Always thought he was more of a red top man…
For
1.
2.
3.
4.
8.
9.
11.
15.
16.
17.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
Against
5. Played for Portsmouth in The Championship at this time
6. Never played in a club with 3 or more Frenchmen
18. Has 2 sons, no mention of a daughter – http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/pompey-past/kitson-to-go-the-distance-for-new-book-1-3026897
The Checklist
(The origins of these clues can be found here)
1. Is he English?
2. Is he currently married?
3. Has he played under at least 4 managers?
4. Has he had a transfer between 2 Premiership clubs?
5. Was he a Premier League player in January 2011?
6. Has he played with a group of French players at one club?
7. Has he played with a striker who refused to move unless the pass went exactly where he wanted it?
8. Did he play for one manager for a considerable amount of time who was great before losing it?
9. Has he played for a manager who lost the dressing room?
10. Does he have a friend who plays for Liverpool?
11. Might he think Harry Redknapp is the Messiah?
12. Has he appeared as a pundit? (TSF probably doesn’t do so)
13. Did he have a long term girlfriend as a younger player?
14. Had/has a strong father figure.
15. Not an Arsenal or Man City player (at end of 2010-11 season).
16. Did he play a match at some point towards the end of March or first few days of April 2011?
17. Not a keeper.
18. Has a daughter.19. He played with Paolo Di Canio –removed by public demand 20. Someone who’s got a chat about ‘another season’ coming up -see revealing tweet post
21. He’s been involved in a last day relegation battle
22. He’s played for a newly promoted Premier League club
23. Has been subject to a deadline day transfer
24. TSF is Caucasian
25. Has a good friend who is African and has played for a team in Russia
26. Has been diagnosed with depression
27. Played in the lower leagues at start of career
28. Played against Liverpool for a lower league club
29. Was one of the best players in a very successful team
30. Played for a club that got themselves in financial trouble
31. Plays the Paul Scholes role
32. Played under a captain who will go down as one of most successful in the club’s history, without having earned it
33. Played under a stand-in captain wearing a large tubi-grip with a marker pen-written ‘C’ as captain’s armband
34. Has played as captain
35. Has played for a club who promoted their assistant manager to manager (and went on to get bad results)
36. Not a Liverpool fan
37. Played in a team that won promotion to the Premiership
38. Following on from clue 21: That team got relegated due to a goal going in at the other end of the country in the dying minutes of the final game of the season
39. Clue 38 was his last game for that club
40. His wage at the time of clues 38 and 39 was the best part of £100,000 per month
41. He went on to play in the Premiership again after the relegation in clue 38
277 responses to “Dave Kitson”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejw2n5bv_lo
video link and description. you have your answer
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/7381785.stm
point 38 for… fulham won 1-0 at portsmouth in the 75th min
point 37 for… reading won promotion under steve coppell
point 39 for… he signed for stoke AND regretted it as mentioned in his TSF column as well as in an interview whose quotes are cited on his wiki page.
point 30 for… Portsmouth
You can add another clue from one of his TSF columns… hit by an Antonio Valencia clearance… link given above. It is him. I am 100% sure. I don’t know why anyone else hasn’t come on this thread before me. Immense credit should go to the youtube user who uploaded this.
The blame game, manager versus player and through the media.
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2557/news/2010/05/03/1906649/stoke-city-forward-dave-kitson-tony-pulis-is-unfairly-blaming-me-
The actual Sun article
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2956821/Kit-blasts-back-at-liar-Pulis.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=VmwEjSZApmo
He mentions lyrics from Dark Side Of The Moon in the book. Everything else seems to point towards him. I’d stick my mortgage on it :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ame5fRMMgY
It’s Dave Kitson, Game Over.
You can take away the didn’t play with three French players point. He may not have played with three French players at one club, but he definitely played with three players who spoke French. In the 07-08 season at Reading he played with Kalifa Cisse, Jimmy Kebe, Ibrahima Sonko and Andre Bikey, all of whom come from French speaking countries.
It says here that he is a Premier League footballer;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/aug/26/pass-notes-the-secret-footballer
At one point, TSF said he had back-to-back player of the year awards. Does anybody know if that happened for Kitson at Cambridge United, because it didn’t appear to happen anywhere else.
TSF reveals that he was badly treated at his first club by a Scandinavian player – and according to this, Kitson played with Demba Traore at Cambridge.
http://www.footballsquads.co.uk/eng/2001-2002/d2/cambr.htm
I’m fairly sure it is Kitson from all the evidence I have seen.
Also with regards to the three French players – he played with Lionel Perez, Tresor Kandol and Armand One at Cambridge in 2001.
In “I Am The Secret Footballer”, TSF refers to a player, “Paolo” acting up but receiving special treatment from the manager, and TSF being cited by the manager for the same offence. I believe that this is Dave Kitson’s reaction to being criticised for going back to the dressing room after being substituted after Tuncay having done the same but excused by his manager for “cultural” reasons.
Wrong link for some reason. This article refers to the incident.
He’s never played against Liverpool (1st XI in a senior fixture that is) as a lower-league club. 5 Premier Lge apps against them & 1 Carling Cup (Reading in their PL relegation season).
Do you have a link to evidence that the teams he played for in the lower leagues never played against Liverpool? That would be super!
Here you go admin.
If a lower league team of his played against Liverpool, he didn’t feature.
http://www.lfchistory.net/Opposition/Players/Profile/6344
Refers in his book to seedy events in South Korea on a pre-season tour. Kitson played in the South Korean Peace Cup with Reading in 2007. Referenced in this interview too:
http://www.football365.com/f365-features/8053694/Secret-Footballer
“He has a good friend who is an African player that played in Russia.” – Quincy Owusu-Abeyie is African who played for Spartak Moscow, spent time at Pompey in 2010 when Kitson was there.
Has to be Dave!!
Read book. Then this.
No doubt.
weekendwonders.co.uk/news/story.aspx?id=43
Kitson handed a coin back to a steward after a player Bates was struck on the head by a coin.
http://www.fansonline.net/portsmouth/mb/view.php?id=416748
only other player i found was Claus Jenson Fulham v Everton.
Not sure if anyone posted this before but in the column regarding relegation, where TSF got relegated with his team on the last day of the season, he refers to fine margins and looking back at various incidents through the season including a poor headed clearance of his that got volleyed straight back in:
Extract from match report Fulham 3 v Reading 1 Nov 8 2007 – “as from the resulting corner Fulham went ahead as the unmarked Simon DAVIES rifled home a volley from 15 yards from Dave Kitson’s partially headed clearance.”
Reading got relegated on the last day of that season. Shortly afterwards kitson left to join Stoke (I believe as a record signing). Just saying!
Sorry to jump in bjt reading the article that the “played against Liverpool for a lower league club” clue is taken from I don’t read it as him necessarily saying he played against them whilst at a lower league club. He says he;s played against them and he sasy he was a bit overawed the first time he played there in the same way that lowere league players can often be overawed going to big teams but he doesn’t say he was still a lower league player at that point (unless i’m missing something).
-from http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/jan/06/the-secret-footballer-fa-cup
I know there are clues to go against, and doesn’t fit relegation and promotion but apart from that, Frank Lampard fits well.
What about the fact in the video every part of him is covered up. Probably so not to show ginger leg hair as Kitson is so distinctive. Also his twitter icon is a black background and an orange football shirt with a question mark on it. I know its speculative but why would you pick orange out of any colour. Because he is so ginger. Case closed!
Also he references Stoke a lot in the book. Plus he talks about denting a bath at Fratton Park, where he has just finished playing. He also talks about lashing out in the media with the help of a journalist friend at a manager after he went to the press with false stories. Kitson had a big piece in The Times slamming Tony Pulis for false allegations in another newspaper a few days earlier. It is definately him.
In the book he describes how he moved his wife miles away from her family and friends when he made his big-money move, and they had a new-born baby at the time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ame5fRMMgY&feature=player_embedded
Word. For. Word.
More evidence it’s Kitson:
http://youtu.be/asdhjDYgvD4
Fair point. Hadn’t read that particular column, was only going off the clues – could be taken to mean that it was simply the first time he’d played at Anfield, rather than it being so with a lower-league club.
Changing the subject slightly, the same week’s column mentions how things in the game have changed somewhat since he first started:
“My current club has numerous kit men, physios, masseurs and fitness coaches working at a training ground that has five practice pitches, full-time chefs and designated car parking. All of which is an endorsement for what football clubs can afford these days rather than what is actually needed.”
Portsmouth trained here (http://www.kes.hants.sch.uk/find-us/wellington-sports-ground) last season, according to this article (http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/pompey-past/pompey-weighing-up-training-ground-options-1-3880712) – the link to the school’s website has a google earth type map which shows 5 (I think) football pitches marked out.
My reply to Smithy07 above didn’t seem to post – please delete if this ends up as a repost.
Agree with your assertion there, think that particular article simply refers to the first time he played at Anfield, lower-league or otherwise. Hadn’t read the column and was just going off one of the few things on the checklist I thought I could research!
Just spotted something in the same week’s article –
“My current club has numerous kit men, physios, masseurs and fitness coaches working at a training ground that has five practice pitches, full-time chefs and designated car parking. All of which is an endorsement for what football clubs can afford these days rather than what is actually needed.”
According to this article http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/pompey-past/pompey-weighing-up-training-ground-options-1-3880712
Portsmouth would have trained here last season
http://www.kes.hants.sch.uk/find-us/wellington-sports-ground
Unless I’m very much mistaken, the google earth type map on the school’s website shows 5 pitches marked out.
“In fact, it wasn’t until the opening day of last season that I realised how good a footballer can actually be. We were playing Manchester United at Old Trafford and Paul Scholes was pinging the ball about as if it was an extension of his body. Until that point, no player or side had fazed or amazed me.”
TSF writes of his admiration of Scholes in his book in pretty much the same vein.
has he won any player of the year awards or ever done commentary?
TSF has in his book
Two points from the book make me think it is definitely Kitson.
He talks of a team-mate being in the right place at the right time to set him up for life. This could easily be Steve Sidwell and his move to Chelsea from Reading.
Also in the chapter on gambling he talks about rooming with an addict, who had two laptops purely to bet and ends up getting bailed out by his club.
Not sure if there is a cross over but that could be Matty Etherington at STOKE
Just read a Guardian article Dave Kitson gave to them in December 2007 and if you read it it’s a very similar style to the book!! Also no surprise then that the Guardian are supporting his latest venture?! then Check it out at:
http://m.guardian.co.uk/football/2007/dec/29/newsstory.reading?cat=football&type=article
I’ve posted the opening two paragraphs here in case that link gets removed, however the way he talks about the area he was brought up in and his mates cars etc, sounds exactly like what he references when he takes his mates out on his birthday…
“It is not only a period stacking shelves at Sainsbury’s which makes Dave Kitson stand out among his Premier League peers. From his desire to meet with the Football Association to discuss how the governing body could improve to his admission that he has nothing in common with his team-mates and their fondness for cars, bling and expensive labels, the Reading striker, unlike so many of his counterparts, likes to tell it how it is.
Kitson leaves few subjects untouched during an interview which lasts almost as long as a match – at one stage he spends several minutes expressing his frustration at the number of meaningless stories on the 10 o’clock news each night – but it is his thoughts on the profession that will turn him into a millionaire which are most revealing. “I would rather be regarded as a human being than a footballer,” he said. “I don’t like being bracketed as a footballer.”
Can anyone not check post-game footage of Kitson and other candiates collecting player’s shirts? His list is very detailed which could only be a unique collection. What are the chances of any other leading candidate collecting exactly the same shirts? Surely that would unequivocally unmask the TSF?
