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The "Where should I put this?" Thread;; Strange stories from the crazy world of football.
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Topic Started: 25 Sep 2012, 05:56 PM (238,007 Views)
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Mackin
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13 Oct 2017, 10:38 AM
Post #7361
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- DKB
- 13 Oct 2017, 09:52 AM
Barca are offering Messi £78m in sign on fee if he signs a new £500k a week deal - with the deal running until 2021
all talk from them against PSG's absurd spending should end right there Its not that daft when you think about it. Who could they replace him with, that would cost less than £80m? They are essentially paying a transfer fee for a player they already have.
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DKB
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13 Oct 2017, 10:50 AM
Post #7362
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- Mackin
- 13 Oct 2017, 10:38 AM
- DKB
- 13 Oct 2017, 09:52 AM
Barca are offering Messi £78m in sign on fee if he signs a new £500k a week deal - with the deal running until 2021
all talk from them against PSG's absurd spending should end right there
Its not that daft when you think about it. Who could they replace him with, that would cost less than £80m? They are essentially paying a transfer fee for a player they already have. and while they do so, they are paying him alone more money than the best starting 11 that we can line up all together (that just the weekly pay, not the signing on fee)
IF UEFA/FIFA wants to deal with financial fair play, they need to put wage caps in
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barrybhoy
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13 Oct 2017, 01:50 PM
Post #7363
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Off treasure hunting in Holland
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- IainG
- 13 Oct 2017, 09:59 AM
- DKB
- 13 Oct 2017, 09:52 AM
Barca are offering Messi £78m in sign on fee if he signs a new £500k a week deal - with the deal running until 2021
all talk from them against PSG's absurd spending should end right there
That's a lot of money to play against Espanyol,Girona and assorted plumbers and joiners every week.
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popeyed
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13 Oct 2017, 01:55 PM
Post #7364
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Climbing walls while sittin' in a chair.
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- DKB
- 13 Oct 2017, 10:50 AM
- Mackin
- 13 Oct 2017, 10:38 AM
- DKB
- 13 Oct 2017, 09:52 AM
Barca are offering Messi £78m in sign on fee if he signs a new £500k a week deal - with the deal running until 2021
all talk from them against PSG's absurd spending should end right there
Its not that daft when you think about it. Who could they replace him with, that would cost less than £80m? They are essentially paying a transfer fee for a player they already have.
and while they do so, they are paying him alone more money than the best starting 11 that we can line up all together (that just the weekly pay, not the signing on fee) IF UEFA/FIFA wants to deal with financial fair play, they need to put wage caps in They'd just strike and hire some American boy to set them up a World Superleague.
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Gothamcelt
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14 Oct 2017, 10:09 AM
Post #7365
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Retired and now a BT Sports pundit
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Good luck to the guy. What a life.
Dodging drugs, gangs and having my dad tell me he'd 'snap my leg in two' set me up for crazy career in football says Michael McIndoe Former Scotland winger opens up on his struggles with alcohol, bankruptcy and how he is mulling over a return to the game and desperate to fulfill his dream of playing for Hearts.
Spoiler: click to toggle Gary Ralston Former Scotland winger Michael McIndoe has just written a book that makes Trainspotting read like Enid Blyton. He was drinking and taking drugs by the age of 11, dealing Class A substances at 12, wielding a knife at 13 and quizzed by police about an armed robbery aged 14. At 15, high on LSD, he climbed out the window of his family’s high rise flat in Edinburgh's notorious Calders estate because he believed he could fly. His mum’s boyfriend and his older brother, Martin, grabbed him just in time but it was another example of the precarious nature of life growing up in the savage concrete wastelands of Sighthill. Shortly afterwards his best pal, Stevo, had his stomach sliced opened in a gang fight and only the quick thinking of one of their other pals’ dad, a Falklands veteran, saved his life. He scooped the entrails up and pushed them back into the gaping wound, pressing firmly to stem the blood before an ambulance finally arrived. McIndoe’s dad, a six-foot five inch brute of a man, heard of his son’s involvement and invited him around to his flat on Gorgie Road for a father-son pow wow. He grabbed his boy, stretched his leg out on the pine coffee table in the living room and pressed his booted foot hard against his right knee as McIndoe tried desperately to wriggle free. “You can choose football or you can choose your gang,” he was told matter-of-factly. “Choose your gang and I’ll snap your leg in two.” McIndoe wisely chose to persevere with the talent that would offer him an exit from the chaos, if not an escape route from turmoil. He made his big breakthrough at Luton, was an alcoholic by the age of 20 and signed into The Priory where the positive influence of close pal Paul Merson, a fellow addict, remains a guiding force today. Celtic skipper Scott Brown needs to understand it’s an honour to wear a Scotland jersey not something you pick and choose - Hotline Now, at the age of 37, McIndoe is mulling over a return to the sharpest end of the game after six years, preferably with boyhood heroes Hearts, the team he used to watch for free from his old man’s window, which often secured him a Saturday night appearances on Sportscene long before he’d kick a ball in earnest. Admittedly, a return to football won’t be easy as he acknowledges his reputation has been battered from pillar to post after bankruptcy and amid allegations of multi-million pound fraud involving some of the biggest names in the British game. Polite and engaging, McIndoe has just released his autobiography Wildling and said: “I thought I’d put my life story out there because my journey’s been very different to most players’.” McIndoe added: “It’s a regret I’ve never played in Scotland and I still have an aspiration to play for Hearts, even though I haven’t kicked a ball since leaving Coventry six years ago. “I train every day and you could put my stats on the table against the fittest under-20 and they’d stack up positively. I could still rip it up in the Premiership. “I was outside Tynecastle the other day and the new main stand is looking hugely impressive and my uncles are members of the Federation of Hearts. “There’s hardly an abundance of pace and trickery in the game, is there? The traditional Scottish winger might have pace, but a speedboat still needs a driver. I could knock 25 good balls a game into really dangerous areas. “Watch this space. It would complete the circle. I literally had the best view of Tynecastle from my dad’s flat when we were growing up, before they built the Gorgie Stand. “We’d hang our Hearts flags out the window and sometimes we would make it onto Sportscene. It was also customary for away fans, if their team was losing, to turn round and throw coins at the flat window. “I used to run down after the match into the gardens and collect the money that had been chucked, earning me at least a fiver most weeks. ” McIndoe, a former youth clubmate of Kenny Miller, made his debut for Luton at 18 and made more than 500 league appearances in England, scoring 84 goals. The closest he came to the Premier League was losing the play-off final against Hull at Bristol City and he also turned out for Doncaster, Derby, Wolves and Barnsley, among others. He earned two Scotland B caps and admits it should have been more and he speaks with a missionary’s zeal about fitness and nutrition after deciding early in his career, with the help of Luton Town and The Priory, that drinking alcohol would only damage his life still further. He said: “I was also very luck Paul Merson put me in a metaphorical head lock and in the end I only ever missed 11 games in my career and a handful of them were suspensions. “I was very blessed to hit my crest of