The 'where are they now?' files

[Buzzo]

The reply.. “He’s a little forward”

[McDermotX]

he replied: “Tremendous by the way.”

Proper Partridge

[ChesterDave]

and asked if her breasts were “falsies”

Don't think I've ever heard them referred to as falsies.

[Buzzo]

Just reading the Owen article. He has been monumentally stitched up there. I mean, he’s clearly angling for an affair, and as a married father that’s not ideal. But, he’s fallen into a proper honey trap there.

[Venton]

Just reading the Owen article. He has been monumentally stitched up there. I mean, he’s clearly angling for an affair, and as a married father that’s not ideal. But, he’s fallen into a proper honey trap there.

That picture of him at the end of the article is a little unnecessary.

[peekay]

Remember this handsome fella who played for us.

[frank the tank]

Ehhhhhhhh no

[Tribute]

Ehhhhhhhh no

[SB]

Dirk?

[Kenneth]

It’s the Max Headroom version of Dirk Kuyt.

[RedReet]

Some interesting titbits in this article about Liam Cole leaving...


Saying goodbye wasn’t easy for Liam Coyle.

“Liverpool Football Club has been my life for the past 12 years,” he tells The Athletic.

“It was a bit mad walking out of those gates at Kirkby on my last day, walking to my car, and thinking, ‘That’s me done here.’

“There were no tears because I’d known for a while that day was coming but it was still really tough. It was my dream to make it at Liverpool. That didn’t happen in the end but I can’t waste time moping around. I need to crack on with the next challenge.”

Coyle was Liverpool Under-18s captain under Steven Gerrard, who always spoke glowingly about him. The combative midfielder was so highly rated by current assistant manager Pep Lijnders that he was first invited to train at Melwood at just 15.

However, his progress was wrecked by stress fractures in his back and on his return to action, he was playing catch-up following the emergence of youngsters Jake Cain and Leighton Clarkson in his position. He never made the senior debut for his boyhood club he craved.

The 21-year-old was going to be released last summer but academy director Alex Inglethorpe didn’t want him to face that uncertainty in the middle of the pandemic. As a result, he was given another 12-month contract in order to build up his fitness and earn himself a permanent move. It was a classy gesture in what can be a ruthless business.

“Yeah, I don’t think many clubs would have done that,” Coyle says. “I’ll always be grateful. I could have been left not fit, without a club and without an income.

“When I first went in to see Alex to have the chat about my future, I sort of knew what was coming. I’d missed that much football, it wasn’t a big shock, but it was still hard to hear.

“Alex said for selfish reasons he could keep me around as the old head of the under-23s but that the best thing for my own career was to move on. I realise now he was right.

“Alex explained the extra year they were giving me was just to get fit and get out on trial at a few clubs to get something sorted. In the back of my mind I was thinking, ‘Right, train well, play a few games and they might think they’re making a big mistake letting me go.’ But lads like Leighton and Jake were ahead of me in the pecking order for the under-23s and I had to accept that. Alex was always honest with me. Liverpool have helped me a lot prepare for this moment.”

After trials at Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers and Accrington Stanley, he agreed a one-year contract with the latter. He shone for Accrington in a friendly against Liverpool Under-23s at Kirkby and is relishing the prospect of getting started with the League One club.

“The manager John Coleman is a fellow Scouser and just seems like a boss fella,” he says. “They’ve got a humble, hardworking squad and it feels like a good fit. I think the style of the Football League will suit me and I just want to get stuck right into it.”

Coyle was nine when he joined the Kirkby academy after Liverpool spotted him playing for junior club Rail Vikings. Living close to Melwood in the West Derby area of the city, he would often cycle down to the training ground to try to grab a glimpse of his heroes Gerrard and Jamie Carragher.

By the age of 15, he was walking through the gates himself.

“It was a bit mad. Fans would be staring at me and I knew they were thinking, ‘Who the hell is he?’ Sometimes I’d have fans shouting, ‘It’s Jordan Rossiter!’ I was like, ‘I’m not!'”

Trent Alexander-Arnold is a year older than him and they played together in the club’s under-16s team under Lijnders in 2014-15.