I agree that Kitson fits the bill in a lot of cases but in the book there are a few anomalies. He says he has one of Roy Keane’s shirts. Keane had left Man Utd before Reading were promoted so when did Kitson ever play against Roy Keane? He talks of a multi-cultural upbringing. Kitson is from Hitchin, I used to live nearby and it certainly isn’t multi-cultural. A couple of times he mentions watching the 1986 world cup and a panini sticker book his dad bought him. Realistically this places him over the age of 8 in 1986, doubtful that anyone under that age would remember much about it. That makes the player older than Kitson. Do we know when Kitson got married? He talks of his wife having a bespoke wedding dress and wedding jewellery from Tiffany’s. He couldn’t have afforded that while at Cambridge or in the early days at Reading. He says he had dinner with a friend who is chairman of a northern club???? Seems to have a mate at Man Utd. Other NW clues, he bumps into people in clubs that say ‘my mate’s got a trial at Crewe’. Also mentions a pub ‘Cheshire Cheese’ although it was mentioned as a generic name for a pub, that is a common pub name in the NW. Birthday night out in London got a taxi home to his parents – does that suggest he’s from London.
good detective work!
I reckon the Roy Keane shirt came from his friend who was a young pro at Manchester United under Roy Keane. Step forward Danny Higginbottom. He was at Manchester United on Dwight Yorke’s first day in August 1998. He joined Stoke Summer 2008 when Dave Kitson was signed, and was still there when Kitson left in August 2010. He joined Stoke from Sunderland, where he played with Dwight Yorke under Roy Keane. No doubt he can still ring Alex Ferguson for a chat. As regards Dave Kitson’s wedding, he got married some time after 2004, and his eldest son was born in May 2008.
Dave Kitson joined Cambridge United on March 17th 2001. John Hansen joined Cambridge United from Esbjerg on February 17th 2000 after a trial, and left for Esbjerg at the end of the season on May 31st 2001. Both were in the Cambridge United squad for the 2000/01 season. Hansen was from Denmark, and 7 years older than Kitson. Alternatively Demba Traore joined Cambridge United about the same time as Dave Kitson, and left about the same time. Traore was from Sweden, but was actually two years younger than Dave Kitson. Hardly an embittered old pro.
Andre Bikey at Reading. From Cameroon. Played for Shinnik Yaroslavi and Lokomotiv Moscow.
Good points and that all fits. TSF says in the book that he was paid £400 to do co-commentary for the BBC and has also appeared on Soccer AM. Anyone remember Kitson doing either of those?
Top scorer for Cambridge United 2002/03 so he was probably player of the year, but no evidence to prove this. He left Cambridge for Reading mid-season in December 2003, so he would probably not consider the 2003/04 season as one in which he was eligible for player of the year at either Cambridge or Reading. Top scorer for Reading 2004/05 (19 goals) and 2005/06 (22 goals), but only Reading Player for the Year 2004/05. Since 2002 there has been another Player of the Year award at Reading based upon performance in calendar years, won by Dave Kitson for 2004.
Cambridge 2001, with Lionel Perez and Armand One, plus French-speaking Tresor Kandol (Congo). He also played with French-speaking players at Reading 2007; Kaliffa Cisse (Mali), Jimmy Kebe (Mali), Ibrahima Sonko (Senegal) and Andre Bikey (Cameroon). He also played with Didier Degard and Jeremie Aliadiere at Middlesborough. Also played with French-speaking players from Senegal at Stoke 2009; Salif Diao, Amdy Faye, Abdy Faye, Henri Camara, Ibrahima Sonko – plus Vincent Pericard (France).
Also talks about a friend palying for Chelsea under Mourinho and going on a pre-season tour of USA. Steve Sidwell joined Chelsea on July 1st 2007 on a free transfer from Reading. He made his debut for Chelsea in a 2-1 win over Mexican side Club America in a friendly match in Stanford, California during Chelsea’s Summer 2007 tour of the United States. As regards the gambler, he reckons the laptop incident took place during a tour involving clubs from the Middle East. Etherington and Kitson did two pre-seasons together, 2009 and 2010. For both the club went on a week-long pre-season training camp in Austria, including games against sides from the Middle East – Hapeol Tel Aviv and Bursaspor.
In addition, TSF recounts a period in his career playing abroad with Brazilians, Hungarians, Germans, Dutch and Macedonians. Danny Higginbotham played on loan at Royal Antwerp from November 1st 1998 until June 30th 1999. Also at Royal Antwerp were; Paulo Benedito, Sandro da Silva – Brazil; Laszlo Nagy, Zoltan Balog, Tibor Balog – Hungary; Georg Kebler – Germany; Danny Muller – Holland; Igor –Sasa Nikolovski , Dragan Siljanoski – Macedonia. Eastern European element – Rade Mojovic, Zorn Campara, Darko Pivaljevik (Serbia), Aleksander Klak, Andrzej Kubica (Poland), Oldrich Parizek (Czech Republic), Vaidus Zutautas (Lithuania). In fact the different nationalities were – Brazil, Hungary, Germany, Holland, Macedonia, Serbia, Poland, Czech Republic, Lithuania, England, Belgium, Ghana, Spain, Congo, Niger, Nigeria. Which numbers 16 in all. After being the friend in the Dwight Yorke story he appears now to be slotted into the frame as TSF himself. But Danny Higginbotham does not fit the back story. The only logical conclusion to be drawn is that Dave Kitson has made two references to friend Danny Higginbotham, but in the second he has recounted the story as if TSF is really Danny Higginbotham. Which blows the assertion that all the annecdotes are about him apart from those attributed to friends. But you can’t really blame him because keeping the secret is essential to the success of the website now that TSF no longer appears in the Guardian. But it’s still a bit of a shame.
my shout is jimmy bullard! comparing the checklist to facts and his renound outspoken egotistical personalality tells me he is the kind of man/player who would do this. likely to be skint!
Dave Kitson was a guest on Soccer AM on August 26th 2006
http://wikibin.org/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=20152
He doesn’t have a daughter.
“Clue 28: Has played against Liverpool with a lower league club”
Definitely NOT Dave Kitson as he only played against them with Reading and Stoke, both during which were in the Premier League (check Soccerbase).
http://weekendwonders.co.uk/news/story.aspx?id=43
Kitson says he doesn’t own a watch
“He says he had dinner with a friend who is chairman of a northern club???? Seems to have a mate at Man Utd”
Kitson has been quite open about the fact that his recent signing for Sheffield United came about because he is good friends of Simon McCabe, son of Blades chairman Kevin McCabe and a director at the club.
The book mentions use of Prozone, and I think this was a few seasons ago. Prozone is a new thing and currently 14 Prem clubs use the system. Prob even less a few seasons ago. something to look into to cut the potential candidates down
Mate at Manchester United – Danny Higginbotham is the ex Manchester United player still mates with Dave Kitson. His more recent mate at Manchester United has got to be Ritchie de Laet, who played with him at Stoke and Portsmouth.
Sorry, that should say TSF says he doesn’t wear a watch. But Kitson clearly does!!
I’ve just read the entire load of articles in one sitting, and I’m certain its Kitson. The style and language is very similar to some of the stuff he came out with when he arrived at Stoke. I would be my house on it.
Yeah I was about to post this up too, the last two replies about Scholes and then taking his mates on holiday, I think he covered these in a very similar way in the book…thought it might be Jimmy Bullard before, but now convinced it must be Kitson
Nice spot, I would never have thought of that. Mind you that article was 2008, at least 3 years before the TSF articles started appearing. Perhaps he lost it!
TSF book page 209 – “I don’t own a watch”. Guardian interview with Dave Kitson 29/12/2007 – “I don’t wear any chains or any watches”. In both long interview clips with Dave Kitson on you tube – EWM and Car-eoke – he’s rocking a plain t-shirt and no watch. Don’t ask me how he managed to be wearing one in the FourFourTwo picture, but it looks like the exception which proves the rule.
Very true, no daughter. In the article of 29/4/11 TSF states “my daughter will be told to stay away from footballers”. Although it doesn’t make it into the book this statement is pretty clear-cut. But often with TSF the complex annecdotes are genuine and linkable to Dave Kitson, whilst stand-alone facts with no bearing on the substance of what he is saying are tweaked to protect his identity without compromising his integrity. The recent Alice in Wonderland article states that his son is now 7, rather than 4. It doesn’t lessen the impact of the article, but it throws people off the scent. Although TSF can also have moments of grand fantasy when he suddenly assumes the identity of one of his sidekicks to sex things up a bit. James Beattie and the Bling-fest at Tiffany’s, and Danny Higginbotham and the United Nations of Antwerp spring to mind.
I remember Kitson did some commentary for BBC radio berkshire for a home game against ipswich in the 2004/05 season when he was injured
Reading definately had ProZone
Quincy Owusu Abeyie is born and raised in Holland – later decided to play for Ghana. So fits the vague discriptions often used by TSF (like Paolo).
The article says that he will tell his daughter to stay away from footballers, to me that doesn’t specifically imply that he has a daughter it just suggests that if he did he would warn her off footballers…
Clearly Dave Kitson
Latest column http://www.thesecretfootballer.com/articles/1607/this-position-ive-held-it-pays-my-way/
talks about regret of move to stok and being played out of position
note the similar themes here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/reading/7940220.stm
I wanted to post this where it would be noticed because it could prove important. I have spotted a discrepancy in the book. On page 229 in the index under the heading ‘Secret Footballer’ reference is made to ‘Gullit’s slating of and encounter with 192-3’. When you flick to page 192-3 TSF talks about an incident that occurred at the height of his earning power and it all almost disappearing overnight because of ‘a manager on nothing more than an ego trip’. TSF was forced to train with the youth team and was banned from speaking to the press. Ruud Gullit is not mentioned.
Could it be that Gullit was mentioned in an earlier draft and this explains his being in the name index but appearing as ‘a manager’ on the relevant page? If so, then this throws the whole thing open again.
That’s a really nice spot Mel. I think you are almost certainly right about the Gullit index reference being left over from an earlier draft. Page 192 says “After a Premier League match the manager and I had a disagreement”, which would imply that Gullit was the manager. My theory is that not only was Gullit’s name dropped from page 192, bit it ended up describing another completely different incident. But both incidents happened, and both are significant.
The Gullit incident is almost certainly this one;
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-475015/Gullit-Kitson-involved-tunnel-bust-up.html
“Sky pundit Ruud Gullit was involved in a furious row with Dave Kitson after the Reading striker was sent off for a studs-first tackle on Manchester United’s Patrice Evra. The former Dutch star became embroiled in a row with the forward in the tunnel after Gullit called for the Royals striker to get ‘a double red card’ and a six-match ban.”
Clearly the story of Gullit’s slating of and encounter with TSF, but manager Steve Coppell backed Kitson and is unlikely to be on such a vindictive ego trip. That incident is probably this one;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/apr/29/stoke-city-tony-pulis
Tony Pullis didn’t, and all hell broke loose.
It has to be Kitson now. His writing style is the same and even his speaking voice seems similar.. far more so than the other leading candidates anyway. We should try to prove it’s not him and see how far we get.. Well done Mel on that index clue.
Amazing spot mate, I think you are dead right.
I think we all now know that it’s Dave Kitson, with a bit of Ronnie Wallwork thrown in for the overseas red herring.
Not sure if this has been posted already but in the book TSF lists Pink Floyd as one of his favourite bands and reveals he has quoted their lyrics in A A meetings. Here he is stating that if he had to listen to one album for the rest of his life it would be Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmwEjSZApmo&feature=related
Also the referee who sent Kitson off here was Rob Styles who TSF lists as being a prick!
