that thread about Gnando got me thinking about some of the other players that we had here at the time who have since gone on to prove that they were much better than they were able to demonstrate at the time.
Now that enough time has passed, perhaps we can dispassionately re-appraise some of them, rehabilitate a few reputations (they all got grief at the time) and think about those that even a few years later would still easily get into our side today (so that disqualifies those who may have been good when they came to us, but playing for toxic-era LOFC was enough to send what was left of their careers into a tailspin). I'll start:
Massey
Marquis
Gnanduillet
Kelly
any more?
NB I'm excluding those names who were already here when Beelzebub arrived - so this is purely about incoming players i.e. players that regime sourced who were actually quite good, but we managed to make them look cack. Loan players are acceptable shouts.
OyinbO wrote: ↑Wed Nov 13, 2019 2:25 pm
that thread about Gnando got me thinking about some of the other players that we had here at the time who have since gone on to prove that they were much better than they were able to demonstrate at the time.
Now that enough time has passed, perhaps we can dispassionately re-appraise some of them, rehabilitate a few reputations (they all got grief at the time) and think about those that even a few years later would still easily get into our side today (so that disqualifies those who may have been good when they came to us, but playing for toxic-era LOFC was enough to send what was left of their careers into a tailspin). I'll start:
Massey
Marquis
Gnanduillet
Kelly
any more?
NB I'm excluding those names who were already here when Beelzebub arrived - so this is purely about incoming players i.e. players that regime sourced who were actually quite good, but we managed to make them look cack. Loan players are acceptable shouts.
Jordan Bowery has done okay since his imperceptible time here.
Massey was quality and when he had the ball I was excited by what he would or could do.
Marquis was played out of position but you could clearly see he had something about him. I'm not sure he would have scored here what he did subsequently, but hes another forward who did the business elsewhere.
Mezague and Janse played top-level football in their own countries the season after us.
Mezague actually captained his side (and scored) in a 5-3 win against Anderlecht (who were 2nd).
Harry Cornick is in the Championship and doing well.
Obvs it's difficult to properly judge Cisak as he's playing in such an iffy league, but you'd fancy he'd still get into our side if he was here. Which means we're now not far off an "unfairly maligned Beelzebub era XI"
OyinbO wrote: ↑Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:21 pm
Obvs it's difficult to properly judge Cisak as he's playing in such an iffy league, but you'd fancy he'd still get into our side if he was here. Which means we're now not far off an "unfairly maligned Beelzebub era XI"
Scott Kashket, unwanted and not given a decent chance, left in a somewhat strange way, went to Wycombe, hit the ground running and then went on a goal scoring spree, got promotion with them to Division One along with Adebayo Akinfenwa, another unwanted forward who was considered as ''Past it'' by AFC Wimbledon !! Akinfenwa has also done well at Wycombe, scoring 41 goals in 135 games for them. Interestingly, he was a player with us in 2003, played just one game and was released by us after just ONE month !! Akinfenwa is now 37 years old and plays well alongside Kashket, who is now back in the Wycombe team after being injured on and off for over a season. Wycombe Wanderers, a smaller club than us and run on a a smallish budget, now sit proudly at the top of Division One, a fine example of good and sensible management !
However, the club's erratic Italian owner Francesco Beccheti took a peculiar dislike to Kashket, the start of yet another nightmare. He said: "I wish I knew to this day what the powers that be at Orient had against me. One game last season under former boss Andy Hessenthaler, I was stripped and ready to come on - and some Italian ran down and told Hess: 'anyone can come on except for Kashket'.
