View Full Version : Best foreign player in the eL
Speranza
04/06/2006, 12:51 PM
Claiming Mc Court is foreign is a clear wind up attempt but ignoring that he isn't even our best midfielder. Ciaran martyn and especially Barry Molloy are more consistent and IMO more important to our style of play.
Claiming Mc Court is foreign is a clear wind up attempt but ignoring that he isn't even our best midfielder. Ciaran martyn and especially Barry Molloy are more consistent and IMO more important to our style of play.
No it wasn't. Look im sorry if it cause doffence but i clearly said what i meant in the post. I asked did he mean players from outside the ROI or outside Ireland. Shoukld have known that everything you say on here is made a big deal out of by someone.
He may not be ye're most consistent or most important in the Derry team but he is your most skilful and would be most likely to fit in easily to any EL team and have a big impact IMO. He'd be the player I'd love to see with us atm but mainly because of our problem on the left
GavinZac
04/06/2006, 1:33 PM
neale fenn
Olander
04/06/2006, 2:13 PM
Claiming Mc Court is foreign is a clear wind up attempt but ignoring that he isn't even our best midfielder. Ciaran martyn and especially Barry Molloy are more consistent and IMO more important to our style of play.
i dont think he is , i just said if you do think he is .. sorry for the confusion speranza
F*cking hell lads Paddy McCourt is not a foreigner. We're not f*cking FIFA here.
Mbabzi was a quality player, but he obviously doesn't apply any more. A very sad loss to the game as well.
Ndo is a lovely player but this league doesn't help him showcase his talents as it should.
Ndo is a lovely player but this league doesn't help him showcase his talents as it should.
Id blame shels tactics rather than the league. I think a team like Derry or us would suit him better tbh
Cork would suit him. To be fair to Shels they've some very good players, it's just that Ndo's slightly cavalier attitude is at odds with the prevailing style in Irish football.
Cork would suit him. To be fair to Shels they've some very good players, it's just that Ndo's slightly cavalier attitude is at odds with the prevailing style in Irish football.
Oh i know shels have a quality squad its the way fenlon uses them that doesn't suit IMO.
Ndo you're welcome down here anytime :D
Derry had some fine imports in the late 80s/early 90s.
Alex Kristic, Owen DaGama and Nelson DaSilva were all amazing talents. Oh! And not forgeting the legendary Jose Mokendi who also had a stint with us ;)
If I could take any 'foreign' player in the league at the minute though, it would be Hunt.
Honourable mention to Big Wesley Charles. He has had a brilliant effect on both Sligo and Bray. Very good player that gives it everything.
SligoBrewer
04/06/2006, 5:46 PM
Jaysus lads! Dixie Dean by a country mile!
harry crumb
04/06/2006, 6:23 PM
Kevin Hunt.
Really consistent! and always a contender 4 player of the year.
oh yeah hunt ! the guy should have been sent off the other night .thats 2 drogheda players he has put out of matches in the last 2 games .Not so much as a booking . Fcuking ******** !!!!!!!!!
Charles MBabazi Livingstone gets my vote, but then I'm biased:p . BTW how come no one could ever pronounce his name properly. It wasn't that difficult. Its Babaz FFS. Not Embabsey - Jesus wept. :rolleyes:
From other teams Kevin Hunt was and is top quality. Joey NDo is talented alright, but he hasn't been here long enough or done enough to rate.
CollegeTillIDie
06/06/2006, 7:06 AM
I reckon we keep this thread to Non-Irish/Welsh/Scottish/English players they are hardly foreign are they :confused: :p
Duh ? we, as a people, spent 800 years trying to prove that English,Scottish and Welsh people are FOREIGN!:rolleyes:
I'd plump for Mark Rutherford because he has been here 15 years and been consistently good. He is also eligible to play for Jamaica despite being born in Birmingham!
CollegeTillIDie
06/06/2006, 7:09 AM
Charles MBabazi Livingstone gets my vote, but then I'm biased:p . BTW how come no one could ever pronounce his name properly. It wasn't that difficult. Its Babaz FFS. Not Embabsey - Jesus wept. :rolleyes:
In most African languages the first letter is pronounced as in EMbab or ENDoh.
If what you say is correct then his Ugandan language( not sure of the ethnicity of the chap, and it didn't matter either he was a class act) is an exception to that rule.
CollegeTillIDie
06/06/2006, 7:11 AM
oh yeah hunt ! the guy should have been sent off the other night .thats 2 drogheda players he has put out of matches in the last 2 games .Not so much as a booking . Fcuking ******** !!!!!!!!!
