Who has been our biggest 'crock' over the years............... the player that could have / should have been epic for us but was ruined by injuries. Woodgate has been mentioned elsewhere and he is probably my biggest disappointment along with Big Dunc. Both should have been great for us and both spent far too much time on the treatment table. Marcelino does not count guys!!
Beat me to it. Though I would actually have gone with Woodgate, Dyer was the next name i was going to throw forward.
I went to see Shola play for England U21's back in 2001 (we stuffed Mexico) and he was great, a Cryuff turn and cross in for a Jay Boothroyd overhead goal. He then sadly had a career that was blighted by injuries. If only he had had more then I may still have that mistaken belief I had that night of him being excellent.
Don't think Shola's problems were injuries. For me it was all in his head. Shearer used to lambast him all the time and Shola played better as a consequence. He just mentally didn't seem to want to "fight" and that to me was his biggest problem.
I think he lacked confidence and it did him no favours, but maybe he lacked confidence because he realised he wasn't very good at football.
I would like to add Ryan Taylor. Not class but had a lot injuries towards the later parts of his career.
We could probably field a side of permacrocks who, if they'd stayed fit, could have competed for the Premier League title.
In the early 70's we had a little cracking midfielder, Tony Green. Career ended by nasty injury against Crystal Palace after only 40 games for us and although a Scottish international I believe was destined for the very top.
Dyer was also on my list. He never really reached his full potential because if injuries, which was a real shame in my opinion. When we buy Andy Carroll back we can add him to the list too
A controversial one for the list...... Alan Shearer. It's easy to forget the bad injuries he had and how long he was out for because of how well he did for us. But he missed the best part of three different seasons and lost a yard of pace thanks to his dodgy ankle. I will always wonder what could have been.
Woodgate - people rate him so highly, but he could never be relied on to be consistent. Dyer - constant niggling injuries, clearly didn't take care of himself properly. Carl Cort - pretty much never played. Aarons - clearly not physically strong enough to be a footballer. Scott Parker - another who always seemed to "pick up a knock" Siem De Jong - sprained ankle, collapsed lung, eye nearly gouged out....****ing joke The Taylors - Raylor more unlucky, Saylor clearly not up to it fitness wise. Michael ****ing Owen - yeah, don't need to explain this one.
