With TSF due to release a book and plenty of new clues, the speculation is rife once again and there are some new names being banded around. As such it’s time to get things rolling on here again. Check back in the coming weeks to see some updated info here as this particular detective case […]
With TSF due to release a book and plenty of new clues, the speculation is rife once again and there are some new names being banded around.
As such it’s time to get things rolling on here again.
Check back in the coming weeks to see some updated info here as this particular detective case re-opens…
Tags: Dave Kitson
91 responses to “Speculaton Hotting Up”
From the Press Releases…
– When he signed for his first Club, he was on £500 a week. Decent wage for a first contract a few years back?
– Talks about Man Utd training, specifically Dwight Yorke’s first day there, which was Summer 1998?
– Became ‘a big fish in a small pond’ quickly. Suggests he rose to prominence quickly?
– Has played against Antonio Valencia (Wigan/Man Utd). Only been here since 2008.
– Not a fan of the Club Xmas Do, and nights out in general?
– Alleged rumour of Methadone/Prescription Drug addiction when injured? (Has a female friend in America who appears to be connected)
– Retired mate on Hol in Dubai, had a ‘meeting’ with a future England players Missus?
– Lads Trip to Vegas, involving Lindsay Lohan etc?
– Friend is Ex-England, and got a house in Dubai through a Beckham sponsorship deal?
– Had a massive house, but has since had a massive Tax Bill and lost a load?
– “When I played at the top level, I earned tens of thousands of pounds a week. One club I played for made me their record transfer. I have won back-to-back player of the year awards, trophies and played against all the big-name players that the Premier League can offer” Loads on that statement?
– Suffers from Depression, on Medication and still plays?
Loads of Clues there to go on…
Get thinking!
Andy Johnson then
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Johnson_(English_footballer)
He’s left footed going off this video: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/video/2012/aug/22/i-am-the-secret-footballer-video
Has to be Andy Johnson,
Record Transfer for Everton
Quickly became big fish in pond
Coming to end of career
Player of year awards at Crystal Palace
Worked way up from lower divisions
Scandanavian friend – Aki Riihilahti (at palace and wrote for Guardian)
Relegation battle – Crystal Palace went down last day of the season
Playwed with a striker who refused to move unless the pass went exactly where he wanted it” – Neil Shipperley
Premier league transfer – Everton to Fulham
Yes he’s right footed, but can kick with his left !
I’m about 90% sure it’s Dave Kitson
Lots of people on the guardian mentioned that Dave Kitson fitted all of the descriptions, including a youtube video of him being knocked down by Antonia Valencia which he mentioned (and exaggerated in one of the articles). I trusted their research.
Another clue which matches up to him which I have seen no other reference to is that of the Dog and Duck pub which he makes mention of a couple of times, and mentions that the manager at his first club also referenced it when talking to players. Dave Kiton’s first club at senior level was Cambridge.
https://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-beta&ie=UTF-8&q=Dog+and+Duck+cambridge&fb=1&hq=Dog+and+Duck+cambridge&cid=0,0,11558802134118586454&ei=oSw2UOX5ManM0QWWhYC4BQ&ved=0CCIQrwswAA
Got to be Kitson. Book mentions a fallout with a manager slating him in the press, then SF got revenge in a paper..
http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Stoke-City-Kitson-hits-Pulis/story-12499470-detail/story.html
It’s ANDY COLE!!
definitely Andy Cole.
It’s Kitson.
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/pompey-past/kitson-to-go-the-distance-for-new-book-1-3026897
Anyone thought about Nick Barmby??
The more I read about Dave Kitson and hear previous interviews (and compare to TSF interview on R4 today), the more I think it could well be him. How does he fit on the checklist?
Things like humble beginning, record signing, recent relegation, settled family, well documented “personal issues”, failure after being a record signing, etc all seem to fit. Plus, he is well known that he really doesn’t fit the standard footballer cliché. Kitson is articulate, considered, well read, always shunned the limelight and openly talked about wanting to be a writer (a thing that the TSF was keen to stress in the R4 interview today).
It’s Kitson.
– white, married with kid(s?)
