Debut players who you knew you would be CLASS

[Scotty Mac]

following on from all these old school player threads, which player did you see make his professional debut, or debut for the albion, which made you think he would be a class act in a few years time - even if they are now rotting away in non league!

 

[Scotty Mac]

for me, albion wise, ben andrews had a pretty good debut away at cardiff in 97-98 until he got sent off

anything i had seen, or probably will see, was totally eclipsed by the carling cup third round match of 2003-2004. rotherham took on arsenal, and a 16 year old cesc fabregas ran the arsenal midfield on his debut. even at that age, his range of passing, his work rate, his flair, his sheer ability was something to behold, and with about 4000 other miller fans, we left highbury after a penalty shoot out defeat - in which mike pollitt was sent off - knowing we had seen somone special in action

 

[Gully]

I am pretty sure that I saw the debut for Liverpool of Steve McMenamin, in a friendly away to Beyer Leverkausen, even the scousers in our group had never heard of him...we just assumed that they had spelt Steve McMahon incorrectly when the names went up on the electronic scoreboard...the lad was a bit good.

 

[Frutos]

Zamora.

 

[Gwylan]

Wardy. We'd never even heard of him before the game and then scored within a minute of his debut.

I wonder how many people who saw Beckham's debut thought "there's a future superstar" - I know I didn't.

 

[Icy Gull]

Zamora

 

[Seagullible]

I wonder how many people who saw Beckham's debut thought "there's a future superstar" - I know I didn't.

'who the f**kin 'ell are you' as he ran on still makes me chuckle

 

[Mendoza]

'who the f**kin 'ell are you' as he ran on still makes me chuckle

he came on for the Albion legend that is Kanchelskis

I was at Selhurst Park when he scored from the half way line

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Ignoring the fact that it wasn't a competitive game, and probably not his debut either, Spurs played a pre-season friendly at the Goldstone, and they included a young CB by the name of Sol Campbell, who had yet to make his debut in the first team. He completely bossed the whole game, and I can remember thinking he looked like a bloody GIANT. The program said he was only 17 and I remember it being discussed that it must be a typo.

 

[Titanic]

...I wonder how many people who saw Beckham's debut thought "there's a future superstar" - I know I didn't.

David Blackham

 

[Icy Gull]

Ignoring the fact that it wasn't a competitive game, and probably not his debut either, Spurs played a pre-season friendly at the Goldstone, and they included a young CB by the name of Sol Campbell, who had yet to make his debut in the first team. He completely bossed the whole game, and I can remember thinking he looked like a bloody GIANT. The program said he was only 17 and I remember it being discussed that it must be a typo.

I remember that clearly, he had Nogan in his pocket and although Nogan was extremely pacy, Sol beat him to every ball. A real eyecatching performance to allay my disappointment that a game that had been built up as Klinsman's debut was not.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Fowler when he made his scoring debut against Fulham and followed it up with 5 goals in the second leg! Another player that was wasted by the England setup.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Owen netted on Debut at Wimbledon, was meant to have been rather good as well.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

Wardy. We'd never even heard of him before the game and then scored within a minute of his debut.

Edgar Street wasn't it? Not suprising though, anyone who watched the Albion reserves in '77 had already heard and seen.

 

[RM-Taylor]

Bas Savage

 

[Uncle Buck]

Fowler when he made his scoring debut against Fulham and followed it up with 5 goals in the second leg! Another player that was wasted by the England setup.

I have to disagree with the comment that he was wasted by the England set up. It was more a case of Fowler coming through at a time where there was a better striker than him (Shearer) and the fact that the Shearer / Sheringham partnership worked so well. He was then unfortunate that after that Owen came through, who again was a better player and that Fowler was suffering a number of ankle injuries that took a lot out of him.

 

[saltash seagull]

frankie lampard scoring ith an overhead kick for swansea at the goldstone when he was 17

saw mcmanaman play for a liverpool team when he was 16 at saltash's ground in a match against everton

 

[1959]

Ignoring the fact that it wasn't a competitive game, and probably not his debut either, Spurs played a pre-season friendly at the Goldstone, and they included a young CB by the name of Sol Campbell, who had yet to make his debut in the first team. He completely bossed the whole game, and I can remember thinking he looked like a bloody GIANT. The program said he was only 17 and I remember it being discussed that it must be a typo.

I have bored countless people with my own version of this tale. I was on the North Stand open-mouthed at how commanding and brilliant Campbell was. I was phoning people the next day telling them about this amazing centre-half that Spurs had in the side. "He'll play for England one day, he's unbelievable." I said. Just about the only time I've been right in that type of situation.

 

[Les Biehn]

Harding. However he came on at LW. First touch was a take down from 40 yards on the byline. Fantastic touch and done it again about 5 mins later.

 

[scarfer1]

December 18th 1999 is a date etched in my memory. It's the moment that McPhee first took to the field for BHAFC - awesome