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Did anybody from your school make it pro?

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1 minute ago, Crabbycanary3 said:

Paul 'Clanger' Clayton. 

My daughter's boyfriend was in the same school side as Angus Gunn, and he played in goal, as Angus was not allowed to (by Norwich, fearing injury). Angus played outfield and still tore it up. So, my daughter's boyfriend's claim to fame is that he 'kept' Gunn out of the School side .

Yeah it was the same at my high school with Joe Lewis- not allowed to play for the school team past the age of about 15 in pretty much any sport, which was a shame for our cricket team as he was also absolutely excellent at that. 

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11 hours ago, Graham Paddons Beard said:

Yes. Steve McGavin. 

😄 This is fun isn't it!
Now I'm trying to work out who you might be because despite the fact that you only mentioned going to school with him, I've somehow convinced myself that we must know each other simply because I played with Steve in a bse Sunday team in the late 80s!
Red Lion was the team.

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Not at school but for a bit I did go out with a girl who previously dated Chris Sutton. She said he was a complete **** but ironically apparently had a small one (although she may have just been boosting my ego!)

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David Norris was the year above me and went on to play over 450 Football League games during spells at Hull, Plymouth, Ipswich, Portsmouth, Leeds, Peterborough, Yeovil and Blackpool (to be fair he did rack up over 200 games at Plymouth and over 100 at Ipswich, who he captained under Roy Keane, so wasn't just a journeyman looking for a home!). He's now a personal trainer.

In my brother's year there was a Dominic Henson (later Pearmain) who was signed by Manchester United after impressing at Sunday league level. He didn't make the grade there and kicked around Leicester City's reserves before returning back to local level with Yaxley. No idea what he's up to now as he's seemingly non-Google-able! I got to chat to Dominic relatively regularly before he got that move to United as I refereed Sunday football in the area. Wouldn't say he was particularly special, but he had pace to burn and they obviously thought they could train a bit of football into him on top of that raw physical attribute.

Funnily enough, there was another tidy little (literally!) player that was a few years younger than my brother and was a relatively regular first-teamer in Netherton United's youth team's midfields who I refereed a number of times. Aston Merrygold didn't make it far into the sporting world but didn't do too badly for himself as one third of the boyband JLS.

Outside of playing, Neil Hair was on the same referee qualifying course as me as teenagers and is now knocking around the middle of League One games as well as filling the fourth official slot at some Premier League matches. He got a very memorable day out at Wembley for the National League Play-Off Final a few years ago (sending Tranmere's Liam Ridenhalgh after just 48 seconds!) - would expect he'll eventually make the Premier League but it does seem mad to think he's now twenty five-ish years into what's been a solid refereeing career and is still to make it to Championship level.

Edited by Declan
Repetition and duplication...

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I went to school with an extremely talented footballer called Tony Mills who broke his leg at 17 and had the bottom half amputated due to complications.

Undeterred by this, he went on to play for and Captain Arsenal Amputee F.C and played for England, including at two Amputee World Cups. He also went on to represent GB at the IPC Athletics 2015 World Championships in the long jump.

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1 hour ago, Crabbycanary3 said:

My daughter's boyfriend was in the same school side as Angus Gunn, and he played in goal, as Angus was not allowed to (by Norwich, fearing injury). Angus played outfield and still tore it up. So, my daughter's boyfriend's claim to fame is that he 'kept' Gunn out of the School side

My eldest son sometimes played in that same team. Yes, Angus was very good outfield. I used to go and watch when I could and remember him once hitting the crossbar from the half way line with the keeper off his line. Bryan Gunn was quite often there too and always really friendly and approachable. 

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Ryan Bennett (ex-Norwich and now Swansea defender) went to Flegg High School, Martham (towards Great Yarmouth). He's not from Norfolk originally, born in Essex, but spent a few years at Flegg growing up. 

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1 hour ago, Declan said:

David Norris was the year above me and went on to play over 450 Football League games during spells at Hull, Plymouth, Ipswich, Portsmouth, Leeds, Peterborough, Yeovil and Blackpool (to be fair he did rack up over 200 games at Plymouth and over 100 at Ipswich, who he captained under Roy Keane, so wasn't just a journeyman looking for a home!). He's now a personal trainer.

 

I think we must cancel this one as he went over to the dark side and played in IP1 😀

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Jed Steer, shame really that he left Norwich for Villa.. things might have worked out differently and he would be our first choice now. 

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Went to school with Adrian Coote. Used to play football with him after school on the local park in Belton.

Wasn’t very good then either😂 Just tall and fast.

Saw him working in House of Fraser a few years after finishing with Norwich.

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50 minutes ago, Rustyboy said:

Some guy called Terry Butcher, think he done ok for himself 😱

You might have gone to school with my mum then!

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5 minutes ago, Leedscanary said:

I grew up and went to school with Matthew Hoggard who played Cricket for England.

Not such a good one to boast about at the moment

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Born in Norwich but sent to knobby boarding school in Essex in 1970s.