So ndrog what you are saying is Kevin Hunt has acclimatised fully to Cabra :D
osarusan
06/06/2006, 2:59 PM
Tony Izzi, who was with Limerick, Shelbourne, and Cobh, I think.
Ok so he wasnt the greatest foreigner ever to play here, but any Italian footballer is glamorous, and he did score 4 goals in one game, which ties the league record I think.
dancinpants
06/06/2006, 5:30 PM
Alex Nesovic was quality!!!
:D
Paddyfield
06/06/2006, 10:12 PM
Eric Lavine, the Towns greatest scoring machine. As for his efforts on the field of play............
Has he even scored a goal for Da Town yet?
How about Galway United's Ciaran Foley...he's from the Aran Islands!!!
Seriously, Owen De Gamma (Derry City in the 1980's) was special and for a while, Pascal Vadequin was brilliant. Then he went to Harps
.
Mc Court is one of the better foreign players in our league...still though as mentioned by another poster above i would rate Scottish Gerry Mc Cabe above anyone i have seen in my time supporting the league..Oh and Liam Coyle was another to add to that list...
Jerry The Saint
07/06/2006, 8:40 AM
Mc Court is one of the better foreign players in our league...still though as mentioned by another poster above i would rate Scottish Gerry Mc Cabe above anyone i have seen in my time supporting the league..Oh and Liam Coyle was another to add to that list...
I'm just shocked that no-one's mentioned Roy Keane...
Rocky27
07/06/2006, 4:37 PM
Socrates! (Not technically the EIRCOM League I know...)
In most African languages the first letter is pronounced as in EMbab or ENDoh.
If what you say is correct then his Ugandan language( not sure of the ethnicity of the chap, and it didn't matter either he was a class act) is an exception to that rule.
I obviously don't have your extensive knowledge of most African languages, but it is correct. It came from the club, via Charlie himself presumably, so I think you can rest assured on that score. It was also clarified in a number of newspaper articles as far as I recall, so there was really no excuse for the media, apart from their age old problem with the league here, laziness.
CollegeTillIDie
07/06/2006, 9:27 PM
Socrates! (Not technically the EIRCOM League I know...)
When he was quizzed about that legend he told the interviewer the following that he's never even been to Ireland never mind play here!
CollegeTillIDie
07/06/2006, 9:37 PM
I obviously don't have your extensive knowledge of most African languages, but it is correct. It came from the club, via Charlie himself presumably, so I think you can rest assured on that score. It was also clarified in a number of newspaper articles as far as I recall, so there was really no excuse for the media, apart from their age old problem with the league here, laziness.
No specialist knowledge just what I have come across in my 40 odd years on this planet. My Uncle was a missionary in both Nigeria (West Africa) and Zambia ( Southern Africa). Ndjamena the capital of Chad is pronounced EN-Jah-May-na. Former Zimbabwean politician Ndabiningi Sithole was pronounced EN-Dahbi-Ning-ee and so on.
Slash/ED
07/06/2006, 9:47 PM
Cork would suit him. To be fair to Shels they've some very good players, it's just that Ndo's slightly cavalier attitude is at odds with the prevailing style in Irish football.
It's more the fact that Ndo can pass a ball that puts him at odds with Pat Fenlons tactical supersystem. Who needs that kind of technique and other nonsense when Richie Baker is a bit of a livewire in the air from the crossfield passes from left back?
Ok so he wasnt the greatest foreigner ever to play here, but any Italian footballer is glamorous, and he did score 4 goals in one game, which ties the league record I think.
Brendan Bradley scored 6 in one game for Harps against Sligo Rovers once.
Rocky27
08/06/2006, 8:39 AM
When he was quizzed about that legend he told the interviewer the following that he's never even been to Ireland never mind play here!
Really? Then that also puts paid to the myth that he won a Sigerson Cup medal. I'm going to investigate this...
Jerry The Saint
08/06/2006, 9:30 AM
Former Zimbabwean politician Ndabiningi Sithole
I think having people mispronounce his first name was the least of his worries.
Vitruvian Man
08/06/2006, 10:04 AM
oh yeah hunt ! the guy should have been sent off the other night .thats 2 drogheda players he has put out of matches in the last 2 games .Not so much as a booking . Fcuking ******** !!!!!!!!!
Yeah, that was great wasn’t it.
In the first five minutes one of the Drogheda players (Fahey?) put in a totally dirty tackle on Hunt – a real knee-high “reducer.” The game had to be stopped so he could get treatment and you could see that he was in pain. I thought at the time “They’re putting it up to you Hunty. They think you’re finished”.