“I didn’t know Speed personally but I know many people who did. I’ve played against him and teams
that he’s managed”
now that only leaves 18 teams by my reckoning… One of those teams being Portsmouth who he signed for on deadline day 2010…
Derby County
Scunthorpe United
Portsmouth
Leeds United
Nottingham Forest
October
Watford
Burnley
Hull City
Doncaster Rovers
Coventry City
Ipswich Town
Leicester City
Millwall
Crystal Palace
Bristol City
Barnsley
Nice one! Lets add that to the new checklist.
42. Connected to somebody who saw Zlatan Ibrahimovic play for Malmo. YES
43. Connected to somebody who played for Sheffield United. YES
44. Connected to IPS Law. POSSIBLE
45. Connected to six players with Las Vegas tattoos. YES
46. Connected to somebody with a rich fantasy wedding. YES
47. Connected with somebody at Royal Antwerp 1998-99. YES
48. Connected with somebody at Manchester United August 1998. YES
49. Bullied by Scandinavian at first professional club. POSSIBLE
50. Won back to back player of the year awards. PROBABLE
51. Connected with somebody who played for England with Trevor Sinclair. PROBABLE
52. Club signed his boyhood hero near deadline day. PROBABLE
53. Connected with somebody who played for Chelsea in 2007 under Mourinho. YES
54. Connected to American who now plays in USA. YES
55. Club signed Euros star in transfer coup. YES
56. Club went on pre-season tour to South Korea. YES
57. Club had players threaten to boycott the team photo. YES
58. Press ran story of pain-killer overdose. YES
59. Big fall-out with manager followed by revenge in the press. YES
60. Flattened by Antonio Valencia during attempted clearance. YES
61. Team-mate got away with offence TSF got punished for. YES
62. Roomed with gambler on tour involving Middle East clubs. YES
63. Last club had five training pitches. YES
64. Friend hit by 50p coin whilst chatting to him during match. YES
65. Connected to recent Manchester United player. YES
66. Spent five years at one club. YES
67. Big fan of the Beatles, Pink Floyd. YES
68. Pays for his mates to come on holiday. YES
69. Dad loved 60’s music and Shakespeare, and schooled him in the game. YES
70. School friend was apprentice at Spurs. YES
71. First club ripped off for sell-on fee after big money transfer. YES
72. Good reason for covering up hair, arms and legs. YES
73. Doesn’t wear a watch. YES
74. Dropped for a season opener. YES
75. Had team-mate who’s girlfriend was a famous singer. YES
76. Had a manager who still wanted to be a player. YES
77. Doesn’t rate Rob Styles. YES
78. Connected to Grays Park Road Wexham. PROBABLE
79. Connected to Dog and Duck pub. POSSIBLE
80. Had confrontation with Ruud Gullit. YES.
81. Grew up on council estate. YES.
82. Wife had a career of her own. YES
83. Played against a team managed by Gary Speed. YES
32. Who might the captain he played under that he didn’t rate have been?
I strongly suspect it is Graeme Murty;
http://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=109312&start=20
“Graeme Murty. Happened to be captain during our most successful period, but had limited ability and all he did was moan at others around him. For someone that was signed as a winger, he couldn’t cross for shit.”
Quincy left us before Kitson arrived.
wow, you still discussing this? enough already, it’s dave!
Dave kitson never played abroad though….
http://www.thesecretfootballer.com/articles/1473/playing-abroad-welcome-to-the-new-culture-club/
Sorry boys… I thought it might of been him
♠Rory Delap ticks the following clues:
1 – he was born in England
2 – yes?
3 – yes – hes had been at 5 clubs and has had at least 7 managers
4 – yes – Derby to Southampton
5 – yes – he was at Stoke City
6 – yes – at least 5 French players/speakers at Southampton between 2003 and 2005
7 – possibly Wanchope, Baiano at Derby
8 – yes – Jim Smith at Derby
9 – yes – Stuart Gray at Southampton, Mick McCarthy at Sunderland
10 – yes – he played with Peter Crouch at Southampton, who then played for Liverpool
15 – correct – he was at Stoke City
16 – yes – 19th March v Newcastle, 2nd April v Chelsea and 9th April v Spurs
17 – correct – he is a midfielder or occasional full back
21 – yes – Southampton 2004/5 and Carlisle 1995/6
22 – yes – Stoke City 2008/9
23 – yes – Southampton to Sunderland Jan 31 2006
24 – yes
27 – yes – Carlisle United in League 1 and 2
28 –
29 – maybe – Carlisle were promoted in 1997
30 – yes – Southampton
31 – yes – is generally a midfielder
32 – maybe – Lundekvam at Southampton
34 – probably
35 – yes – Southampton and Sunderland
37 – yes – Stoke City 2007/8
38 – yes – Carlisle went down in 1996 – York and Peterborough stayed up
39 – yes – he left Carlisle and went to Derby
40 – n0, but he has also been relegated from the Premier League when his wages could easily have been around £100,000 per month. Do clues 21,38 snd 39 specifically refer to relegation from the Premier League?
41 – see Q40. He has played in Premier League again after being relegated from it.
The following clues are unknown or not ticked:
11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 25, 33 and 36.
I don’t think Rory Delap played for a premiership team that got relegated due to a goal going in at the other end of the country in the dying minutes of the season Southampton had to beat Manchester United on the last day in 2005 but it was United’s second goal that day that put them down. Also TSF doesn’t play video games, but James Beattie’s Twitter was full of his XBox battles with Rory Delap when they were at Stoke.
But he has pretty solid connections to Danny Higginbotham, who is almost certainly the guest writer of this article even if he isn’t billed as such. TSF has admitted an old team-mate helps him with his website, and in this instance he is helping him stay undercover by ghosting the article.
Stephen Henderson has just tweeted “Just read TSF book. I have a feeling I played with TSF… Lips are sealed”. Henderson played with Kitson all of last season at my team, Pompey (2011-12). If its not Dave Kitson, I simply will eat my hat.
Another reason for Kitson:
http://www.thesecretfootballer.com/articles/1661/big-names-big-egos-big-problems
He mentions: “despite having within our midst Champions League, FA Cup and Premier League winners, it was probably the tightest and easiest going squad that I have ever played in. And that was the problem.”
Portsmouth – Kanu.
And:
“And every time we were losing at half time, our manager would bring up money. He brought up the subject of money so often that the players eventually rebelled. The only fathomable reason for him continually turning to the fact that we were all pretty well off – OK, some were ridiculously well off – was that he didn’t have two pennies to rub together.”
Could have been Michael Appleton, Portsmouth manager he is referring to here.
Looks nailed on as Dave Kitson for me. Was Cambridge player of the year in 2002/2003. See link below
http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/s/8532_royals_swoop_for_kitson
I cant believe there has been no mention here of the Stan Collymore tweets that were quickly deleted. He claimed to know who it was and gave two clues
1:A local football rivalry begins with the secret footballers first name..
2:If he revealed who it was it would be ‘Game Over’ and that is a clue in itself
He deleted them quickly but here is a grab of the first one http://inagist.com/all/262308073123762176/
Another big hint it’s Kitson.
He mentions in his recent article:
“Not that many years ago my agent approached Celtic about the possibility of signing me. I made it onto their list, but lost out to one of their preferred targets. It was a shame because I had always wanted to play for them, and at that time in my career it would have been a perfect move”
http://www.thesecretfootballer.com/articles/1699/humble-pie-not-on-wengers-menu/
In January 2010, Kitson openly stated he wanted to move to Celtic:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/05/dave-kitson-celtic-stoke
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/stoke-targetman-dave-kitson-keen-1046834
In the January 2010 window, Celtic signed 3 strikers, Morten Rasmussen, Diomansy Kamara, and Robbie Keane. I’d guess Keane may have been the choice over Kitson.
This got sifted through over on “A New Poll”, but to save you tracking it down here are my guesses. “Red Rover” is slang for “Game Over”. Red Rover is a clue in itself – Ginger Reference. Local Rivalry is derby. Either Stan has mashed up Kitson’s first names, Dave Barry. Or it is a reference to a famous derby. Given Stan’s time in Spain I reckon it could be the Valencia derby – El Derbi de Valencia, the biggest local football rivalry in Spain. First 4 letters ‘de Va’, which is as close to Dave as you could reasonably expect to get under the circumstances. Stan also tweeted that Shaun Derry had played for 2 of TSF’s clubs. That would be Portsmouth and Sheffield United. Hope this helps.
Spot the difference:
“Not that many years ago my agent approached Celtic about the possibility of signing me. I made it onto their list, but lost out to one of their preferred targets. It was a shame because I had always wanted to play for them, and at that time in my career it would have been a perfect move.” TSF 10/11/12
“Celtic is a club that I have always admired and hoped to get the chance to play for them at some point. Obviously Stoke would need to be happy with any deal, but moving to Celtic would be a great opportunity. I am at a critical point in my career when I should be at my peak and I need to be playing.” DBK 5/1/10
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/stoke-targetman-dave-kitson-keen-1046834
Jimmy Bullard was also linked to Celtic in 2010, but the deal fell through due to his excessive wage demands.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jul/12/jimmy-bullard-hull-celtic-loan-deal
Jimmy has recently retired from the game. “Game over”.
Any bells ringing?
Of course Jimmy Bullard has never played abroad, but then neither has Kitson. Jimmy also fits a few of the other clues: transfer between premier league clubs, highest transfer fee, supporters player of the year, started in lower leagues, experienced relegation etc.
A possibility methinks.
It seems Emile Heskey, Nicky Shorey and Liam Ridgewell have all been linked with Celtic in the last couple of years.
http://www.celtic.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=204396
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/celtic-target-defenders-liam-ridgewell-1110809
This must mean he played against man utd on the opening day of a season. Kitson did with reading in 07/08
https://www.whoisthesecretfootballer.co.uk/dave-kitson/
I don’t now if this has been spotted yet?
Has anyone suggested Matt Derbyshire or Stephen Ireland or Michael Johnson?
Will refrain from the detective game, but the Cheshire Cheese refers to a specific pub near Fleet Street formerly beloved of journalists looking to pick up on stories whilst abusing their livers. Read again in that context and it makes sense – not a hidden clue unfortunately! It’s a very decent pub actually – worth a visit if you’re in London during the week.
Has this footage been brought up yet?
http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=relmfu&v=cItHuitbN84#/watch?feature=relmfu&v=cItHuitbN84
Should’ve asked him for the time. He wouldn’t know. No watch.
Re Kitson. See this this interview with Elite Welfare Management. I’ve never heard a footballer talk like this. It’s plausible he suffers from depression. There were two Scandanavians in the Cam utd 2000-01 squad, Hansen and Pilvi, although not that old.
http://www.elitewelfaremanagement.com/dave-kitson-raising-awareness-elite-welfare-management-exclusive/
Shaun Derry played for 2 teams Andrew Johnson played for: QPR and Crystal Palace. Also look at the other clues, it’s AJ.
Hi!
I’m french and just acquired the book (which just got translated and released in france) and I’m curious about something. How would you rate Dave Kitson’s popularity and fame in the UK? Because in France, maybe 95% wouldn’t know him. So I’m wondering how’s the situation in England, considering the fact that he’s talking a lot about how recognised and bothered he is in the street.
On another subject, TSF is talking about a bad experience about a journalist who pretented to be a manager offering him a big contract. TSF said that the proposition was interesting and needed to be discussed. The next day, a national newspaper was publishing a news named something like “These mercenaries will kill football” (I’m translating so this are not the exact words, sorry) with his picture front page. I didn’t see anywhere a reference to that so maybe it could be a clue.
