British Players Abroad.

Gareth Bale, Steven Gerrard, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard. Just four of the big names plying their trade abroad. But what about the lesser know players that have made the brave attempt to carve a career outside of British Isles? In this article we take a look at just a few of the others that may have slipped your attention.


John Bostock- RC Lens
Spurs fans may remember the name John Bostock. Once tipped to be the next big thing for English football the central midfielder made his first team debut for Crystal Palace at the tender age of 15. A move to Spurs followed at a cost of £700,000 plus add-ons. After several loan moves, he was unable to break into the Tottenham first team and was released on a free transfer. He crossed the channel and joined Royal Antwerp and had a pretty good season providing 16 assists. A further move to fellow Belgian side Oud-Heverlee Leuven where he finished the season with an impressive thirteen goals and 19 assists. He now turns out for French Ligue 2 club RC Lens and after representing England at various youth levels has opted to play switch nationalities to Trinidad and Tobago.

John Bostock At New Club Lens

Nathan Eccleston- Békéscsaba 1912 Előre
Once upon a time things looked bright for Nathan Eccleston. He was at Liverpool and performing well for the under 18's and starting to get attention for the first team. A handful of substitute appearances in the Premier League and Europa league and three loan spells later, he was sold to Blackpool. The club where former Liverpool academy team mate Tom Ince had built a strong reputation. Unfortunately for Eccelston he didn't have the same luck and spent a fair amount of time out on loan. After being released he went North of the border joining Partick Thistle and going on to join Kilmarnock. Still unable to make an impact and I can only guess a waning reputation he made the brave decision to try his luck in mainland Europe. He is currently in the Hungarian second division playing for Békéscsaba 1912 Előre.

Eccelstone in his Blackpool Days

Jordan Mustoe- Westerloo
Now Jordan Mustoe may not be somebody you have heard of (I signed him on a free transfer once for York City of Football manager) but the 25 year old defender is currently playing in Belgium for Westerloo. After starting his career in the Liverpool youth system, he was released and made the jump to Wigan. Six loan spells later and no first team appearances for Wigan he was released and join Accrington Stanley on a short term deal. This again ended with him being released and the decision was made to have a crack at football abroad and good luck to him.

Jordan Mustoe posing for Westerloo

James Lawrence -  AS Trenčín
Another Englishman you may not be too familiar with but James Lawrence has been playing in Europe for a while now. After spending time in the youth teams of Arsenal and QPR Lawrence ended up in Holland with time spent at Ajax, Sparta Rotterdam and RKC Waalwijk but no first team appearances came about. From this he moved on to AS Trenčín in the Slovakian first division. They are currently champions so not a bad club to join and try to have a decent career with.

James Lawrence Plays For Current League Champions AS Trencin

A few special mentions for Ravel Morrison of Lazio, Ryan Gauld of Sporting Lisbon and England one cap wonder Jay Bothroyd who is currently at Jubilo Iwata in Japan.

Darlington 1883: The Phoenix Club Still On The Rise

When George Reynolds bought Darlington in 1999 he promised to take them from Division 3 to the Premier League. He even built a 25,000 seater stadium and named it after himself. Tie this in with failed attempts to sign Paul Gascoigne and Faustino Asprillia in 2002 it looked like Darlington had found themselves a rather eccentric chairman but somebody that wanted to help the club progress. What this actually was, was the start of the slow decline of the proud club.

The Reynolds/Darlington arena

In 2003 the club slipped into administration after Reynolds had financed the stadium costs with high interest loans, and with the stadium getting less then 50% attendance the bills started to pile up.In early 2004 Reynolds stepped down but despite the off field problems surrounding the club, then manager David Hodgson managed to guide the club to league safety.

Various owners and managers tried to get the club on track and after another spell in administration the club won the FA trophy in 2011. This was unfortunately not the catalyst to get the club back on the level and the club entered administration again for the third and final time. The FA decided to demote the club four divisions, this decision was appealed but the FA decided that the club was being reformed and banned the name Darlington FC being used. This led to the Name Darlington 1883 being chosen as this was the year the club was originally formed.

This is where the story takes a turn for the better......

Darlington 1883

After agreeing a ground share with Bishop Auckland who were based 12 miles outside of Darlington, the club began their assault on the league to get back to where they belong. The first challenge was to get out of was the Northern league, they did this with almost ease. Darlington finished the season with 122 points and scored 145 goals and set a new average attendance record of 1300 which was about three times the previous record. A further two promotions in quick succession has seen the club get to the Vanarama national. The season has started strongly for the Quakers and sees them currently sitting at the top of the table with thirteen points from the first five games.

The fans have never given up on the club and showed a community spirit to help Darlington rise through the leagues and continue their quest to return to the football league and hopefully soon return to their home back in Darlington.

