Re: Zephaniah Skinner is not Superman but Rodney Eade says: 'He can leap tall buildin
Nice post to read Anfo. Thanks for sharing.
Re: Zephaniah Skinner is not Superman but Rodney Eade says: 'He can leap tall buildin
Nice post Anfo.
Would make a great movie ( similar to The Blindside.)
Good luck to Zeph, hope he can make the transition.
Re: Zephaniah Skinner is not Superman but Rodney Eade says: 'He can leap tall buildin
Quote:
Originally Posted by
KT31
Nice post Anfo.
Would make a great movie ( similar to The Blindside.)
Good luck to Zeph, hope he can make the transition.
I haven't seen or heard of that one, whats it about?
Re: Zephaniah Skinner is not Superman but Rodney Eade says: 'He can leap tall buildin
They could've given him a pair of Bulldog Shorts
Re: Zephaniah Skinner is not Superman but Rodney Eade says: 'He can leap tall buildin
Quote:
Originally Posted by
anfo27
I haven't seen or heard of that one, whats it about?
Based on the true story of Michael Oher a homeless African American teenager in the States, Dad was murdered and Mum was a crack addict, is adopted by wealthy white couple and eventually becomes one of the top football prospects in the country.
http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer...d-side/trailer
No Rudy, but not to bad.
Re: Zephaniah Skinner is not Superman but Rodney Eade says: 'He can leap tall buildin
Looks a little like Leeroy Loggins in his day.
Re: Zephaniah Skinner is not Superman but Rodney Eade says: 'He can leap tall buildin
Quote:
Originally Posted by
anfo27
I love reading stories of guys like Skinner who have come from nowhere to make the big time.
It reminds me of a rags to riches story i read a couple of weeks ago that i'd like to share. I don't know if someone else has already posted this story on another thread so apologies if it has. I'm a mad soccer fan with a Portuguese background and when I heard that Man Utd had a new 20 year old striker named Bebe from Portugal i thought i'd look him up. What i found was a truly remarkable story that would make a great movie one day.
Bebe grew up in an orphanage and once he turned 18 was living on the streets. Last year he represented Portugal in the World homeless games where he scored something like 60 goals in 4 games. From there he played ametuer football where he started to get noticed and got picked up by a 3rd division team. Once the season was over one of the bigger clubs signed him to a pre-season contract and he scored a few goals during their pre season games. Man Utd heard about him through Portugals national coach who used to be Sir Alex right hand man for many years. The trade deadline was approaching so Utd took a punt and paid 7.4 million pounds for him. When asked about his new recruit Sir Alex said 'i have never seen him play before he got here'. So in less than 2 years Bebe has gone from living on the streets and playing for a homeless side to the biggest club in the world.
What makes this more remarkable to me is that growing up in an orphanage he would not have had the oppourtunity to play junior football and get all the coaching a kid needs to improve his game. So he is at Man Utd with like 18 months of coaching, this kid has a lot of raw talent and hopefully it can be harnessed and we can see this guy blossom into a world class footballer. A great story.
Sorry Anfo, I hate bursting bubbles and was hoping someone else would have done it by now, but the bolded part of the story of Bebe, while being the popular cult version, is not actually true. Bebe never played the World Homeless Games despite popular belief -- the legend probably grew from the fact that he did live in a shelter for a while as a kid (not an uncommon story for a lot of professional footballers) and played in the European Street Football (as in the football is played on the street, not for street kids) competition when he was 12 and scored 4 or 5 goals (not exactly 60).
Also, he came through the junior system in Portugal playing for one of the best amateur clubs in the country which also acts as a feeder club for some of the bigger professional clubs, and has represented Portugal at both under-19 and under-21 level, so it's not quite true that he has only had '18 months of coaching' (I guess any more than any 19 year olds who get into the system at 14 or 15).
It's a nice story, but when you consider a world class player like Rafael Van Der Vaart went to Spurs for around 6 million pounds, Sir Alex isn't going to pay 7 million pounds for a guy with no background in the game (he basically just paid Bebe's release clause to Vitoria). Carlos Quieroz acted as de facto head scout for years when working as Sir Alex's right-hand man, and would have had a huge hand in a lot of previous transfers (especially Nani and Ronaldo), so Ferguson's faith in Quieroz's opinion would be pretty high.