– played for Reading
– has played under more than 4 managers
– record transfer for Stoke when signed from Reading in 2008
– player of the season at Reading 2004/05 and top scorer the following season when they won the Championship
– completed transfer to Portsmouth on deadline day 2010
– last day of season relegation decider for Reading 2007/08
– also playing for Portsmouth when relegated after second last game of season in 2011/12. Manager that day was Michael Appleton who was Hodgson’s assistant at WBA so may have nicked the idea of showing the players their best moments from Hodgson.)
– in first full season played 40 games (10 goals) for Cambridge
– there’s a video on youtube of him ending up flattened after a challenge by Valencia
– there’s an interview on the web where he says he reads The Times, has a library at home, is a fan of Shakespeare and is writing a book under a pseudonym (might not be TSF book but counts as an ‘escape plan’ from football. Also videos of interviews show he has a southern accent and is pretty erudite and intense. This interview with him in the Guardian from 2007 has him sounding just like TSF and shows he had a link to The Guardian back then. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2007/dec/29/newsstory.reading
– currently without a club after terminating contract with Portsmouth (that could be the ‘chat about another season’). Would explain why he has time for live Guardian interview on a Thursday. His lack of ready cash might be due to not getting paid by Portsmouth or the tax bill he got that nearly bankrupted him.
– John Beck his manager at Cambridge could well be the one who threw the chairman out of the changing room. He was known for some pretty bizarre behaviour like throwing buckets of cold water over the players before games and was sacked after falling out with the chairman despite being their most successful manager.
– the manager he ‘played under for a long time and was seen as a great before losing it’ is maybe Steve Coppell. I don’t know if he ‘lost it’ at Reading but it seemed to happen when he was very briefly manager at Man City before leaving citing stress as the problem.
-he’s a mad Spurs fan. Explains why he thinks Redknapp is the messiah.
– he fell out badly with Tony Pulis at Stoke who made it public that Kitson had off-pitch problems and then tried to get rid of him (he went on loan back to Reading and then to Middlesbrough). Maybe this was the period when he suffered depression as his performance level certainly dropped to the point of being unrecognisable as the player he was at Reading.
– the manager who lost the dressing room could be Coppell. Alternatively Pulis at Stoke (obviously not a friend) or Cotterill at Portsmouth (he went public criticising him after he left to manage Forest)
– I don’t follow Reading, Stoke or Portsmouth so don’t know about the French players. But I wonder if he might be referring to African players who speak French – for example there were a few from Senegal at Stoke
– Andre Bikey played at Reading and had a spell in Russia
I’m sure there’s a whole lot of poetic licence and a bit of misinformation in TSF articles but its got to be Kitson. Maybe some things don’t quite square off with him but finding out he’s a Spurs fan was the decider for me – explains the Redknapp worship. And the article in the Guardian I have included a link for goes on about him wanting to reveal the truth about footballers. If it is him I guess the column might not be around much longer unless Palace, Charlton or whoever sign him up. Or maybe they’ve got a sub.
I forgot to put in that Kitson had a spell out injured when at Stoke. Also rumours of methadone dependency when Pulis talked about his ‘personal problems’.
And he was nearly bankrupted by a tax bill while at Portsmouth
In the article posted by Justin, Kitson says he’s well into his fine wine…TSF refers to an awkward night when he ordered a £1700 bottle of Mouton Rothschild at a birthday party for his pre-football career mates…
Kitson’s a Beatles fan too…TSF’s fave songs are Tomorrow Never Knows and I Am the Walrus…case closed I reckon..
One of his articles mentions he has had the “honour of the captaincy”. I can’t find any reference to Dave Kitson being captainy at any of his clubs, am I missing something or does this rule him out as TSF ?
ignore that, forgot the spell at Pompey
It’s Michael Owen.
I have spent a long, long time researching this, and I am absolutely 100% certain that TSF is Dave Kitson. I found a gem of an article that gives it all away, but I will wait for you all to find it, to make it more interesting.