a wave in the late nineties, when players were beginning to transition from drinkers to athletes. “Scottish players still arrive with a stigma in England, you know. They’re looked upon as drinkers, not as fit as the other players, and that’s something to say when an average player in the Championship is running 13km during games, three times a week. “I shared the agony of the rest of the country when we didn’t qualify for the World Cup, but how many of that Scotland squad don’t drink? And apart from Ikechi (Anya) who do we have to open teams up? “Over 10 years a player who drinks will lose pace and muscle mass quicker. Players going down with cramp? Chrissakes! If you’re p*ssing it up on a Saturday and a Tuesday you won’t be bringing trophies to the table, unless you’re playing somewhere with no competition. “Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world and it’s no coincidence he doesn’t drink alcohol.” McIndoe is celebrating 18 years of sobriety and not even a trip back to his old haunting grounds at the Calders last week provoked a pang of anything but nostalgia, despite the chaos of his upbringing. He said: “Most people come to junctions in life that lead off in half a dozen different directions. Mine were T junctions - right or left, no in betweens. “I went back to the Calders and was welcomed with open arms. As soon as I got out of that existence when I was younger, I started to grow a conscience. I don’t think it was a case of me being clever so much as a higher power guiding me on the best road to travel.” McIndoe says he has a lot to thank Paul Merson for in helping him stay sober. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/dodging-drugs-gangs-having-dad-11337248
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Connolly's Rhebels
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14 Oct 2017, 10:16 AM
Post #7366
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- Gothamcelt
- 14 Oct 2017, 10:09 AM
Good luck to the guy. What a life. Dodging drugs, gangs and having my dad tell me he'd 'snap my leg in two' set me up for crazy career in football says Michael McIndoe
Former Scotland winger opens up on his struggles with alcohol, bankruptcy and how he is mulling over a return to the game and desperate to fulfill his dream of playing for Hearts. Spoiler: click to toggle Gary Ralston Former Scotland winger Michael McIndoe has just written a book that makes Trainspotting read like Enid Blyton. He was drinking and taking drugs by the age of 11, dealing Class A substances at 12, wielding a knife at 13 and quizzed by police about an armed robbery aged 14. At 15, high on LSD, he climbed out the window of his family’s high rise flat in Edinburgh's notorious Calders estate because he believed he could fly. His mum’s boyfriend and his older brother, Martin, grabbed him just in time but it was another example of the precarious nature of life growing up in the savage concrete wastelands of Sighthill. Shortly afterwards his best pal, Stevo, had his stomach sliced opened in a gang fight and only the quick thinking of one of their other pals’ dad, a Falklands veteran, saved his life. He scooped the entrails up and pushed them back into the gaping wound, pressing firmly to stem the blood before an ambulance finally arrived. McIndoe’s dad, a six-foot five inch brute of a man, heard of his son’s involvement and invited him around to his flat on Gorgie Road for a father-son pow wow. He grabbed his boy, stretched his leg out on the pine coffee table in the living room and pressed his booted foot hard against his right knee as McIndoe tried desperately to wriggle free. “You can choose football or you can choose your gang,” he was told matter-of-factly. “Choose your gang and I’ll snap your leg in two.” McIndoe wisely chose to persevere with the talent that would offer him an exit from the chaos, if not an escape route from turmoil. He made his big breakthrough at Luton, was an alcoholic by the age of 20 and signed into The Priory where the positive influence of close pal Paul Merson, a fellow addict, remains a guiding force today. Celtic skipper Scott Brown needs to understand it’s an honour to wear a Scotland jersey not something you pick and choose - Hotline Now, at the age of 37, McIndoe is mulling over a return to the sharpest end of the game after six years, preferably with boyhood heroes Hearts, the team he used to watch for free from his old man’s window, which often secured him a Saturday night appearances on Sportscene long before he’d kick a ball in earnest. Admittedly, a return to football won’t be easy as he acknowledges his reputation has been battered from pillar to post after bankruptcy and amid allegations of multi-million pound fraud involving some of the biggest names in the British game. Polite and engaging, McIndoe has just released his autobiography Wildling and said: “I thought I’d put my life story out there because my journey’s been very different to most players’.” McIndoe added: “It’s a regret I’ve never played in Scotland and I still have an aspiration to play for Hearts, even though I haven’t kicked a ball since leaving Coventry six years ago. “I train every day and you could put my stats on the table against the fittest under-20 and they’d stack up positively. I could still rip it up in the Premiership. “I was outside Tynecastle the other day and the new main stand is looking hugely impressive and my uncles are members of the Federation of Hearts. “There’s hardly an abundance of pace and trickery in the game, is there? The traditional Scottish winger might have pace, but a speedboat still needs a driver. I could knock 25 good balls a game into really dangerous areas. “Watch this space. It would complete the circle. I literally had the best view of Tynecastle from my dad’s flat when we were growing up, before they built the Gorgie Stand. “We’d hang our Hearts flags out the window and sometimes we would make it onto Sportscene. It was also customary for away fans, if their team was losing, to turn round and throw coins at the flat window. “I used to run down after the match into the gardens and collect the money that had been chucked, earning me at least a fiver most weeks. ” McIndoe, a former youth clubmate of Kenny Miller, made his debut for Luton at 18 and made more than 500 league appearances in England, scoring 84 goals. The closest he came to the Premier League was losing the play-off final against Hull at Bristol City and he also turned out for Doncaster, Derby, Wolves and Barnsley, among others. He earned two Scotland B caps and admits it should have been more and he speaks with a missionary’s zeal about fitness and nutrition after deciding early in his career, with the help of Luton Town and The Priory, that drinking alcohol would only damage his life still further. He said: “I was also very luck Paul Merson put me in a metaphorical head lock and in the end I only ever missed 11 games in my career and a handful of them were suspensions. “I was very blessed to hit my crest of a wave in the late nineties, when players were beginning to transition from drinkers to athletes. “Scottish players still arrive with a stigma in England, you know. They’re looked upon as drinkers, not as fit as the other players, and that’s something to say when an average player in the Championship is running 13km during games, three times a week. “I shared the agony of the rest of the country when we didn’t qualify for the World Cup, but how many of that Scotland squad don’t drink? And apart from Ikechi (Anya) who do we have to open teams up? “Over 10 years a player who drinks will lose pace and muscle mass quicker. Players going down with cramp? Chrissakes! If you’re p*ssing it up on a Saturday and a Tuesday you won’t be bringing trophies to the table, unless you’re playing somewhere with no competition. “Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world and it’s no coincidence he doesn’t drink alcohol.” McIndoe is celebrating 18 years of sobriety and not even a trip back to his old haunting grounds at the Calders last week provoked a pang of anything but nostalgia, despite the chaos of his upbringing. He said: “Most people come to junctions in life that lead off in half a dozen different directions. Mine were T junctions - right or left, no in betweens. “I went back to the Calders and was welcomed with open arms. As soon as I got out of that existence when I was younger, I started to grow a conscience. I don’t think it was a case of me being clever so much as a higher power guiding me on the best road to travel.” McIndoe says he has a lot to thank Paul Merson for in helping him stay sober. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/dodging-drugs-gangs-having-dad-11337248 Never heard of the guy. But, yes, what a life indeed.
