For
1.
2.
4.
5.
16.
Against
19. Not played with Paolo Di Canio
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
2 responses to “Leighton Baines”
2. No, has a girlfriend but is not married. See Facebook profile, linked to below.
3. He has only played under Jewell and Moyes.
4. Transferred between Wigan and Everton.
5. Yes
6. Chimbonda and Camara were French speakers, wouldn’t call that a group.
7. Possibly Henri Camara, Yakubu, or Jason Roberts.
8. Paul Jewell
9. No, Jewell was popular at Wigan when he left.
10. He is friends with Steven Gerrard on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/people/Leighton-Baines/1645787375 and https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=645657737
12. Not that I know of.
Not a chance.
The 16th April column said that ‘Some players don’t need to be playing badly to find themselves in this position. Leighton Baines wrestled with self-doubt in his younger days. He said at the time: “I’ve always struggled in terms of self‑confidence, I was desperate to join Everton but once everything went through, I worked myself into a bit of a state. I was worried that it would be really hard to settle in, that my face might not fit. And I was worried about what the established players would think of me. I thought they would look at me and wonder what the hell some lad from Wigan Athletic was doing there.”‘
Unless of course that was a double bluff…