Whatever Happened To Cherno Samba

[dww]

i guess this shows how hit and miss investing in youth is. personally i'm dubious of clubs who think the future of the club is investing big in the next flavour of the month.

i heard erikkson say it about city yesterday. "our signings must be young players as they are the future of the club."

personally, i think too many clubs have tried to choose this option of throwing money and blowing their transfer budgets at lots of potential, and the thing about potential is that it often never happens.

the way to build the future of a club is to spend the money on players who can do it now. once they establish you as a credible club, better players will join in the future.

its a better strategy than blowing the budget on a load of promising 20 year olds in the expectation that they'll all be the business. most of them won't.

I suspect that Sven (in common with a lot of continental coaches) feels that young players as a category goes up to about 23 year olds. I think what he means is that he will not be doing a Bolton.

I kind of agree with you that it can be easy to splurge huge amounts on the sorts of players AFII highlights everyday and they never really repay the investment. The key is usually to have a blend and to judge the gamble in terms of resale value and likely success. Arsene Wenger and at a different level Middlesborough and Crewe have shown that it is possible to make good judgments and save money by playing young players.

[paulcooper4]

Thank **** we never signed the bellend

[jonesie]

Samba had a loan spell at Wrexham last season. I was on a placement on a paper in Wrexham at the time and went to watch them against Shrewsbury to do a match report.

He was an unused sub.

[JohnOK]

Speaking of Sonny Pike he is now training to be a boxer and hates football. Seems quite a down to earth kid that football hit hard.

Whatever happened to Fran Tierney?

[Imy]

Attitude is what the problem is, at 14 i bet he thought he was the bees knees and footballing wise he hasn't moved on since then.

Young players should look at players like Kevin Keegan and David Beckham (football wise) these guys who as kids were probably no where near Samba's level but with a lot of hard work and continual improvement and most importantly with a hard working ethos got to the top of world football.

[alunevans]

maureen tried that with shevchenko and ballack

yes but he got it wrong as can happen. my point wasn't to buy "big" names either, it was to spend money on players who you believe will make a difference to your team now because you judge they have the ability right now.

it doesn't have to be a big name. it could be a yossi benayoun. and of course your judgement may be knackered but if i had 20m to spend i'd be spending almost all of it on players for the here and now if i were boss of a club like man city.

[alunevans]

I suspect that Sven (in common with a lot of continental coaches) feels that young players as a category goes up to about 23 year olds. I think what he means is that he will not be doing a Bolton.

I kind of agree with you that it can be easy to splurge huge amounts on the sorts of players AFII highlights everyday and they never really repay the investment. The key is usually to have a blend and to judge the gamble in terms of resale value and likely success. Arsene Wenger and at a different level Middlesborough and Crewe have shown that it is possible to make good judgments and save money by playing young players.

Wenger seems to have a rare genius at this so if you have that insight go for it. Boro and Crewe appear to do it through their youth set up rather than buying in the next big thing, and I think the Crewe way has value.

[red g]

http://www.football.co.uk/plymouth_argyle/samba_listed_by_pilgrims_250044.shtml

this is what happened to cherno samba!

[Rafa Shankly]

He will end up playing with Sonny Pike, Lord Lucan and Hitler in the 'Whatever happened to Allstars'

sonny pike.
is he the kid who was in a mcdonalds advert?
and went to train with the ajax kids but was completely shown up because he couldnt actually play football but was great at keepy uppys?

[andyinswinton]

Scott Parker was the kid in the McDonalds advert wasn't he?

[Gray]

Scott Parker was the kid in the McDonalds advert wasn't he?

Yes, yes he was.

[red g]

sonny pike.
is he the kid who was in a mcdonalds advert?
and went to train with the ajax kids but was completely shown up because he couldnt actually play football but was great at keepy uppys?

here you go.....


"Whatever happened to Sonny Pike?" asks Dan Williamson. "I'm certain that years ago I watched a documentary about him and learned that he was England's brightest-ever prospect. I am also sure that he trained with the Ajax youth side."
Sonny - the nephew of ex-Tottenham striker Mark Falco - became semi-famous after was invited to join Ajax's Academy of Excellence at the age of seven. Sadly, as this website explains, his dreams of a professional career ended a couple of years ago. "Sonny is currently living near Dundee, and is studying psychology at Dundee University. He found the pressures of top-class football too much, and in 2003 decided to pursue a more regular career - having been privy to sports psychologists, he decided to follow that path. Nonetheless, he still has a fervent passion for the game, playing Sunday league football for Dryburgh Saints, as well as weekly five-a-side fixtures against other students."

"He is currently training for a Scottish FA coaching certificate, and as part of this, he coaches two primary school teams in the area. Although he doesn't support a local team, he goes to matches regularly, purely for his love of the game. Sonny says that he's much happier away from professional football. The pressure placed on him by his club, agents, sponsors and, to a lesser extent, the media made him suffer a nervous breakdown in October 2000, whilst still part of the Ajax youth squad."
"I couldn't take it, and I got ill, really screwed up," Sonny adds. "I stopped going to training and stuff, because I was so screwed up I couldn't hack it. Looking back, it's amazing how low I was. Ajax completely forgot about me, they didn't want to know, but as soon as I was better, they acted like they'd always been there for me. I realised how superficial it is at that level, and if I hadn't got back to form I bet they would have turfed me out. That's why I packed it in, it's so unstable. I guess it was during that period that I realised how much psychologists can help people, and I suppose I took it from there