Kind of an odd topic, I know. But I just thought it would be interesting to hear about any tremendously talented players that could have made it at the highest level but for whatever reason (loyalty, lack of professionalism) played their entire careers in the lower divisions.
Did Steve Bull ever play top-flight in England? He was apparently a good English centre-forward who was for years at perennial "underachievers" Wolves.
What do you mean by top flight? In the most technical sense. Pele, Garrincha and score of other Brazilian players never played in a national-level league. Of course, the argument could be made that in those years Sao Paolo and Rio were as good as the top leagues.
I don't think that Pele and Garrincha belong here. The Carioca and Paulista were at a similar standard to a First Division. If Brazil had a national leagu at the time, their clubs would be near the top.
There was a Dutch player a few years ago (I think his name was Folkert Velten) who refused to play on sunday because of his religion. It wasn't possible to not play on sunday in the Eredivisie so he stayed in the first division but he was not really great.
That guy Robin Something-or-other who played for Reading in the early 1980s. I read that he was just brilliant, but was such a mess because of booze and drugs, that he stayed one level down. He painted his room black so it wouldn't be so scary when he was on acid. He's dead now.
Robin Friday http://www.reading-mad.co.uk/news/loadfeat.asp?cid=EDZ2&id=266738 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Friday
There's a book about him called "The Greatest Player You Never Saw"......like the title says I have never seen him play but from reading the book he really sounded special.
[What about Bristol City legend John Atyeo? He was even a fantastic performer for England & booked their passage to the '58 WC (& was then left out of the squad along w/Nat Lofthouse by Winterbottom).]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oid855fLKM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MDeWml8ZMg&feature=related[/ame]
Kalusha Bwalya of Zambia. He did play for PSV at the time of Romario, but he never really moved up from there. There are two vids of Bwalya on the net - his hattrick aganst Italy in the 1988 Olympics and his unbelevable miss in the Mexican league. I can assure you the first is more of what he normaly did.
huh? He played for a handful of top flight teams including Cercle Brugge, PSV, America, Al Wahda, etc...... how does he belong here? I guess he was a forgotten great but isn't this thread meant for players who only played in the lower divisions?
my bad then. I guess the closest I can think of is Nii Odartey Lamptey., but he also started big (PSV, Aston Villa) only to spiral out into obscure low-league clubs.
[Top flight, in British "footie-speak" (for lack of a better term) simply means the 1st Div/Prem. Lge. lvl. in any given pro lge.]