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Fly Pelican
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14 Oct 2017, 11:55 AM
Post #7367
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- Gothamcelt
- 14 Oct 2017, 10:09 AM
Good luck to the guy. What a life. Dodging drugs, gangs and having my dad tell me he'd 'snap my leg in two' set me up for crazy career in football says Michael McIndoe
Former Scotland winger opens up on his struggles with alcohol, bankruptcy and how he is mulling over a return to the game and desperate to fulfill his dream of playing for Hearts. Spoiler: click to toggle Gary Ralston Former Scotland winger Michael McIndoe has just written a book that makes Trainspotting read like Enid Blyton. He was drinking and taking drugs by the age of 11, dealing Class A substances at 12, wielding a knife at 13 and quizzed by police about an armed robbery aged 14. At 15, high on LSD, he climbed out the window of his family’s high rise flat in Edinburgh's notorious Calders estate because he believed he could fly. His mum’s boyfriend and his older brother, Martin, grabbed him just in time but it was another example of the precarious nature of life growing up in the savage concrete wastelands of Sighthill. Shortly afterwards his best pal, Stevo, had his stomach sliced opened in a gang fight and only the quick thinking of one of their other pals’ dad, a Falklands veteran, saved his life. He scooped the entrails up and pushed them back into the gaping wound, pressing firmly to stem the blood before an ambulance finally arrived. McIndoe’s dad, a six-foot five inch brute of a man, heard of his son’s involvement and invited him around to his flat on Gorgie Road for a father-son pow wow. He grabbed his boy, stretched his leg out on the pine coffee table in the living room and pressed his booted foot hard against his right knee as McIndoe tried desperately to wriggle free. “You can choose football or you can choose your gang,” he was told matter-of-factly. “Choose your gang and I’ll snap your leg in two.” McIndoe wisely chose to persevere with the talent that would offer him an exit from the chaos, if not an escape route from turmoil. He made his big breakthrough at Luton, was an alcoholic by the age of 20 and signed into The Priory where the positive influence of close pal Paul Merson, a fellow addict, remains a guiding force today. Celtic skipper Scott Brown needs to understand it’s an honour to wear a Scotland jersey not something you pick and choose - Hotline Now, at the age of 37, McIndoe is mulling over a return to the sharpest end of the game after six years, preferably with boyhood heroes Hearts, the team he used to watch for free from his old man’s window, which often secured him a Saturday night appearances on Sportscene long before he’d kick a ball in earnest. Admittedly, a return to football won’t be easy as he acknowledges his reputation has been battered from pillar to post after bankruptcy and amid allegations of multi-million pound fraud involving some of the biggest names in the British game. Polite and engaging, McIndoe has just released his autobiography Wildling and said: “I thought I’d put my life story out there because my journey’s been very different to most players’.” McIndoe added: “It’s a regret I’ve never played in Scotland and I still have an aspiration to play for Hearts, even though I haven’t kicked a ball since leaving Coventry six years ago. “I train every day and you could put my stats on the table against the fittest under-20 and they’d stack up positively. I could still rip it up in the Premiership. “I was outside Tynecastle the other day and the new main stand is looking hugely impressive and my uncles are members of the Federation of Hearts. “There’s hardly an abundance of pace and trickery in the game, is there? The traditional Scottish winger might have pace, but a speedboat still needs a driver. I could knock 25 good balls a game into really dangerous areas. “Watch this space. It would complete the circle. I literally had the best view of Tynecastle from my dad’s flat when we were growing up, before they built the Gorgie Stand. “We’d hang our Hearts flags out the window and sometimes we would make it onto Sportscene. It was also customary for away fans, if their team was losing, to turn round and throw coins at the flat window. “I used to run down after the match into the gardens and collect the money that had been chucked, earning me at least a fiver most weeks. ” McIndoe, a former youth clubmate of Kenny Miller, made his debut for Luton at 18 and made more than 500 league appearances in England, scoring 84 goals. The closest he came to the Premier League was losing the play-off final against Hull at Bristol City and he also turned out for Doncaster, Derby, Wolves and Barnsley, among others. He earned two Scotland B caps and admits it should have been more and he speaks with a missionary’s zeal about fitness and nutrition after deciding early in his career, with the help of Luton Town and The Priory, that drinking alcohol would only damage his life still further. He said: “I was also very luck Paul Merson put me in a metaphorical head lock and in the end I only ever missed 11 games in my career and a handful of them were suspensions. “I was very blessed to hit my crest of a wave in the late nineties, when players were beginning to transition from drinkers to athletes. “Scottish players still arrive with a stigma in England, you know. They’re looked upon as drinkers, not as fit as the other players, and that’s something to say when an average player in the Championship is running 13km during games, three times a week. “I shared the agony of the rest of the country when we didn’t qualify for the World Cup, but how many of that Scotland squad don’t drink? And apart from Ikechi (Anya) who do we have to open teams up? “Over 10 years a player who drinks will lose pace and muscle mass quicker. Players going down with cramp? Chrissakes! If you’re p*ssing it up on a Saturday and a Tuesday you won’t be bringing trophies to the table, unless you’re playing somewhere with no competition. “Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world and it’s no coincidence he doesn’t drink alcohol.” McIndoe is celebrating 18 years of sobriety and not even a trip back to his old haunting grounds at the Calders last week provoked a pang of anything but nostalgia, despite the chaos of his upbringing. He said: “Most people come to junctions in life that lead off in half a dozen different directions. Mine were T junctions - right or left, no in betweens. “I went back to the Calders and was welcomed with open arms. As soon as I got out of that existence when I was younger, I started to grow a conscience. I don’t think it was a case of me being clever so much as a higher power guiding me on the best road to travel.” McIndoe says he has a lot to thank Paul Merson for in helping him stay sober. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/dodging-drugs-gangs-having-dad-11337248 tosser
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Novelty_Bauble
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14 Oct 2017, 12:06 PM
Post #7368
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- Fly Pelican
- 14 Oct 2017, 11:55 AM
- Gothamcelt
- 14 Oct 2017, 10:09 AM
Good luck to the guy. What a life. Dodging drugs, gangs and having my dad tell me he'd 'snap my leg in two' set me up for crazy career in football says Michael McIndoe
Former Scotland winger opens up on his struggles with alcohol, bankruptcy and how he is mulling over a return to the game and desperate to fulfill his dream of playing for Hearts. Spoiler: click to toggle Gary Ralston Former Scotland winger Michael McIndoe has just written a book that makes Trainspotting read like Enid Blyton. He was drinking and taking drugs by the age of 11, dealing Class A substances at 12, wielding a knife at 13 and quizzed by police about an armed robbery aged 14. At 15, high on LSD, he climbed out the window of his family’s high rise flat in Edinburgh's notorious Calders estate because he believed he could fly. His mum’s boyfriend and his older brother, Martin, grabbed him just in time but it was another example of the precarious nature of life growing up in the savage concrete wastelands of Sighthill. Shortly afterwards his best pal, Stevo, had his stomach sliced opened in a gang fight and only the quick thinking of one of their other pals’ dad, a Falklands veteran, saved his life. He scooped the entrails up and pushed them back into the gaping wound, pressing firmly to stem the blood before an ambulance finally arrived. McIndoe’s dad, a six-foot five inch brute of a man, heard of his son’s involvement and invited him around to his flat on Gorgie Road for a father-son pow wow. He grabbed his boy, stretched his leg out on the pine coffee table in the living room and pressed his booted foot hard against his right knee as McIndoe tried desperately to wriggle free. “You can choose football or you can choose your gang,” he was told matter-of-factly. “Choose your gang and I’ll snap your leg in two.” McIndoe wisely chose to persevere with the talent that would offer him an exit from the chaos, if not an escape route from turmoil. He made his big breakthrough at Luton, was an alcoholic by the age of 20 and signed into The Priory where the positive influence of close pal Paul Merson, a fellow addict, remains a guiding force today. Celtic skipper Scott Brown needs to understand it’s an honour to wear a Scotland jersey not something you pick and choose - Hotline Now, at the age of 37, McIndoe is mulling over a return