Saturday, 24 April 2010

Pavel Srnicek

Retro Footballer of the day is a certain Pavel Srnicek.

The Czech giant started his career at Banik Ostrava, where a mere 30 appearances were enough to tempt Newcastle to take a punt. He spent 7 years at Newcastle, during his time there he was the only Goalkeeper to receive a 10/10 rating by The Sun for a match, with a mesmerising performance against Liverpool.

He left Newcastle in 1998 and returned to Ostrava, but it wasn't long before he was tempted back to the English game by Sheffield Wednesday, where he played almost 50 times. After Wednesday he jumped ship quite a bit, with spells at Brescia, AS Cosenza, Portsmouth, West Ham and Beira-Mar before making an emotional return to Newcastle as cover for an injured Shay Given (the man who once stripped him of the Newcastle keepers jersey).

Srnicek made 49 international appearances in his career, he now runs the Srnicek school of Goalkeeping in his native Czech republic, he also works closely with a lot of charities. He also has beautiful, thick hair.

Pavel Srnicek, we salute you!

Thursday, 22 April 2010

Wim Jonk

Wilhelmus "Wim" Maria Jonk was a Dutch Midfielder. His career took him from local amateur team RKAV Volendam before signing for the local pros FC Volendam. After impressive displays in the Eredivisie, Ajax took a punt on Wim, and there was no looking back, he went on to score 18 goals for Ajax before spells at Inter Milan and PSV Eindhoven.

Jonk's career ended with a spell at Sheffield Wednesday, he cost them £2.5 million. His time at the relegation battlers was injury-ravaged, and some fans expressed their discontent at a clause in his contract which meant Wim allegedly received £5,000 for each match he missed through injury. He scored 3 goals in 70 games in the Blue and White of Wednesday.

Wim Jonk, we salute you!

Wednesday, 21 April 2010

Titi Camara

Retro footballer of the day is Titi Camara. Titi terrorised defences all around France during stints at Saint-Etienne, Lens and Marseille before signing for Liverpool in 1999. Titi's most famous moment was scoring the winner against West Ham the morning after his father's death. He fell to the floor in floods of tears in front of the Anfield crowd.

Camara spent a period of time at West Ham after Liverpool, but he did not impress, he moved to some smaller clubs before retiring to become a coach. He has also managed his native Guinean National team.

Aboubacar Sidiki "Titi" Camara, we salute you!

Tuesday, 20 April 2010

Bosko Balaban


Retro Footballer of the day is Bosko Balaban. Bosko made serious waves in Croatia, playing for his local club NK Rijeka before signing for Dinamo Zagreb, scoring an impressive 38 goals in 55 games, and encouraging Aston Villa to shell out £5.8 million for his services. Balaban played 9 competitive games for Villa, he did not score.

He currently plies his trade at Athenian giants Panionios.

Bosko, we salute you!