TSF claims he was a Liverpool fan as a child… when Kitson scored against Spurs he said in a post match interview he didnt enjoy the goal as he was a big spurs fan growing up as were all his family…
i’ve been looking for interviews with all these candidates on youtube and there is only one person who seems erudite enough to write to the standard of TSF: dave kitson. check out this interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KGI-sXeZLA
seems like a nice bloke, too
The interview about Kitson’s new book mentions he has 2 young sons (no daughter mentioned) , whereas TSF has a daughter
Indeed, that’s included in the ‘against’ section of Kitson’s page.
Also, check out newly updated checklist and main clues section.
The secret footballer is Dave Kitson
Interesting to note that on that 2007 Guardian interview Kitson talks about footballers and their washbags. Then you have just a few days ago TSF answering question in the Guardian, and he also seems bothered by these washbags. Just compare the links:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2007/dec/29/newsstory.reading
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/aug/23/secret-footballer-answers-questions-live (7.12pm: Edantal asks about matters of the heart)
Well, reading that article after the book it has to be kitson!
It is 100% copper-bottomed Dave Kitson.
Just finished the book which I really enjoyed. Was worried it was just going to be all the articles he wrote one after the other but he’s gone to the trouble of updating, joining together and talking around the pieces he wrote previously.
After reading I came across this Dave Kitson interview of in Four Four Two from 2008. The similarity between what’s said and what’s in the book is just too much to be coincidence. Check it out for yourself.
http://weekendwonders.co.uk/news/story.aspx?id=43
Hard to see where TSF goes from here because it is clear that it’s Dave Kitson. Hope he doesn’t kill off the persona and continues.
http://www.elitewelfaremanagement.com/dev/archives/311
would seem to strongly indicate that Kitson has suffered from depression
Tom – that snippet (about realising the mistake of moving his family to another part of the country) is very similar to a passage in the book (which I can’t find at the moment). Case closed, it appears.
Obviously you can’t discount him because he has a son rather than a daughter, or because he supported a different team as a child, or whatever. Details like that are bound to be changed to try to hide the identity, plus he may well have added in a few anecdotes that actually happened to other players as if they happened to him. Anyone would do the same if writing a book like this.
HEy guys
Just to add to the above: the tone and language in the very helpful link from the staffordshire paper seems very close to the tsf column. Not to mention he indicates that he grew up on a council estate, as he has in his column.
Sorry – got ahead of myself there but of course I am talking about Dave Kitson.
Also we know he is from a small town, Hitchen being one, and his history as per his wiki entry matches his comments about not doing YT at a pro. Club.
Everything else fits: big money flop, record transfer fee, career path etc.
I think case closed.
Totally agree that’s it’s Kitson.
In the 442 article he references some things that are almost identical in the book:
When first pro realising how bad some players were.
Refs favouring the top 4 sides
Tackling as a skill being something that foreigners mocked
Scholes being amazing on his 1st Old Trafford visit
Takes all his mates on holiday every year.
A lot could be true about others but seems a big coincidence.
Also a clue as to identity is “My pal Phil (Taylor)” the stoke connection, however James Beattie also fits the bill there.
i can’t remember the exact quote from the book about TSF’s ‘daughter’ but i think it may be being said if he had a daughter.. e.g ‘i wouldn’t let that happen to my daughter’ … if he had a daughter
on the other hand, it maybe true that he does have a daughter, just helps to tick more boxes for dave kitson, if he does have 2 sons
see checklist point number 18 – http://www.whoisthesecretfootballer.co.uk/the-checklist/
Has anyone not noticed that the person who claims to be TSF said that he played at the Old Den (Millwall)? Well that closed in 1992, 20 years ago.
Even if this person was 18 at the time that would make him about 38 now so rules out
Pretty much everyone suggested.
Also I might be naive but the stories in the book are so frank and open I don’t think it would take long for people within the game to work out who it is.
The book is a great read but my feeling is that this is either an ex-pro, or more probably
A number of stories put together from various sources to make a book.
Great spot, do you have the link to the page where he says that?
Can’t be kitson (i think). TSF once tweeted he told his manager to sign Ibrahimovic when he was 17. Kitson was playing for Hitchin, and only a youth in 1998 when Zlatan was 17.
However… Malmo did play Blackburn in a friendly that year. And who played for blackburn that year?
Kevin Davies!
