Englands Next Big Hope

TitianGerm

Rayne said in the Liverpool match thread about Townsend been once considered one of Englands next big hopes. It got me thinking who has been over hyped by the English Media and never reached those heights/faded into obscurity.

I'm not sure if we have had a thread like this but it might be worth discussing.

For me David Bentley is a name that was always touted but never fulfilled those hope.

Turtyturd

Jack Wilshere.

Ulysses Gaze

emmetkenny wrote: »

Rayne said in the Liverpool match thread about Townsend been once considered one of Englands next big hopes. It got me thinking who has been over hyped by the English Media and never reached those heights/faded into obscurity.

I'm not sure if we have had a thread like this but it might be worth discussing.

For me David Bentley is a name that was always touted but never fulfilled those hope.

Francis Jeffers

TitianGerm

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

Francis Jeffers

I completely forgot about Jeffers

Ulysses Gaze

Jermaine Pennant is another

JohnFalstaff

Steve Bull

Oranage2

Nearly every English youngster Wenger bought.

Richard wright
Walcott
Most likely John Stones too.

From football manager:
Joe Mattock who ever he is.

irishman86

Dean Ashton the new Shearer

Harry Palmr

Shawn Wright Philips.
Andros Townsend
Jermaine Pennant
Theo Walcott

Something about running quickly with no real focus and scoring the odd goal that gets everyone talking.

Jesse Lingard next presumably.

The Backwards Man

Sonny Pike

irishman86

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Shawn Wright Philips.
Andros Townsend
Jermaine Pennant
Theo Walcott

Something about running quickly with no real focus and scoring the odd goal that gets everyone talking.

Jesse Lingard next presumably.

Big Andy
Welbeck
This would be funny if it wasn't a little sad :pac:

JohnFalstaff

JohnFalstaff wrote: »

Steve Bull

Bit harsh...he was a third/second division striker who was never gonna get ahead of Linekar or, later, Shearer. If anything perhaps the likes of Fowler and Cole had underwhelming international careers

rossie1977

Yeah bull did fantastic just to get into the England squad given he was a division 3/4 striker when he was making waves

Agent Coulson

Steve Bull was in the third division when he was capped and scored for England and went to a World Cup he was a player that actually deserves a lot of credit for that.


Would England ever pick a player from even the championship these days let alone League 1.

cj maxx

Any of the goalkeepers Liverpool signed

eh i dunno

Ross Barkley

pjohnson

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Steve Bull was in the third division when he was capped and scored for England and went to a World Cup he was a player that actually deserves a lot of credit for that.


Would England ever pick a player from even the championship these days let alone League 1.

Dave Nugent was Championship when he got his cap/goal

JohnFalstaff

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Steve Bull was in the third division when he was capped and scored for England and went to a World Cup he was a player that actually deserves a lot of credit for that.


Would England ever pick a player from even the championship these days let alone League 1.

Post was intended to be slightly tongue-in-cheek, which seems to have bypassed everybody. I remember being delighted for Bull at the time but, in reference to what was outlined in the OP, the hype around Bull in the build-up to Italia 90 reached Linsanity-like levels.

It was symptomatic of the hype that surrounds the English national side prior to any major tournament.

Agent Coulson

pjohnson wrote: »

Dave Nugent was Championship when he got his cap/goal

10/12 years ago.

TheDoc

Jack Wilshere definitely jumped out when I read the thread title.

To be honest I think anyone that thought or claimed Townsend was the next great hope, weren't following the narrative closely as he was never labelled that.

In recent memory it has been Barkley, Wilshere, Shaw and Stones and Sterling to a certain extent. Kane and Ali are also inclusions and while their England performances have been generally meh, they do enough at club level to get the benefit of the doubt longer term.

Dempsey

Dempsey wrote: »

I think its safe to say that all the transfer signings from now on will be desperation in one form or another. Chris Wood for 15m setting a bar that will surely be smashed come deadline day

I don't think New Zealander Chris Wood will ever be England's next big hope...

eagle eye

Jermaine Jenas, Micah Richards and Jack Butland come to mind.

WinnyThePoo

Stewart downing, David Dunn and Cherno samba(joke)
A
Rodwell aswell.

Dempsey

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't think New Zealander Chris Wood will ever be England's next big hope...

Wrong Thread

Arghus

While I understand why someone would say Wilshere, I think there's a difference between a player whose career has been blighted by injury and someone who just flat out didn't make use of their talents or didn't have as much as everyone supposed at the time.