to the sharpest end of the game after six years, preferably with boyhood heroes Hearts, the team he used to watch for free from his old man’s window, which often secured him a Saturday night appearances on Sportscene long before he’d kick a ball in earnest. Admittedly, a return to football won’t be easy as he acknowledges his reputation has been battered from pillar to post after bankruptcy and amid allegations of multi-million pound fraud involving some of the biggest names in the British game. Polite and engaging, McIndoe has just released his autobiography Wildling and said: “I thought I’d put my life story out there because my journey’s been very different to most players’.” McIndoe added: “It’s a regret I’ve never played in Scotland and I still have an aspiration to play for Hearts, even though I haven’t kicked a ball since leaving Coventry six years ago. “I train every day and you could put my stats on the table against the fittest under-20 and they’d stack up positively. I could still rip it up in the Premiership. “I was outside Tynecastle the other day and the new main stand is looking hugely impressive and my uncles are members of the Federation of Hearts. “There’s hardly an abundance of pace and trickery in the game, is there? The traditional Scottish winger might have pace, but a speedboat still needs a driver. I could knock 25 good balls a game into really dangerous areas. “Watch this space. It would complete the circle. I literally had the best view of Tynecastle from my dad’s flat when we were growing up, before they built the Gorgie Stand. “We’d hang our Hearts flags out the window and sometimes we would make it onto Sportscene. It was also customary for away fans, if their team was losing, to turn round and throw coins at the flat window. “I used to run down after the match into the gardens and collect the money that had been chucked, earning me at least a fiver most weeks. ” McIndoe, a former youth clubmate of Kenny Miller, made his debut for Luton at 18 and made more than 500 league appearances in England, scoring 84 goals. The closest he came to the Premier League was losing the play-off final against Hull at Bristol City and he also turned out for Doncaster, Derby, Wolves and Barnsley, among others. He earned two Scotland B caps and admits it should have been more and he speaks with a missionary’s zeal about fitness and nutrition after deciding early in his career, with the help of Luton Town and The Priory, that drinking alcohol would only damage his life still further. He said: “I was also very luck Paul Merson put me in a metaphorical head lock and in the end I only ever missed 11 games in my career and a handful of them were suspensions. “I was very blessed to hit my crest of a wave in the late nineties, when players were beginning to transition from drinkers to athletes. “Scottish players still arrive with a stigma in England, you know. They’re looked upon as drinkers, not as fit as the other players, and that’s something to say when an average player in the Championship is running 13km during games, three times a week. “I shared the agony of the rest of the country when we didn’t qualify for the World Cup, but how many of that Scotland squad don’t drink? And apart from Ikechi (Anya) who do we have to open teams up? “Over 10 years a player who drinks will lose pace and muscle mass quicker. Players going down with cramp? Chrissakes! If you’re p*ssing it up on a Saturday and a Tuesday you won’t be bringing trophies to the table, unless you’re playing somewhere with no competition. “Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world and it’s no coincidence he doesn’t drink alcohol.” McIndoe is celebrating 18 years of sobriety and not even a trip back to his old haunting grounds at the Calders last week provoked a pang of anything but nostalgia, despite the chaos of his upbringing. He said: “Most people come to junctions in life that lead off in half a dozen different directions. Mine were T junctions - right or left, no in betweens. “I went back to the Calders and was welcomed with open arms. As soon as I got out of that existence when I was younger, I started to grow a conscience. I don’t think it was a case of me being clever so much as a higher power guiding me on the best road to travel.” McIndoe says he has a lot to thank Paul Merson for in helping him stay sober. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/dodging-drugs-gangs-having-dad-11337248
tosser Stopped reading at the bit where LSD made him believe he could fly.
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nakasboots
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14 Oct 2017, 12:08 PM
Post #7369
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Off treasure hunting in Holland
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- Fly Pelican
- 14 Oct 2017, 11:55 AM
- Gothamcelt
- 14 Oct 2017, 10:09 AM
Good luck to the guy. What a life. Dodging drugs, gangs and having my dad tell me he'd 'snap my leg in two' set me up for crazy career in football says Michael McIndoe
Former Scotland winger opens up on his struggles with alcohol, bankruptcy and how he is mulling over a return to the game and desperate to fulfill his dream of playing for Hearts. Spoiler: click to toggle Gary Ralston Former Scotland winger Michael McIndoe has just written a book that makes Trainspotting read like Enid Blyton. He was drinking and taking drugs by the age of 11, dealing Class A substances at 12, wielding a knife at 13 and quizzed by police about an armed robbery aged 14. At 15, high on LSD, he climbed out the window of his family’s high rise flat in Edinburgh's notorious Calders estate because he believed he could fly. His mum’s boyfriend and his older brother, Martin, grabbed him just in time but it was another example of the precarious nature of life growing up in the savage concrete wastelands of Sighthill. Shortly afterwards his best pal, Stevo, had his stomach sliced opened in a gang fight and only the quick thinking of one of their other pals’ dad, a Falklands veteran, saved his life. He scooped the entrails up and pushed them back into the gaping wound, pressing firmly to stem the blood before an ambulance finally arrived. McIndoe’s dad, a six-foot five inch brute of a man, heard of his son’s involvement and invited him around to his flat on Gorgie Road for a father-son pow wow. He grabbed his boy, stretched his leg out on the pine coffee table in the living room and pressed his booted foot hard against his right knee as McIndoe tried desperately to wriggle free. “You can choose football or you can choose your gang,” he was told matter-of-factly. “Choose your gang and I’ll snap your leg in two.” McIndoe wisely chose to persevere with the talent that would offer him an exit from the chaos, if not an escape route from turmoil. He made his big breakthrough at Luton, was an alcoholic by the age of 20 and signed into The Priory where the positive influence of close pal Paul Merson, a fellow addict, remains a guiding force today. Celtic skipper Scott Brown needs to understand it’s an honour to wear a Scotland jersey not something you pick and choose - Hotline Now, at the age of 37, McIndoe is mulling over a return to the sharpest end of the game after six years, preferably with boyhood heroes Hearts, the team he used to watch for free from his old man’s window, which often secured him a Saturday night appearances on Sportscene long before he’d kick a ball in earnest. Admittedly, a return to football won’t be easy as he acknowledges his reputation has been battered from pillar to post after bankruptcy and amid allegations of multi-million pound fraud involving some of the biggest names in the British game. Polite and engaging, McIndoe has just released his autobiography Wildling and said: “I thought I’d put my life story out there because my journey’s been very different to most players’.” McIndoe added: “It’s a regret I’ve never played in Scotland and I still have an aspiration to play for Hearts, even though I haven’t kicked a ball since leaving Coventry six years ago. “I train every day and you could put my stats on the table against the fittest under-20 and they’d stack up positively. I could still rip it up in the Premiership. “I was outside Tynecastle the other day and the new main stand is looking hugely impressive and my uncles are members of the Federation of Hearts. “There’s hardly an abundance of pace and trickery in the game, is there? The traditional Scottish winger might have pace, but a speedboat still needs a driver. I could knock 25 good balls a game into really dangerous areas. “Watch this space. It would complete the circle. I literally had the best view of Tynecastle from my dad’s flat when we were growing up, before they built the Gorgie Stand. “We’d hang our Hearts flags out the window and sometimes we would make it onto Sportscene. It was also customary for away fans, if their team was losing, to turn round and throw coins at the flat window. “I used to run down after the match into the gardens and collect the money that had been chucked, earning me at least a fiver most weeks. ” McIndoe, a former youth clubmate of Kenny Miller, made his debut for Luton at 18 and made more than 500 league appearances in England, scoring 84 goals. The closest he came to the Premier League was losing the play-off final against Hull at Bristol City and he also turned out for Doncaster, Derby, Wolves and Barnsley, among others. He earned two Scotland B caps and admits it should have been more and he speaks with a missionary’s zeal about fitness and nutrition after deciding early in his