Where Are They Now is designed for you if you are a football fan who is as curious as us to find out what happened to your favourite footballers after they retired from playing.
Have you ever wondered what happened to all of those players that you have seen come and go over the years? The heroes and the villains? The saints and the sinners? The stars that you talked about for years after they had retired and those you instantly forgot?
If so, Where Are They Now? is definitely for you!
Not all players end up running pubs or become TV pundits! It's no secret what Gary Lineker is up to these days but what about the many thousands of players who have slipped from public view? The first edition of "Where Are They Now?" uncovered some fascinating post football stories including the former Arsenal striker who became Iceland's Finance Minister; Millionaires; Bankrupts; Vicars; Comedians; Singers; a Phil Collins lookalike... and one or two publicans!
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Where Are They Now Books
This whole project began with a book entitled 'Where Are They Now? - Life After Soccer'.
This proved to be incredibly popular and led to the formation of this site as well as a number of club specific titles. So far, the series comprises of Manchester United, Chelsea, Portsmouth, Huddersfield Town, Aston Villa and Liverpool. Forthcoming titles include Arsenal, Southampton and West Bromwich Albion - watch this space!
Updated: 07-04-26 George Howden
My memories of Bobby Roberts was his early days at Edinburgh Norton and then to Motherwell, our area of Edinburgh produced many fine players when Bobby and his fellow pros would would turn up to train in Holyrood Park occasionally. We would all be in awe of their skills, then try to apply them in our own games, I always tried to be just like Bobby with varying degrees of success. He really was a superb player and a really nice guy. Fond memories of happy days.Updated: 07-04-26 Bill Bramley
Hi Tony, sorry to hear you’ve not been too well lately hoping you pick up soon.I was watching The Big Match Revisited and there was a game featuring yourself playing for Spurs against Coventry I told my wife that you worked at Naylors when I was there. I was a machine operator and you were in my team. I always remember you as a quiet polite lad. Our paths certainly went different ways but every now and then I tell people that we worked together. Best wishes for the future, all the best Bill BramleyUpdated: 07-04-26 Michael Lane
My cousins Eulogy indicates that Walter Sydney - (or Walter Sidney Lane) - a Grocer by trade was also said to be one of the first Professional Plymouth Argyle football players, he died in 1940. He was also a very keen cricketer. Can you confirm this was the case?Updated: 07-04-26 Lorraine Franklin (nee Flucker)
John is my cousinUpdated: 04-04-26 Pat Kelliher
Do you think England could ever have fielded a team with Stan Bowles, Alan Hudson, Rodney Marsh and Frank Worthington together in their line up ?Updated: 04-04-26 Alan Griffin
As well as being a top footballer, at school Patsy was also a top chess player. His favourite move was to swap queens after which you didn’t stand a chance!Updated: 04-04-26 Nicky Rowlands
About 53 years ago, we were living in a 2up - 2down terrace in West Norwood, South East London. My brother, (a lifelong Gooner who worshipped the ground CG walked on) and I shared a bedroom. We were both about 5 or 6 years old (we’re 1 year apart in age). His half of the room was festooned with Arsenal pictures and my half had the Wombles! We were sitting on the end of our beds chatting when he said, “I want my first child to be named after Charlie George.” I honestly can’t remember what else we talked about, but that stuck in my mind. Fast forward 25 years and his first kid was born. Charlotte Georgina will be 31 this year.Updated: 04-04-26 Leslie Chapman
Would love to hear from him. Had the great privilege of playing along side him at Stockport. Great player and very funny guy!!!Updated: 04-04-26 Alan Cooper
Sorry nothing exciting from me but I remember when I and my friends were 15 Billy Bentley, who was the same age as us, occasionally joined us over the fields in Ashwood - Longton to have a game of football. Always remember him as a big strong lad who was just about impossible to get past. I think Billy lived in Dunster Rd and I lived in the next street Barclay St.Updated: 19-03-26 Anne Davidson (Fraser)
I worked with Ann at SEDC after Loughborough... Glad to see you are both well and enjoying life!! Think about you both often!
When we researched the first printed edition of 'Where Are They Now?' in the 1990's, footballers were already incredibly well paid by conventional employment standards but prior to that, players had to find a new career once they had hung up their boots.
This meant that we unearthed plenty of interesting and un-expected stories, many of which are found on the site. Sadly, there were some we could not re-produce for legal reasons - sorry!
Playing professional football, particularly at the highest level should ensure that modern players should not have to worry about money for the rest of their lives. Thankfully, this has not limited the number of fascinating tales for us to tell. For example, were you aware that former Sheffield United midfielder Curtis Woodhouse became British light welterweight champion when he took up professional boxing, having apparently 'fallen out of love' with football? If the rumours are true, he was not just a winner in the ring! At one point, he was considered to be 50 to 1 outsider to win the title and a successful £5,000 scooped him a cool £250,000 when he defeated defending champion Darren Hamilton.
As well as our regular club based pages, we also occasionally add more detailed player pages and would welcome your feedback. See: Ex-footballers who retired and got normal jobs, Did Tresor Kandol Score the Most Important Goal in Leeds United’s History?, Arsenal Greats, Ruud Gullit, Roy Bentley, Trevor Francis, Gavin Peacock, Carlos Valderrama, Graham Potter, Matt Holland, Liverpool's 2005-06 FA Cup Winning Team, and a look back at some of the best strikers to grace English football.
When do you think that the Premier League should re-start?
Where are they now? – Boro players who played League Cup’s season opening game 8 years ago.
Where are they now? – some other celebrities.
If you know of any other stories that may interest fellow fans, please do let us know.