  Tottenham. This only leaves Luke and Liam Wakefield here next season, in my opinion Liam is not ready, I would also like to see Meite and Tamas here next season, but there are a lot of signs showing Luke could play am important part next season.

After this, who knows, he has the potential to go far in the game, let's hope this future star can bring a lot to Rovers.

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