Kitson also got relegated with Reading on the last day of the 2007-2008 season and then left for Stoke as their record signing. In the column regarding relegation TSF mentions that during that relegation season a poor headed clearance of his was volleyed straight back in for a goal. See Simon Davies goal, Fulham v Reading November 08 2007. Volley direct from a headed half clearance by Dave Kitson.
All the other links add up other than the supposed daughter but not seen where he mentions that.
Has anybody thought it was just a journalist making all the story’s up and putting them together for publicity
Does it not say he was inspired by the Panini sticker book in 1986. Most of the players suggested, would be around 5 years old. Possibly too young for it to have any meaning?
One of the biggest clues for me is the Ashley Cole rifle incident. He said he played Chelsea soon after the incident and Chelsea fans shouted ‘Shoot’, doesn’t it also say in the book he missed his best friends wedding because they were getting thumped at Arsenal.
During this time, Kitson was playing in the Championship?
In the 8 weeks after the incident, Chelsea played Blackpool, West Ham, Stoke, WBA, Wigan and Birmingham City. 3 of those went down.
Food for thought.
on the last page of the book, just when you think that he isn’t going to reveal who he is, he embeds “…book it is on…” as part of the penuntimate paragraph. Thus showing (more or less) his surname. Also, he doesn’t rate Robbie Savage and the feeling is mutual I think. On last week’s football focus Robbie said twice to camera how he would never have dropped down to League One.
Totally agree with Scruffy after reading the article in Four Four Two. The Paul Scholes reference sealed it for me as just read the section in the book this morning. Too close. It’s Kitson..which leaves me with mixed feelings as a Stoke fan…
It’s not Dave kitson!!!!! In the book it says he’s played abroad, Dave kitson hasn’t!! It’s robbie keane defo.
Owen came through liverpools youth academy. Tsf didn’t come through a youth academy, he worked his way up the leagues.
Kitson hasn’t played abroad. Tsf has. Sorry mate. Its defo robbie keane.
“My name is in the history books; it is on hundreds of thousands of web pages.”
I agree; rearrange ‘ks it is on’ and you get ‘is kitson’. Combined with “****** does not listen and so misses key instructions” earlier in the book and it gives the impression clues are being dropped, people are being sucked into the secret.
It says when Valencia blocked the clearence some fans helped him out the stands so the video is wrong. Also Kitson has never played for Man Utd. Personally i think theres a possibility that it could be Mikael Sylvstre.
Checklist part 2, with comments for Dave Kitson.
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. POSSIBLE
52. Club signed his boyhood hero near deadline day. POSSIBLE
53. Connected at 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-boy 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 Stoke Poges. YES
79. Connected to Dog and Duck pub. YES
80. Had confrontation with Ruud Gullit. YES.
81. Grew up on council estate. YES.
82. Wife had a career of her own. YES
Its cant be dave kitson, he never played abroad. playing a european game isnt playing abroad. he refers to playing in scandanavia, The one that comes to mind for me is lee sharpe, but the dates and having kids dont match. As sharpe lives in dubai now. the player in question has to have been linked to man utd or chelsea as both have had or still have links with antwerp, has to have been friends or a team mate of beckham, a ex usa footballer! who played in the uk, Looks like the finger points to andy johnson, but he never played abroad. I must admit that some of the story has to have been ‘changed’ to make it harder for people to guess who it is.
I wouldn’t put too much reliance on him playing abroad. Looks like a deliberate red herring to me.
That article came out soon after book was published and the consensus that it was Kitson.
Just reading through TSF’s book now and researching who people think it is. I’m a Reading fan and Kitson is a bit of a legend to me so interesting to see thy most people think its him. He was always very articulate in interviews whilst at Reading.
Just checked the ‘book; it is on’ line on the last pageant TSF also mentions that his name is on hundreds of web pages etc… Also mentions that ‘in some places even chipped in stone’…I’m guessing that this could be a reference to Readings ‘Premier Wall’ where the record breaking 106 era got their names engraved on bricks and placed on the stadium
Another clue in one of the early chalters is the tale of a team mate getting called up to the England team and that how nothing like that had happened before, in 06/07 season Nicky Shorey was called up whilst at Reading and that was his first call up and first ever (I think) for Reading as a club.
