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davieG

Ex Players - They used to play for us

By davieG, in Leicester City Forum

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honeybradger

honeybradger

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, tom27111 said:

If you honestly think Maguire is taking too much stick, I really hope you weren't around in the 70's and 80's to see what some people had to endure, just because they had different coloured skin.

So the Maguire abuse is alright because players had to endure racism in the 80s? Sound logic.

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grobyfox1990

grobyfox1990

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, tom27111 said:

If you honestly think Maguire is taking too much stick, I really hope you weren't around in the 70's and 80's to see what some people had to endure, just because they had different coloured skin.

I wasn't, but it shouldn't be a comparison. Like saying I really hope everyone who has depression, anxiety etc was around in the 40s when chimney sweepers were beaten up and men were men whatever it was. Fact is the almost daily worldwide shaming of Maguire is crazy, whether it's justified or not because he earns a ton of cash, and how he deals with it is amazing.

 

As someone who took a bit of stick on an anonymous internet football forum then publicly walked out, surely you understand and commend his behaviour. Not a dig, but I wonder how you'd react in an even vaguely similar situation. And before money is mentioned, there are literally billions of people across the world who would get punched, kicked, spat out and have a steel rod inserted up them on a daily basis for the money I presume you make to sustain a life in England. You wouldn't.

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davieG

davieG

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https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/8-ex-leicester-city-players-we-had-no-idea-are-still-playing/#curtis-davies

 

8 ex-Leicester City players we had no idea are still playing
BY
BEN WIGNALL
PUBLISHED 5 HOURS AGO
These former Foxes players are getting to the final stages of their careers now but they're continuing to play on

Collage Maker-11-Sep-2023-01-48-PM-2880

 

HIGHLIGHTS
 Former Leicester City players Curtis Davies, Joe Mattock, Richard Stearman, Lee Peltier, Shinji Okazaki, Nicky Adams, Michael Morrison, and Max Gradel are still playing professional football.
 These players have had varied careers, moving between clubs and levels, but continue to contribute their expertise and experience.
 Despite advancing years, these ex-Leicester players are still performing at different levels, from League One to the top flight in Belgium and Turkey, showcasing their enduring abilities.
Leicester City's current crop of players will be hoping to get the Foxes back to the Premier League at the first time of asking following last season's disappointing relegation from the top flight of English football.


But what about some of the former City players from times gone by that you may not even realise are still playing despite their advancing years?

Let's take a look at EIGHT ex-Leicester individuals that to this very day are still plying their trade in football.

 

Curtis Davies
2010-10-16T153413Z_1_MT1ACI7517449_RTRMADP_3_SOCCER-ENGLAND-LEI-HLL
Davies was only at Leicester for a few months, but they were on a long list of clubs that he put his body on the line for.

The centre-back joined during the 2010-11 season when they were in the Championship, as he was not getting any minutes at Aston Villa, and he contributed to plenty of good results during his time at the King Power Stadium.

On the back of his performances for City, though, Davies managed to get himself a Premier League move once his loan stint was over, joining Villa's rivals Birmingham.

Davies has since been at Hull City and Derby County, and at the age of 38 he is seemingly finishing his career out at Cheltenham Town of League One, where he is adding his expertise and experience.

 

Joe Mattock
2009-01-19T000000Z_1_MT1ACI5674909_RTRMADP_3_SOCCER-ENGLAND-YEO-LEI
A product of the Foxes' youth academy and an England underage international, Mattock was a promising prospect when he made his first-team debut in 2007 as a 16-year-old.

In the 2007-08 season, just after turning 17 years of age, the left-back featured regularly for City and was even the subject of Premier League interest from West Ham United that year, but in 2009 he joined West Brom despite being in the same league as the club he was departing.

Mattock would never go on to be a top flight player but went on to have a solid career at Championship level for the likes of the Baggies briefly, as well as Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham United.

Nowadays though, at the age of 33, Mattock is in the fourth tier of English football, plying his trade for Harrogate Town.

Mattock is more of a centre-back nowadays as well, rather than a full-back, playing 26 times in all competitions for the Sulphurites in the 2022-23 season.

 

Richard Stearman
2007-09-29T000000Z_1_MT1ACI4549867_RTRMADP_3_SOCCER-ENGLAND-LEI-STK
Another player to graduate from the Leicester academy, Stearman was a teenage debutant at the age of 17 in 2004 and went on to be a regular at the heart of the Foxes defence for three whole seasons.

When they were relegated to League One, though, in 2008, it was Stearman's cue to move on after 130 appearances and he signed for hometown club Wolves, eventually playing Premier League football with the West Midlands outfit.

For much of his career, Stearman was a very solid second tier defender and in 2019 he was a squad player as Sheffield United were promoted back to the top flight, but he has now started to drop down the levels.

