Lads you went to school with that should have made it

viv_andersons_nana said:
David Fagan - I only went to Park End Primary with him but he was absolutely phenomenal from the age of about 6, to the point where the manager of the school football team, which was made up exclusively of Year 6 kids, was involving him at the age of 9 onwards. He played for Marton as well, I think everybody thought he was going to be a pro but he never was.

The only player I’ve ever seen as good as him at that sort of young age was Stewy Downing, who was completely mesmerising. I played against him a few times through secondary school and you couldn’t get near him. Everyone round where we grew up knew who he was when he was 13 or 14, everybody knew he was going to play for Boro. He was unbelievably good.
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Agree on Downing. If you were from
TS3 it seemed everyone knew who he was from the age of 11/12 and everyone knew at that age he was going to make it.

Think Fagan had a banning order a few years ago from incidents against Sunderland in the FA Cup
 
Inoffthebar said:
Agree on Downing. If you were from
TS3 it seemed everyone knew who he was from the age of 11/12 and everyone knew at that age he was going to make it.

Think Fagan had a banning order a few years ago from incidents against Sunderland in the FA Cup
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Why accentuate the negative (on DF) he’s a top lad hard working family man and a massive Boro fan
 
The team Downing played in at Pallister Park Primary school had some cracking players and won a national tournament. Paul Richards was a similar level to Downing for a few years but didn’t have the family support he did and was overlooked. Andy Farrell was captain I think. Last I heard he was working in Man City’s academy.
 
viv_andersons_nana said:
David Fagan - I only went to Park End Primary with him but he was absolutely phenomenal from the age of about 6, to the point where the manager of the school football team, which was made up exclusively of Year 6 kids, was involving him at the age of 9 onwards. He played for Marton as well, I think everybody thought he was going to be a pro but he never was.

The only player I’ve ever seen as good as him at that sort of young age was Stewy Downing, who was completely mesmerising. I played against him a few times through secondary school and you couldn’t get near him. Everyone round where we grew up knew who he was when he was 13 or 14, everybody knew he was going to play for Boro. He was unbelievably good.
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Was in his year at school, yeah he was good and a few other lads in that year too!
 
SilentProf said:
The team Downing played in at Pallister Park Primary school had some cracking players and won a national tournament. Paul Richards was a similar level to Downing for a few years but didn’t have the family support he did and was overlooked. Andy Farrell was captain I think. Last I heard he was working in Man City’s academy.
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Farrell played for Halifax the year they got relegated from the Football League. His son has recently signed a pro contract with Barnsley
 
Stewie Jackson was easily the best player in my year through juniors and seniors (Tedder and the Dene, Thornaby). Always thought he would make it as a midfielder. Would love to know how he’s doing now.

Shaun Howes / Howesy was in my year at the Dene - he came from a different juniors and before we started we heard he was a really good player - and he did make it a bit. Saw him playing for Thornaby a few years back and he was still really good, Downing-style flying winger.
 
Never thought Jacques would make it, at least to the higher echelons of pro football. He was a similar age to a relative of mine and seen him play quite a few times. If he was struggling to get the better of a defender, he would turn to cheating and attempting to intimidate his opponents. By cheating I mean sly fouls and shirt pulling, etc. My thinking as a young kid was that if he needs to do that, he's going to struggle moving forward.

To be fair, he probably didn't struggle for a long time. His athleticism for his age was likely a couple of years above his actual age and it took a while for things to level out. I suspect by his late teens, the edge he'd had when he was younger wasn't working for him in the same way. I remember a local football figure telling a few of us that Jacques had just received a big signing on fee for his apprenticeship. I said I didn't think he was that good and it was treated like blasphemy at the time.
 
Blf said:
Mickey Condon. Couple of years younger than me. He had it all. Boro took him on but he couldn't stay away from his mates and trouble so he was let go (although these days it wouldn't be classed as trouble).
Smashing lad. Watched him playing in the Teesbrough 1st division in his late teens and early twenties.3 stone heavier but defenders still couldn't catch him and he had a great shot on him.
Scored nearly every game he played in that league often 2 or 3.
What a loss.
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I grew up with Micky he lived a few doors away from us in Saltersgill . I agree with everything in Blf post although he forgot to mention that Micky was also hard as nails. It’s a shame but he couldn’t walk past the Salty Pub ,the butchers or the bookies without calling in.
 
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Anthony Peacock.

Won the youth cup with Boro and had very good spells at both Darlington & Spennymoor. He was phenomenal.

Problem was he was like 5’4 and his height always went against him. I think if he was playing now he’d have a better chance.
 
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