career, with the help of Luton Town and The Priory, that drinking alcohol would only damage his life still further. He said: “I was also very luck Paul Merson put me in a metaphorical head lock and in the end I only ever missed 11 games in my career and a handful of them were suspensions. “I was very blessed to hit my crest of a wave in the late nineties, when players were beginning to transition from drinkers to athletes. “Scottish players still arrive with a stigma in England, you know. They’re looked upon as drinkers, not as fit as the other players, and that’s something to say when an average player in the Championship is running 13km during games, three times a week. “I shared the agony of the rest of the country when we didn’t qualify for the World Cup, but how many of that Scotland squad don’t drink? And apart from Ikechi (Anya) who do we have to open teams up? “Over 10 years a player who drinks will lose pace and muscle mass quicker. Players going down with cramp? Chrissakes! If you’re p*ssing it up on a Saturday and a Tuesday you won’t be bringing trophies to the table, unless you’re playing somewhere with no competition. “Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world and it’s no coincidence he doesn’t drink alcohol.” McIndoe is celebrating 18 years of sobriety and not even a trip back to his old haunting grounds at the Calders last week provoked a pang of anything but nostalgia, despite the chaos of his upbringing. He said: “Most people come to junctions in life that lead off in half a dozen different directions. Mine were T junctions - right or left, no in betweens. “I went back to the Calders and was welcomed with open arms. As soon as I got out of that existence when I was younger, I started to grow a conscience. I don’t think it was a case of me being clever so much as a higher power guiding me on the best road to travel.” McIndoe says he has a lot to thank Paul Merson for in helping him stay sober. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/dodging-drugs-gangs-having-dad-11337248
tosser Had plenty of trips and been with plenty who've tripped more than me.
NEVER heard anyone claiming they thought they could fly, so I'm calling BS on this pish.lol Add to that hasn't kicked a ball in six years and thinks he could do a job fot Hearts at 37?  Guy sounds like a right sputnik.
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Muzz
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14 Oct 2017, 12:15 PM
Post #7370
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- Gothamcelt
- 14 Oct 2017, 10:09 AM
Good luck to the guy. What a life. Dodging drugs, gangs and having my dad tell me he'd 'snap my leg in two' set me up for crazy career in football says Michael McIndoe
Former Scotland winger opens up on his struggles with alcohol, bankruptcy and how he is mulling over a return to the game and desperate to fulfill his dream of playing for Hearts. Spoiler: click to toggle Gary Ralston Former Scotland winger Michael McIndoe has just written a book that makes Trainspotting read like Enid Blyton. He was drinking and taking drugs by the age of 11, dealing Class A substances at 12, wielding a knife at 13 and quizzed by police about an armed robbery aged 14. At 15, high on LSD, he climbed out the window of his family’s high rise flat in Edinburgh's notorious Calders estate because he believed he could fly. His mum’s boyfriend and his older brother, Martin, grabbed him just in time but it was another example of the precarious nature of life growing up in the savage concrete wastelands of Sighthill. Shortly afterwards his best pal, Stevo, had his stomach sliced opened in a gang fight and only the quick thinking of one of their other pals’ dad, a Falklands veteran, saved his life. He scooped the entrails up and pushed them back into the gaping wound, pressing firmly to stem the blood before an ambulance finally arrived. McIndoe’s dad, a six-foot five inch brute of a man, heard of his son’s involvement and invited him around to his flat on Gorgie Road for a father-son pow wow. He grabbed his boy, stretched his leg out on the pine coffee table in the living room and pressed his booted foot hard against his right knee as McIndoe tried desperately to wriggle free. “You can choose football or you can choose your gang,” he was told matter-of-factly. “Choose your gang and I’ll snap your leg in two.” McIndoe wisely chose to persevere with the talent that would offer him an exit from the chaos, if not an escape route from turmoil. He made his big breakthrough at Luton, was an alcoholic by the age of 20 and signed into The Priory where the positive influence of close pal Paul Merson, a fellow addict, remains a guiding force today. Celtic skipper Scott Brown needs to understand it’s an honour to wear a Scotland jersey not something you pick and choose - Hotline Now, at the age of 37, McIndoe is mulling over a return to the sharpest end of the game after six years, preferably with boyhood heroes Hearts, the team he used to watch for free from his old man’s window, which often secured him a Saturday night appearances on Sportscene long before he’d kick a ball in earnest. Admittedly, a return to football won’t be easy as he acknowledges his reputation has been battered from pillar to post after bankruptcy and amid allegations of multi-million pound fraud involving some of the biggest names in the British game. Polite and engaging, McIndoe has just released his autobiography Wildling and said: “I thought I’d put my life story out there because my journey’s been very different to most players’.” McIndoe added: “It’s a regret I’ve never played in Scotland and I still have an aspiration to play for Hearts, even though I haven’t kicked a ball since leaving Coventry six years ago. “I train every day and you could put my stats on the table against the fittest under-20 and they’d stack up positively. I could still rip it up in the Premiership. “I was outside Tynecastle the other day and the new main stand is looking hugely impressive and my uncles are members of the Federation of Hearts. “There’s hardly an abundance of pace and trickery in the game, is there? The traditional Scottish winger might have pace, but a speedboat still needs a driver. I could knock 25 good balls a game into really dangerous areas. “Watch this space. It would complete the circle. I literally had the best view of Tynecastle from my dad’s flat when we were growing up, before they built the Gorgie Stand. “We’d hang our Hearts flags out the window and sometimes we would make it onto Sportscene. It was also customary for away fans, if their team was losing, to turn round and throw coins at the flat window. “I used to run down after the match into the gardens and collect the money that had been chucked, earning me at least a fiver most weeks. ” McIndoe, a former youth clubmate of Kenny Miller, made his debut for Luton at 18 and made more than 500 league appearances in England, scoring 84 goals. The closest he came to the Premier League was losing the play-off final against Hull at Bristol City and he also turned out for Doncaster, Derby, Wolves and Barnsley, among others. He earned two Scotland B caps and admits it should have been more and he speaks with a missionary’s zeal about fitness and nutrition after deciding early in his career, with the help of Luton Town and The Priory, that drinking alcohol would only damage his life still further. He said: “I was also very luck Paul Merson put me in a metaphorical head lock and in the end I only ever missed 11 games in my career and a handful of them were suspensions. “I was very blessed to hit my crest of a wave in the late nineties, when players were beginning to transition from drinkers to athletes. “Scottish players still arrive with a stigma in England, you know. They’re looked upon as drinkers, not as fit as the other players, and that’s something to say when an average player in the Championship is running 13km during games, three times a week. “I shared the agony of the rest of the country when we didn’t qualify for the World Cup, but how many of that Scotland squad don’t drink? And apart from Ikechi (Anya) who do we have to open teams up? “Over 10 years a player who drinks will lose pace and muscle mass quicker. Players going down with cramp? Chrissakes! If you’re p*ssing it up on a Saturday and a Tuesday you won’t be bringing trophies to the table, unless you’re playing somewhere with no competition. “Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world and it’s no coincidence he doesn’t drink alcohol.” McIndoe is celebrating 18 years of sobriety and not even a trip back to his old haunting grounds at the Calders last week provoked a pang of anything but nostalgia, despite the chaos of his upbringing. He said: “Most people come to junctions in life that lead off in half a dozen different directions. Mine were T junctions - right or left, no in betweens. “I went back to the Calders and was welcomed with open arms. As soon as I got out of that existence when I was younger, I started to grow a conscience. I don’t think it was a case of me being clever so much as a higher power guiding me on the best road to travel.” McIndoe says he has a lot to thank Paul Merson for in helping him stay sober. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/dodging-drugs-gangs-having-dad-11337248 What an absolute throbber
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Joe the Baker
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14 Oct 2017, 12:22 PM
Post #7371
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It feels like yesterday... I wish it was tomorrow.
