Do you, did you, see yourself as a football player ?

[Frank Lincoln]

As a youngster I saw myself as a future David Wagstaffe. Always wanted to play on the wing, and liked to think I could play like Waggy. At school I was even nicknamed ‘Waggy‘. In reality though, I think it’s fair to say that Waggy didn’t need to lose sleep about me taking his place in the Wolves team. …

 

[topcat99]

I gave up adult football after experiencing the Wednesday afternoon “friendly “ between Para Battalions.

Like murderball without the rules

 

[topcat99]

When David Davis was in the first team with us I used to see him every Thursday night playing in a 6 a side league with his mates.

When I was at BAE, one of the lads played 6 a side regularly.

A Blackpool player was also a regular. One night he tried to do that clever drag back move and ruptured both knee ligaments.

Explain that to the club that is paying you

 

[wolfslair]

I gave up adult football after experiencing the Wednesday afternoon “friendly “ between Para Battalions.

Like murderball without the rules

So the smart choice then hahaha

Watching army/para’s play sport against each other is BRUTAL and can only be described as a sport because there is a pitch haha

 

[Bigcheese]

We used to play Wolverhampton Sunday league and when we first started, all the players who smoked had to swap their fags to Embassy, we would then pool all the tokens for our football's out of the catalogue they used to send you.
Great times and still missed nearly 30 years later.

 

[gullykular]

That is the sad reality of a lot of English academies now mate.

Being physically big or powerful from a young age is always a massive criteria people look for and so often I saw when supporting academy players in my early career, these lads had the biggest problems adjusting to the jump in level from club/school football.

I bet you could pick a pass, dribble and do more technical bits better than them…….

Some lads I went to school with were better than lads in my academy…. I didn’t understand why and how they weren’t picked up at the time…..

So much lost talent in British football because They are Late bloomers physically even though they are little magicians or striking dynamos.

Think there's a belief the technical side can be taught, but the physical potential needs to be at maximum. That said, Mendez-Laing in particular was massively impressive, reminded me of Henry in the way he finished off chances and the graceful way he played.

I was a ball-playing centre back before it was cool but even when I'd grown fully I was never likely to be dominant. Don't think I'm one of the lost talents of the game it's fair to say

 

[Thank you Sir Jack]

Here you go from 2016 . Me in goal . Not bad for me age. A couple of decent saves. We win 5 3

Seriously impressed. You were a real live wire.

 

[topcat99]

So the smart choice then hahaha

Watching army/para’s play sport against each other is BRUTAL and can only be described as a sport because there is a pitch haha

Yep, and I was only a spectator

 

[old jacks thumb]

When I was at BAE, one of the lads played 6 a side regularly.

A Blackpool player was also a regular. One night he tried to do that clever drag back move and ruptured both knee ligaments.

Explain that to the club that is paying you

A very good friend of mine played for qpr and on one of his visits back home got talked into playing for his local pub side. One of the opposition took a dislike to him and chopped him down,two footed,across the knees.
Career finished.

 

[SevernWolf]

Only in my dreams when I come on as sub for Wolves and score the winning goal in the FA Cup Final.

I have similar dreams about playing for Wolves, but in them I'm always completely carp and wondering how nobody has noticed yet.

 

[Cradley_Dave]

Anyone have any memories from the Dudley Metro, Teams Players etc?

 

[GateWolf]

Schools football as a goalkeeper, Final of a tournament went to a sudden death penalty shootout, dived to soon so hands were ahead of the ball, the ball went through my arms, hit my nose and bounced away from the goal, winning that trophy was my peak football wise, moved onto Basketball which I was infinitely better at

 

[Ian]

Was an average defender as a schoolboy played in every defensive position but the “ coach “ stuck me back there as I was tall for my age and settled on playing Left centre half as I could use my left foot…… always thought I was more if a striker but the coaches knew better.
“ Retired” at 16 because of work but eventually went back to play for a local team when I was in my 30’s and played as a striker…… won the leagues highest scorer 3 seasons on the trot!

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

Was an average defender as a schoolboy played in every defensive position but the “ coach “ stuck me back there as I was tall for my age and settled on playing Left centre half as I could use my left foot…… always thought I was more if a striker but the coaches knew better.
“ Retired” at 16 because of work but eventually went back to play for a local team when I was in my 30’s and played as a striker…… won the leagues highest scorer 3 seasons on the trot!

We had a guy who had never played competitive football until he was 35 play for us and he was top scorer in our division for 7 years until he hung his boots up. He was super fit and only come the one preseason as we knew him from the pub and knew how fit he was to “make up the numbers”. Some 20 years on in his sixties I see him at least once a week road running, madness! Especially as my own fitness now means I sweat eating a packet of crisps!

 

[Jonzy54]

We used to play matches on the Astroturf at Lilleshall and in one game we were a player short and roped someone in at the last minute.Whilst getting changed he said he had a trial for West Ham and that he was a midfield box to box player.
When we got on the pitch it was soon evident he couldn’t trap a bag of cement and he was breathing through his rear end and threw up on the side of the pitch .
The only trial he could have attended was to see if he could hack it at being a steward.

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

We used to play matches on the Astroturf at Lilleshall and in one game we were a player short and roped someone in at the last minute.Whilst getting changed he said he had a trial for West Ham and that he was a midfield box to box player.
When we got on the pitch it was soon evident he couldn’t trap a bag of cement and he was breathing through his rear end and threw up on the side of the pitch .
The only trial he could have attended was to see if he could hack it at being a steward.