Currently, Stearman is playing for Solihull Moors of the National League, which is a place where he will likely see out his career but is also at a level where he can still probably perform on a consistent basis.

 

Lee Peltier
2012-03-06T211653Z_1_MT1ACI9220060_RTRMADP_3_SOCCER-ENGLAND-BSC-LEI
Despite being Leicester's first-choice right-back in 2011-12, Peltier only lasted one season at the King Power despite being relatively solid.

Signed from League One side Huddersfield in the summer of 2011, the right-back played 47 times for the Foxes and managed to keep experienced Ghana international John Paintsil out of the team, but the decision to sign Ritchie De Laet in 2012 ultimately pushed the Liverpool-born defender out.

He still managed to secure himself a decent move to Leeds though that year, and ever since, he has, in the main, managed to keep himself at Championship level, with the odd Premier League season too.

Nowadays, Peltier, at the age of 36, is at Rotherham United, where in the 2022-23 season he played 36 times at a mixture of right-back and centre-back, showing that he doesn't really have any plans to hang his boots up soon.

 

Shinji Okazaki
Shinji Okazaki
Okazaki arrived at Leicester just at the right time in June 2015, joining the squad that would win the Premier League less than 12 months later.

The Japanese livewire would only score five league goals in his debut season, but his constant pressing from the front meant he was a menace but also a fan favourite for his consistent hard work.

Whilst Okazaki would never hit regular goals for the Foxes, by the time he left in 2019 after four years and 137 games played, he was a cult hero, and he continued to play on as well.

He headed to Spain with Huesca and then Cartagena, and in 2022 he signed for Sint-Truiden of Belgium, where he is continuing to make appearances off the bench in the top flight despite now being 37 years of age.

 

Nicky Adams
2009-08-12T212858Z_1_MT1ACI6243635_RTRMADP_3_SOCCER-ENGLAND-MCT-LEI
When relegated to League One in 2008, Leicester paid £100,000 to Bury for winger Adams, having impressed for the Shakers from a young age.

It didn't really work out for Adams at City though, playing 38 times over the course of two seasons with loan stints at Rochdale and Leyton Orient in that time.

Adams did eventually find his feet though, after moving on to Brentford in 2010, although his real standout season came for Crawley Town in 2012-13 when he scored 11 times.

He ended up being pretty consistent at League Two level in the final years of his EFL career, but now aged 36, Adams finds himself in non-league with Radcliffe FC, who he signed for in June 2022.

As well as still playing in the seventh tier of English football, Adams is also the development squad head coach at Oldham Athletic.

 

Michael Morrison
2010-01-30T195021Z_1_MT1ACI6684763_RTRMADP_3_SOCCER-ENGLAND-LEI-NEW
Like Adams, Morrison was a signing in Leicester's League One season in 2008-09, having played National League football before that for Cambridge United.

Morrison made the step up to third tier football pretty comfortably and subsequently the Championship, and after leaving City in 2011 for Sheffield Wednesday, he ended up being a very solid defender for the level for a number of years.

Now 35 years of age, Morrison has been playing back at Cambridge since January 2023, with his career coming full circle after starting out at the Abbey Stadium.

 

Max Gradel
2009-04-24T000000Z_1_MT1ACI5990194_RTRMADP_3_SOCCER-ENGLAND-LEI-SCU
It's somewhat of a surprise that Gradel will turn 36 in November, and he is continuing to play at a good level too.

Born in the Ivory Coast and raised in France, Gradel was plucked from Lewisham College by Leicester in 2005 after going on trial with them - that came after the winger spent months trying to impress Arsenal in similar trials.

Gradel ended up playing 33 times for Leicester, but in 2010, he was sold to Leeds United following an initial loan stint at Elland Road.

Going on to play 104 times for the Ivory Coast and still named in their squads to this very day, Gradel has played regular top flight football in recent years in France, England and, most recently, Turkey.

Just this summer, he signed for Gaziantep in Turkey from Sivasspor, and despite being 35 years old, he was given a two-year contract, such is the ability he still has left.

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KP Fox

KP Fox

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, Wasyls Pec Deck said:

Yea clearly lost weight. Ridiculous that in this day and age he was clearly overweight while he was with us. I’d love to know the root cause as well, other than the obvious one that he was clearly partial to the odd pie.

That holiday camp otherwise known as Seagrave 😂

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Fox92

Fox92

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, South Shire Fox said:

Hes a massive part of their problems, hes shit. Soon as people get on his back he becomes scared of his own shadow like he showed today. That weak mentality he took over from his days here

No he isn't.

 

A 50 second clip, from one game in a whole season, on the Internet doesn't mean anything.

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South Shire Fox

South Shire Fox

Posted
Posted (edited)
20 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

No he isn't.

 

A 50 second clip, from one game in a whole season, on the Internet doesn't mean anything.