Then five minutes later CRUNCH and a Drogs player goes off in a body bag – and I thought “there’s life in the old dog yet”. Funny thing was, who ever got the pay-back wasn’t the player who fouled him in the first place – but that’s football.
I know he isn’t the player he used to be any more but, at least for this millennium, you can’t look beyond Hunt as the best foreign player in the league. There was a spell of a couple of years where he was not only the best midfielder in the league but the best player in the league full stop. I know I’m biased like everybody. Ndo and Livingston-seagull are talented players no doubt but what have they done in the Irish game, sod-all.
Jerry The Saint
08/06/2006, 12:02 PM
Livingston... talented players no doubt but what have they done in the Irish game, sod-all.
Ahem. Aside from the fact that you can trace Pats terrible form before this season to the exact match when Charlie collapsed (week before the cup final in 2003 - that team weren't exactly world-beaters but losing Babaz ripped the heart out of the club and they went into freefall), scoring 15 goals to help an average Pats team to the best record in the 2002 league and inspiring us to our only European success wasn't bad.
Over 4 seasons in the league he played 104 games, scoring 21 goals mostly from midfield (and captaining his country) before having to retire at 24. I respect Hunt's achievements at Bohs but he was only the main man in an excellent squad of players during Bohs' run of success. I'd certainly give Babaz credit for having a bigger impact on the league than the likes of Ndo (and an immeasurably bigger impact on a single club).
TonyD
08/06/2006, 12:16 PM
Yeah, what he said.
Ndo is no good. Fact.
Charlie is d man. Possibly the second best player ever in the LoI after Paul Osam.
He's not even 2nd best player at Pats. He's not even 2nd best black player at Pats
he is. trust me on this.
Pauletta will not be top scorer in the WC
AND MAN U RONALDO will not either.
I know me football.
Poor Student
08/06/2006, 3:29 PM
When he was quizzed about that legend he told the interviewer the following that he's never even been to Ireland never mind play here!
I was talking to a lad from Liverpool who lives in Canada about soccer and when he asked me who I supported I expected to get a "Who??" but instead he said "Oh yeah, Socrates played for you, didn't he?". This myth seems to have spread all over the place. Where does it originate?:confused:
Jerry The Saint
08/06/2006, 4:04 PM
This myth seems to have spread all over the place. Where does it originate?:confused:
May have originated from someone's boredom I'd say. Normally these things have a grain of truth about them - i.e. Socrates went to med school in Ireland which then gets embellished over multiple tellings: he played soccer; he played GAA; he won a Sigerson Cup Medal:eek: . There is a parallel rumour that he took a semester at the Royal College of Surgeons but I haven't seen any evidence for this either. It seems this has nothing going for it other than Socrates was a trained doctor so maybe someone flat out invented the lie at some stage. Possibly something to do with the Socrates/Erasmus student exchange program??? Surprisingly successful rumour as well, it's fascinating how these urban legends gain momentum:
Before he became a doctor (and a famous footballer) Brazilian footballer Socrates apparently spent some of his student years in Dublin. My memory is hazy but I think I was told that while there he played for University College Dublin (UCD) in the FAI Cup, or it could have been that he only managed to make the UCD reserve team. Is there any truth to these unlikely stories? if so, maybe that's where he picked up his smoking habit", writes Colman Walsh
Amazingly enough Colman, you're right. "Socrates did play for UCD, but it was way, way back, sometime in the 70s." says Brendan McKenna of the Football Association of Ireland. "He was an attraction at the time, but it was before he played for the Brazilian team. He wouldn't have played much more than a season." That's confirmed by Gerry Callan of the Irish Star, who says he thinks Socrates did play for UCD:rolleyes: , but only for the reserves on Saturday's as the first team played on Sunday, and he didn't want to play then. Did anyone see the great man in action for UCD? If so then let us know at the usual address.
http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,1563,367951,00.html
More information about Socrates playing for UCD reserves in the 1970s. According to Paul McDonnell, Scorates only played a couple of games because the coach and manager at the time, Dr Terry O'Neill, insisted that he quit smoking. Socrates refused and instead quit the team.
http://football.guardian.co.uk/news/theknowledge/0,9204,630747,00.html
On a completely unrelated matter, it IS true that legendary cyclist Lance Armstrong played a number of games for Moyle Rovers Junior 'B' Hurling team while training with Sean Kelly in South Tipperary in the early-90s.