We had a 6 a side team years ago for my old work. Had a kid started who had supposedly been in the famed Crewe academy (this was early 00s when they still produced great players). He turned up to play in some very swanky white boots, socks pulled up over his knees and some string in his hair like Diego Forlan only to produce the most inept performance I’ve seen on a pitch. Couldn’t run, couldn’t tackle, couldn’t shoot and had a touch like a trampoline. He made Eggert Jonsson look like Zidane.

 

[Tring Wolf]

Was with Watford until just before my 16th birthday but deep down knew I wasn’t as good as the other strikers in and around my age group (Tommy Smith, Gifton Noel-Williams and our old friend Paul Robinson before he was converted into a left-back) so no surprise when I got released.

Played at Step 3 for a little bit after that and played against a couple of ex-Wolves in Andy Sinton (who was still brilliant) and Michael Gilkes.

Spent pretty much all of my adult career at my hometown club (Step 4/5) and finally finished up a couple of years ago as their record goalscorer (336 goals in 533 games). Had 200 of those by the age of 23 but suffered from chronic hamstring problems and was never the same player after (like a slightly taller and only slightly less boring Michael Owen). Still scored our first ever FA Cup and FA Vase goals though which is nice.

Always found it quite tough mentally as I missed most of what should have been my best years through injury (no idea how professional players get through that) but generally very grateful and blessed for the friendships I got to make along the way.

 

[PulverWolf]

Started playing as soon as i could , as a 10 yr old playing for the school team in a proper dressing room with a kit was magical i can still recall the smell... I had dreams but even our school team had acadamy players for villa who were bigger and more composed than i ever could be.
Played through age ranges getting to play for Bridgnorth in the birmingham league was the highlight , then county league (shropshire) for the aptly named Willey Fc -we were crap- learnt the ugly side - recall one match where we were getting tonked , one of our subs was ex para ,built like a brick outhouse, his job - punch the number 9, was funny at the time but many games eneded up in sly thuggery. My era was the 70.s and early eighties which always had the hint of violence at any level - went up to Glasgow to play Celtic boys in 76 ( it was hot as buggery ) the pitch basically a sandpit, we lost but not by much , though the strangest thing was staying in a comunity centre on a really tough council estate in glasgow , not recommended! but we got a taste for fried mars bars!

 

[Wolvessince63]

I played for many years in the Wolverhampton Sunday league before going to the Dudley and Cradley Premier, where I was scouted for Bilston Town.
That was as good as it got, I finally finished when the kids came along and life got more serious.

 

[wwbug]

I have similar dreams about playing for Wolves, but in them I'm always completely carp and wondering how nobody has noticed yet.

Weird and very unrealistic ! That bit about the fans not noticing !

 

[Sanewolf]

32 next month and I am still playing Saturday league, play in the Birmingham AFA Division 1.

This is the same division as a certain Mr Karl Henry plays in so I get the joys of battling against him at least twice a season. Played against him the first game of this season and I must say despite him now being 40 he is still in very good shape and strong as an ox. He captains the side he plays for and orchestrates the younger lads around him.

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

32 next month and I am still playing Saturday league, play in the Birmingham AFA Division 1.

This is the same division as a certain Mr Karl Henry plays in so I get the joys of battling against him at least twice a season. Played against him the first game of this season and I must say despite him now being 40 he is still in very good shape and strong as an ox. He captains the side he plays for and orchestrates the younger lads around him.

That’s ex-pros for you, they never seem to lose it regardless of their ability to begin with. I played against exAlbion Richard Sneekes when he was about 43/44 and I couldn’t get near him, just “thought” so much quicker than I did

 

[Mile End Wanderer]

As said before had trial with Villa (feel sick saying it) felt sick putting on the yellow away kit at the time too.

Marc Albrighton, Dan Sturridge, Nathan Baker, Barry Bannan, Patrik Berger played with in some reserve games with them. Berger was awesome

Injured called time on the game. Love watching now.

Nice to read some other stories though

 

[Abbobrom]

Think there's a belief the technical side can be taught, but the physical potential needs to be at maximum. That said, Mendez-Laing in particular was massively impressive, reminded me of Henry in the way he finished off chances and the graceful way he played.

I was a ball-playing centre back before it was cool but even when I'd grown fully I was never likely to be dominant. Don't think I'm one of the lost talents of the game it's fair to say

A friend of mine worked with Liam Brady at the Arsenal Academy. He asked a mutual friend to have a look at a young lad in the Midlands who they had heard good reports about.

Having watched him a couple of times our friend reported back, full of praise.

My mate from the Academy travelled up and the two went to watch him. After about twenty minutes he turned to go. "What do you think?" Rubbish came the reply. "What do you mean?"

"The two things he has got we can coach, (he then pointed to his head and heart) the two things he hasn't got we can do nothing about."

 

[Handsworth Wolf]

Was with Watford until just before my 16th birthday but deep down knew I wasn’t as good as the other strikers in and around my age group (Tommy Smith, Gifton Noel-Williams and our old friend Paul Robinson before he was converted into a left-back) so no surprise when I got released.

Played at Step 3 for a little bit after that and played against a couple of ex-Wolves in Andy Sinton (who was still brilliant) and Michael Gilkes.

Spent pretty much all of my adult career at my hometown club (Step 4/5) and finally finished up a couple of years ago as their record goalscorer (336 goals in 533 games). Had 200 of those by the age of 23 but suffered from chronic hamstring problems and was never the same player after (like a slightly taller and only slightly less boring Michael Owen). Still scored our first ever FA Cup and FA Vase goals though which is nice.

Always found it quite tough mentally as I missed most of what should have been my best years through injury (no idea how professional players get through that) but generally very grateful and blessed for the friendships I got to make along the way.

That’s a great effort, it really is. 500+games in non-league I’m surprised you’re still walking. I managed at most a couple of hundred and I’m paying the price.