Sorry if what I’ve said is redondant in any way, I’m just very intrigued about this guy ;)
Thanks.
This is a pretty clear voice match between Dave Kitson on the radio and in youtube videos..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p013n3v3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4zsFKPgNLA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KGI-sXeZLA
Sounds to me like its cracked
Were you in a bath with your head under water at the time of “matching” these clips? Not the same man.
Yep, you? :)
Oh, and for what it’s worth my mum reckons it actually sounds more like Jack Dee. JACK DEE IS THE SECRET FOOTBALLER!
I couldn’t see anywhere else to post this on the site, but none of the leading candidates have played abroad while TAF has. See here:
http://www.thesecretfootballer.com/articles/1473/playing-abroad-welcome-to-the-new-culture-club/#pages-top
He admitted yesterday that he’d lied about that and he was in fact referring to someone else playing abroad, despite having described it in the first person in that article.
Danny Higginbotham has recently joined my team Sheffield United, after being convinced by one or two people. Him and Kitson are good friends as mentioned previously by others.
This probably may not mean a great deal, but it’s something and confirms the friendship. The point about TSF being friends with a Chairman is quite conclusive as Kitson is mates with United’s.
The book describes how Dave was told to train with the kids at ‘stoke’.Stoke agreed a deal with portsmouth to get kitson to pompey and liam lawrence in exchange for marc wilson with stoke agreeing a pay a wage pay off with Kitson.Portsmouth were on a transfer embargo and the fans buckets collecting for the cash strapped club.
KITSON also scored a 90th minute goal away to doncaster to send doncaster down at the end of the season.
‘Dave Kitson is in talks with Stoke about a pay-off before agreeing a move to Portsmouth.
The Premier League Potters are offering Championship Pompey Kitson, 30, and winger Liam Lawrence, 28, in part-exchange for midfielder Marc Wilson.
But striker Kitson earns over £30,000-a-week at the Britannia Stadium after a £5.5million move from Reading in July 2008.
And he is willing to move to Fratton Park with Lawrence but only if Stoke compensate him for reducing his salary.
‘
Have I missed something? I read it as Collymore saying a local rivalry begins with the same letter as his name. That would be ‘a derby’ – begins with D. Otherwise given the potential amount of derbies that there are it would be a truly shite clue.
There was 3 black french speaking players at Stoke.Sidibe,Diouf and Faye.
http://www.elitewelfaremanagement.com/dave-kitson-raising-awareness-elite-welfare-management-exclusive/
Kitson speaking about the troubled move north.
In the book he complains about how in his trials he was annoyed at the bigger guys playing centre back and up front because of their height. And he was put on the wing as he was smaller.
I thought Kitson was rather tall?
1/The book talks about a trip to korea in the 2007 peace cup which kitson played.
2/In the book he says there would be hell to pay if he went to his old house on the council estate in a luxury car and that he hates jewellery and watches.
3/There was 3 black french speaking players at Stoke.
Below article from the guardian 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2007/dec/29/newsstory.reading
In TSF’s article from a couple of weeks ago he talks about moving from a club in financial difficulties who were striving for promotion at the time.
Kitson moved in that exact situation from Cambridge United to Reading.
So Danish television did a segment on TSF because his book has been translated.
They had one of their journalists interviewing Dave Kitson under the presumption that they were interested in the FA match between Sheffield United and his old club.
In this interview the journalists asked if he had ever been in Legoland, Dave Kitson answered he had and that when he was 9-10 years old his dad would rather drive to Denmark than having a holiday on the beach. This is almost exactly what TSF writes in the book. I’ll link to the segment when its online.
Hills did not pay out as he had to be revealed by the end of 2012.
———————————————————————-
Dave Kitson has been backed from 7/1 to 1/3 to be the Secret Footballer. Kevin Davies is the 8/1 second favourite with every other candidate at 20/1 or higher. Since the market opened on Thursday morning, just under 65% of all bets placed have been on Dave Kitson.
“We have had punters calling, emailing and tweeting over the course of the last 24 hours having their two pennies worth as to who they think the Secret Footballer is, but when it comes to who punters are actually betting on, there is only one person attracting the money – Dave Kitson,” said William Hill spokesman Joe Crilly.
Who is the secret footballer: 1/3 Dave Kitson; 8/1 Kevin Davies; 20/1 Jamie O’Hara; 25/1 Michael Carrick; 25/1 Danny Murphy; 25/1 Lee Bowyer; 25/1 Steve Sidwell; 25/1 Tony Hibbert; 25/1 Michael Turner; 25/1 Paul Robinson; 25/1 Michael Brown; 25/1 Peter Crouch; 25/1 Sol Campbell; 25/1 Phil Neville; 25/1 Kevin Nolan; 25/1 Gary Taylor-Fletcher; 25/1 Dean Whitehead; 25/1 Clarke Carlisle; 25/1 Michael Owen; 25/1 Jody Craddock; 25/1 James Beattie; 25/1 David Bentley; 25/1 David Dunn; 25/1 Andrew Johnson; 25/1 Paul Konchesky; 25/1 Nicky Shorey; 33/1 Alan Smith; 33/1 Joey Barton
http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Stoke-City-Kitson-hits-Pulis/story-12499470-detail/story.html
the article spefically mentioned in early chapters, word for word what happened in the book! 100% him
1/Dave kitson said he went on hols to denmark With his family.
2/The bookies closed the new years eve at Kitson 1/3 and the rest 8 /1 down.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4765683/has-the-secret-footballer-been-unmasked.html
In his latest post, he mentions that a former team-mate received death threats from fans of another team, and these letters were posted to the changing room wall.
Back in 2006, after the prolific Reading-Chelsea game where Cech got knocked out by Stephen Hunt and Cudicini knocked out by a collision with Ibrahima Sonko, both Reading players received death threats from Chelsea fans. He goes on to say that a local journalist snuck into the changing room and reported on the content of the letters, which didn’t go down well with the team – the Reading Chronicle reported the content of these letters. Of course, Dave Kitson was in the squad at the time.
Proof: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/reading/6153958.stm
Also, he mentions that he ‘was fairly well known for snubbing the media. I was extremely sensitive to criticism…’ I can’t find any particular stories, but as a Reading fan, I do remember him getting annoyed a lot, including when Reading fans celebrated his and Steven Sidwell’s hair by having a Ginger Day at the Madejski. Sidwell loved it, Kitson was offended.
TSF tells he played at the Den.
In the 2002-03 FA cup Cambridge United played at Millwall. See this one.
http://www.11v11.com/matches/millwall-v-cambridge-united-14-january-2003-15123/
He scored too.
I am an italian boy so I must confess I don’t know anything of english football and particularly I didn’t know Dave Kitson. I have read something of Kitson in internet but after reading the book of TSF I have some doubts (sorry for the english, it’s not good):
– TSF said during selection match when he was a child, tall children played in the middle of the pitch and small children played on the sides. He tells he always played as side-back and side-midfielder so I think he was short but Kitson is 1.91 m…
– TSF says he’s better than a lot of other players, his career could be better…but in Internet and in youtube I see Kitson is a normal forward with not a good technique…
– TSF tells often things about Leeds United (about the stadium, about the agreement of a player after UCL semifinal with a lot of details, about the shirt with signatures ok Leeds 2001-02 when Kitson wasn’t famous), couldn’t TSF be a player of Leeds (for example Lee Bowyer)
– TSF tells about his troubles because of his anger and his debates with manager. What about Kitson’s temper? Is he an angry boy?
In his book, TSF states that he has won player of the season twice in a row. As far as I can see, Kitson hasnt managed this ?
nr 42; named in the PFA Team of The Year once according to this
http://www.thesecretfootballer.com/articles/12324/need-to-be-recognised-has-long-gone/
Kitson was in the 2002-2003 Third Divison Team of The Year.
I’ve just finished the book and it reads an awful lot like the Secret Footballer played for West Ham – the Vegas trip and “forever blowing bubbles” – which Kitson never did. It also reads a lot like whoever he is, he is retired now.
http://www.thesecretfootballer.com/articles/12802/agents-stricken-by-delusions-of-grandeur-2/
When Kitson left Reading, Alex Pearce and Jem Karacan (and a few others) were breaking into the first team.
Alex Pearce has refused to sign a new contract at Reading, having been offered a generous wage rumoured to be around £25,000. He is out of contract.
My main reservation is the story about the “most popular captain” in the book. It just doesn’t seem like Graeme Murty.
Secret Footballer stated in the 25.05.2013 column that he scored a goal against Manchester United in the cup. Guess who’s done that. Mr Kitson for Reading in a 3-2 loss back in 2007. Looks like this case has been closed for me.
For 27 – He played in the lower leagues with Cambridge
30 – Portsmouth were obviously in financial trouble
37 – Reading
against 31 – Kitson certainly plays in no way like scholes or even the same position
latest column about wenger, says he saw him deal with a horrific injury to an arsenal player’s at a match against TSF’s club. kitson was on the bench for stoke when shawcross rearranged aaron ramsey’s leg in 09/10 season.
Reading this interview
http://weekendwonders.co.uk/news/story.aspx?id=43
it’s hard not to think that it isn’t TSF answering…
I was on the fence about Kitson for a while, but it sounded like TSF was answering the questions.
Paul Scholes role?? could be a red (headed) herring, but I think the quote was something like the manager saying ‘you ain’t no paul scholes’, in context he might have tried one from 20 yards and spooned it, or the manager in question might really revere paul scholes.
Also paul scholes is the only other ginger footballer I can think of off the top of my head, so that might explain the managers comment. I don’t think the quote is explicitly saying he’s a midfielder
No Daughter?? He says my daughter will be warned off footballers – doesn’t mean he has one – just if he did, he’d warn her off.
Read that article (credit to original poster above somewhere), the turns of phrase, the approach to replies, it strikes me as the same personality speaking. Kitson FTW (no one says that often anymore!)
Also, to be fair, Kitson was a quality player on his day that often (to me at least) stood out when playing at reading – a little too good for them. Was not surprised that he stayed up when they went down, or that he got an england call up (that never was).
I Wonder if some of the stories told by the secret footballer are not really from one footballer but from a mish mash of situations by various footballers put across as if it was one person?
I agree with the last comment. Mostly DKitson, quite a bit of DMurphy, with a couple of mates stories included. A clever marketing idea really. Possibly actually not written by any of them personally who knows. Would love to know for sure though it’s very intriguing, can’t somebody hack one of these peoples computers lol.
Kitson has not played at Anfield for a lower league side…
Regarding the multi-player theory, didn’t TSF say in an interview this very site that such was not the case?
Check out this interview and say still it is not Dave Kitson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=t4zsFKPgNLA
Here is the reason why I doubt at DKitson is TSF: TSF has told us that relatively recent he was out for some six matches because of a dispute with the gaffer. Then he came on from the bench when his team was loosing 1-2, and he did his part to turn the match to a 3-2 victory. Shortly thereafter the manager had to leave. Which match is this? The only I have found is Pompey vs Watford back in 2010, where DKitson scored an equalizer on 1-2. I do not, however, if he came in from the bench one minute before he scored, but I know that the manager did not leave. Hence, I do not think DKitson has played such a match (find it please), and therefor he is not TSF.
TSF is from a ‘Small Town’.
Dave Kitson is from Hitchin,
Kevin Davies is from Shieffield, Nicky Shorey from Romford, Konchesky – Barking, Danny Murphy – Chester, Kevin Davies – Sheffield, Andy Johnson is from Bedford, kevin nolan is from Liverpool.
Just sayin.