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Good luck to the guy. Turned his life around and given where he came from and the start he had in life, that can't have been easy.
No idea where the the bad feeling against him in this thread has come from. Some people on here really are 'Throbbers'.
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Busa Bhoy
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14 Oct 2017, 12:37 PM
Post #7372
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- Favourite all-time player
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- Novelty_Bauble
- 14 Oct 2017, 12:06 PM
- Fly Pelican
- 14 Oct 2017, 11:55 AM
- Gothamcelt
- 14 Oct 2017, 10:09 AM
Good luck to the guy. What a life. Dodging drugs, gangs and having my dad tell me he'd 'snap my leg in two' set me up for crazy career in football says Michael McIndoe
Former Scotland winger opens up on his struggles with alcohol, bankruptcy and how he is mulling over a return to the game and desperate to fulfill his dream of playing for Hearts. Spoiler: click to toggle Gary Ralston Former Scotland winger Michael McIndoe has just written a book that makes Trainspotting read like Enid Blyton. He was drinking and taking drugs by the age of 11, dealing Class A substances at 12, wielding a knife at 13 and quizzed by police about an armed robbery aged 14. At 15, high on LSD, he climbed out the window of his family’s high rise flat in Edinburgh's notorious Calders estate because he believed he could fly. His mum’s boyfriend and his older brother, Martin, grabbed him just in time but it was another example of the precarious nature of life growing up in the savage concrete wastelands of Sighthill. Shortly afterwards his best pal, Stevo, had his stomach sliced opened in a gang fight and only the quick thinking of one of their other pals’ dad, a Falklands veteran, saved his life. He scooped the entrails up and pushed them back into the gaping wound, pressing firmly to stem the blood before an ambulance finally arrived. McIndoe’s dad, a six-foot five inch brute of a man, heard of his son’s involvement and invited him around to his flat on Gorgie Road for a father-son pow wow. He grabbed his boy, stretched his leg out on the pine coffee table in the living room and pressed his booted foot hard against his right knee as McIndoe tried desperately to wriggle free. “You can choose football or you can choose your gang,” he was told matter-of-factly. “Choose your gang and I’ll snap your leg in two.” McIndoe wisely chose to persevere with the talent that would offer him an exit from the chaos, if not an escape route from turmoil. He made his big breakthrough at Luton, was an alcoholic by the age of 20 and signed into The Priory where the positive influence of close pal Paul Merson, a fellow addict, remains a guiding force today. Celtic skipper Scott Brown needs to understand it’s an honour to wear a Scotland jersey not something you pick and choose - Hotline Now, at the age of 37, McIndoe is mulling over a return to the sharpest end of the game after six years, preferably with boyhood heroes Hearts, the team he used to watch for free from his old man’s window, which often secured him a Saturday night appearances on Sportscene long before he’d kick a ball in earnest. Admittedly, a return to football won’t be easy as he acknowledges his reputation has been battered from pillar to post after bankruptcy and amid allegations of multi-million pound fraud involving some of the biggest names in the British game. Polite and engaging, McIndoe has just released his autobiography Wildling and said: “I thought I’d put my life story out there because my journey’s been very different to most players’.” McIndoe added: “It’s a regret I’ve never played in Scotland and I still have an aspiration to play for Hearts, even though I haven’t kicked a ball since leaving Coventry six years ago. “I train every day and you could put my stats on the table against the fittest under-20 and they’d stack up positively. I could still rip it up in the Premiership. “I was outside Tynecastle the other day and the new main stand is looking hugely impressive and my uncles are members of the Federation of Hearts. “There’s hardly an abundance of pace and trickery in the game, is there? The traditional Scottish winger might have pace, but a speedboat still needs a driver. I could knock 25 good balls a game into really dangerous areas. “Watch this space. It would complete the circle. I literally had the best view of Tynecastle from my dad’s flat when we were growing up, before they built the Gorgie Stand. “We’d hang our Hearts flags out the window and sometimes we would make it onto Sportscene. It was also customary for away fans, if their team was losing, to turn round and throw coins at the flat window. “I used to run down after the match into the gardens and collect the money that had been chucked, earning me at least a fiver most weeks. ” McIndoe, a former youth clubmate of Kenny Miller, made his debut for Luton at 18 and made more than 500 league appearances in England, scoring 84 goals. The closest he came to the Premier League was losing the play-off final against Hull at Bristol City and he also turned out for Doncaster, Derby, Wolves and Barnsley, among others. He earned two Scotland B caps and admits it should have been more and he speaks with a missionary’s zeal about fitness and nutrition after deciding early in his career, with the help of Luton Town and The Priory, that drinking alcohol would only damage his life still further. He said: “I was also very luck Paul Merson put me in a metaphorical head lock and in the end I only ever missed 11 games in my career and a handful of them were suspensions. “I was very blessed to hit my crest of a wave in the late nineties, when players were beginning to transition from drinkers to athletes. “Scottish players still arrive with a stigma in England, you know. They’re looked upon as drinkers, not as fit as the other players, and that’s something to say when an average player in the Championship is running 13km during games, three times a week. “I shared the agony of the rest of the country when we didn’t qualify for the World Cup, but how many of that Scotland squad don’t drink? And apart from Ikechi (Anya) who do we have to open teams up? “Over 10 years a player who drinks will lose pace and muscle mass quicker. Players going down with cramp? Chrissakes! If you’re p*ssing it up on a Saturday and a Tuesday you won’t be bringing trophies to the table, unless you’re playing somewhere with no competition. “Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world and it’s no coincidence he doesn’t drink alcohol.” McIndoe is celebrating 18 years of sobriety and not even a trip back to his old haunting grounds at the Calders last week provoked a pang of anything but nostalgia, despite the chaos of his upbringing. He said: “Most people come to junctions in life that lead off in half a dozen different directions. Mine were T junctions - right or left, no in betweens. “I went back to the Calders and was welcomed with open arms. As soon as I got out of that existence when I was younger, I started to grow a conscience. I don’t think it was a case of me being clever so much as a higher power guiding me on the best road to travel.” McIndoe says he has a lot to thank Paul Merson for in helping him stay sober. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/dodging-drugs-gangs-having-dad-11337248
tosser
Stopped reading at the bit where LSD made him believe he could fly. pile of pish. scott brown 'needs to understand'
scott brown needs to understand eff aw.
