JET's a couple of years younger so probably not, but interesting that they were both at Arsenal at the time and both ended up at multiple Scottish teams. Footballers who don't quite make it or end up falling below their expected potential seem to be vulnerable to this kind of thing unfortunately.
So much talent. No excuse not to have the same Ireland career as Shane Long. Long was the better athlete but Stokes as a footballer was just technically insane.Originally Posted by Eirambler
I played against him when he was 17 and home for Christmas from Arsenal and he was just unbelievable. He was a bit older than me but he was just unbelievable.
By comparison, I also played against Jack Byrne when he was home from City at 17 and the difference was huge. Jack was a lovely footballer, but Anto was jaw dropping. He just everything technically. He wasn’t the quickest but on his first summer home from Sunderland, he worked with a sprinting coach who really got way more pace out of him, to the point where Sunderland hired him to come over from Ireland and work with their whole squad.
It’s funny comparing those two. I was friends with Anto’s girlfriend (she was with him before he left for Arsenal until some point at Sunderland) and you’d hear from other girls who knew them both that he was very openly cheating on her as a teenager in front of her friends.
Later, I’d say maybe around 2009 I became good friends with a lad I was playing with who was on the same Ireland underage team with him, so I ended up going out a few times with Anto on a night out around those next few years - and I genuinely couldn’t believe what he was like. Taking coke openly, whipping his dick out on the dance floor. Just generally being an idiot. Such a waste…
Some people never change. Meanwhile, Jack was such a hot head as a teen. He had a free header at the back post with an open goal - so I gave him a slight shove. Just enough for him to mishead it over the bar. But he almost went into the post. He turned around and grabbed me by the throat and he went to punch, he didn’t swing a dig but he was pulled back before he could - and it was for something that was basically an accident. I was speaking to him after it and he was saying City had devised a light system for him (if he coaches said green, he could do what he wanted, orange and he had to calm down, red and he couldn’t make a tackle or engage with anyone it all. I played him in a semi final of a preseason cup and sure enough, he got a straight red in the final. Whereas you look at him now, and he generally seems really calm and whenever I’ve met him, a lovely humble lad…
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