Liverpool Prepare For Spurs With Burton Destruction

It was a night that could have gone so wrong for Liverpool after their disappointing defeat to Burnley last Saturday. Championship newcomers Burton Albion were looking to cause an upset in the EFL trophy against the team their manager had signed for as player 13 years ago.

But the Pirelli Stadium was not the place for a giant killing as a strong Liverpool side showed their ability without mercy. Sadio Mane returned from injury and looked dangerous every time he got the ball and his clever footwork and neat cross found Divock Origi whose smart flick past Bywater got the ball rolling after fifteen minutes. Bywater was involved in the next goal as his poor throw went straight to Mane who found an overlapping Clyne, Clynes cross landing perfectly on the head of Roberto Firmino to make it two nil to the visitors. The third goal game in very unfortunate circumstances, a James Milner cross had too much zip on it and Tom Naylor could only watch as the ball cannoned off him and into the back of his own net, a moment the boyhood Liverpool fan will want to quickly forget. A fit again Daniel Sturridge added to his still impressive goal to game ratio by turning in a James Milner cross and firing in a low very well struck shot to finish the rout.

Roberto Firmino heads in Liverpools second

Liverpool looked relaxed on the ball and at times their passing and movement was exceptional. It was the type of performance that Jurgen Klopp would have been hoping for after Saturdays defeat. Sturridge showing his class and Mane back and still looking sharp were just a few of the pluses on a night that could have gone either way if Liverpool had still been licking their wounds.

Tottenham will provide an altogether different challenge in Saturdays early kick off but Liverpool will go into it with a renewed confidence after an excellent performance.

The York Report

As a York City fan I'm pretty sure everybody wants to know whats happening down at Bootham Crescent as York City attempt an immediate return to League Two.

To fill in some gaps for the people who may not know, York had a disastrous campaign last season finishing 24th in League Two with only seven wins and 34 points.

Welcome to Bootham Crescent

But how have they started this season in the Vanarama National League I hear you cry? Well unfortunately its an all to familiar feeling, York currently sit 18th with five point from 5 games. We started strong, unbeaten in the first three games and then we got a hard welcome back to non league football with a 6-1 humbling by Gateshead. My landlord is a Gateshead fan so it was very painful when he text me the next day. This was followed by a last minute defeat to Forest Green leaving the fans still very unhappy with the direction Jackie McNamara is taking us in.

After so many signings there was a sense that we could pull off a glorious return to where we belong but the early season form has unfortunately left me pessimistic, but fingers crossed we can kick on.

Up the Minstermen!

Can Leeds United Be Great Again?

Raise your hand if you remember when Leeds had a pretty good team and looked like they could be bringing back the glory days at Elland Road.

Nowadays it seems hard to believe but in the 99/00 season they finished an impressive 3rd in the Premier League with a team consisting of heroes such as Harry Kewell, Michael Bridges, Jonathan Woodgate and local boy Alan Smith. With a few additions they would have another strong season the following year which included a Champions League semi final defeat to Valencia.

A young Alan Smith

Things looked bright and thoughts of the Revie era of the 60's and 70's started flooding the dreams of the Leeds United faithful, but it wasn't to be. Then chairman Peter Ridsdale borrowed huge sums against potential lucrative sponsorship income from further Champions League appearances that never materialized. These huge debts caused the club to financially implode and start a free fall that involved a brief spell in the third tier of English football (The lowest level the club had ever been at) and a conveyor belt of managers.

Fast forward to the present day and current manager Gary Monk is already dealing with surely far fetched rumors that Chairman Massimo Cellino is considering giving another manager his marching orders after only four games of the new season.

How long will Garry Monk Last?

But lets look at the current positives for a moment shall we? Gary Monk is a talented young manager who did a rather good job at Swansea before his time an out. The Whites secured an excellent 2-0 win in the Yorkshire derby at Hillsborough, over a Sheffield Wednesday team that only lost twice at home last season. Finally the fans are a supportive bunch and will follow Leeds through thick and thin and will make their voices heard at grounds up and down the country.

To be honest after reading that it does look bleak for Leeds. Its obvious that the fans are not keen on Cellino and its easy to see why. His regime at the club is fraught with madness such as banning the number seventeen from anywhere (including seats in the stadium and retiring the number seventeen shirt) and at one point being banned from being a club owner because of tax evasion in his native Italy.
It seems they need an owner that genuinely cares about making the club great again but finding one with enough money and a sound enough business mind to steady the ship is no easy task. Somebody needs to be able to tap into the rich talent of youth players in Yorkshire and build from the bottom up and bring the club back to competing with the very best.

In the end the answer to the question is yes. At the moment it seems a very long way away but they are still the biggest club in the biggest county and surely its only a matter of time till all the cogs line up and 'Marching On Together' will be heard echoing around Anfield, The Emirates and of course Old Trafford once more.