Also:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2007/dec/29/newsstory.reading
I believe that story is a thinly disguised account of Portsmouth v Doncaster in 2012:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17643457
Apart from a few late subs, Kitson was barely played in the weeks leading up to that game. Against Doncaster, he was brought off the bench in the 28th minute, and Portsmouth turned it around to win 4-3, including a 90th minute goal scored by Kitson. The manager, Michael Appleton, did indeed leave fairly soon afterward, albeit as a result of Pompey’s financial annihilation, not losing the dressing room.
The details don’t exactly match, but that can be explained by TSF deliberately changing some things, or simply misremembering others, such as the exact scoreline. If treat everything TSF writes as gospel truth, then you won’t find a single player whose career matches his facts exactly, but if you accept that he’s willing to bend the truth a little to disguise his identity, or reinforce the point he’s making in a particular column, then the evidence overwhelmingly points to it being Kitson.
Why is the reference to “French players still in there?”. It should be “French-speakinge” players if anything.
In the 08/09 Stoke side there were 5 Senegalese, a Malinese and a Frenchman… all francophone…
It’s Kitson – the quote in the book about saying “didn’t you used to be somebody?” to a “hero” is referring to a few words being exchanged with Teddy Sherringham whilst he played for West Ham, against Reading.
In the new book the player who was sold to another team but turned out to have a cocaine problem was probably Greg Halford, someone who has had rumours about drugs follow him for the majority of his career.
Book: He was brought in for a lot of money – Halford was bought for a couple of million (rumoured to be £2.25mil), Reading’s record fee at the time.
Book: He lasted less than a year – Halford joined Reading Jan 07 and was sold to Sunderland in June 07
Book: The club made a profit on him – Halford was sold to Sunderland for £3.5mil
In December 07 Reading defeated Sunderland (Halford absent from the team, as per the book) with a controversial goal (as per the book) – http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7145749.stm
Roy Keane kicked a door in down by the changing rooms at the Madejski after that game, so the story of the managers and players getting heated only adds to it.
It’s definitely Kitson… in the extract from his new book published on the Guardian website today, TSF explains how a chance meeting with Fabio Capello at the San Siro had been uncomfortable because he’d been told (and rumoured heavily in the press) to be the surprise name in Capello’s first England squad.
That story was everywhere in Jan 2008
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/dave-kitson-lined-up-for-england-721841
After what Ben just said, I totally agree. Also, he says he was a massive boyhood Spurs fan which is common knowledge for Dave Kitson. It couldn’t be Crouch, as one of the other leading candidates is, because Crouch’s dad is/was a director at spurs and would have no trouble getting tickets.
Definitely Kitson, the new book talks about the financial problems of a team that he left at the end of the season that can only be Portsmouth.
Dave Kitson is a smoke screen…TSF is David Bentley
Having just re-read the book and being a huge Reading fan ive thought it’s Kitson for quite a while always seemed like a very intelligent man, also TSF mentions how the club he signed for from what we can assume is non-league had old professionals in his position who made him feel unwelcome, at the time of signing for Reading, Reading had as their strikers, Shaun Goater, Nicky Forster and Les Ferdinand, players who’d been in the game a long time and i cant imagine being the most helpful of players in a dressing room
Dave Kitson was at Cambridge Utd my local team. There is a lot which just seems to ring true in terms of his experiences there and his personality. he is not the only fottballer to come up thru the leagues, but the reaction and general demeanour seems to fit his exactly. He always seemed a bit more self aware and detatched. He refers to smaller clubs not getting a go deal selling to a deadline, I.e. him. There is a reference to the red top tabloids early in his first book which seems out of place and contrived, I.e referring to his hair colour. I agree some details that are not relevant could have been falsified so we need to look at personality and TSF is not typical.
It’s him. I know nowhere near enough about football to extrapolate or evidence why it is. Someone who I trust told me, and with no reason to lie.
Personally I think it’s Steven Fletcher.
Only reading the book now, made the Halford link last night but I can see I’ve been beaten to it, hat-tip to D 7
TSF says the player didn’t fit and that was pretty much what Nicky Hammond said when Halford was sold.
“Some managers simply didn’t have a clue. I remember one shouting out to his full-back not to wear boxer shorts next time because your knackers hang out.”
That is from a Kitson interview referenced in an earlier column
http://weekendwonders.co.uk/news/story.aspx?id=43
Exactly the same story used in the second book which I just read.
Whilst I have not studied all of the evidence presented here, I believe TSF is Dave Kitson for two reasons.
Firstly, there seems to be strong circumstantial evidence presented here to match between TSF and Dave Kitson. However I would imagine he would need to throw in the odd red herring to keep people guessing otherwise he would be outed too soon (i.e. before the end of his career), which would explain why TSF would never exactly match ANY footballer.
The second reason I strongly suspect Dave Kitson is TSF is because of an event which occurred at his current club Oxford United a few weeks ago…
I was at the game where Oxford lost at home to Bristol Rovers on 2nd November. The ref was dreadful, and due to him letting the Rovers players get away with some pretty agricultural challenges, Alfie Potter was badly injured towards the end of the game. After the match Kitson was interviewed by the local Radio Oxford guy, and here is what amazed me…
I have never before heard a footballer give such a calm, but forceful argument as to why that was the worst ref he had ever seen. The RadOx guy gave him every opportunity to back down or not talk about it, but Kitson very calmly even told him “no, go on and ask me”. Kitson then went on to totally slate the ref, calling him “horrific”.
It was the way he was so calm about it. Very analytical. Very intelligent. Very well spoken. Very outspoken. So forceful with his opinions. He has now pleaded guilty to an FA charge BUT has asked for a personal hearing, where presumably he is going to explain his comments and totally slate the ref again to the FA.
So I believe that while the circumstantial evidence seems compelling, he absolutely positively has the necessary personality and quite frankly “balls” to be TSF.
I think it is undoubtedly Kitson. If you read the latest book, the chapter ‘Could I be a manager’ gives us some of the most obvious clues yet. Firstly, he refers to one of his ex-clubs going from “absolute no hopers to FA Cup winners” before he arrived. This must be Portsmouth, which coincides with earlier anecdotes about financial troubles at a club he represented. However, the biggest clues are in the anecdotes about his previous managers – there is one which is not even really disguised which talks about Steve Cotterill – a manager that none of the players enjoyed playing for who was poached by another team, a move which TSF says “didn’t end well” (Cotterill was sacked by Nottingham Forrest a year after being poached from Pompey), while TSF also says the ex-manager bought his new team back that season and was thrashed – Portsmouth beat Forrest 3-0 a month after Cotterill’s departure, with Kitson on the scoresheet. This series of clues proves beyond all doubt in my mind that TSF is Kitson – especially when you read articles published after Cotterill left Portsmouth that quote Kitson as saying they are better off without him!
Dose TSF speak about a clubs best captain that never gets any credit….has to be Steve Sidwell at Reading in their Championship winning season , then Murty as the worst captain 2 seasons later .
Does Kitson have a seven year old son? Can’t seem to find any evidence. In his latest column TSF states that he does. Also seems that parents were intellectuals of sorts.
The latest article by TSF at the time you posted was “Spurs must buy into vision of AVB”, posted on the 7th of Dec, and while he mentions “his youngest”, he doesn’t give an exact age, or mention his parents.
Kitson has a four year old son, there are plenty of newspaper sources that mention it if you Google.
Did he say he was small? So he had to be better with technique?
In the second book TSF talks a lot about a club in financial trouble, obviously Portsmouth. He lived nearby to a marina and drifted in a boat towards France which means it’s on the south coast, Portsmouth. And also about a striker having signed who was a breath of fresh air and helped his game. Could be nugent at Portsmouth?
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/217034/Norwich-0-Portsmouth-2-Dave-Kitson-enjoys-quality-streak
Also that new signing enjoyed an England call up which Nugent did.
A Danish journalist, @fonoudi6eren, who was based in England read “The Secret Footballer” and started putting two-and-two together.
Prior to an FA Cup match between Dave Kitson’s former club Reading and then, current club, Sheffield United, he interviewed him with one major agenda – to confirm that he had been on holiday in Denmark.
DAVE KITSON IS THE SECRET FOOTBALLER!!!
http://youtu.be/N_0DQAfNzEk
In the new book TSF says he was voted player of the season two years running at his premier league club. But Kitson was only player of the year once for Reading. However it all depends on how truthful every claim in the book is, this might be another red herring.
having watched the danish investigation video where kitson confirms he went to denmark as a child i was convinced it was him however when has Kitson ever played at a club with a big French contingent?
The secret footballer isn’t a footballer it’s a journo. So many things are wrong, collecting 86 Pannani stickers would mean he’s mid to late 30s, but he states he had hand me down nike boots, nike football boots didn’t launch until the late 90′s, he’d have already been pro a as he’d have been early 20′s. You never forget a pair of boots. Loads of other things that say its a journo too, style, story presentation, a lot of ‘it happened at another club’, journo a can’t resist gossip, but not a lot gets printed as they can’t substantiate claims, the book and the column is just another ‘quote from a close friend’.
Kitson is a very good candidate.
3 reasons, along with all this stated i think it’s him.
1) TSF speaks very strongly against rascism and abuse in general. Kitson, whilst at Reading, released statement condemning the abuse he received of his ginger hair as a form of rasicm.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/content/articles/2005/10/27/dave_kitson_feature.shtml
2) In the book he describes how one of his teammates was in the right place at the right time with his contract. I believe this is a reference to Sidwell who tripled his salary when he moved to Chelsea from Reading on a free transfer
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2007/may/09/newsstory.sport4
3) It’s also mentioned how his name was incorrectly said by Hansen and Co on MOTD. For the first half of Reading’s first season in the premiership Kitson was called Paul Kitson by several pundits. I do not have a link for this but remembering this annoying me being a Reading fan)
There are also other things, such as the Asian tours, i know plenty of teams venture out that way but Reading’s main sponsor was an Asian Company who had a lot of involvement. Some PR trips there wouldn’t surprise me.
4 french speaking players quickly come to mind when at reading. Kebe, Cisse, Bikey and Fae. Bikey also fits very nicely into the “African player at a top Russian club” who was abused,having left Locomotive Moscow to join Reading.
Season before he was voted player of the year at cambridge I believe.
Having just read the second book, Kitson seems to be the no.1 candidate.
He talks about a manager who wasn’t liked and was clueless who then left and the club had to offer thousands in compensation.
This is obviously Steve Cotterill when he left Portsmouth to join Forest.
He then talks about that team coming back and getting beat which also happened.
http://www.channel4.com/news/secret-footballer-money-premier-league-interview-video
He’s Southern. Despite the distortion listen to the pronunciation of words. Misses ‘t’s – probably from London or South East – I’m from Hertfordshire, sounds like the rough Stevenage accent. Hitchin close to Stevenage.
Also words like will being pronounced “wiw” backs this.
In the chapter (of new book) titled charity begins at home TSF speaks about one captain being left disappointed after the club stopped granting testimonials.
All seems to tie in with Murty at Reading so its undoubtedly Kitson for me
http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/miscellaneous/947/reading_ban_tes.html
In his book he mentions being whacked with an elbow by Terry, this also checks out as Kitson was hit by Terry during a Chelsea-Stoke match.
Chelsea appeared ragged and lost their rag. Suddenly Drogba, Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack and in particular John Terry were involved in running arguments. Terry twice caught Dave Kitson in the face and did not appreciate it when the Stoke striker responded.
In the intro to the new book, he says he got a surprise deal in 2012 when a club ‘lost a player in circumstances I can’t go into’ and alludes to said player being in ‘a spot of bother’.
Kitson signed for Sheffield United in 2012.
Ched Evans.
Case closed?
