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: 31-08-24 Chris Wilson
I worked at the same factory as Jimmy in the early 80s. He knew I was Spurs mad and we talked football a lot. Only once did he ever say he played for Spurs and being the kidder he was I thought he was joking. I now realise he wasn’t. How I wish I could go back there for 1 day to pick his memory for those stories. Lovely lovely man and absolute gent. RIP sirUpdated: 31-08-24 David Skinner
Hi Dave. You may remember me, I was the prefect sat at the end of your table of footballers at lunchtime at Maidstone Tech. I know what happened to you but sometimes wonder what happened to the others, I think one was called George (surname), small lad with fair hair and another lad much taller with a large amount of dark hair. Both good footballers. I am still in touch with a few ex Maidstone Tech lads that left in 1962, we are all 80 this year. I would be interested to hear from you. Regards DaveUpdated: 31-08-24 James Ashford
Cliff Sear used to take evening training sessions for youth players at Chester FC in 1970 to 1973 on the Annexe pitch. He looked after all the young lads with excellent coaching skills. I will always be grateful to Cliff Sear for his time and patience to me.Updated: 31-08-24 Tony Johnson
I am a lifelong Sunderland fan because of Brian who was my cousin. I remember being taken around Sunderland and getting the autographs with him of all the 64 promotion team in the promotion programme, later to find out when I was a teenager Brian had forgotten to sign his photo. It took three more years to have it finally completed in 1975. The Potter family, which is my mothers side, lived in Zion Terrace next door to another of the team from 64 who sadly died this month, George Herd.Updated: 31-08-24 George Heaver
Mates In the 70s lost contact. Would love to hear from him.Updated: 26-08-24 Keith Brown
I played for Notts County in the late 50s. Injury caused my retirement from the game whilst playing for Rotherham United. Was a Schoolboy international in the Mid. 50s. Went to West Ham United under Ted Fenton. Lived with Bobby Moore and his family during my early years at the Club. I am now 82 years old.Updated: 23-08-24 Barry Dufton
Don Hutchins was my all time favourite player at Bradford cityUpdated: 21-08-24 Colin Manning
I went to school with Jimmy played in the same school team. He was a great player and played for England schoolboys along with Bill Hinton, 2 England players in a school team, most of the other boys played for Tottenham boys and London boys. As you would expect, we won the double every year in the school cup. I remember we won a cup game 27 0. Later after leaving school I met Jims sister Pat and took her out a few times.Updated: 20-08-24 Shaun Thomas
Great lad, Dave. I used to go to school with Dave. At break time we would be playing football. I remember once I took my dads dart trophy and my team played David’s team and I lost so I lost my dads dart trophy was I in trouble.Updated: 20-08-24 Stephen Westby
Proud my father played for you.
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.