Ive watched all their televised games this season, hes been absolutley abysmal. Hes been getting dogs abuse from Chelsea fans for weeks calling for him to be dropped

Edited by South Shire Fox
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davieG

davieG

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https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/leicester-laet-knockaert-gradel-vitor-8157001

 

Ritchie De Laet

A City title-winner and fan favourite, he has continued to win trophies upon his return to his very first club Royal Antwerp. They lifted the Belgian Cup in 2020 and then won the double last season, including their first league title since 1957 after Toby Alderweireld's 94th-minute stunner in the final game of the season.

That means De Laet will be playing in the Champions League this season, and he's not taking a back seat, even at 34. He’s played in all of their games this season, including their two Champions League qualifying legs against AEK Athens. They face Shakhtar Donetsk, Porto, and first up on Tuesday night, Barcelona at the Nou Camp.

 

Max Gradel

Once the club’s next big thing, it never quite worked out for Gradel at City, despite his dazzling footwork exciting supporters upon his arrival into the first team. He still had a very good career in England though, with Leeds, and then with Bournemouth after a switch from France.

Now 35, Gradel is not only still playing, but is still doing very well. Last season at Sivasspor in Turkey, he registered 20 goals and assists in 44 games across all competitions, including five in the Europa Conference League to help his club into the last 16 of the tournament. In the summer, he moved to Super Lig rivals Gaziantep, and got his first assist for his new club against Sivasspor.

 

Jonny Hayes

Irish winger Hayes spent a couple of years at City after arriving from Reading in 2007, but he never established himself in the team and moved to Scotland thereafter. North of the border, he has carved out a very good career, and won a few Premiership titles at Celtic, including couple under Brendan Rodgers.

Now 35, he’s back with Aberdeen. He got two goals and 12 assists last season, and opened his account for this term with a direct free-kick in a 2-2 draw with St Mirren.

 

Gabor Bori

One half of a famed Hungarian double act along with Zsolt Laczko, Gabor Bori, perhaps the least exciting of the two, is still playing part-time football at the age of 39. He only stepped back from the full-time game last season, leaving Hungarian third division side Bicskei and moving just across the border to join Austrian outfit Pilgersdorf.

He reflected on his time in England at the start of the year, telling Hungarian media: “I played only 11 games there, including the reserve team. It was a completely different environment.

“I was amazed, the training centre at Leicester, I can safely say it was world-class. Even at the time when I played there, they had eight grass pitches, an indoor hall with artificial grass, serious medical equipment, and we were only talking about 2008. It could not even be compared with the Hungarian conditions at that time. I was loaned from MTK, and then for some reason the two clubs could not agree on the final sale.”

 

Miguel Vitor

One of many loanees at City under Sven Goran Eriksson, Portuguese defender Vitor had an eventful time at the club, with goals, red cards, and injuries. But while he never made it with parent club Benfica, he has had a successful career.

For the past seven years, he has been with Israeli side Hapoel Be’er Sheva, for whom he has won titles, played in Europe, and now captains. They just missed out on a place in the Europa Conference League group stages this season. Also, he has become a naturalised citizen, and so is now a full Israeli international.


Jay Spearing

A short-term loanee from Liverpool in 2010, midfielder Spearing is now back at the club where he started his career. He is, in what is not-too-uncommon practice by Premier League clubs, an over-age player for the Reds’ Under-21s.

So, in between coaching the Under-18s, he will occasionally turn out for the Under-21s to add a bit more experience to the side. He's made two substitute appearances for them this term.

 

Jeffrey Bruma

Another Eriksson loanee, Bruma returned to his native Netherlands January to join Heerenveen from Kasimpasa, and he made another switch in the summer, so is now with RKC Waalwijk. The centre-back has been at a host of big names since leaving Chelsea permanently, including PSV, Wolfsburg, and Schalke, and he was able to earn more than 20 caps for his country.

Now 31, he’s back in his homeland. This season, his first four appearances with Waalwijk ended in defeat, and he was then an unused substitute when they got their first win of the campaign.

 

Ignasi Miquel

The Spanish defender, who played 12 games at City on loan from Arsenal and scored in a cup upset win over Fulham, has been all over the place back in his home country. After re-establishing his career with smaller clubs Ponferradina and Lugo, he’s since represented Malaga, Getafe, Girona, Leganes, and Huesca, never playing more than 35 games for any single club. He’s now with Granada in La Liga after helping them win promotion last season.

 

Anthony Knockaert

City supporters will have been keeping tabs on fan favourite Knockaert until recently, with the French winger playing for a host of clubs around the country, including Huddersfield, who he represented on loan last season. This summer, his contract was terminated at Fulham, and he has returned to France, joining Ligue 2 side Valenciennes. He made his debut for the club at the weekend in a 2-1 loss to Bordeaux.

 

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