Coyle says: “Trent was always an unbelievable striker of the ball. He could spray balls anywhere he wanted. The only thing when he played holding midfield in that team was that he didn’t like to sit, he wanted to get forward.

“Maybe that’s why right-back suits him so much now because he can bomb up and down. He always had the ability but it was a surprise how early it happened for him. Injuries to others gave him his chance and he never looked back. I’m made up for him. He’s become one of the best full-backs in world football and I buzz off the fact that I played in the same team as him.”

That season also opened Coyle’s eyes to Lijnders’ coaching credentials. The Dutchman, who had been recruited from FC Porto’s academy, was promoted from Kirkby to Melwood as first-team development coach by Brendan Rodgers in the summer of 2015. When Jurgen Klopp took over, Lijnders was retained and his senior responsibilities increased.


“Before Pep came in, we got told there was a new under-16s coach but as he wouldn’t be here for two weeks they were going to video every session and send them to him,” Coyle says.

“We all thought it was a wind up. But as soon as Pep arrived we realised he’d watched every minute of every session. He seemed to know everything about everyone already.

“He was unreal. So intense to work with but everyone loved it. The fitness coach would be saying, ‘That’s time now Pep, they’ve done enough today.’ But Pep would be like, ‘No, come on, we play on!’ He set us up brilliantly. He’s really shown his class as Jurgen’s No 2. He knows what he’s talking about and he knows how to get the best out of players.

“We went to Qatar to play a game towards the end of the season and he called Ben Woodburn and me over to look at his laptop. Pep had the formation, shape and style all planned out on a PowerPoint presentation for the under-16s for the following season three months in advance.

“When Pep went up to Melwood with Brendan, it was great for me too as Pep liked me. Ben and I used to be there training quite a lot, even when we were still going to school. I remember Brendan said to Pep about me, ‘I can see in his eyes how much it means to him.’ That was my first day at Melwood when I was 15. That gave me such a buzz. I played in a behind-closed-doors game against Wolves with Kolo Toure, Dejan Lovren, Lucas Leiva and Danny Ings. That was great experience.”

Coyle continued to be a frequent visitor to Melwood during the early years of Klopp’s reign. When the first team worked on shape on the eve of matches, he was often put at right-back and tasked with trying to stop Sadio Mane.

“I’d be stood there thinking, ‘This isn’t really very fair!'” he laughs.

“I was a young holding midfielder trying to play right-back against one of the best wingers in the world. Most of the best full-backs in the Premier League can’t handle him. It would be attack v defence for 20 minutes. Mane ripped me to shreds. I thought I was quite strong before he started knocking me off the ball.

“I was so exhausted, I was a shambles in the five-a-sides that followed. James Milner was on my team and I think he got a bit pissed off with me. He’s a winner. Milner demands that everyone is at the top level all the time and he pushes everyone on. His fitness levels and professionalism are amazing.

“I’d always go up to Melwood during international breaks. Adam Lallana was another top fella. During the warm-up, he would jog around with you and have a chat, making you feel welcome. Lucas was similar. He came down to the academy once to do some coaching with us and said, ‘Yes, Liam, I remember you, you kicked me!’

“The training load was so tough. I’d go to Melwood three days in a row and then I’d go back to the academy absolutely shattered. The step up was massive. I was in awe of Jurgen. He would shake your hand and say ‘good luck’. All the young lads who still train with the senior squad talk about how he’s so genuine and honest. The man you see on the TV is who he is.”


Liam Coyle is now ready to be a footballer again (Photo: James Pearce_
Coyle was fast-tracked as a teenager. It was current Blackpool boss Neil Critchley who gave him his under-18s debut against Blackburn Rovers at the age of 15. He was later handed the captaincy.

When Gerrard took over in the summer of 2017 and Critchley moved up to the under-23s, the Kop legend made it clear that he wanted Coyle to lead the charge.

“I’d had a good season with Critch and then Gerrard filled me with even more confidence. He was like: ‘You’re my captain,’” he recalls.

“The days being coached by him are stories to tell the grandkids about one day. There’s an aura about him. You feel it when he walks into the room.

