• Welcome to the ShrimperZone forums.
    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which only gives you limited access.

    Existing Users:.
    Please log-in using your existing username and password. If you have any problems, please see below.

    New Users:
    Join our free community now and gain access to post topics, communicate privately with other members, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and free. Click here to join.

    Fans from other clubs
    We welcome and appreciate supporters from other clubs who wish to engage in sensible discussion. Please feel free to join as above but understand that this is a moderated site and those who cannot play nicely will be quickly removed.

    Assistance Required
    For help with the registration process or accessing your account, please send a note using the Contact us link in the footer, please include your account name. We can then provide you with a new password and verification to get you on the site.

Who were you in the playground?

DTS

The Business
Joined
Oct 25, 2003
Messages
16,175
Location
In a world of my own.
I am sure we all had role models back in the day. You know the sort - Playing in the playground and your through on goal, you scuff it it only to run off shouting "Collymore" or whoever it may be.

When I was about 14 I switched from Central Defence to Right Back which was a move I quite enjoyed as you got to attack a lot more. I was also too small at the time to play central defence.

At the same time I swapped to right back we signed the wonder that was Gary Poole for I think £375k which was a hell of a lot even then.

I was so impressed with this signing is decided in my wisdom to get "POOLE" & "2" put on the back of my shirt.

This proved to be a total disaster as Gary Poole went on to be possibly one of the most mediocre defenders even to wear my beloved blue.

Who was your hero?

For the purposes of making the debate intresting I am ruling out both Neil Campbell and Dominic Iorfa from this conversation. :hilarious:
 
If I have to choose someone from the team when I was 14, it's going to be a very sobering choice.

That said, looking at the sufcdb fixtures from around my birthday at 14and taking a central midfielder (as has tended to be my position), I would have.....





Mike Marsh. That could have gone worse :)
 
In my day everyone claimed to be Kevin Keegan in the school playground but I played it cool and was 'Trevor Brooking' for a while. The only Southend player I can remember trying to emulate was Derek Spence; I scored far more goals but it was so much easier when playing football with a tennis ball and the archetypal 'jumpers for goalposts' ...
 
I've either been a Left Winger or a Striker all my life, So my Southend Heroes growing up were Tilson or Collymore, but neither of them could reach the level of adulation I had for Ryan Giggs. At that time he was only a young lad and they were banding him about to be the Next George Best, who i had been reliably informed by my Belfast Native relatives was "God". When he scored "That" Goal against Arsenal in the cup... Confirmed to me he was what i wanted to be more than anything.
 
The team I grew up with was totally devoid of role models. As I played on the wing I suppose I went through a stage shortly after his goal against Bolton of pretending to be John Nielsen but it didn't last very long...
 
I so rarely scored when I was a kid I wasn't really anyone. But at a push, when required, I would be Eric Gates or Paul Mariner! Nowadays I play up front and must admit that when I score I can't resist Freddy's "sharpshooter"! Bit sad for a grown up maybe!
 
As a kid for some reason i wanted to be a winger , and a quick winger that took on the world and could whip quality balls in the box.

Unfortunatly for me was that i didn't look up to any SUFC players at the time and the only players around that were like that were Tony Daly and Franz Carr, so even now i won't have a bad word said about either of them :o
 
Billy Best ,and then his replacement main Striker who was about 2ft taller and totally different and who still works for the club now ( something to do with the Youth I think ) Bill Garner .
 
I always laid claim to being Jan Molby, on the basis that I could occasionally thread through a cultured pass, but I was about as mobile as beached whale.

:o
 
At break this morning I was Franck Moussa. If the big kids dont kick our ball on the roof at lunchtime I am going to be Trevor Fitzpatrick.
 
I am sure we all had role models back in the day. You know the sort - Playing in the playground and your through on goal, you scuff it it only to run off shouting "Collymore" or whoever it may be.

That's exactly who it was for me - "and it's Collymoooorrre - WHAT A GOAL BY STAN COLLYMORE!!!!"

Of course when I played in goal for an U15 side a couple of years later it had to be Roycey.

* "Real chance, oh it's another FABULOUS save from Simon Royce...."

;)

(* although obviously that one was only said in my head at the time - didn't wanna look stupid lol)
 
Last edited:
I was Steve Whitworth, Leicester City and England Left Back.
On the odd occaision I ever got near the goal I became Frank worthington.
 
I liked to think I was Steve Tilson an all-action goal-scoring left-sided midfielder, who could also play up front, central midfield and left-back, maybe even in goal at a push with a sweet left-foot and the greatest ever slide-tackling technique.

In reality, I was a slightly better version of Drewe Broughton who could clap my hands and shout encouragement with the best of them, but could control a ball further than I could kick it and had the mobility of an asthmatic ant weighed down with shopping. Its a sobering thought to think that if I had worn wrist bands I could have been a professional footballer.
 
Back
Top