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!
Select Club
Updated: 04-02-19
Peter was a member of the Bournemouth Gaworks team that won the Hampshire Senior Cup in 1953/4. This contributed to him earning County honours and a contract with Bournemouth & Boscombe the following year. He played a key role in their promotion in 1961/2 but suffered a series of knee injuries in the years that followed and eventually had to retire as a result.
Updated: 13-02-19 Mick K
Same year as Ryan and played for Radcliffe Town team with him. He played up front and was the fastest kid at my age i have ever seen, knew he would make it as a pro, just surprised it was as a defender. Top guy and it such a shame on hearing of his early retirement.
Updated: 13-02-19 Stan price
When the football season finished John worked with me doing fencing, also Gordon Bolland, both when playing for Millwall
Updated: 13-02-19 Aj
He was born in Northwich Cheshire.
Updated: 24-01-19 Mark Weston
Never knew Gary, but great years in my early teens watching Chelsea home and away and must say those years as a fan were the best of my life, up and down like a yo-yo but what a team they were, average age of about 22 and was with two players in the team that were in their late 30’s (Bonetti and Harris), Gary was a great player with an incredible shot and scored some incredible goals, I’ve always said that if that team had reached its potential it would have won the first division title and Brian Clough said the same.... EDDIE MACREADIES BLUE AND WHITE ARMY, crowds of 15,000 at home but often took half that number to away games, great years indeed.
Updated: 24-01-19
I came across Ian in 2005 working as a security guard at Charnock Richard services on the M6. Really nice fella.
Updated: 16-02-19 Oscar from Chepstow
June 1986? John Macey of Newport County organised game between Bristol City and Newport at Mathern near Chepstow. All other grounds were out of action at that time of year and John was curious that I was buying boots in his sports shop for immediate use. A Tuesday afternoon and two junior teams played out 0:0 draw. A few years afterwards john told me the reason for the game. Bristol had all youth places filled and were letting Darren go. But they felt he was too good to just discard and asked Newport if they might like to take a look. Hence the game and the rest is history.
Updated: 16-02-19 islwyn davies
I remember barry playing for Rotherham United in the mid 60s in the FA Cup draw 0.0 at Old Trafford and losing 1-0 in the replay after extra time at millmoor Rotherham having two goals disallowed in normal play
Updated: 16-02-19 Jim McCann
Was a coach with Top Amateur club Coatbridge CC winning the Scottish Caledonian League Title, the Scottish Cup twice and the West of Scotland Cup.
Updated: 16-02-19 Don Townshend
I remember as a lad going to Highbury to watch Arsenal reserves. Can't remember which team they were playing but Alan was playing for Arsenal. It wasn't a large crowd so every comment from the stands could be heard. A man kept shouting, 'Rubbish Skirton.' Alan could clearly hear the man because he was on the wing. After about twenty minutes of this abuse, Alan stopped and put his foot on the ball. He was right in front of the man shouting at him. Alan said to the man. 'If you can do any better mate, get on the pitch!' The man was quiet after that.
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: Roy Bentley, Trevor Francis, Gavin Peacock, Carlos Valderrama, Graham Potter and a view of Watford's prospects (kindly provided by 777score.co.uk).
If you know of any other stories that may interest fellow fans, please do let us know.