Agreed. The bits about Cotterill – his mannerisms, and his language – fit with what I’ve been told about him by someone who used to have to deal with him when he was Burnley manager.
Dave Kitson played for Portsmouth too!!!! It is him!!!
who ever said it was Paolo di canio, it just mentioned Paolo, could it be wonchop or that guy who played for leister
It is Kitson. He vacationed in Denmark as a child, and that it some of the first he mentions in the first book. Should prove everything, as a danish journalist interviewed him asking him about, if he’d ever went to Denmark, Kitson answering being here as a kid.
http://www.thesecretfootballer.com/articles/the-secret-footballer/12831/young-ones-are-the-most-vulnerable/
“But as my career progressed, it became a little easier to fill the time because I began to earn fantastic wages. It is no surprise to me that players spend fortunes on shit they don’t really need. I bought a clothing company … and that didn’t go well.”
http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/arleseytownfc/news/dave-kitson-to-feature-for-arl-944575.html
“Kitson Started his Career at Arlesey and has always shown his support for the club, previously being shirt and stadium sponsor with his then clothing company Chateau Roux.”
It’s 100% him…
Paraphrased from the first chapter of the second book (talking about a tiff with a chairman): “I stacked fucking shelves for a living; you think I can’t make it in the real world?”
It’s Kitson. It absolutely must be.
Recently read TSF’s first book and the Gary Speed link is the one that strikes me as leading very much towards Kitson . Speed was only Sheff Utd manager for a few months (aug-dec 2010) and Kitson played for Portsmouth against Sheff utd in september 2010 (http://www.11v11.com/matches/sheffield-united-v-portsmouth-18-september-2010-290413/)
Also If anyone can find out whether the ‘dent in the bath’ is in the home changing room at fratton park that could confirm if TSF played for portsmouth
Just saw this. In the book her refers that one of his mates have connections to Tottenham, and he occasionally could get tickets to their games that way.
In Football manager Dave Kitsons favorite club is listed as Tottenham (supporter).
And as you all know: Football Manager is never wrong.
In one of his books he mentions that players went to him for to him for contract advice “because he pronounced his t’s” or something along those lines. If you watch interviews of him, he is very well articulated and well spoken.
http://www.thesecretfootballer.com/articles/the-secret-footballer/1473/playing-abroad-welcome-to-the-new-culture-club/ says he played abroad. Kitson hasn’t.
It’s Dave Kitson. I’ve read both book and one of his footballer mates told me! End of.
Could I please ask if anyone knows the player he’s talking about in the second book who was tested positive for cocoaine and then sold to another cluvat a profit?
Thanks
Greg Halford (apparently)
RE Playing abroad.
I once kicked a ball into the pool of the Hotel Zenit Malaga in 2002.
Doesn’t that mean I have effectively “played abroad”
In the introduction to the second book he says he signed a contract with a team ( Sheffield United) in 2012 to fill the place of a player (ched Evans) who couldn’t play due to problems he couldn’t talk about ( Evans got sent down for alleged rape) got to be Dave kitson!!
Clue 5: From January – June 2008, Reading had Imbrahima Sonko, Emerse Fae and Jimmy Kebe, 3 players who were born / grew up in France and were eligible to represent France had they not chosen to represent their parents’ countries of origin.
1 thing you lot are all forgetting .
tsf said he met barca players in barcelona and they recognized him im sure they wouldent recognize dave kitson
TSF mentions a scuffle with John Terry, where he kicks him after reviving an elbow to the face. Also he mentions moving onto commentary after appearances as a pundit on MOTD- does Kitson fit this?
Dave Kitson just retired, days after submitting what looks like a valedictory column…sort of confirms it was him.
http://www.thesecretfootballer.com/articles/the-secret-footballer/20587/sands-of-time-running-out/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28419253
look at tales of the secret footballer where he says he got out of his car to have it out with fans during their liquidation period. Now look at this link http://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=111817&start=600 100% dave kitson.
Ladies and gentlemen, some of you may have heard this already, I know it is doing the round in small circles in Ireland, but one of his former team-mates has made a comment to suggest that Dave Kitson is indeed the author and columnist known as The Secret Footballer.
The source? Seemingly whilst at a horse racing meeting last week recently, Stephen Hunt, who coincidentally once played with Kitson, opened his big mouth when he shouldn’t have. Something along the lines of “David f**king Kitson? He’s a secret w**ker more than a secret footballer” (or words to that effect) in a joking manner was overheard by some punters with knowledge of TSF’s existence. (Now while that may be nothing, Hunt has been known to get excited and blurt out non-malicious, slightly inappropriate things on days out such a horseracing meets or at GAA matches.)
This from Hunt’s big mouth coupled with the stacks of evidence in the comments section here leave me in no doubt that it is indeed Dave Kitson.
But even if you look at any interview with Kitson – he speaks in such a mild manner which is almost identical to the tone in which TSF writes. I am glad this website exists, but the detective work here has gone into overdrive. If it was a court case, Kitson would be identified as TSF long ago. The red herrings, no pun intended, worked to little effect.
Kitson, who retired from playing about three weeks ago, is clearly an intelligent man and maybe someday he will announce himself as indeed being the TSF, and if and when that day comes he should be applauded for his bravery and letting us, the common man, know about the inner workings of the game we love so dear.
I think we can agree that it IS Kitson. The detective work now begins on identifying the other players he speaks about! The supposed cocaine addict (already mention), the yacht owner (poss Beattie) etc.
Love the books/articles and I think we’re all aware, (well we should be), that some bits of information may have been modified slightly to protect us identifying the obvious parties involved. Although not much…maybe scorelines etc as mentioned above.
I think the ex pompey manager who left and threatened to stab him in the tunnel and used money as a motivating factor to gee up the players was paul hart.
I’m a bit late to the party here as you’ve all pretty much nailed it’s Kitson, but in case anyone wanted further confirmation here’s the Channel 4 News interview with his voice processed back down to its normal pitch…
http://youtu.be/7j9rDmyw2rI
Jason Roberts tweeted this regarding Kevin Pietersen & Keane’s new books:
“Then again at least KP, Keane used their real name..nothing more cowardly than being a secret “Ginger Haired” footballer…..too much?”
The number 6 item about French players should be removed as it was never stated the players were French, just French speaking. This would include about half a dozen Senegalese/Malians at Stoke at Kitsons time there.
TSF claimed he had been at a club where their ‘keeper was subject to a transfer bid. The manager pulled some trickery and the player stayed. The article is here:
http://www.thesecretfootballer.com/articles/the-secret-footballer/14959/text-what-text-kenwyne-jones-the-truth/
Anyway, I have dug this interview up:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8954598.stm
DK was at the club at this time and it’s almost certainly him
Out of curiosity, is the author of TSF the same as this? https://www.headline.co.uk/books/detail.page?isbn=9780755364350
Or are they two different entities?
Also refers to being mentioned by Ferguson as causing them problems all afternoon in his 11th May 2013 article http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/may/11/secret-footballer-alex-ferguson-legend
Found this on the Man Utd website: http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-Features/Football-News/2008/Jan/Boss-relieved-after-Reading-test.aspx?pageNo=2
As a Pompey fan I know Kitson was subject to abuse from fans and Pompey are in financial trouble… The only other person I though it could have been was bullard but it has to be Dave (as much as I hate him)
I had nike boots as a child, they definitely were around before the late 90s.
Clue 5. Does not appear to be relevant. Form 13A – Premier League Rules is a standard contract for all leagues, including the Championship. Alternatively could be referencing a previous contract.
The book appears to mention his retirement so I think it’s Jason Roberts.
Kitson was and still is playing at the time of it’s release.
Dave kitson did not play for rangers, but the S.F says he played for rangers with gazza.
In the most recent book about tactics, tsf says he was gonna turn his back on blatter during handshakes before an England game. Only he stupidly got himself arrested.
Dave kitson was in an england squad and got arrested for drink driving and didn’t make his debut. Definitely Kitson.
Nah that’s a story from one of his pals who played for rangers with gazza in the 90s. This has got to be Kitson, the bit in the ‘tales from’ book about signing for a team unexpectedly to “fill a void until the player got himself out of his spot of bother” – he signed for Sheff Utd just as the whole ched Evans saga was going on and from what I remember he was due to go to the MLS or something similar abroad in January but ended up signing with Sheff Utd until the end of that season which ties in with him “remembering why he loved football”
I have just watched an interview where the narrator said that the person shown was TSF, but had is voice replaced by an actor.
The person shown as being TSF is kicking a size 5 ball. The size 5 ball has a diameter between 8,6 to 9 inches. Using the ball as reference for height when he has it close to his feet allows an imperfect approximation, but accurate enough to rule out some candidates. My calculations do have a margin of error, but such margin is small enough for me to be certain that the person in the video is not shorter than 6’3 ft. Which is enough to rule out everyone but Crouch and Kitson.
Also, i don’t trust my calculations enough to rule out Kitson, but my calculations do indicate that TSF is taller than Kitson, even using an 8.6 ball as reference.
Interesting revelations in the new book indeed.
TSF discussion about a teammate hitting another teammate whilst away at West Ham sounds suspiciously like Stoke’s Ricardo Fuller giving captain Andy Griffin a right good slap.
I’m surprised TSF gave so many details to the incident as something like what he described in the book is so easily identifiable/Googleable (though contrary to what the book says, Mr. Kitson wasn’t on the bench that day. Artistic license? Bullshit? Two secret footballers?)
I suspect Mr. Kitson has resigned himself to the fact that his cover has been blown (though if you’ve read one of his recent columns, it looks like he may not be able to officially reveal himself as he would be in breach of several none-disclosure agreements he signed).
In addition, he talks of a manager buying two players from a recently relegated Premier League club who desperately needed the cash, one of the players very much “not in the mould” of the said manager’s style (i.e. skillful). My kneejerk reaction was Stoke buying from Portsmouth (talk of a cash strapped relegated club? It’s always Pompy!). After a bit of digging, it would appear that the names “Huth”, “Middlesbrough” and the more skillful “Tuncay” may fit the bill…
In the new book, TSF talks about being on trial with Millwall. Which Kitson was.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/vauxhall/spain-vs-england-perfect-qualifying-6815980
I don’t think there’s any doubting that it’s Kitson.
The circumstances of TSF’s retirement are the same as Kitson’s – the new manager appointed as part of the takeover was Michael Appleton at Oxford, who had previously managed Kitson in 2011-12. The bit about the CEO being interested in F1 also ties in.
TSF mentions putting Gareth Barry off before taking a penalty so that Barry’s shot nearly left the stadium. Barry missed the target with a penalty for Villa against Reading in 2008.
Just reading the bit where TSF complained about a referee after a bad injury to a team-mate, which ties up with this http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/24805861
That is basically word for word that BBC article on Kitson talking about the arrogant ref which is in the new book.
Definitely him 100%.
Great last book too if anyone hasn’t read yet.
Fantastic book. Cheapest here if you haven’t got it already.
I’ve read the new book. And I am left in with no doubt that it is indeed Dave Kitson. I was pretty sure it was him beforehand. But this book confirms it for me.
Aside from the timeline, such as TSF’s recent retirement which coincides with Kitson, there’s been a few things:
TSF talks about going on trial with Millwall for a week. Kitson also did: http://www.mirror.co.uk/opinion/football-opinion/matt-lawrences-diary-lower-league-footballer-3307345
TSF speaks about being disciplined by the FA following comments about a referee after a team mate was seriously injured. This is it almost word for word: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/24805861
TSF goes on to speak about acting as an agent for a promising young star, but disappointed when the father takes over as agent and makes questionable decisions.
