A European cup final & his 2nd major international tournament to look for to. He’s alreight. For a dingle..
Brilliant. Woulda been nice to see a clip of him as a Barnsley player in there like. I know it’s a cliche but it’s true. You could see immediately when he broke into the first team, what a class act he was. Looked effortless.
I remember him playing at right back, very early in his days at Oakwell and thinking he looked like a Rolls-Royce of a player. I knew he'd go on to play regularly in the Prem, he looked too good for the 2nd tier even then.
I remember watching a youth game v Sheffield Weds, Stones was right-wing back. Barnsley absolutely mullered them 4 or 5 nil. They couldn’t cope with him. Another player that day caught my eye, Danny Rose, scored a couple, I was convinced I was was watching the next Kevin Phillips.
Thanks for sharing this, loved all the Penistone Church FC, stuff. All I have heard from people who have met John and his parents, say how warm and down to earth they. The media attacks he receives, don't describe the person I know. He's a more complete defender than Maguire,there are some good young centre halves at Chelsea, who will serve England well in the future.
I can remember his debut for Barnsley and after about 1 minute i turned to my mate and said 'who the hell is this lad '. He just had time on the ball that other players could only dream of.
His dad Pete is a lovely fella. Got to know him through a mate. Very down to earth and unaffected by his lad’s success.
That youth team was class. I always said we wasted Rose, Clark & Noble-Lazarus. They wasted key years 18-21 when they should’ve been out on loan if we weren’t going to play them but they were just fringe members of our squad playing in reserves / U23’s football. I know Noble-Lazarus had a tough time with injuries but I think we could’ve developed all 3 a lot better. You look now & we get a kid who’s not ready for the first team & he’s straight out on loan even if it’s league 2 / conference level. I think some of the others had interest from other clubs too. I’m sure it was Brad Kilburn who turned Newcastle down & then ended up released by us a year or two down the line. I bet Clark regretted not going to City at 16 too with how little he played for us.
