Philliskirk

Anthly

Anthly

Central Defender
Does anybody know if Tony(Anth),Philliskirk ,Kevin Jopling ,Grant Brown and Gary Porter ever had trials for SAFC? Like these 4 loads of Sunderland born players have slipped through the the net over the years and went on to have decent careers. Admitadly some lower league stuff,but they still “lived the dream”. Dillon,Hazard,Harford,Smith and Mendonca to add a few more...
 


tooliohelmet said:
biggest travesty is that I didnt get a trial either.
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Would have been a life sentence given by the well hung jury of the SMB.

Anthly said:
Does anybody know if Tony(Anth),Philliskirk ,Kevin Jopling ,Grant Brown and Gary Porter ever had trials for SAFC? Like these 4 loads of Sunderland born players have slipped through the the net over the years and went on to have decent careers. Admitadly some lower league stuff,but they still “lived the dream”. Dillon,Hazard,Harford,Smith and Mendonca to add a few more...
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Loved Mickey Hazard as a player.
 
Micky Hazard went down to Spurs with a teaching mate of mine called Kevin Hilton. Spurs had a great scout at the time apparently and Hazard had never got a realistic offer from SAFC. Keith Burkenshaw described Hazard as having a 'gift from God' and was the most naturally talented footballer he had ever coached, bearing in mind Hoddle, Ardiles etc were at Spurs at the time.
 
Anthly said:
Does anybody know if Tony(Anth),Philliskirk ,Kevin Jopling ,Grant Brown and Gary Porter ever had trials for SAFC? Like these 4 loads of Sunderland born players have slipped through the the net over the years and went on to have decent careers. Admitadly some lower league stuff,but they still “lived the dream”. Dillon,Hazard,Harford,Smith and Mendonca to add a few more...
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Remember watching Tony play for't Blades
 
Knew Phyllis at school, got the impression Ian Porterfield grabbed him for Sheff Utd before Sunderland even got a sniff. Could be wrong though, only really spoke to him when he was complementing me on how fair and gently I'd tackled him.
 
mad maxim said:
Knew Phyllis at school, got the impression Ian Porterfield grabbed him for Sheff Utd before Sunderland even got a sniff. Could be wrong though, only really spoke to him when he was complementing me on how fair and gently I'd tackled him.
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Did he stand out? Was he head and shoulders better than everyone else?Some good footballers in that (my)year in Sunderland ..school of 81. To my knowledge though he’s the only one to make the grade.Remember playing against GaryPorter a year younger and you could tell he had it,a natural with a great foot.

Anthly said:
Did he stand out? Was he head and shoulders better than everyone else?Some good footballers in that (my)year in Sunderland ..school of 81. To my knowledge though he’s the only one to make the grade.Remember playing against GaryPorter a year younger and you could tell he had it,a natural with a great foot.
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Sorry left foot,missing word.
 
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Anthly said:
Did he stand out? Was he head and shoulders better than everyone else?Some good footballers in that (my)year in Sunderland ..school of 81. To my knowledge though he’s the only one to make the grade.Remember playing against GaryPorter a year younger and you could tell he had it,a natural with a great foot.
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He was tall, athletic and assured but wouldn't have said he was stand out great. I was totally shite and could mark him out the game. Though admittedly VAR not having reached Red House Comp at that time may have helped....
 
mad maxim said:
He was tall, athletic and assured but wouldn't have said he was stand out great. I was totally shite and could mark him out the game. Though admittedly VAR not having reached Red House Comp at that time may have helped....
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Made me laugh out loud did that. Bravo fella
 
Sunderland boys and Redhouse Comp both had outstanding teams in the year Kevin Jopling played, Sunderland schoolboys won the English schoolboys trophy and Redhouse won the all England schools u16 trophy. SAFC weren't that active scouting, most active were Barnsley, Newcastle (Tony Nesbitt and Kevin Scott), Ipswich and Leicester which I think is where Jopling went with my best mate. I played with or against a lot of v good players and don't recall any mentioning trials at Sunderland.
 
Stortford said:
Sunderland boys and Redhouse Comp both had outstanding teams in the year Kevin Jopling played, Sunderland schoolboys won the English schoolboys trophy and Redhouse won the all England schools u16 trophy. SAFC weren't that active scouting, most active were Barnsley, Newcastle (Tony Nesbitt and Kevin Scott), Ipswich and Leicester which I think is where Jopling went with my best mate. I played with or against a lot of v good players and don't recall any mentioning trials at Sunderland.
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Thanks for information interesting stuff. When the opposition had a Sunderland boys player everyone was a intimidated. ...or was just the crappy school teams I represented.!
 
rentaghost said:
Micky Hazard went down to Spurs with a teaching mate of mine called Kevin Hilton. Spurs had a great scout at the time apparently and Hazard had never got a realistic offer from SAFC. Keith Burkenshaw described Hazard as having a 'gift from God' and was the most naturally talented footballer he had ever coached, bearing in mind Hoddle, Ardiles etc were at Spurs at the time.
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Hazard was massively underrated imo
 
I remember us being linked with Hazard and Porter quite often in the late 80's and early 90's. I also recall some people constantly posting letters in the Sports Echo advising us to sign Philliskirk, probably mates or relatives.

fatha said:
Hazard was massively underrated imo
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As a fan who never saw him play week in week out maybe I'm not best informed to his consistency, but he seemed to me to be one of those flair players who in the 80's many sides seemed to think were a bit of a luxury as we became obsessed with pace.
 
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Anthly said:
Thanks for information interesting stuff. When the opposition had a Sunderland boys player everyone was a intimidated. ...or was just the crappy school teams I represented.!
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We only played Redhouse in county cups and usually gave them a decent game, played them 5 times over the years won 2, drew 1 lost 2 but by U16 they were a different level to us.

Actually from that Sunderland Schoolboys team Dale White went on to play a few games for SAFC then went to Oz I think, so must have had some scouts but typically enough for SAFC he was nowhere the most talented lad in that team. TBF we did managed to sign Gary Breeds but even a blind man could see that boy had talent, better than Gazza for me.
 
Perryqhill said:
I remember us being linked with Hazard and Porter quite often in the late 80's and early 90's. I also recall some people constantly posting letters in the Sports Echo advising us to sign Philliskirk, probably mates or relatives.



As a fan who never saw him play week in week out maybe I'm not best informed to his consistency, but he seemed to me to be one of those flair players who in the 80's many sides seemed to think were a bit of a luxury as we became obsessed with pace.
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I loved him me like. He used to refuse to wear shin pads believing that giving defenders the chance to cause his serious injury would lead to them making rash challenges :lol:
 
Stortford said:
We only played Redhouse in county cups and usually gave them a decent game, played them 5 times over the years won 2, drew 1 lost 2 but by U16 they were a different level to us.

Actually from that Sunderland Schoolboys team Dale White went on to play a few games for SAFC then went to Oz I think, so must have had some scouts but typically enough for SAFC he was nowhere the most talented lad in that team. TBF we did managed to sign Gary Breeds but even a blind man could see that boy had talent, better than Gazza for me.
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I remember Dale White playing for SAFC against Sheffield United,could have been his debut? Believe he was a Southmoor Comp lad. Does anybody remember a itv programme called ‘Robson’s Choice’?
 

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