The player in question is Oxford’s Callum O’Dowda, who Kitson publicly praised before http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/sport/11158182.Kitson_tips_Oxford_United_s_O_Dowda_for_a_big_future/
Kitson represented O’Dowda briefly, before his father took over. His father’s Twitter bio isn’t directly mentioned in the book, but the official ins and outs of a FA Registered Football Intermediary entails: https://twitter.com/BrenODowda
A few other little things…
Kitson’s instagram account “theboykitson”, regularly sees him affectionately calling people by their surname with “the boy” in front of it. In the new book TSF refers to a footballer as “the boy (footballer’s surname). Coincidence?
Probably.
Also in the book, TSF talks about drinking his coronas during the day. Kitson does just that in his Instagram account. https://www.instagram.com/theboykitson/
I was pretty convinced before. But I’m totally convinced now.
Fair play to Dave Kitson. I hope he never reveals himself, and I hope owning a football club, eventually, will work out for him.
Another pointer towards Kitson from the new book is that he began his career in non league, worked his way up to PL and then ended his career further down the leagues. Kitson started out at Cambridge United and retired with Oxford last season, with Reading/Stoke in between.
I’ve just been reading ‘The Secret Footballer Access All Areas’ and from that I have decided that it must be Kitson.
In the book it talks about how in a match against West Ham two players on his team fought (a defender and a striker) with the striker getting a red card, the book also mentions how Carlton Cole scored a goal.
After some googling this match came up: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7788420.stm which fits all the criteria. Now whilst Kitson was not in the squad that day he was a Stoke player at the time.
In the book it talks about how he signed as an emergency short term deal which became more long term near the end of his career. This fits perfectly with Kitson’s time at Sheffield United.
In the book TSF talks about how at his final club he left his contract a year early when a manager he didn’t get along with joined the club.
Ritson ended his contract with Oxford a year early on 22 July 2014, previously on the 4th July 2014 Oxford signed Michael Appleton as their new manager. Appleton was the manager of Portsmouth 2011-12, Kitson played for Portsmouth during this time.
There’s probably more info in the book which is weaker evidence but this is the stuff I found/remembered.
And this incident is included in the latest book…
Three things in new book give it away as dave kitson. He talks about winding gareth barry up before he missed a penalty for villa, barry only ever missed four penalties and one was in 2008 feb against reading dave kitson stood next to him as he runs up. Secondly he talks about being knocked out in a game against villa when he had a chance of moving there, Jan 2008 reading v villa kitson knocked out at around 12 min in. Thirdly he talks of a run in with John terry and Michael ballack when playing a against Chelsea this was during his stoke days when terry elbowed him in the head twice and kitson returned the favour it was a nastily played match. SO THERE YOU GO IT’S DAVE KITSON
Yep. Here’s the piece! http://m.stokesentinel.co.uk/Stoke-City-Kitson-hits-Pulis/story-12499470-detail/story.html
Just started listening to the new “access all areas”, and remembered a game he talks about – it couldn’t be more clear… Playing at Old Trafford, he was sent off but his team still managed a draw:
http://www.11v11.com/matches/manchester-united-v-reading-12-august-2007-277995/
The send-off is at 1:41:00;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2f8NHD0GGU
If you read is latest, Access all areas, as someone has done above you can cross reference some things he says with a little checking and research online. In my view after having done this with regards to his trial at Millwall, his run in with a ref and the FA I am certain it is Dave Kitson.
In his story about Alex Ferguson, TSF talks about a friend who played under him as part of the treble winning squad, a ‘nobody’ who was relegated after losing to Man United. This is Danny Higginbotham who was in the 1998-99 Man U squad (0 appearances) and was relegated with Southampton in 2004-05 after losing on last day to Man U. Kitson and Higginbotham played together at both Stoke and Sheffield United.
The new book also refers to TSF getting sent off against Man U.guess who got sent off against Man U in 2007-2008.Take a bow Dave Kitson
In ‘Access All Areas’ (published in 2015 when Dave Kitson was 35), tells of sneaking into the Stadium of Light in Sunderland when he was eighteen and being chased out by a posse of stewards. Five years later, scores the winning goal there for his club. Dave Kitson would have been eighteen in 1998 so five years later would be around 2003.
9th April 2005 – Sunderland 1 (Arca 51) Reading 2 (Kitson 75, 81 (pen)). Close enough for me given some of the necessary artistic licence in the story so far.
Ok, I’ve got a few more things from the new book. Firstly, TSF says he turned down an offer for an Indian team, who then chased Chris Iwelumo before signing Michael Chopra, both of whom are strikers. Very small I know, but it doesn’t harm the case for Dave. Secondly, he refers to his time at a club who were struggling financially, and that he had to be paid off a small portion of his contract to leave, which ties in perfectly wi the description of events at Portsmouth during his time there. Finally, and perhaps most convincingly, he tells of how he became a legend at one team he spent a great deal of time at, especially as they won a trophy in “such swaggering style”. Reading’s 05-06 record breaking points haul to win the championship, anyone? He also said it never got better than that, which looking at how he had a poor spell at Stoke, moved clubs etc. ties in well enough too. This, plus the compelling evidence put forward by others above (Tom, Jacko, Steve A) makes me certain that Kitson is our man.
I’m still trying to work out who his ‘bete noire’ is. Must be Tony Pulis, surely?
I’m positive it’s Pulis. In access all areas, he says that he moved to the terrible club just after his son was born. His first was born in 2008, when did he go to Stoke? 2008. He also said there was a North East club interested when he signed for that club. It’d not rock solid but he was loaned to Middlesbrough the following year, suggesting they could have been that team. Also, he says the manager left 2 premier league teams without a payoff, but that both the club’s signed a non fisclosure agreement. I have searched and cannot find any article suggesting that Pulis did or didn’t get a payoff when leaving Stoke and Palace. I think the lack of even a suggestion one way or the other implies non disclosure. Finally, Pulis has always been a massive twat, hasn’t he? That’s all the evidence anyone could need
Strangely enough, if you do a Google search on Tony Pulis it’s amazing how many people agree with that last bit.
On his insta account, there is a picture of him with Liam Gallagher who he describes as a bombscare, in the latest book he refers to a few people as bombscares – 100000% TSF is Dave Kitson!
Not in the matchday squad, but may still have been sitting on the bench…
Talking of skilful, this probably explains why Berahino is still desperate to get away from West Brom at the moment…
maybe he was saying it metaphorically, as in if he were to have a daughter, she ‘will be told to stay away from footballers’. And as he said this when he children were still young, it could be possible they were contemplating having another child, and if that child were to be a daughter, then she would be told that.
The new book refers to Carlton Cole scoring a goal and the striker and defender from his team having a fight. This was the game between West Ham and Stoke. TSF says he wasn’t playing that game, kitsch wasn’t playing that game.
All points to kitson.
I’m keen to know who the young player he was trying to act as an agent for was.
Callum O’Dowda
In the new book when talking about aston villa he says about gareth barry missing a penalty after him winding him up. Its villa v reading and kitson played. So much other stuff to.After reading all the books I would put my life savings on it being him.
Jack Grealish? Fits with the England/Ireland link and he talks about villa a lot.
Callum O’Dowda fits better actually as Michael Appleton was forced into selling him and we all know Kitson hates Appleton!
Yeah, after reading the last book I checked the Ireland U21 squad for candidates and he fitted perfectly
Another easy link which pretty much 100% nails kitson is when talking about being fined by the Fa for going at the ref when a player broke his foot.
Another easy link which pretty much 100% nails kitson is when talking about being fined by the Fa for going at the ref when a player broke his foot. http://m.bbc.com/sport/football/24991622
In the latest book when he talks about trying to buy a football club I believe it is Reading. He talks about the club having planning permission for a small town around the ground which Reading have (http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/reading-berkshire-news/plans-royal-elm-park-submitted-10837489) and he also talks about the owners being half way around the world. Reading’s owners are Thai and are based out there for the majority of the time (http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/29285081) kitson is a cult hero at Reading and he might have wanted to give something back hence the purchanse of the club.
Also in his latest book he details swilling shirts with Bale while he was at Spurs. On Dave Kitson’s instagram (@theboykiton) there is a photo of his shirt collection with, you gussed it, Bales shirt. I’ll link the photo but I belive his account is private so you will have to request to follow him to be able to vue it https://www.instagram.com/p/98rdGDEfWx/
An English investor buying a football club from a Far East investor? I’m finding it difficult to get my head around this concept.
From match reports of spurs v Reading in 2007, Bale did not feature in any of their encounters. Though Kitson did play these games Bale was injured for the last 3 links below and didn’t return until the start of the 2008 season.
Prem
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7157425.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7368665.stm
League Cup R3:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/7163980.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/7184872.stm
In 2008, when Stoke met Spurs first Bale was sent off after 17 mins so this is a possibility but would have been down the tunnel before any kit swapping at end of game.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7665101.stm
Second meeting of the season between Stoke and Spurs came in January where Bale and Kitson were unused subs for that game.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7844596.stm
I’m not convinced by this part of TSF’s story but there are the games from those two seasons as he mentions it was when Bale was having a hard time at spurs. 2008 or last meeting of 2009/10 season seems the likeliest as at least they were in the vicinity of each other.
2009 season first meeting both were unused subs again.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8317280.stm
Bale and Kitson both played the March 2010 fixture so this is also a possibility.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8572648.stm
TSF talks about this in the second book. Kitson first ignores being confronted at the training ground gates before going back to talk to them.
He then also talks about having a nightmare when he returned to a club and the fans not respecting what he did for them – pompey beat Sheffield utd 3-0 and he got booed throughout, had a mare and was subbed at half time
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/football/pompey/glorious-week-ends-with-pompey-blunting-blades-1-5021988
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/football/pompey/ben-haim-hits-out-at-administrator-costs-1-4084595
TSF’s new book “How To Win” has another anecdote which is clearly written by Dave Kitson. Early on in the book he talks about playing for a Championship team in a play-off semi-final. Right before the match, the manager apparently revealed that they would play an unusual 4-3-3 with two youth team players called up, and TSF benched, among others. TSF says the match was a catastrophe, implying that they lost heavily, that the two young players were subbed after 30 minutes and the manager soon left.
This is surely Reading v Burnley in 2009, where Kitson was playing for Reading. Kitson was benched for the second leg while 20-year-old Simon Church was called up for his debut. Reading lost and Steve Coppell resigned.
If so, it’s disappointing how disingenuous the anecdote is – a lot of Kitson’s story is simply a lie. Church was only one new player called into the team for the second leg, not two players. Church was subbed in the 54th minute, not the 30th. According to the BBC report, Reading had actually been dominating the game and had only just gone 1-0 down. They eventually lost 2-0 with the second goal coming after Kitson was already on the pitch (they had also lost the first leg 1-0, when Kitson was playing).
Makes you wonder what else in the books he just lies about…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_div_1/8038221.stm
Sorry, to clarify – Alex Pearce was another young player who Coppell called up alongside Simon Church for the second leg, which is presumably what Kitson is referring to. But Pearce wasn’t even subbed, let alone hauled off in the 30th minute.
Any idea who he’s talking about when he mentions two team-mates fighting in training and the manager sending them to do the press conference?
In TSF: access all areas, he talks about a game where he played against Harry Arter. He wound up Arter all game and despite Bournemouth being the better team, his team went on to win.
http://m.bbc.com/sport/football/21483015
Kitson played for Sheff Utd in that game where Bournemouth dominated but Sheff Utd ended up winning. Harry Arter also got booked in that game. I think there are far too many clues for it not to be Dave Kitson.