May have originated from someone's boredom I'd say. Normally these things have a grain of truth about them - i.e. Socrates went to med school in Ireland which then gets embellished over multiple tellings: he played soccer; he played GAA; he won a Sigerson Cup Medal:eek: . There is a parallel rumour that he took a semester at the Royal College of Surgeons but I haven't seen any evidence for this either. It seems this has nothing going for it other than Socrates was a trained doctor so maybe someone flat out invented the lie at some stage. Possibly something to do with the Socrates/Erasmus student exchange program??? Surprisingly successful rumour as well, it's fascinating how these urban legends gain momentum:
On a completely unrelated matter, it IS true that legendary cyclist Lance Armstrong played a number of games for Moyle Rovers Junior 'B' Hurling team while training with Sean Kelly in South Tipperary in the early-90s.
and Niall Quinn used to cycle to Thurles Town away games with Sean Kelly and Lance Armstrong.
One completely true thing is that James Caan. Sonny in The Godfather attended a few games in Croke Park. Saw him there with Colm Meaney. FACT TIMES 12.
Jerry The Saint
08/06/2006, 4:20 PM
One completely true thing is that James Caan. Sonny in The Godfather attended a few games in Croke Park. Saw him there with Colm Meaney. FACT TIMES 12.
Well of course - they're joint owners of a small catering company that runs the hotdog franchise for 85% of all large stadiums in Western Europe. Jon Bon Jovi is the third major investor. Why wouldn't they keep an eye out for their investment:confused:
Poor Student
08/06/2006, 4:57 PM
May have originated from someone's boredom I'd say.
You got to hand it to them, it's been so successful. Doesn't do the club any harm either. There's a book on the history of UCD sport in the UCD bookshop and the section on soccer which covers the foundation of the college until Inter Toto qualification makes no mention of him and it's a pretty well researched piece.
Rocky27
08/06/2006, 5:38 PM
On a completely unrelated matter, it IS true that legendary cyclist Lance Armstrong played a number of games for Moyle Rovers Junior 'B' Hurling team while training with Sean Kelly in South Tipperary in the early-90s.
Well, I wonder if it's true that Xabi Alonso has a Meath Minor Football Championship medal.
Alonso did live with an Irish family in the summer of 97 in Kells whilst learning English and has gone on record as saying he played Gaelic Football at the time and enjoyed it.
I've since heard that he togged out for the Kells team that year (because a couple of the lads in his family were players) and was an unused sub on the Championship winning team. Chinese whispers, perhaps?
Kevin Hunt however is truely one of the eL's best ever players and is a huge asset to the league with his ability and indeed his personality. It's a bit strange that English or Scottish clubs haven't been interested in him; hopefully if they never do come after him
Wes Charles used to be fffffffffffb, he was outstanding for Rovers in my first ever LOI game in '99 and continued to be until the present season for Bray. I think he had a bad campaign last year as well.
On his day, Luca Asokuh, former Olympic gold medalist, is probably the most skillful defender in Ireland as his composure, heading and dribbling is top class. Unfortunately he's had a shocking season so far and seems totally off the pace.
CollegeTillIDie
10/06/2006, 8:43 AM
Well, I wonder if it's true that Xabi Alonso has a Meath Minor Football Championship medal.
Alonso did live with an Irish family in the summer of 97 in Kells whilst learning English and has gone on record as saying he played Gaelic Football at the time and enjoyed it.
I've since heard that he togged out for the Kells team that year (because a couple of the lads in his family were players) and was an unused sub on the Championship winning team. Chinese whispers, perhaps?
Xabi Alonso was here for a while, he says that's where he mastered English.I heard him discuss it on an interview on I think it was Newstalk 106 last year.
I can't recall whether he said he won a medal or not but he did play a bit of Gaelic Football.
CollegeTillIDie
10/06/2006, 8:49 AM
On his day, Luca Asokuh, former Olympic gold medalist, is probably the most skillful defender in Ireland as his composure, heading and dribbling is top class. Unfortunately he's had a shocking season so far and seems totally off the pace.
:eek: Gold medallist? at what?
Was mistaken actually. He won the World Cup. (Under-20 WC). However according to the PFAI guide he also played in the Olympics.
Atrocious decision by the ref to send off Avery John earlier. I was fuming.
Delighted for T&T - lets hope for a repeat performance in their next match.
Kildare Lad
11/06/2006, 7:38 PM
Lads, i find it an insult that some people dont think it was Charles Mbabazi Livingston, he was by far and away the best player ever to play eircom legue football (in my lifetime). It is terrible what happened to him and he is a major loss to the league.
The Stars
12/06/2006, 9:03 AM
Ken Ottellor, played a season with us and was in the 1998 Nigerian world cup squad.
sligobhoy67
16/08/2006, 7:08 PM
Ralph Dean
I think Shane Barret will be up there in a few years;)
Agree with Kildarelad Charles Mbabazi Livingston and Joseph Ndo at present
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