“Gerrard is so driven in what he does. There’s no stopping him. He’s a born winner and it was great to see him win the title at Rangers. I think he’s a future Liverpool manager. It’ll be tough coming in straight after Klopp and trying to carry on what he’s done but I wouldn’t put it past him.

“It seems mad now listening to what he said about me in interviews back then. Gerrard would join in training and when we were doing long-range passing drills, he was different level. He’d be hitting them into the mini goal every time, I’d be shanking them wide.

“He had a lot of trust and faith in me and that was a fantastic feeling coming from him. He loved how committed I was and how I covered every blade of grass. I felt like I was really pushing on. I was getting games for the under-23s, too. I scored in Gerrard’s first two games. I was in top form. I do often think about what would have happened if I’d stayed fit that season.”

Coyle’s problems started at 17 during a UEFA Youth League clash away to Spartak Moscow in September 2017. Curtis Jones and Rhian Brewster were also part of Gerrard’s side that day.

“After about 10 minutes, the ball went over my head, I spun and my back suddenly started throbbing with pain,” he says.

“It was killing me but I wasn’t going to come off. I played the full 90. When I picked up my bags in the airport after, I was in agony. When I went for a scan, they said I had a pars stress fracture. I was out for seven months.

“Nat Phillips got the same injury the week after, so we ended up spending a lot of time together. We helped each other through it. It was the following April before I was back playing and I only got to play a couple more times under Gerrard before he left which was frustrating.”

Coyle spent most of the following season trying to make up for lost time. He excelled alongside Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in a 6-0 rout of Leicester City Under-23s at the King Power Stadium in April 2019 but his joy proved to be shortlived.

“I felt unstoppable that day – passing, winning the ball back, so sharp, but then we played Rangers away in a friendly and my back flared up again,” he says.

“I was gutted. I couldn’t move when I came off. It was another stress fracture in my lower back. I knew I was facing another long lay-off.

“They reckon they’re caused by the way you run or overload from a young age. I played so much as a kid, all the training and playing probably took its toll on me. They used to say I worked too hard and did too much.”

Coyle’s club form had been rewarded with a maiden international call-up to represent Northern Ireland Under-21s but he had to drop out of the squad due to injury. He made a brief comeback for Liverpool Under-23s in October 2019 but soon broke down again and was sidelined until March last year.

“It was so hard being out for so long and I have to give a lot of credit to my family and my girlfriend for helping me through that period,” he says. “I was lucky I was in my home city. It would have been so much more difficult living away.”

Liverpool encourage their under-18s and under-23s players to do coaching badges and Coyle threw himself into that. Last season he only played in a handful of friendly games but under-23s boss Barry Lewtas kept him involved with some video analysis work.

“I’ve done my UEFA B course and I really got the buzz for it,” he says.

“Some of the lads found it boring and didn’t pass but I enjoyed planning the sessions and looking at different styles and ways of coaching. I can definitely see myself doing that in the future. Alex Inglethorpe says he’s got me down as a future coach, which is nice to hear.

“Barry helped me a lot. He still texts me and said if I ever need anything just to give him a ring. All the staff at the academy said, ‘Don’t become a stranger here, keep popping in.’ Some lads leave on bad terms but I’m really glad that’s not the case with me.”

Coyle is now fit and healthy. Doing extra core work in the gym and taking up yoga during his final year at Liverpool helped his back. “They reckon after the age of 21 this kind of thing doesn’t affect you as much,” he says.

“I’ve been told to strengthen my abs and obliques as much as possible and try to avoid playing too much on the 3G pitches. It’s just a case of managing it. I’m in a really good place now.”

That’s the case both physically and mentally. Rather than dwell on the cruel hand he was dealt at a pivotal stage of his development, Coyle cherishes the memories from his time at the club.

“It’s so hard to make it at Liverpool, even if you do stay fit and healthy,” he adds.

“Look at Curtis Jones, unbelievable player. He doesn’t always start for Liverpool. That’s how tough it is to get in. If he played for the under-23s, he would tear the place up. That’s why you have to give Trent and Curtis so much credit for getting where they have.

“From my year, it’s only Ben Woodburn and Adam Lewis still at the club now. A lot of our best mates were let go at under-16s level before you become a scholar. Some have now got other jobs or have gone to uni.

