This is a great article on the attitudes of players and clubs towards being in the Premier League for the first time.
TSF manages to take a nice little swipe at the lazy punditry we see all over, in this case it is Alan Hansen and MOTD that take the glut.
He says he has played in the Premier League for a newly promoted club, so we can add that to the checklist.
Also, not a huge clue but he alludes to the fact he has a nickname when he says, ‘After a while you begin to notice a change: the handshakes come, they might even start calling you by your nickname.’ But then I wonder which footballer doesn’t?!
Anything else you’ve noticed from this article or from any of his tweets? -Leave a comment below :)
UPDATE: DeHoeder (below) has found an article claiming that West Ham have/had a club Chaplain. TSF stated in this weeks article, “..around the club everything is done on and off the field to encourage you to retain top-flight status … staff numbers are swelled by the addition of the best chefs, player liaison officers … and, bizarrely, at one of my clubs, a resident priest“.
18 responses to “TSF on new boys in the big time”
To me the biggest potential clue is the “resident priest”: that doesn’t seem like something TSF could make up to throw us off the scent (unlike a lot of the rest of the clues). Can someone find out which Premier League clubs have had a priest on the staff, and when?
I’ll leave that investigation down to you ;)
A footballer has a nickname? What a revelation.
West Ham has “a club chaplain”… links up with the Di Canio story, perhaps?
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Robert-Green-is-turning-to-a-priest-for-help-and-guidance-before-West-Ham-games-as-he-struggles-to-rebuild-his-confidence-after-a-series-of-clangers-article587509.html
cracking find! …I’ll add to the post above…
West Brom had a priest too. I think Jonathan Greening might be a decent shout, he ticks all the boxes albeit now in the championship
Kieron Dyer?
Marcus Hahnemann would be my guess – don’t a lot of American clubs have chaplains? He seems articulate and has a beef with Alan Hansen, as displayed on a MOTD last year. Also, he says ‘betting coupon’, when surely a British player would say ‘betting slip’. Let me know if this theory has been debunked before, am new to TSF talk…
Hmmm. I’ve been doing some digging, and perhaps we have the clue backwards.
Nowadays, at least, most clubs have club chaplains and many have two (http://www.scorechaplaincy.org.uk/CMSPro/25/index.php). In fact the only current Premier League clubs not listed as having a chaplain by the website I found are Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham, Stoke, Tottenham and Wigan. Might be worth double checking that with the clubs themselves.
Anyway, if we think TSF is at a current Premier League club, then given that he states: “BIZARRELY, at ONE of my clubs, a resident priest”, does this imply that his current club doesn’t have one? And perhaps he has spent most of his career at the six clubs above?
Just putting it out there: Danny Murphy has played at Liverpool (Chaplain), and since then Charlton, Spurs & Fulham (no Chaplains). Crewe have one nowadays, but perhaps they didn’t back when Danny was playing for them?
Oops, Murphy is ruled out, and Charlton do have a Chaplain nowadays. Konchesky & Turner both appear to have played for multiple sides with chaplains (West Ham, Liverpool, Forest; Hull, Sunderland) and Euell’s last three clubs all have them (Charlton, Doncaster, Blackpool).
It’s a tenuous one, but there’s a reference to an “opposite number” which kind of points towards a goalkeeper or main striker, although I accept that it could also be applied to anyone who regularly has a personal battle (e.g. a winger/full-back).
TSF is English
It’s quite an odd comment by TSF given that so many clubs appear to have Chaplains…
If anything that reference would suggest to me he’s a midfielder. He’s not a keeper – see http://www.whoisthesecretfootballer.co.uk/index.php/can-we-rule-out-all-goalkeepers/
Championship wouldn’t matter so long as he was Prem last season, as Greening was. I’ll check out whether he does tick all of the boxes and, if so, add him to the candidates…
‘Fraid it can’t be Greening – he didn’t play at all in the time frame on checklist point 16.
He’s never been involved in a last day relegation battle, nor has he played for a newly promoted Premiership club prior to this season.