My reputation at school revolved about:

1. attending as many Norwich matches as I could get away with. I joined Capital Canaries as a teenager and remember meeting its head, one Greg Peck, on the train! I remember seeing Kevin Reeves's debut at Arsenal from an uncovered Clock End, and a 3-2 classic at home to Newcastle (Busby x 2?).

2. being known for being nuts about Martin Peters. Whenever I was asked a question in class, a buzz went round as everyone hissed 'Peters'. Later, this strangely mutated into 'Foetus'.

Sport was very big at school. Before my time it produced David Acfield (Olympic fencer + spin bowler for Essex). I was at school with Stewart Robson, who went on to play regularly for Arsenal and got close to England team.

I see Neil Harris (Millwall) later went to Brentwood as well.

In my cricket team was Ian Pont (brother of Essex all-rounder Keith Pont). Ian didn't quite make it at Essex, but later tried to make it in USA at baseball, I believe (he had a truly fantastic throw at cricket).

But the best-known is none other than "nearly Norwich manager" Frank Lampard. I believe he passed something like 10 GCSEs, including Latin. Reciting the Aeneid or Ovid wouldn't have helped with keeping us up I suspect, though.

 

 

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I know this is miles off subject, but cut me a little slack as I find it surreal. It may tickle those of a certain vintage and a Top of the Pops inclination.

Until recently my neice's Headmaster in Reigate was Mr Fenton, a serious and highly qualified teacher. Mr Fenton is the son of Alvin Stardust.

Priceless!

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4 hours ago, Pockthorpe said:

My eldest son sometimes played in that same team. Yes, Angus was very good outfield. I used to go and watch when I could and remember him once hitting the crossbar from the half way line with the keeper off his line. Bryan Gunn was quite often there too and always really friendly and approachable. 

I might see you at my daughter 's wedding then Pockthorpe!

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6 hours ago, Crabby Canary said:

Phil Chappel who played for NCFC and Charlton Athletic was in my U11 team when I taught in Sprowston over 40yrs ago.

What subject did you teach Crabby? Was it at the High School?

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58 minutes ago, Pugin said:

I know this is miles off subject, but cut me a little slack as I find it surreal. It may tickle those of a certain vintage and a Top of the Pops inclination.

Until recently my neice's Headmaster in Reigate was Mr Fenton, a serious and highly qualified teacher. Mr Fenton is the son of Alvin Stardust.

Priceless!

I think being a headmaster called Mr Stardust might have presented it's own set of problems 😀

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There was a lad at my school who got a 1 or 2 year pro deal at City but never made a first team appearance. I only played 5-a-side with him once, I thought he'd absolutely tear it up, but he didn't. Must've been much better on a proper pitch, I think he was a central midfielder.

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My ex girlfriend told me that Jed Steer broke up with her because she was "too wild for him and he wanted to make sure his pulic image wasn't impacted".

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Not in my school, but I played football against John Fashanu. At the time he was bang average and we lost 1-0. However, the year before Justin came to our school and scored six in the first half and was taken off to give us a chance. 

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8 hours ago, scoop said:

😄 This is fun isn't it!
Now I'm trying to work out who you might be because despite the fact that you only mentioned going to school with him, I've somehow convinced myself that we must know each other simply because I played with Steve in a bse Sunday team in the late 80s!
Red Lion was the team.

School was King Edward. I’m older than Speedy but I got to know him a bit better through coaching . Good guy . 
Have to say scoop that if you played with him even on Sundays , you must have been a decent player . 

I played a bit earlier - mid 80’s. 

PS I played for KEG’s in the Suffolk county schools cup final against Cornard - they had Perry Groves . We got beat 4.1 🤣

Edited by Graham Paddons Beard

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I went to school worth Danny Crow, who made 4 appearances in a City shirt. 

It was a bizarre experience seeing him get subbed on in a Premier League game against Boro, back in 2004.

Obviously never worked out for him here but he had an interesting career in the lower leagues.

Another guy from the same school, and year, became a professional coach at Sheffield United, but never made it as a professional himself.

Edited by ?

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I went to school at Paston in late 60's and played against a West Ham schoolboys 11 who were on tour, we lost 8-0 but i was chuffed that i had our only shot on goal from the centre circle, it was as close to their goal as we got in the whole game! Often wonder who was in that West Ham team.

Emigrated to Perth, Western Australia, in 1970 and played for Stirling City through the youth teams.  My ambition was always to return to England and play for Norwich. Played in U-16s Cup Final in 1972 in front of a 15,000 crowd prior to the W.Australia V Wolves game and got to meet Hugh Curran who shook my hand and said I was the best player on the ground....highlight of my playing days!

Was named as a sub for a Div 1 game in Perth as a 16yo and was given an envelope after the game with a $10 note in it, this was as close as i got to a pro career! 🙂 Bad knee injury shortly afterwards that ended my ambitions to turn pro but I continued to play until i was 50 and some 6 surgical ops on my knee.

Close but no cigar.

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