“I’m still playing and I’ve got a lot to be thankful about. I’ll always love Liverpool but it’s time for the next chapter now. I want to go and show what I can do in the Football League. After missing so much football, I just want to feel like a footballer again.”

(Photo by Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

[Bloodraven]

Some interesting titbits in this article about Liam Cole leaving...


Saying goodbye wasn’t easy for Liam Coyle.

“Liverpool Football Club has been my life for the past 12 years,” he tells The Athletic.

“It was a bit mad walking out of those gates at Kirkby on my last day, walking to my car, and thinking, ‘That’s me done here.’

“There were no tears because I’d known for a while that day was coming but it was still really tough. It was my dream to make it at Liverpool. That didn’t happen in the end but I can’t waste time moping around. I need to crack on with the next challenge.”

Coyle was Liverpool Under-18s captain under Steven Gerrard, who always spoke glowingly about him. The combative midfielder was so highly rated by current assistant manager Pep Lijnders that he was first invited to train at Melwood at just 15.

However, his progress was wrecked by stress fractures in his back and on his return to action, he was playing catch-up following the emergence of youngsters Jake Cain and Leighton Clarkson in his position. He never made the senior debut for his boyhood club he craved.

The 21-year-old was going to be released last summer but academy director Alex Inglethorpe didn’t want him to face that uncertainty in the middle of the pandemic. As a result, he was given another 12-month contract in order to build up his fitness and earn himself a permanent move. It was a classy gesture in what can be a ruthless business.

“Yeah, I don’t think many clubs would have done that,” Coyle says. “I’ll always be grateful. I could have been left not fit, without a club and without an income.

“When I first went in to see Alex to have the chat about my future, I sort of knew what was coming. I’d missed that much football, it wasn’t a big shock, but it was still hard to hear.

“Alex said for selfish reasons he could keep me around as the old head of the under-23s but that the best thing for my own career was to move on. I realise now he was right.

“Alex explained the extra year they were giving me was just to get fit and get out on trial at a few clubs to get something sorted. In the back of my mind I was thinking, ‘Right, train well, play a few games and they might think they’re making a big mistake letting me go.’ But lads like Leighton and Jake were ahead of me in the pecking order for the under-23s and I had to accept that. Alex was always honest with me. Liverpool have helped me a lot prepare for this moment.”

After trials at Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers and Accrington Stanley, he agreed a one-year contract with the latter. He shone for Accrington in a friendly against Liverpool Under-23s at Kirkby and is relishing the prospect of getting started with the League One club.

“The manager John Coleman is a fellow Scouser and just seems like a boss fella,” he says. “They’ve got a humble, hardworking squad and it feels like a good fit. I think the style of the Football League will suit me and I just want to get stuck right into it.”

Coyle was nine when he joined the Kirkby academy after Liverpool spotted him playing for junior club Rail Vikings. Living close to Melwood in the West Derby area of the city, he would often cycle down to the training ground to try to grab a glimpse of his heroes Gerrard and Jamie Carragher.

By the age of 15, he was walking through the gates himself.

“It was a bit mad. Fans would be staring at me and I knew they were thinking, ‘Who the hell is he?’ Sometimes I’d have fans shouting, ‘It’s Jordan Rossiter!’ I was like, ‘I’m not!'”

Trent Alexander-Arnold is a year older than him and they played together in the club’s under-16s team under Lijnders in 2014-15.

Coyle says: “Trent was always an unbelievable striker of the ball. He could spray balls anywhere he wanted. The only thing when he played holding midfield in that team was that he didn’t like to sit, he wanted to get forward.

“Maybe that’s why right-back suits him so much now because he can bomb up and down. He always had the ability but it was a surprise how early it happened for him. Injuries to others gave him his chance and he never looked back. I’m made up for him. He’s become one of the best full-backs in world football and I buzz off the fact that I played in the same team as him.”

That season also opened Coyle’s eyes to Lijnders’ coaching credentials. The Dutchman, who had been recruited from FC Porto’s academy, was promoted from Kirkby to Melwood as first-team development coach by Brendan Rodgers in the summer of 2015. When Jurgen Klopp took over, Lijnders was retained and his senior responsibilities increased.