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Novelty_Bauble
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14 Oct 2017, 12:47 PM
Post #7373
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I went back and tried to read it again, then I got to this bit.
"McIndoe’s dad, a six-foot five inch brute of a man"
Who writes this effing garbage?
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Soupnazi
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14 Oct 2017, 01:54 PM
Post #7374
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- Favourite all-time player
- Lubo Moravcik
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- nakasboots
- 14 Oct 2017, 12:08 PM
- Fly Pelican
- 14 Oct 2017, 11:55 AM
- Gothamcelt
- 14 Oct 2017, 10:09 AM
Good luck to the guy. What a life. Dodging drugs, gangs and having my dad tell me he'd 'snap my leg in two' set me up for crazy career in football says Michael McIndoe
Former Scotland winger opens up on his struggles with alcohol, bankruptcy and how he is mulling over a return to the game and desperate to fulfill his dream of playing for Hearts. Spoiler: click to toggle Gary Ralston Former Scotland winger Michael McIndoe has just written a book that makes Trainspotting read like Enid Blyton. He was drinking and taking drugs by the age of 11, dealing Class A substances at 12, wielding a knife at 13 and quizzed by police about an armed robbery aged 14. At 15, high on LSD, he climbed out the window of his family’s high rise flat in Edinburgh's notorious Calders estate because he believed he could fly. His mum’s boyfriend and his older brother, Martin, grabbed him just in time but it was another example of the precarious nature of life growing up in the savage concrete wastelands of Sighthill. Shortly afterwards his best pal, Stevo, had his stomach sliced opened in a gang fight and only the quick thinking of one of their other pals’ dad, a Falklands veteran, saved his life. He scooped the entrails up and pushed them back into the gaping wound, pressing firmly to stem the blood before an ambulance finally arrived. McIndoe’s dad, a six-foot five inch brute of a man, heard of his son’s involvement and invited him around to his flat on Gorgie Road for a father-son pow wow. He grabbed his boy, stretched his leg out on the pine coffee table in the living room and pressed his booted foot hard against his right knee as McIndoe tried desperately to wriggle free. “You can choose football or you can choose your gang,” he was told matter-of-factly. “Choose your gang and I’ll snap your leg in two.” McIndoe wisely chose to persevere with the talent that would offer him an exit from the chaos, if not an escape route from turmoil. He made his big breakthrough at Luton, was an alcoholic by the age of 20 and signed into The Priory where the positive influence of close pal Paul Merson, a fellow addict, remains a guiding force today. Celtic skipper Scott Brown needs to understand it’s an honour to wear a Scotland jersey not something you pick and choose - Hotline Now, at the age of 37, McIndoe is mulling over a return to the sharpest end of the game after six years, preferably with boyhood heroes Hearts, the team he used to watch for free from his old man’s window, which often secured him a Saturday night appearances on Sportscene long before he’d kick a ball in earnest. Admittedly, a return to football won’t be easy as he acknowledges his reputation has been battered from pillar to post after bankruptcy and amid allegations of multi-million pound fraud involving some of the biggest names in the British game. Polite and engaging, McIndoe has just released his autobiography Wildling and said: “I thought I’d put my life story out there because my journey’s been very different to most players’.” McIndoe added: “It’s a regret I’ve never played in Scotland and I still have an aspiration to play for Hearts, even though I haven’t kicked a ball since leaving Coventry six years ago. “I train every day and you could put my stats on the table against the fittest under-20 and they’d stack up positively. I could still rip it up in the Premiership. “I was outside Tynecastle the other day and the new main stand is looking hugely impressive and my uncles are members of the Federation of Hearts. “There’s hardly an abundance of pace and trickery in the game, is there? The traditional Scottish winger might have pace, but a speedboat still needs a driver. I could knock 25 good balls a game into really dangerous areas. “Watch this space. It would complete the circle. I literally had the best view of Tynecastle from my dad’s flat when we were growing up, before they built the Gorgie Stand. “We’d hang our Hearts flags out the window and sometimes we would make it onto Sportscene. It was also customary for away fans, if their team was losing, to turn round and throw coins at the flat window. “I used to run down after the match into the gardens and collect the money that had been chucked, earning me at least a fiver most weeks. ” McIndoe, a former youth clubmate of Kenny Miller, made his debut for Luton at 18 and made more than 500 league appearances in England, scoring 84 goals. The closest he came to the Premier League was losing the play-off final against Hull at Bristol City and he also turned out for Doncaster, Derby, Wolves and Barnsley, among others. He earned two Scotland B caps and admits it should have been more and he speaks with a missionary’s zeal about fitness and nutrition after deciding early in his career, with the help of Luton Town and The Priory, that drinking alcohol would only damage his life still further. He said: “I was also very luck Paul Merson put me in a metaphorical head lock and in the end I only ever missed 11 games in my career and a handful of them were suspensions. “I was very blessed to hit my crest of a wave in the late nineties, when players were beginning to transition from drinkers to athletes. “Scottish players still arrive with a stigma in England, you know. They’re looked upon as drinkers, not as fit as the other players, and that’s something to say when an average player in the Championship is running 13km during games, three times a week. “I shared the agony of the rest of the country when we didn’t qualify for the World Cup, but how many of that Scotland squad don’t drink? And apart from Ikechi (Anya) who do we have to open teams up? “Over 10 years a player who drinks will lose pace and muscle mass quicker. Players going down with cramp? Chrissakes! If you’re p*ssing it up on a Saturday and a Tuesday you won’t be bringing trophies to the table, unless you’re playing somewhere with no competition. “Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world and it’s no coincidence he doesn’t drink alcohol.” McIndoe is celebrating 18 years of sobriety and not even a trip back to his old haunting grounds at the Calders last week provoked a pang of anything but nostalgia, despite the chaos of his upbringing. He said: “Most people come to junctions in life that lead off in half a dozen different directions. Mine were T junctions - right or left, no in betweens. “I went back to the Calders and was welcomed with open arms. As soon as I got out of that existence when I was younger, I started to grow a conscience. I don’t think it was a case of me being clever so much as a higher power guiding me on the best road to travel.” McIndoe says he has a lot to thank Paul Merson for in helping him stay sober. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/dodging-drugs-gangs-having-dad-11337248
tosser
Had plenty of trips and been with plenty who've tripped more than me. NEVER heard anyone claiming they thought they could fly, so I'm calling BS on this pish.lol Add to that hasn't kicked a ball in six years and thinks he could do a job fot Hearts at 37?  Guy sounds like a right sputnik.  If I thought I could fly Id try and take off from the ground first.