Um, you are aware he has to disguise facts so people can’t identify him? (although he hasn’t managed to do that seemingly)
Disappointing if he’s altered the the facts so much that he might as well be writing fiction though.
TSF says in his new book what goes on tour.. about having a trial at millwall and kitson went on trial at millwall when he was at Cambridge
just found information about the “comments against referee” incident in The Secret Footballer: Access All Areas. He says he got fined in the hundreds:
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/24991622
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/24805861
this basically describes it
also, just found this. in one of the books, he talks about wanting to go to one of the big two scottish clubs, celtic or rangers.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1240726/Dave-Kitson-hoping-Stoke-striker-green-light-join-Glasgow-giants-Celtic.html
Its dave kitson 100% he talks about his best goal being removed from the end of season highlights, and this is again referenced on his instagram.
In “How To Win”, TSF talks of how, during a promotion push with a team who were favourites for promotion, a young player turned the team around from a slump, but suffered cruciate ligament damage and that the team went on to lose in the playoffs.
This fits with the injury to Shaun Miller in 2012/13 and Sheffield United’s failed promotion bid.
https://www.sufc.co.uk/news/2012/december/double-blow/
Yet more evidence that it’s Kitson
It’s got to be Dave Kitson, I haven’t read the book in a while but my mates reading it now so been discussing it.
1. Ched Evans was the Striker he replaced at Sheff UTD when he was convicted. I think the TSF puts it down to mental health or personal problems.
2. Micheal Appleton was the manager he hated and he took over at Oxford in 2014, hence the reason he left after only 1 year of a 2 year contract.
3. The fight between a Striker and Centre half was when he was at stoke, can’t remember the players names but i’m sure if you youtube football fights you can find the incident i’m talking about.
100% Kitson, he mentions playing Arsenal and giving an interview after the game where he praised Adebayor for scoring when the ball came at him really quickly. Interview he mentions is below
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/football/2007/nov/13/newsstory.arsenal
Cannot be anyone else!!
TSF gave an interview to Channel 4 with voice disguised – but when you undisguise the voice it sounds just like Dave Kitson!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixHDxvB6FRQ
Can anyone shed some light for me, as there seem to be some inconsistencies that make me wonder if it is Dave KItson.
For example in AAA chapter one ‘winning’ Kitson talks about going on a parade after winning a trophy (authough it doesn’t tell us which one) it also says’ “our team were booked on an open top bus ride through the city the following week”
Wasn’t Kitson’s only honour the championship title with Reading?
If that’s the case unless I’m wrong Reading isn’t a city?
Which means unless he’s unaware of this – unlikely if he lived there so long.. it might not be him.
If anyone is still reading this website, I can say with 100% certainty that Kitson is TSF. I’ve been reading his latest book and fact checking every little thing to see if it tallies with his career, and it absolutely does.
The clincher is a story he tells about a pre-season tour to the USA. The club is obviously Portsmouth and everything else about the story adds up. But the icing on the cake is when he mentions hitting a golf ball into a lake, taking off his shoe and sock to retrieve his ball from the shallow water, and coming face to face with a huge alligator, at which point he jumped in the air in shock and ran away as fast as he could.
That exact story is told here https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/football/pompey/close-encounter-for-dave-1-2898013 almost word for word as it appears in the book. It’s definitely, definitely, definitely Kitson.
Hundreds of people still visit this site daily and keep tabs on the comments :)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-1216614/Gareth-Bale-winner-Tottenham–years-managers-25-Premier-League-games-1-533-minutes-signing-them.html
What about the bit about when he swapped shirts with Bale when he was down about being a considered a curse for Tottenham. Neither of the two premiership clubs Kitson played for are on the list of fixtures Bale played during that’ curse’ period?
Sorry, but on top of all the other evidence over the years, the alligator story confirms it. After reading that story and seeing that it happened to Kitson in exactly the circumstances described in the book, how could it possibly be anyone else?
A few more from the latest book.
Icelandic player who made a huge impression on TSF = Herman Hreidarsson.
Getting hammered in the Vans Trophy by a Northern team = Kitson played for Cambridge when they lost 4-1 to Blackpool in the Vans Trophy Final in 2002.
Character called Sync who owns a Lamborghini = almost certainly James Beattie.
Person sad enough to Google every fact mentioned in the book and do his research = me.
IT IS KITSON.
He also mentions a Nigerian team mate who played with some of football’s greats, and was nicknamed King. This is Nwankwo Kanu, Kitson’s team mate at Portsmouth. His nickname at the club was King. You can Google it.
Got to be kitson, don’t know if it’s been mentioned but in the 2nd book the financial situation of signing deferrals etc has to be Portsmouth.
Has to be Kitson, in an article on 12.03.18 he talks about West Ham fans. In the article he states he side drew 1-1 with West Ham 10 years ago. West Ham had 5 1-1 draws at home that year but one of the teams was Reading, who Kitson played for that season.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/43680519
“The Secret Footballer grew up on a council estate in rural England and only began playing organised football relatively late. He signed his first professional terms at the age of 21”
Kitson signed his 1st pro contract age 21 for Cambridge.
Stoke? 2008?
Has to be Kitson. Just read the latest book and after a bit of research it has all started to piece together. The Asia tour – Reading had two South Korea players playing for them at the time. A bit of research confirms that Reading did play in an Asia Tour during his spell there. He mentions team mates from Nigeria (Kanu) and players from Iceland – Reading had two Icelandic players during their time in the Prem. At a guess, Steve is Stephen Hunt and Jimmy is James Harper. A quick trawl through his Instagram account also leaves a lot of clues. There are photos of him in Dubai and Ibiza – both of which are mentioned heavily in the book. Standard for every footballer I know, but the Palm hotel features a lot. Virgin flights too. However, What sealed it for me is the short video of him and his son being pulled by a speedboat on a giant rubber ring – which again is mentioned in the book. May be all a big coincidence but all points towards Kitson.
I am sure it is Dave Kitson. In one of his previous books he talked about how he got to see Spurs V Milan in the San Siro and that had something to do with the Gallagher brothers (Oasis).
A few years ago I was in VIP at a Kasabian gig and Dave Kitson strolled in and went straight to the bar with Paul Gallagher (Noel and Liam’s older brother) I am sure it is him.
Excuse me, but didn’t we like the what the secret footballer had to say? We were interested in him?
Well done. Who wants to take the credit for killing the secret footballer? Murdering him in cold blood. He is now dead. Are we better or worse off? Personally, although I might find what the SF had to say, I couldn’t give a flying f**k about Mr Kitson’s opinions on anything, and. would actively avoid them.
Actually, you could say he was a rubbish secret footballer. Useless. He totally failed in his role. RULE 1. Stay secret. It’s not rocket science. If you can’t even manage that. Pathetic. What a to**er. A secret footballer that decides to top himself. I wonder how much it’s going to cost someone? Dunno what the annual sales were like, but they’ve just stopped. All around the country there must be little piles of SF books that will gather dust or be pulped.
If this miserable little man had done his job better, we’d still be talking about him in 10, 20, 30 years. Every now and then he’d be a part of a conversation for a few minutes. “You don’t suppose it could have been xxx?” He could have been immortal.
Joking apart, I’m gobsmacked he could have been found so easily. I’m not really that interested, but I kinda assumed he had a plan to stay secret. It seems he had a plan to be outed by sheer weight of data. “Secret Footballer wants to reveal himself” What a tw*t. Revealing yourself is not an option if you are the secret footballer. It’s a bit sickening. You want to have your cake and eat it to, it appears. We picked a cretin for the job. So, who actually employed this hopeless half wit… Bring them here. Now.
Right. Which one of you clowns killed him? I liked reading about what he had to say. I do not give a toss about anything Kitson might write.
You have murdered my friend. Proud of yourselves?
Ask yourself, now he lies bleeding in the gutter, are we better or worse off? “All men kill the thing they love” How bloody true.
Mind you, what a rubbish attempt at staying secret. A cunning plan that would enivitably lead to being named by sheer weight of data.
His publisher must have been impressed. I don’t know what sales were like, but I know what they are now. In six months time he’ll be forgotten.
Had he just done his job, he’d have been popping up in conversation for decades.
So, the truth is he was rubbish. Pants. A SF that couldn’t stay secret. Did I read he wanted to reveal himself? He must have an incredibly low IQ. That is an option not available. He wants to have his cake and eat it.
He’s a national disgrace. Was this really the best we could do? OK, you unprincipled failure. Step up. Reveal yourself. Now f-off and I never want to hear from you again.
Once revealed, the career of a failed SF can be measured in minutes, I should think. Who gives a toss what Mr Kitson thinks? He’s just another one of those overpaid egos. It’s really quite strange. We’re only interested in him because we don’t know who he is.
That might be quite damaging.
Anyway, let’s not cry over spilt milk. I understand a chap called Barton or somesuch has been made manager of Fleetwood, and that the betting opportunities on various outcomes are virtually limitless…. I believe many think that it’s probably going to be a short ride, but will redefine “wild”, with the very real possibility of something truly and memorably spectacular at the end. I’m led to believe that Mr Barton is an uninhibited chap, good with his hands, always prepared to call a spade a spade and is prepared to go to great lengths to get his points across…. with the nouse to plan something truly original.
Sod off, SF. This is what football is all about. The prematch punditry is rumoured to last longer than the match, just because the number of events that might conceivably occur have skyrocketed.
These next few weeks could literally change the face of the game completely. For the first time ever, we could see armed guards following the ref during match to ensure his safety. Naturally, for safety reasons, the players tunnel has been removed, and the officials will be deposited on the pitch by a heavily armed Apache helicopter, which will circle overhead during the match for added security. The two teams will each be allocated a Chinook. So far, so standard. Just sensible stuff. It’s only when the home manger gets there that things ratchet up to 11. Special provisions have been made for the medical team, rumoured to be in excess of 100, who will rapidly deploy throught the stadium to minimise any PTSD that may be triggered by a serious on pitch incident during the match. Again, just appropriate levels of support that might be needed.
Right. I clearly need to stop this rubbish. As it happens, the truth is I think he could surprise people in a positive way. My team were briefly managed by FatSam. If things went well, he’d say it just proved what an outstanding manager he was. If everything went postal, it was simply because the team weren’t doing what he’d told them to do, for some unaccountable reason.
That’s where the bar is set, and I’m 100% certain Mr Barton can exceed it by a fair margin.
Now, Mr Barton, Joey, please could you stop squeezing me there. Just even a tiny bit. It really hurts… I’m really sorry I wrote that crap. But..don’t you think it would look just wicked? Think about the ticket sales. And, as you know, sometimes things can get crushingly dull on the pitch. What do you reckon to adding a couple of barrage balloons to Fortress Fleetwood about adding four barrage balloons to Fortress Fleetwood? I really do think it would scare the pants off the visiting team. And a searchlight, of course. And…
You know, I think that last beer was a bit funny. Was it the 8th or 9th round? I felt fine up until then. Actually, I think I will have a short lie down. I do feel a bit odd…
Reading has only 1 South Korean player, but I agree with you. Seol Ki Hyeon was playing at Reading at the same time as Dave Kitson and Nickey Shorey. Numerous cases against Nickey Shorey, so I would hedge my bet on Dave Kitson
small town?? Reading is NOT a small town…!!
In “How To Win”, which I’m really enjoying, TSF talks about a foreign goalkeeper with top-flight experience playing with him in a lower league side. Lionel Perez was at Cambridge when Kitson started. One more tick!
Definitely Kitson. In What goes on tour the Zimbabwean is Benjani, South African who grew up in a village attacked during apartheid is Moekena and as mentioned previously King is Kanu – further confirmed when he says the players asked him about De Boer and Finidi George.