Adam Johnson - I remember the hype about him going into World Cup '10. No doubt he's now tearing it up on the prison team.
Walcott - The media were talking up him up like he was Pele back in '06. Walcott is not Pele.

shaunr68

cjmc wrote: »

Any of the goalkeepers Liverpool signed

Presumably recent ones, not counting Ray "five league titles and three European cups" Clemence

Jayop

eh i dunno wrote: »

Ross Barkley

This and only this really.

luckyboy

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Bit harsh...he was a third/second division striker who was never gonna get ahead of Linekar or, later, Shearer. If anything perhaps the likes of Fowler and Cole had underwhelming international careers

Amazing to think Ireland got more goals out of Clinton Morrison (9) than England did out of Fowler (7) and Cole (1) combined ...

Jayop

luckyboy wrote: »

Amazing to think Ireland got more goals out of Clinton Morrison (9) than England did out of Fowler (7) and Cole (1) combined ...

Big time, although had either of those been Irish they would have scored a ton more goals and played a ton more games.

Morrisson got 36 caps, Fowler only got 26, Andy Cole got 15.

~Rebel~

eagle eye wrote: »

Jermaine Jenas, Micah Richards and Jack Butland come to mind.

Butland at 24 is still young enough for a keeper, so some vague hope for him yet.

Micah Richards was my first thought though - from being talked about as a future England captain, to being 4th choice at Villa. 29 now, which should be peak for a CB as well.

Scott Sinclair and Shaun Wright-Phillips to an extent as well, though Wright-Phillips did still manage to get a good number of caps over a long period of time, he never reached the levels expected of him. Similar in ways to Aaron Lennon.

Also of course Pedo Adam Johnson. Massive expectations when he joined City.

Trampas

Lee sharpe?

Dyer?

machiavellianme

cjmc wrote: »

Any of the goalkeepers Liverpool signed

When was the last time that Liverpool signed an English keeper?

bucketybuck

I would have thought Joe Cole was the obvious answer to this?

The likes of Adam Johnson and Bentley were players who had a good spell for their clubs and then got hyped up for an England call, flash in the pans as much as anything.

Joe Cole on the other hand was the kid who was being talked about when he was still playing in the Milk Cup for West Ham Under 14's. He was the little kid with the immense talent who was miles ahead of his peers and was going to be the next Gazza and the missing link for England.

He established himself at West Ham and then Chelsea and still everybody waited for him to take it to the next level for England, but it never happened. England spent years waiting for Cole to fulfill his promise, I think he was far more of a great white hope than anybody on this thread apart from perhaps Wilshire.

Jayop

Trampas wrote: »

Lee sharpe?

Dyer?

Lee Sharpe has a great trophy haul so I think that's a bit harsh. 3 leagues, 2 cups, a league cup and a cup winners cup.

Sharpe was really unlucky as well as being too much of a party boy. Both for United and England he had to compete with exceptional players and in the end it proved too much and he moved on. His career fell apart after that.

tinpib

We will never know how explicit it is but there is clearly a directive to feature/hype like fcuk English[maybe British?] players on Match of the Day.

Who can forget Reece Oxford's debut at 16 for West Ham. Unequivocably the greatest individual performance on the football pitch since Roy Keane's Champions League semi-final against Juventus.

I had only finished weeping about its magnificence last weekend when Harry Maguire acted as vessel of God on the football pitch for Leicester City.

There will be another, probably mediocre, British player featured reinventing the game next Saturday.

bucketybuck

Jayop wrote: »

Sharpe was really unlucky as well as being too much of a party boy. Both for United and England he had to compete with exceptional players

I don't think Sharpe was ever Englands great hope but I do think he missed a great opportunity, England at that time badly needed a quality left winger and had Sharpe kept at it he could have been really successful for them.

England in the mid nineties were playing McManaman and Anderton on the left but it didn't really suit them and it was constantly remarked upon how if only Giggs had stayed Ryan Wilson and declared for England...

Sharpe could have filled that void and considering how close they came in Euro 96 then who knows...

shaunr68

machiavellianme wrote: »

When was the last time that Liverpool signed an English keeper?

After Clemence the only ones I can think of are James, Kirkland and Scott Carson - so 2005

Jayop

bucketybuck wrote: »

I don't think Sharpe was ever Englands great hope but I do think he missed a great opportunity, England at that time badly needed a quality left winger and had Sharpe kept at it he could have been really successful for them.

