Secret Footballer

[TBM]

I heard it was Big Sam


Back in March

[cmonurz]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog ... relegation

Yes, yes, we've had this before. But doesn't this latest article pretty much confirm that it isn't Danny Murphy?

The first thing that came into my head when the referee blew his whistle, and for the last 10 minutes of that game if the truth be told, was that I would be moving to a club that I didn't want to go to from a club that I desperately wanted to stay at, and for the worst possible reason: money. I'd gambled my family's house, the university fund, our entire future, on staying in the Premier League. I wasn't the first and I won't be the last. Indeed, more savvy businessmen than me have brought down entire football clubs on the turn of that particular card.

My plan was to build up a portfolio of assets and, in the seasons afterwards, squirrel away a good percentage of my wages. I knew that I was good enough to be playing every week in the Premier League and at the start of the season I never thought for one second we'd get relegated.

Kevin Nolan is still favourite isn't he?

As an aside, he writes quite openly about relegation.

One of the saddest parts of relegation was that many of our friends lost their jobs, and that is a tough thing to be responsible for. People that had been at the club for years were unemployed because of us, not them. I do not expect any sympathy here but afterwards, when you are sat in a big house with nothing but your material possessions rubbing your face in it and having just been paid the best part of £100,000 for a month's work that has ended in total failure, it is impossible to feel any more disgusted with yourself. It's like a constant feeling of nausea brought on by overwhelming guilt.

It remains the one single regret in my life. Whenever anyone asks me if I could change one thing, and believe me I have done some crazy and stupid things so far, I always point to that relegation. But life must go on and, although I think about it every day, I did at least go on to play in the Premier League again, which was always my goal to begin with. I am a big believer that if you want to accomplish something in life it is far better to go for it and fail rather to never try at all (he said from his ivory tower).

[Friday's Legacy]

Can't be Nolan, can it? Who was he relegated from the PL with that he jumped ship for a new club for the money?

He stayed a Newcastle when they went down, and helped them back up and keptg them up, before rejecting a new contract, and then went to West Ham on bigger wages and dropped a division.

It screams Dave Kitson to me.

[Jerry St Clair]

http://www.whoisthesecretfootballer.co. ... t-we-know/

Probably not Shorey or Roberts.

Kevin Davies still seems to the the standout candidate.

[soggy biscuit]

It screams Dave Kitson to me.

Screams Kitson? Could be one of loads of players relegated in the last few years. What is it in there that suggests so strongly that it is Kitson that it 'screams' being him?

How many people who had been at Reading for years lost their job because of our PL relegation?

[moo]

He has a good African friend who played in Russia - that could be Bikey .. so Shorey might add up.

[Ian Royal]

Can't be Nolan, can it? Who was he relegated from the PL with that he jumped ship for a new club for the money?

He stayed a Newcastle when they went down, and helped them back up and keptg them up, before rejecting a new contract, and then went to West Ham on bigger wages and dropped a division.

It screams Dave Kitson to me.

Looking at the site posted below yours, if he's played with Di Canio its not Kitson. Looks like a current Prem player as well.

Can't see it being anyone who's played for Reading based on that lot.

[cmonurz]

Can't be Nolan, can it? Who was he relegated from the PL with that he jumped ship for a new club for the money?

He stayed a Newcastle when they went down, and helped them back up and keptg them up, before rejecting a new contract, and then went to West Ham on bigger wages and dropped a division.

It screams Dave Kitson to me.

Ah, of course. Was thinking Nolan went to West Ham when Newcastle went down.

Didn't think Kevin Davies has been relegated, then saw he was at Blackburn when they went down. Can't think who the African friend might be though - don't think Jay Jay Okocha played in Russia.

Edit: I see Davies has been ruled out.

[FiNeRaIn]

he talks about making 100,000 for a month and then being relegated, 25k a week at Blackburn sounds very plausible its kevin davies. He vanished off twitter last year too and having heard him a few times in interviews he's quite bright and well spoken. Nolan to me ( although doesn't seem thick) just doesn't come across as humble and deep as a person compared to some of the things in this article. Money would be on KD.

[soggy biscuit]

he talks about making 100,000 for a month and then being relegated, 25k a week at Blackburn.

I thought about that but when people talk of how much money they are making a month they are nearly always talking net, if that were the case here then they would be on closer to £50k a week

[FiNeRaIn]

"Blackburn Rovers signed him for £7.5 million in July 1998, ten times what Southampton had paid for him a year earlier and also a club record. (Chesterfield received no more money from the switch, having failed to negotiate a sell-on clause.) "

not entirely out of the question he could have been on a fair whack more then, forgot he went for as much as 7.5 million before the turn of the millennium too.

[Cobi]

I know who it is and one person here is actually right!

It was Jason Roberts.

[cmonurz]

I don't think Roberts has ever been relegated.

[Cobi]

I don't think Roberts has ever been relegated.

Was he not relegated with West Brom?

(shocker of a memory so might not have been)

2000-2004

[paultheroyal]

It's most likely Danny Murphy.

[Cobi]

It's most likely Danny Murphy.

I do have a shocker of a memory but when did he get relegated from the Premier League?

[cmonurz]

Murphy hasn't been relegated. And as pointed out, Roberts has been relegated, 02-03.

[Ian Royal]

Murphy hasn't been relegated. And as pointed out, Roberts has been relegated, 02-03.

Although the bit about racism might suggest someone who isn't black. Then again, he did leave West Brom to go on loan to Pompey for six months before stepping down to Wigan. Although I can't see how if he went to a club for money after being relegated he'd then drop a division mid-season.

[Cobi]

I stand by Roberts. It was a very reliable source (media) on Twitter at the time and everything on here only backs that up.

[TBM]

From the outside looking in...having caught a couple of their games on TV this season...Finding those guys who appear to have seen it and done it but retain the same level of ambition and enthusiasm, such as Jason Roberts, is an extremely difficult task.

How is that Roberts?