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nakasboots
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14 Oct 2017, 02:18 PM
Post #7375
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Off treasure hunting in Holland
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- Soupnazi
- 14 Oct 2017, 01:54 PM
- nakasboots
- 14 Oct 2017, 12:08 PM
- Fly Pelican
- 14 Oct 2017, 11:55 AM
Quoting limited to 3 levels deep Dodging drugs, gangs and having my dad tell me he'd 'snap my leg in two' set me up for crazy career in football says Michael McIndoe
Former Scotland winger opens up on his struggles with alcohol, bankruptcy and how he is mulling over a return to the game and desperate to fulfill his dream of playing for Hearts. Spoiler: click to toggle Gary Ralston Former Scotland winger Michael McIndoe has just written a book that makes Trainspotting read like Enid Blyton. He was drinking and taking drugs by the age of 11, dealing Class A substances at 12, wielding a knife at 13 and quizzed by police about an armed robbery aged 14. At 15, high on LSD, he climbed out the window of his family’s high rise flat in Edinburgh's notorious Calders estate because he believed he could fly. His mum’s boyfriend and his older brother, Martin, grabbed him just in time but it was another example of the precarious nature of life growing up in the savage concrete wastelands of Sighthill. Shortly afterwards his best pal, Stevo, had his stomach sliced opened in a gang fight and only the quick thinking of one of their other pals’ dad, a Falklands veteran, saved his life. He scooped the entrails up and pushed them back into the gaping wound, pressing firmly to stem the blood before an ambulance finally arrived. McIndoe’s dad, a six-foot five inch brute of a man, heard of his son’s involvement and invited him around to his flat on Gorgie Road for a father-son pow wow. He grabbed his boy, stretched his leg out on the pine coffee table in the living room and pressed his booted foot hard against his right knee as McIndoe tried desperately to wriggle free. “You can choose football or you can choose your gang,” he was told matter-of-factly. “Choose your gang and I’ll snap your leg in two.” McIndoe wisely chose to persevere with the talent that would offer him an exit from the chaos, if not an escape route from turmoil. He made his big breakthrough at Luton, was an alcoholic by the age of 20 and signed into The Priory where the positive influence of close pal Paul Merson, a fellow addict, remains a guiding force today. Celtic skipper Scott Brown needs to understand it’s an honour to wear a Scotland jersey not something you pick and choose - Hotline Now, at the age of 37, McIndoe is mulling over a return to the sharpest end of the game after six years, preferably with boyhood heroes Hearts, the team he used to watch for free from his old man’s window, which often secured him a Saturday night appearances on Sportscene long before he’d kick a ball in earnest. Admittedly, a return to football won’t be easy as he acknowledges his reputation has been battered from pillar to post after bankruptcy and amid allegations of multi-million pound fraud involving some of the biggest names in the British game. Polite and engaging, McIndoe has just released his autobiography Wildling and said: “I thought I’d put my life story out there because my journey’s been very different to most players’.” McIndoe added: “It’s a regret I’ve never played in Scotland and I still have an aspiration to play for Hearts, even though I haven’t kicked a ball since leaving Coventry six years ago. “I train every day and you could put my stats on the table against the fittest under-20 and they’d stack up positively. I could still rip it up in the Premiership. “I was outside Tynecastle the other day and the new main stand is looking hugely impressive and my uncles are members of the Federation of Hearts. “There’s hardly an abundance of pace and trickery in the game, is there? The traditional Scottish winger might have pace, but a speedboat still needs a driver. I could knock 25 good balls a game into really dangerous areas. “Watch this space. It would complete the circle. I literally had the best view of Tynecastle from my dad’s flat when we were growing up, before they built the Gorgie Stand. “We’d hang our Hearts flags out the window and sometimes we would make it onto Sportscene. It was also customary for away fans, if their team was losing, to turn round and throw coins at the flat window. “I used to run down after the match into the gardens and collect the money that had been chucked, earning me at least a fiver most weeks. ” McIndoe, a former youth clubmate of Kenny Miller, made his debut for Luton at 18 and made more than 500 league appearances in England, scoring 84 goals. The closest he came to the Premier League was losing the play-off final against Hull at Bristol City and he also turned out for Doncaster, Derby, Wolves and Barnsley, among others. He earned two Scotland B caps and admits it should have been more and he speaks with a missionary’s zeal about fitness and nutrition after deciding early in his career, with the help of Luton Town and The Priory, that drinking alcohol would only damage his life still further. He said: “I was also very luck Paul Merson put me in a metaphorical head lock and in the end I only ever missed 11 games in my career and a handful of them were suspensions. “I was very blessed to hit my crest of a wave in the late nineties, when players were beginning to transition from drinkers to athletes. “Scottish players still arrive with a stigma in England, you know. They’re looked upon as drinkers, not as fit as the other players, and that’s something to say when an average player in the Championship is running 13km during games, three times a week. “I shared the agony of the rest of the country when we didn’t qualify for the World Cup, but how many of that Scotland squad don’t drink? And apart from Ikechi (Anya) who do we have to open teams up? “Over 10 years a player who drinks will lose pace and muscle mass quicker. Players going down with cramp? Chrissakes! If you’re p*ssing it up on a Saturday and a Tuesday you won’t be bringing trophies to the table, unless you’re playing somewhere with no competition. “Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world and it’s no coincidence he doesn’t drink alcohol.” McIndoe is celebrating 18 years of sobriety and not even a trip back to his old haunting grounds at the Calders last week provoked a pang of anything but nostalgia, despite the chaos of his upbringing. He said: “Most people come to junctions in life that lead off in half a dozen different directions. Mine were T junctions - right or left, no in betweens. “I went back to the Calders and was welcomed with open arms. As soon as I got out of that existence when I was younger, I started to grow a conscience. I don’t think it was a case of me being clever so much as a higher power guiding me on the best road to travel.” McIndoe says he has a lot to thank Paul Merson for in helping him stay sober. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/dodging-drugs-gangs-having-dad-11337248
Had plenty of trips and been with plenty who've tripped more than me. NEVER heard anyone claiming they thought they could fly, so I'm calling BS on this pish.lol Add to that hasn't kicked a ball in six years and thinks he could do a job fot Hearts at 37?  Guy sounds like a right sputnik. 
If I thought I could fly Id try and take off from the ground first.
I know, baby steps and all but no!! Decides that flying from his concrete tower, like some twattish Icarus would suit his hard man idiom. I'd never even heard of him until reading this.
A cross between a tin soldier piece and the Leigh Griffiths blog.
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The Gorbals Urchin
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14 Oct 2017, 05:28 PM
Post #7376
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Retired and now a BT Sports pundit
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Looked out on his feet today surprised Mousa didn't start to give him a break.
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jimmy123411
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14 Oct 2017, 06:09 PM
Post #7377
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First name on the team-sheet
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https://mobile.twitter.com/yurixlax/status/919111901170221056
Bring him home
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The Gorbals Urchin
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14 Oct 2017, 06:12 PM
Post #7378
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Retired and now a BT Sports pundit
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- jimmy123411
- 14 Oct 2017, 06:09 PM
Ffs I could have ran up from the other goal and saved that
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Joe the Baker
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15 Oct 2017, 10:31 AM
Post #7379
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It feels like yesterday... I wish it was tomorrow.
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Tanner confirming in the papers this morning that he was mutually consented out the door.
Such a wee shame.
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tonyjaa-csc
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15 Oct 2017, 11:29 AM
Post #7380
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Shame to see someone lose there job however he was not fit for the role, too biased towards Sevco
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