Not sure how this fits in with timings etc… But just a couple more bits to discuss!
Further to the last, fairly sure Reading have done a few pre season trips to Scandanavia. So possibly a bit of an explanation to the European football side of things.
Kitson was never a big fan of the tours and openly critiscised them as ‘going a long way to play poor teams’. Reading also took part in a pre season tournament in 07/08 in Asia (if that’s of any use!)
Oh another thing I am pretty sure Kitson did co commentary for BBC Berkhire in the past during a time he was out injured and TSF also states he’s done some Radio work in the past but doesn’t really want to be a pundit generally
It’s not Andy Cole because he mentions being taken into the circle of black players when he joined one particular club and how they were racially abused by the little boy of one of the supporters, plus the player is still currently playing and Andy Cole retired a couple of years ago.!
I think its a blackburn connection. He said in a column in 442 that someone had signed for his club that nobody wanted there as they thought hed be trouble. Then he said he turned out to be a top bloke and was a huge miss since moving to scotland. Diouf hadnt long signed for rangers. Just a thought.
http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Stoke-City-Kitson-hits-Pulis/story-12499470-detail/story.html
Kitson for sure for all the reasons stated in this blog and the biggest clue stated in the above article where Kitson talks about food having food poison and then being shipped out. He makes explicit reference to this in his book. Quality got so much respect for the lad.
Andy Johnson came through Birmingham’s youth academy.
No, he was at Luton and was signed by Birmingham. Not sure Luton had an academy as such back then, but whilst there’s lots to support Andy Johnson as the TSF his early career really doesn’t. “I was performing consistently, regularly winning the MOTM award” suggests he was a successful first team regular at his first club. He definitely wasn’t doing that for either Luton or Birmingham.
In one of the videos you ge a blurred vison of someone in a red t shirt and red hair walking off in the distance after putting on some boots for a kick about.
Also he spent 5 weeks training with the stoke kids when he was returned from a loan deal.He mentions in the book about the training with the kids.
Kitson is a strong candidate. Pilvi of Finland in Cam Utd 2000-01 squad – the Scandanavian in the book. Stoke’s record signing and this interview with Elite Welfare Management. I’ve never heard a footballer talk like this.
http://www.elitewelfaremanagement.com/dave-kitson-raising-awareness-elite-welfare-management-exclusive/
It’s definitely Dave Kitson.
Aside from the youtube footage of the Antonio Valencia tackle someone unearthed, there is this old interview of his in which he describes how his “route to the top didn’t follow the so-called ‘conventional’ path”. The language is very very similar to the book.
link: http://weekendwonders.co.uk/news/story.aspx?id=43
Also, in the same interview, in terms very similar to the book, he mentions how he thinks traditional tackling is disappearing from the Premier League and how he treats (used to treat?) his old mates to holiday trips.
Third, in the book he mentions how he takes revenge to his manager slagging him off through a tabloid piece. He talks of a “respected newspaper” as a platform for his rebuttal. Well, sure enough, Tony Pulis is criticised in a Sunday Times piece in very similar terms to those described by the Secret Footballer. (from the Sunday Times piece Kitson says : “How can you attack a player in the media when you’ve spoken to that player earlier in the week and said, ‘in future come and see me one-on-one’?” … that’s almost identical to the book!)
link: http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Stoke-City-Kitson-hits-Pulis/story-12499470-detail/story.html
Add his mention of Pink Floyd in another interview and, for me, the case is settled. Any small discrepancies which do exist are very clever and very effective red herrings.
Got to be Kitson! at 32 he is the perfect age for a Mexico 86 Panini album!
Plus, on a much more specific detail, this guy was at Cambridge United during Kitson’s time there… http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hansen_(footballer_born_September_1974)
Could be another possibility for the Scandinavian bully
What else… Oh yeah, I saw Dave Kitson in Soho once with his wife and kid. Don’t remember the gender (of the kid – the wife was a woman) but I can helpfully add that he is very tall. Therefore it must be him.