“Before Pep came in, we got told there was a new under-16s coach but as he wouldn’t be here for two weeks they were going to video every session and send them to him,” Coyle says.

“We all thought it was a wind up. But as soon as Pep arrived we realised he’d watched every minute of every session. He seemed to know everything about everyone already.

“He was unreal. So intense to work with but everyone loved it. The fitness coach would be saying, ‘That’s time now Pep, they’ve done enough today.’ But Pep would be like, ‘No, come on, we play on!’ He set us up brilliantly. He’s really shown his class as Jurgen’s No 2. He knows what he’s talking about and he knows how to get the best out of players.

“We went to Qatar to play a game towards the end of the season and he called Ben Woodburn and me over to look at his laptop. Pep had the formation, shape and style all planned out on a PowerPoint presentation for the under-16s for the following season three months in advance.

“When Pep went up to Melwood with Brendan, it was great for me too as Pep liked me. Ben and I used to be there training quite a lot, even when we were still going to school. I remember Brendan said to Pep about me, ‘I can see in his eyes how much it means to him.’ That was my first day at Melwood when I was 15. That gave me such a buzz. I played in a behind-closed-doors game against Wolves with Kolo Toure, Dejan Lovren, Lucas Leiva and Danny Ings. That was great experience.”

Coyle continued to be a frequent visitor to Melwood during the early years of Klopp’s reign. When the first team worked on shape on the eve of matches, he was often put at right-back and tasked with trying to stop Sadio Mane.

“I’d be stood there thinking, ‘This isn’t really very fair!'” he laughs.

“I was a young holding midfielder trying to play right-back against one of the best wingers in the world. Most of the best full-backs in the Premier League can’t handle him. It would be attack v defence for 20 minutes. Mane ripped me to shreds. I thought I was quite strong before he started knocking me off the ball.

“I was so exhausted, I was a shambles in the five-a-sides that followed. James Milner was on my team and I think he got a bit pissed off with me. He’s a winner. Milner demands that everyone is at the top level all the time and he pushes everyone on. His fitness levels and professionalism are amazing.

“I’d always go up to Melwood during international breaks. Adam Lallana was another top fella. During the warm-up, he would jog around with you and have a chat, making you feel welcome. Lucas was similar. He came down to the academy once to do some coaching with us and said, ‘Yes, Liam, I remember you, you kicked me!’

“The training load was so tough. I’d go to Melwood three days in a row and then I’d go back to the academy absolutely shattered. The step up was massive. I was in awe of Jurgen. He would shake your hand and say ‘good luck’. All the young lads who still train with the senior squad talk about how he’s so genuine and honest. The man you see on the TV is who he is.”


Liam Coyle is now ready to be a footballer again (Photo: James Pearce_
Coyle was fast-tracked as a teenager. It was current Blackpool boss Neil Critchley who gave him his under-18s debut against Blackburn Rovers at the age of 15. He was later handed the captaincy.

When Gerrard took over in the summer of 2017 and Critchley moved up to the under-23s, the Kop legend made it clear that he wanted Coyle to lead the charge.

“I’d had a good season with Critch and then Gerrard filled me with even more confidence. He was like: ‘You’re my captain,’” he recalls.

“The days being coached by him are stories to tell the grandkids about one day. There’s an aura about him. You feel it when he walks into the room.

“Gerrard is so driven in what he does. There’s no stopping him. He’s a born winner and it was great to see him win the title at Rangers. I think he’s a future Liverpool manager. It’ll be tough coming in straight after Klopp and trying to carry on what he’s done but I wouldn’t put it past him.

“It seems mad now listening to what he said about me in interviews back then. Gerrard would join in training and when we were doing long-range passing drills, he was different level. He’d be hitting them into the mini goal every time, I’d be shanking them wide.

“He had a lot of trust and faith in me and that was a fantastic feeling coming from him. He loved how committed I was and how I covered every blade of grass. I felt like I was really pushing on. I was getting games for the under-23s, too. I scored in Gerrard’s first two games. I was in top form. I do often think about what would have happened if I’d stayed fit that season.”

