Paul Mullin Radio 5

[dylanisabaddog 5,062]

Excellent interview on Radio 5 Chris Kamara at 1.00 today. 

All worth listening to but one very interesting answer to who is the best player you've ever played with. The answer was Wes Hoolahan at Cambridge United 

[Satriales 710]

11 minutes ago, dylanisabaddog said:

Excellent interview on Radio 5 Chris Kamara at 1.00 today. 

All worth listening to but one very interesting answer to who is the best player you've ever played with. The answer was Wes Hoolahan at Cambridge United 

I was listening. Obviously we all know about Wessi, but lovely to hear another player give such high praise.

Mullin seems like a decent bloke as well.

[Yobocop 1,106]

2 minutes ago, Satriales said:

I was listening. Obviously we all know about Wessi, but lovely to hear another player give such high praise.

Mullin seems like a decent bloke as well.

Yep top bloke, if you haven’t seen the episode of ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ where he talks about his boy who has autism it’s worth a watch, also talks about how Wrexham look after their fans with disabilities. 

very emotional episode 

[king canary 7,705]

I'd love to know how far Wes would have gone if he was breaking into football maybe 10 years later than he did.

His career started when British football still played loads of 4-4-2 and wouldn't trust a player as small as him. I think if he was coming through in 2015 rather than 2005 he'd have spent a much higher % of his career in the top flight. 

[Creedence Clearwater Couto 1,325]

9 minutes ago, king canary said:

I'd love to know how far Wes would have gone if he was breaking into football maybe 10 years later than he did.

His career started when British football still played loads of 4-4-2 and wouldn't trust a player as small as him. I think if he was coming through in 2015 rather than 2005 he'd have spent a much higher % of his career in the top flight. 

Amazing how he divided opinions between Norwich fans, even when he was ripping up League one and the champs under Lambert. Absolute GOAT. 

[Branston Pickle 3,748]

Misread that as Wes being the best player Kamara had played with…had me stumped for a moment!  Wes was definitely a great little player.

[Satriales 710]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0gnt6hj?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

[Christoph Stiepermann 1,157]

22 minutes ago, Creedence Clearwater Couto said:

Amazing how he divided opinions between Norwich fans, even when he was ripping up League one and the champs under Lambert. Absolute GOAT. 

I wasn't on football forums during that era, was that really the case? I remember him being very hit and miss under Roeder and Gunn when put on the left wing in the Championship but I remember him being amazing nearly every game pretty much as soon as Lambert switched him to a no.10 in L1 and into the Championship. I had no idea people were debating his ability during those years I thought the consensus was that he was easily one of the best players in both divisions and unplayable on his day in those seasons. 

[king canary 7,705]

3 minutes ago, Christoph Stiepermann said:

I wasn't on football forums during that era, was that really the case? I remember him being very hit and miss under Roeder and Gunn when put on the left wing in the Championship but I remember him being amazing nearly every game pretty much as soon as Lambert switched him to a no.10 in L1 and into the Championship. I had no idea people were debating his ability during those years I thought the consensus was that he was easily one of the best players in both divisions and unplayable on his day in those seasons. 

I remember some writing him off in those early days as too lightweight, no pace etc because they thought he should be a winger.

I'm not sure I remember him dividing opinion too much once he found his form under Lambert though, although I do remember lots of questions as to whether he would be too much of a luxury player every time we got promoted due to his lack of defensive contribution. 

[PurpleCanary 5,606]

I remember on The Guardian football podcast the host, Max Rushden, who is a Cambridge United fan, saying that Wessi was having a trial with them, and then corrected him to say in effect they were having a trial with Wessi to see if he would agree to sign on...

[Wings of a Sparrow 1,467]

My memories are that Wes was good about 50% of the time, anonymous the rest.

He could turn a match when he was on fire though.

[king canary 7,705]

1 minute ago, Wings of a Sparrow said:

My memories are that Wes was good about 50% of the time, anonymous the rest.

He could turn a match when he was on fire though.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/memory-loss-amnesia/

 

 

[Robert N. LiM 4,667]

1 hour ago, king canary said:

I'd love to know how far Wes would have gone if he was breaking into football maybe 10 years later than he did.

That's so funny, I've often had the opposite thought - how far he would have gone if he'd played 10 years earlier, when players were less drugged up to the max super-fit and there was a bit more space for players like him. He would have been such an asset to our 90s team.

[Robert N. LiM 4,667]

1 hour ago, Creedence Clearwater Couto said:

Amazing how he divided opinions between Norwich fans, even when he was ripping up League one and the champs under Lambert. Absolute GOAT. 

Yeah, I've never really understood what people watch football for if it's not to watch players like him.

Wes, Crook and Emi are my top three Norwich players of my watching life. The order depends on my mood that day.

[Robert N. LiM 4,667]

Only the barest of excuses needed to post this masterpiece. Works so well in superslowmo with the defender and the keeper sitting down in perfect synchronisation. I didn't choose the music.

Edited November 3, 2023 by Robert N. LiM

[It's Character Forming 1,167]

1 hour ago, Robert N. LiM said:

Yeah, I've never really understood what people watch football for if it's not to watch players like him.

Wes, Crook and Emi are my top three Norwich players of my watching life. The order depends on my mood that day.

I think that deserves a thread of its own !  I'm tempted to add Bellamy but that's partly because I had a season ticket the year he broke through into the senior team 🙂 

[hogesar 9,820]

Wes was one of those players you'd pay to watch even if the team itself wasn't playing well. You know you'd see something from him. 

As a sidenote, when we had Patrick Bamford at the club, he also told some of us at a dinner do that Wes was the best player he'd played / trained with. 

[king canary 7,705]

1 hour ago, Robert N. LiM said:

That's so funny, I've often had the opposite thought - how far he would have gone if he'd played 10 years earlier, when players were less drugged up to the max super-fit and there was a bit more space for players like him. He would have been such an asset to our 90s team.

My worry would be in that era he'd have been kicked out of the game by some fairly industrial players and also probably shunted out to the wings (certainly in English football!). I don't think many teams were playing with number 10/trequartista like players then.

[Robert N. LiM 4,667]

4 minutes ago, king canary said:

My worry would be in that era he'd have been kicked out of the game by some fairly industrial players and also probably shunted out to the wings (certainly in English football!). I don't think many teams were playing with number 10/trequartista like players then.

Yeah, maybe. Worse pitches wouldn't have helped him either. But I guess since neither of us has a time machine (unless you're keeping something very quiet) it's all moot anyway.

[Robert N. LiM 4,667]

2 hours ago, king canary said:

questions as to whether he would be too much of a luxury player

Don Howe: "Glenn Hoddle a luxury? It's the bad players who are a luxury."