Bebe has been pretty well known to junior football watchers -- Benfica and Porto have been watching him for a while, and Quieroz knows about Bebe from his junior scouting contacts in Portugal when he was coaching Real Madrid, who had some interest as well.
Re: Zephaniah Skinner is not Superman but Rodney Eade says: 'He can leap tall buildin
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Lantern
Sorry Anfo, I hate bursting bubbles and was hoping someone else would have done it by now, but the bolded part of the story of Bebe, while being the popular cult version, is not actually true. Bebe never played the World Homeless Games despite popular belief -- the legend probably grew from the fact that he did live in a shelter for a while as a kid (not an uncommon story for a lot of professional footballers) and played in the European Street Football (as in the football is played on the street, not for street kids) competition when he was 12 and scored 4 or 5 goals (not exactly 60).
Also, he came through the junior system in Portugal playing for one of the best amateur clubs in the country which also acts as a feeder club for some of the bigger professional clubs, and has represented Portugal at both under-19 and under-21 level, so it's not quite true that he has only had '18 months of coaching' (I guess any more than any 19 year olds who get into the system at 14 or 15).
It's a nice story, but when you consider a world class player like Rafael Van Der Vaart went to Spurs for around 6 million pounds, Sir Alex isn't going to pay 7 million pounds for a guy with no background in the game (he basically just paid Bebe's release clause to Vitoria). Carlos Quieroz acted as de facto head scout for years when working as Sir Alex's right-hand man, and would have had a huge hand in a lot of previous transfers (especially Nani and Ronaldo), so Ferguson's faith in Quieroz's opinion would be pretty high.
Bebe has been pretty well known to junior football watchers -- Benfica and Porto have been watching him for a while, and Quieroz knows about Bebe from his junior scouting contacts in Portugal when he was coaching Real Madrid, who had some interest as well.
Never let the truth get in the way of a good story, isn't that right Lantern.
I've been forced to look into this story a little bit more and while some of the things you posted were true some where also not true. I have read about a dozen articles on his kid and all but one says that he did kick 40 goals in 6 games in the street football competition in Bosnia in 2008 and was going to be a last minute inclusion in the homeless games but decided against it as it would have been unfair for another player to be pulled out in the last minute.
I did read that up until 2 months before Utd signed him he was still living in a shelter and he had been at that shelter since he was 12. Bebe only turned 20 a few months ago so the fact he played twice for Portugal in the U19's is not a surprise.
Bebe came through the ametuer system so he did not come through any youth programs and i read a quote from his coach at Estrela Amadora who said "he’s come through street football. These days players tend to come up through clubs’ youth teams but he doesn’t have any of that training. “He’s an old-style player. He learned what he knows in the street and he has a natural creativity which is a bit irreverent and sets him apart.”
Utd might have paid so much for him because i read that Real Madrid, Benfica and 2 other big clubs were preparing to put in offers. Ferguson did say that he had never seen him play and the buy was an impulse one.
Re: Zephaniah Skinner is not Superman but Rodney Eade says: 'He can leap tall buildin
Quote:
Originally Posted by
chef
Nice rats tail:D
Those rats tails are a bit special.
The way Rocket was speaking about him on the news tonight suggests they might stay as well, saying he might have a cult following amongst fans, they were certaintly flapping around by the small footage being shown in a drill at WO today.
Rocket also called him the Z-man.
Re: Zephaniah Skinner is not Superman but Rodney Eade says: 'He can leap tall buildin
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mighty_west
Those rats tails are a bit special.
The way Rocket was speaking about him on the news tonight suggests they might stay as well, saying he might have a cult following amongst fans, they were certaintly flapping around by the small footage being shown in a drill at WO today.
Rocket also called him the Z-man.
Now i want to call him Goku, but it's probably one step too far.
Re: Zephaniah Skinner is not Superman but Rodney Eade says: 'He can leap tall buildin
He looks like Pippi Longstocking. :D
Re: Zephaniah Skinner is not Superman but Rodney Eade says: 'He can leap tall buildin
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mighty_west
Those rats tails are a bit special.
The way Rocket was speaking about him on the news tonight suggests they might stay as well, saying he might have a cult following amongst fans, they were certaintly flapping around by the small footage being shown in a drill at WO today.
Rocket also called him the Z-man.
Rats tails. About time we had some class in this team.:D Between Dylan Addison, Liam Picken, Murphy Griff and co, what a team of scruff nuts. What, too busy training to get a haircut boys? Lead the way Z man. Go the rat.
