Interesting description of Gladwin from a Swindon fan! "Ben Gladwin - I guarantee he'll be one of the oddest footballers you've ever seen. He's sort of a Frankenstein's monster, who looks like he's been made up of the parts of lots of different footballers that shouldn't go together. -physique of a centre half, and can spray a ball around from deep like Glenn Hoddle, yet plays best as a winger. -Tall and strong, yet wins next to nothing in the air and hardly ever makes a tackle. Incredibly languid style, moves like a container ship at times; but will breeze past players with a step-over and a touch as if they weren't there, and probably the most skilful player in our team. - Consistently superb one half, giving the opposition fullback nightmares; then completely anonymous the next. - Has the air of a luxury player; but probably made more crucial contributions than anyone else in our team in the run-in. Basically he's very difficult to categorise, as he's such a mass of contradictions and odd combinations of attributes. Definitely a player that will excite fans when he's on the ball, as you never quite know what he's going to do, though will also frustrate at times, and will need plenty of patience. His rise has been so sudden, it's difficult to predict how his future will pan out, though I wish him all the best ."
It's funny that someone has mentioned this. When he was at Aldershot/Reading as a youngster, he wasn't tall and was a fragile winger. He had a later growth spurt at 17 which saw him shoot up and fill out whilst he was at the Nike Academy/Pro Direct Academy. It makes sense that despite his build he isn't a natural tackler knowing he was always a winger which also shows why he has such tidy feet. I'm looking forward to seeing him play, as he is very much a raw talent. Hopefully, with guidance under Ramsey we will see him flourish like Matt Phillips has.
"Ben Gladwin - I guarantee he'll be one of the oddest footballers you've ever seen. He's sort of a Frankenstein's monster... please log in to view this image Welcome to QPR Ben!
Thanks Tranmore. Just my luck. They organise a pre-season in my neck of the woods after I have moved to Indonesia for six months where we were touring a few years ago! Anyway, good to see we could be playing against some quality opposition.
