Where Are They Now is designed for you if you are a football fan who is as curious as us to find out what happened to your favourite footballers after they retired from playing.
Have you ever wondered what happened to all of those players that you have seen come and go over the years? The heroes and the villains? The saints and the sinners? The stars that you talked about for years after they had retired and those you instantly forgot?
If so, Where Are They Now? is definitely for you!
Not all players end up running pubs or become TV pundits! It's no secret what Gary Lineker is up to these days but what about the many thousands of players who have slipped from public view? The first edition of "Where Are They Now?" uncovered some fascinating post football stories including the former Arsenal striker who became Iceland's Finance Minister; Millionaires; Bankrupts; Vicars; Comedians; Singers; a Phil Collins lookalike... and one or two publicans!
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Where Are They Now Books
This whole project began with a book entitled 'Where Are They Now? - Life After Soccer'.
This proved to be incredibly popular and led to the formation of this site as well as a number of club specific titles. So far, the series comprises of Manchester United, Chelsea, Portsmouth, Huddersfield Town, Aston Villa and Liverpool. Forthcoming titles include Arsenal, Southampton and West Bromwich Albion - watch this space!
Updated: 03-12-23 Kevin Dodge
Bill Dodge was my cousin. He was my dad’s (Leslie) nephew. Sadly I heard he passed away , but would love photos of Bill, as I am a lifetime supporter of Spurs.Updated: 03-12-23 Mark Peachey
Although I saw Graham play a fair bit for City, especially the 70/71 promotion season, I was a more regular attender at Grace Rd in the 70s. You would call him a useful cricketer but I do remember him bowling the great Clive Lloyd for 0 in front of a packed crowd in a 1 dayer. Dad had had to leave early and heard the great cheer as he walked along the canal!Updated: 02-12-23 Dave Easton
Hi Mike, How are you ? I am OK and still living in Torquay. I regularly see Willie Brown. Would be great to hear from you.Updated: 30-11-23 Mel Jones (Melvyn)
I was in his class at Midfield Secondary Modern School until 1960 when I left to join the merchant navy . I believe he stayed on a bit longer to take his GCE examsUpdated: 30-11-23 Jon
Ron can be found supping away in Streetly Cricket Club every Sunday.Updated: 30-11-23 Geoffrey Tart
I went to school with Ray and played in the same team ! Even then you knew he would make it professionally his skill dedication and football knowledge was far above anybody else. He was faster and stronger at all sports !Updated: 30-11-23 Pete Leeds
My mum took me the Franks Shop to buy the official Chelsea kit in my size at the age 14 years. ( 1966). I lived in Cobham Surrey, coincidentally where Chelsea now have their training ground.Updated: 30-11-23 Basil Abbott
My brother thought I looked like Trevor as a boy and nicknamed me Whymark. In the heats for the area sports Trevor was yards ahead in the hurdles, when he fell over. But the games master, knowing that he would have won easily, gave him first place. Trevor worked with my Dad at Jewsons of Diss before signing for Ipswich. There was pandemonium in our house when he scored on Match of the Day. Asked by a TV reporter to account for the intuition between him and Paul Mariner, Trevor said, “Well, loike you say, thass intuition.” The last match I went to was his testimonial in 1979. I interviewed him at the end of his career and found that he talked intelligently about the game. Having played with top people, he decried the Vinnie Jones school of football. In his 30s he looked younger than the players of the Matthews era did in their prime. When I mentioned this, he said he and colleagues had just been talking about that. They decided that it was the greased back hair that did it. I pointed out that, at that time, before teenagers came into being, a 24 year old would have been at work for 10 years, so was mentally older. As I run the museum in Diss I contacted Trevor’s son Craig and said that we were creating an exhibition about Diss Town FC, where Trevor began. So Trevor, his wife Rita and Craig brought some memorabilia over, including the ball with which Trevor hit the Lazio net four times in 1973. Having them come to the museum was a happy experience. Such nice people.Updated: 30-11-23 Kevin Mcmanmon
Absolute gentleman
When we researched the first printed edition of 'Where Are They Now?' in the 1990's, footballers were already incredibly well paid by conventional employment standards but prior to that, players had to find a new career once they had hung up their boots.
This meant that we unearthed plenty of interesting and un-expected stories, many of which are found on the site. Sadly, there were some we could not re-produce for legal reasons - sorry!
Playing professional football, particularly at the highest level should ensure that modern players should not have to worry about money for the rest of their lives. Thankfully, this has not limited the number of fascinating tales for us to tell. For example, were you aware that former Sheffield United midfielder Curtis Woodhouse became British light welterweight champion when he took up professional boxing, having apparently 'fallen out of love' with football? If the rumours are true, he was not just a winner in the ring! At one point, he was considered to be 50 to 1 outsider to win the title and a successful £5,000 scooped him a cool £250,000 when he defeated defending champion Darren Hamilton.
As well as our regular club based pages, we also occasionally add more detailed player pages and would welcome your feedback. See: Ex-footballers who retired and got normal jobs, Did Tresor Kandol Score the Most Important Goal in Leeds United’s History?, Arsenal Greats, Ruud Gullit, Roy Bentley, Trevor Francis, Gavin Peacock, Carlos Valderrama, Graham Potter, Matt Holland, Liverpool's 2005-06 FA Cup Winning Team, and a look back at some of the best strikers to grace English football.
When do you think that the Premier League should re-start?
Where are they now? – Boro players who played League Cup’s season opening game 8 years ago.
Where are they now? – some other celebrities.
If you know of any other stories that may interest fellow fans, please do let us know.