unusual footballers?

Clarke Carlisle was lauded as a clever guy, went on Countdown a few years ago.

I can't for the life of me remember his name, but I do remember about 15 years ago reading about a Barcelona player who wasn't really interested in the bling lifestyle and turned up to training in a van.
 
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Bosko Jankovic
Boro’s first ever foreign player.
Granted permission by communist Yugoslavia to play in Western Europe, a very rare occurrence in those days
A qualified lawyer and started his own practice in Sarajevo when he retired from football
Died of cancer at the tragically young age of 42.
 
feedthebear said:
Bosko Jankovic
Boro’s first ever foreign player.
Granted permission by communist Yugoslavia to play in Western Europe, a very rare occurrence in those days
A qualified lawyer and started his own practice in Sarajevo when he retired from football
Died of cancer at the tragically young age of 42.
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I loved Bosco but he wasn't our first ever foreign player.

Lindy Delaphena was Jamaican and played for us in the 50s.

And I think there were a couple of South Africans played for us in the 40s.
 
Rofesleg said:
I loved Bosco but he wasn't our first ever foreign player.

Lindy Delaphena was Jamaican and played for us in the 50s.

And I think there were a couple of South Africans played for us in the 40s Bosco was
Rofesleg said:
I loved Bosco but he wasn't our first ever foreign player.

Lindy Delaphena was Jamaican and played for us in the 50s.

And I think there were a couple of South Africans played for us in the 40s.
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i always thought that Bosco was the trailblazer for our overseas contingent, but yes, you’re correct I’ve googled and the first was was Norman Mallon, South African Keeper 1945.
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There were also a couple of Irish players that came over and signed for us just after Ireland became fully independent in 1949.
 
Great thread, I love these unusual mavericks.

Gerard Pique is massively into tech and business. He owns the Davis Cup tournament in tennis, esports companies and the broadcast rights to Copa America. Also unusual in that his (ex) wife is much more famous than him.

Mendieta is of course an indie kid who loves the Velvet Underground and would still DJ at indie nights and go off collecting vinyl even when he was in the Ballon D’Or mix.

I think Alen Boksic fought in the Balkan civil war, I know a few of those Yugoslav 90s players did.

Socrates smoked 30 a day, was a physician and a political-economic scientist.

Not personality, but Luka Modric grew up as a shoeless goat herder in the Croatian hills.

I can’t remember the Barcelona player either but there’s definitely one from around 15-20 years whose name we’d all recognise who was massively left wing, very politically clued up and a bit of a hippy. Lived in a van sounds right.

David de Gea is really into death metal. Loads of his teammates talk about how much of a nightmare it is when he gets his hands on the dressing room speaker. Same with Psycho, I love the stories about him putting on the Sex Pistols and the Stranglers when he’s managing City.
 
equaliser said:
In my younger days, the template was always Pat Nevin. A footballer who 'liked Joy Division' was...well, someone a bit like me, basically. Football in those days seemed like an impregnable fortress of conformism. Even from a young age, reading Shoot magazine, the mono-cultural nature of the profession was remarkable. Pre-match meal: steak & chips. Favourite actor: Clint Eastwood. Favorite hobby: driving. It still seems like that in many ways. The number of openly gay players, say, is still tiny.

But there were always outliers: cerebral types, or those with alternative careers or weird un-footballey hobbies. I came across some quotes by Peter Crouch on Benoit Assou-Ekotto - who famously "doesn't like football" which reminded me of a fella i knew in Thialnad who used to paint houses for Liverpool footballers and became Jason McAteer's mate, eventually moving up to Sunderland for a bit to hang out with him and 'paint his house'. I remember this lad saying to me the thing that struck him about footballers was how many of them 'weren't really bothered about football' - he cited Grant McCann as an example - wouldn't check the scores, know who their next game was against etc. Weird, obviously, for the likes of us.

Anyway, an article about Eric Dier has prompted me to start this thread, dedicated to footballers who 'break the mould'.

anti-Brexit diehard

"two discrete lunches"
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I remember hearing something about vertonghen, saying he loved theatre/ amature dramatics more than football.
 
Rodri has a degree in business, in Spain he used to drive a second hand car, lived in student digs and doesn't use social media.

Think Romario is a fairly senior politician of some sort in Brazil.
 
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