England in the mid nineties were playing McManaman and Anderton on the left but it didn't really suit them and it was constantly remarked upon how if only Giggs had stayed Ryan Wilson and declared for England...

Sharpe could have filled that void and considering how close they came in Euro 96 then who knows...

Wasn't Barnes on the left when Sharpe first broke through to that level?

Esse85

bucketybuck wrote: »

I would have thought Joe Cole was the obvious answer to this?

The likes of Adam Johnson and Bentley were players who had a good spell for their clubs and then got hyped up for an England call, flash in the pans as much as anything.

Joe Cole on the other hand was the kid who was being talked about when he was still playing in the Milk Cup for West Ham Under 14's. He was the little kid with the immense talent who was miles ahead of his peers and was going to be the next Gazza and the missing link for England.

He established himself at West Ham and then Chelsea and still everybody waited for him to take it to the next level for England, but it never happened. England spent years waiting for Cole to fulfill his promise, I think he was far more of a great white hope than anybody on this thread apart from perhaps Wilshire.

Harsh on Joe Cole.

56 caps, I0 goals isn't a bad return when the likes of Beckham, Gerrard, Scholes and Lampard were all around.

How often was he played in his preferred position?

Jayop

Esse85 wrote: »

Harsh on Joe Cole.

56 caps, I0 goals isn't a bad return when the likes of Beckham, Gerrard, Scholes and Lampard were all around.

How often was he played in his preferred position?

True enough. He was ranked so highly as a teenager though and while he had a really good career he never really hit those heights that were expected/hoped from him.

bucketybuck

Esse85 wrote: »

Harsh on Joe Cole.

56 caps, I0 goals isn't a bad return when the likes of Beckham, Gerrard, Scholes and Lampard were all around.

How often was he played in his preferred position?

56 caps and 10 goals isn't a bad return for a solid international footballer.

But young Joe Cole was hyped to be much more than that.

Esse85

Jayop wrote: »

True enough. He was ranked so highly as a teenager though and while he had a really good career he never really hit those heights that were expected/hoped from him.

Cole has 3 premier league titles and 3 fa cup winners medals to his name, I think he's done well.
He reminds me a little of Robbie Fowler in that he declined quickly and was wasn't half as effective by the time he was 30, but Cole has the winners medals at least.

Esse85

bucketybuck wrote: »

56 caps and 10 goals isn't a bad return for a solid international footballer.

But young Joe Cole was hyped to be much more than that.

Everyone gets hyped up by the English media, even Lee Hendrie was on the hype train.

Jayop

Esse85 wrote: »

Cole has 3 premier league titles and 3 fa cup winners medals to his name, I think he's done well.
He reminds me a little of Robbie Fowler in that he declined quickly and was wasn't half as effective by the time he was 30, but Cole has the winners medals at least.

I did say he had a really good career and when he was with Chelsea I thought he looked an excellent player.

bucketybuck

Esse85 wrote: »

Cole has 3 premier league titles and 3 fa cup winners medals to his name, I think he's done well.

I took this thread to be about the England team.

Jayop

bucketybuck wrote: »

I took this thread to be about the England team.

Same, but reread the OP and it's not really.

martingriff

Jayop wrote: »

True enough. He was ranked so highly as a teenager though and while he had a really good career he never really hit those heights that were expected/hoped from him.

True but look again who he was in competition with sometimes you are just in the wrong era.

irishman86

bucketybuck wrote: »

I would have thought Joe Cole was the obvious answer to this?

The likes of Adam Johnson and Bentley were players who had a good spell for their clubs and then got hyped up for an England call, flash in the pans as much as anything.

Joe Cole on the other hand was the kid who was being talked about when he was still playing in the Milk Cup for West Ham Under 14's. He was the little kid with the immense talent who was miles ahead of his peers and was going to be the next Gazza and the missing link for England.

He established himself at West Ham and then Chelsea and still everybody waited for him to take it to the next level for England, but it never happened. England spent years waiting for Cole to fulfill his promise, I think he was far more of a great white hope than anybody on this thread apart from perhaps Wilshire.

Joe Cole had a very successful career, wouldnt count him a failure at all

irishman86

shaunr68 wrote: »

After Clemence the only ones I can think of are James, Kirkland and Scott Carson - so 2005

Not a failure so it has to be one of the others

razorblunt

Fabian Delph.

Jack Grealish, in his own head.

razorblunt

Special mention for Wes Morgan, according to 'Arry Redknapp.