Coyle’s problems started at 17 during a UEFA Youth League clash away to Spartak Moscow in September 2017. Curtis Jones and Rhian Brewster were also part of Gerrard’s side that day.

“After about 10 minutes, the ball went over my head, I spun and my back suddenly started throbbing with pain,” he says.

“It was killing me but I wasn’t going to come off. I played the full 90. When I picked up my bags in the airport after, I was in agony. When I went for a scan, they said I had a pars stress fracture. I was out for seven months.

“Nat Phillips got the same injury the week after, so we ended up spending a lot of time together. We helped each other through it. It was the following April before I was back playing and I only got to play a couple more times under Gerrard before he left which was frustrating.”

Coyle spent most of the following season trying to make up for lost time. He excelled alongside Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in a 6-0 rout of Leicester City Under-23s at the King Power Stadium in April 2019 but his joy proved to be shortlived.

“I felt unstoppable that day – passing, winning the ball back, so sharp, but then we played Rangers away in a friendly and my back flared up again,” he says.

“I was gutted. I couldn’t move when I came off. It was another stress fracture in my lower back. I knew I was facing another long lay-off.

“They reckon they’re caused by the way you run or overload from a young age. I played so much as a kid, all the training and playing probably took its toll on me. They used to say I worked too hard and did too much.”

Coyle’s club form had been rewarded with a maiden international call-up to represent Northern Ireland Under-21s but he had to drop out of the squad due to injury. He made a brief comeback for Liverpool Under-23s in October 2019 but soon broke down again and was sidelined until March last year.

“It was so hard being out for so long and I have to give a lot of credit to my family and my girlfriend for helping me through that period,” he says. “I was lucky I was in my home city. It would have been so much more difficult living away.”

Liverpool encourage their under-18s and under-23s players to do coaching badges and Coyle threw himself into that. Last season he only played in a handful of friendly games but under-23s boss Barry Lewtas kept him involved with some video analysis work.

“I’ve done my UEFA B course and I really got the buzz for it,” he says.

“Some of the lads found it boring and didn’t pass but I enjoyed planning the sessions and looking at different styles and ways of coaching. I can definitely see myself doing that in the future. Alex Inglethorpe says he’s got me down as a future coach, which is nice to hear.

“Barry helped me a lot. He still texts me and said if I ever need anything just to give him a ring. All the staff at the academy said, ‘Don’t become a stranger here, keep popping in.’ Some lads leave on bad terms but I’m really glad that’s not the case with me.”

Coyle is now fit and healthy. Doing extra core work in the gym and taking up yoga during his final year at Liverpool helped his back. “They reckon after the age of 21 this kind of thing doesn’t affect you as much,” he says.

“I’ve been told to strengthen my abs and obliques as much as possible and try to avoid playing too much on the 3G pitches. It’s just a case of managing it. I’m in a really good place now.”

That’s the case both physically and mentally. Rather than dwell on the cruel hand he was dealt at a pivotal stage of his development, Coyle cherishes the memories from his time at the club.

“It’s so hard to make it at Liverpool, even if you do stay fit and healthy,” he adds.

“Look at Curtis Jones, unbelievable player. He doesn’t always start for Liverpool. That’s how tough it is to get in. If he played for the under-23s, he would tear the place up. That’s why you have to give Trent and Curtis so much credit for getting where they have.

“From my year, it’s only Ben Woodburn and Adam Lewis still at the club now. A lot of our best mates were let go at under-16s level before you become a scholar. Some have now got other jobs or have gone to uni.

“I’m still playing and I’ve got a lot to be thankful about. I’ll always love Liverpool but it’s time for the next chapter now. I want to go and show what I can do in the Football League. After missing so much football, I just want to feel like a footballer again.”

(Photo by Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

He spent half his career talking to the Athletic based on the length of that article.

[ChesterDave]

He spent half his career talking to the Athletic based on the length of that article.

:Clap:

[frank the tank]

Thanks for posting RedReet


When I saw the following text "I remember Brendan said to Pep about me, ‘I can see in his eyes how much it means to him.’" I did have to check if that was a shaggy edit......

Brendan Brent

[RedReet]

There were a few wee anecdotal stories I found interesting, particularly about Pep Lijnders and also Trent being useless as a DM.