Is it true you now pay for your old mates to go on holiday each year? Without wanting a knighthood I’ll always remember where I came from and stay true to my roots. Parks football is where the game as we know it began, and we should never forget that. There are many players who have never experienced the game at that level, having come through their academies, but I wouldn’t change what I went through for the world. It has made me a much more rounded individual. I never necessarily went along with the train of thought that there are more important things than football – don’t get me wrong, we’ve just been relegated and there are people at the club who will lose their jobs, which is heartbreaking as they are our friends, so football is massively important – but I believe football is not, and never will be, a means to an end.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p013n3v3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KGI-sXeZLA
Make your own assessments…I think it’s pretty conclusive
Kitson does not have an international cap.. TSF does
Definitely isn’t Dave Kitson. Never played for Man Utd and in the book he says things like he’s been stopped in the street and parents say their kids want to be him. Nobody wants to be a gangly 6’3 ginger bloke who’s terrible at his job, he’s never been worth a record transfer fee, and he’s never been on anywhere near £100,000 a week.
Kitson record transfer for Stoke
It’s def. Kitson. Fact, as Rafa would say.
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?
Hang on….. Did TSF not play for England at least once? It states that in the book I am sure. Kits on never played for England.
It’s Beattie, Johnson or Nugent for me……
Doesnt say he played for England says he was called up by capello he let it out too early so capello cut him . The only bit I couldn’t get wS the jewish thing spurs dad with dark hair etc kitson doesnt look jewish . But I agree it is kitson why would 442 interview him guessing they knew
It can’t be Danny Murphy or Nicky Shorey as in the second book it says he was out taking ecstacy in the Millunieum New Year and both of them were professional footballers at this time. Dave Kitson is looking a strong candidate seeing as he is recently retired, didn’t start his pro career until 01, but he does say he plays tHe Scholes role and Kitson never won back to back POTY awards!
No, he clearly says in his recent book he was dropped from the squad.
Clearly Kitson 100%, read his latest book then the 442 article, may I add look out for “Flapping Knackers” that he mentions in the book and the article for 442. Over.
Go on James Beatties LinkedIn (very common for coaches to apply for roles through this platform)
It states clearly that he’s a director of TSF.
Paul McVeigh (spurs,norwich and Northern Ireland)
In “TSF Access All Areas” he mentions a time of liking Tim Cahill at Millwall and that Cahill would invite him to lunch or snooker after training. Dave Kitson never played for Millwall according to his Wiki. So a red herring?
Kitson was on trial at millwall when he was playing for Cambridge and Mark McGhee chose not to sign him.
Nicky Barmby never got picked up playing non-league he was at tottenham from a teenager
He only played 80 odd games in the premier swell and a really poor goalscoring record…..
Robbie Keane started at Wolves and is most defiantly not TSF…..
I like this suggestion
Found this website having read TSF: Access all areas. Whoever TSF is, he’s played at the Vetch Field against Swnansea City. Im a Swansea fan, they moved to the Liberty Stadium in 2005/6 season – has Dave Kitson ever played at the old Vetch Field?! He mentions it in his book, how icy it was & the pitch was frozen in certain areas. I don’t recall him ever playing there?
Yes he did. In 2001 and 2003. The latter being in February, so could tie up with frozen pitch?
I played a charity game today with a few ex pros. I got talking to one – fairly successful and thoroughly good bloke. Keeps a blog and is a very intelligent individual etc. I mentioned TSF. He smiled. Asked me if I liked the books. He didn’t say yes or not to whether it’s Dave Kitson but implied it was a collection of players and that people would be surprised if they knew who the main author was. That’s assuming there’s a main author.
He said there’s a clue in one of the later books in a passage regarding two non Prem clubs the author talks about.
It was an odd and interesting exchange but one that felt authentic. And then we went on to playing the game.
I suspect I might have been talking to one of the TSFs today.
Ps I can assure you based on today’s conversation the author is not – as I firmly believed – Dave Kitson. And that most pros “wouldn’t guess who it was”.
After reading the latest book what goes on tour i can firmly belueve its not dave kitson . When i dubai tsf mentions john terry was still chelsea captain and playing for england yet tsf had hung up his boots. Andy johnson? Or as the previous poster put it could be a collection of ex pros