Football: Brits Abroad XI

Following Welshman Gareth Bale’s world-record transfer to Real Madrid, TIBS News have come up with a ‘Brits Abroad XI’ in honour of those currently playing their trade out of their comfort zone.

Matt Jones (Goalkeeper – Belenenses, Portugal)
After playing for the Port Vale academy and West Brom reserve team, Jones moved to the USA in 2005 to attend and play college at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. During his time there he won a number of awards including ‘Male Rookie of the Year’, the ‘All Pioneer’ honour and NEC Scholar Athlete of the year in 2009 as well as graduating with a degree in business administration.

He played professionally in America for the Western Mass Pioneers, but then moved on to Portuguese second division club Santa Clara where he immediately made himself first-choice keeper.

The 27-year-old had a trial with Aberdeen in 2011 but nothing came of it, so he then moved to Uniao Madeira before eventually settling at his present club Belenenses. The Lisbon club just enjoyed promotion to the Primeira Liga after winning the Segunda Liga last season, and Jones will now be up against the likes of Porto striker Jackson Martinez.

It’s been a tough start for his club though as they’ve lost their opening three matches, while Jones was sent-off in his last game. Whatever happens this season, it’s been a fantastic journey for the Englishman.

Michael Mancienne (Defender – Hamburg, Germany)
It may seem to most fans that former Chesea defender Michael Mancienne disappeared off the face of the earth following his move to Hamburg in 2011. Barring transfer talk you’ll be lucky to find any scouting reports of the 25-year-old from British press and for a player that has been capped 30 times at under-21 level for England; some may think Roy Hodgson needs to broaden his horizons – after all he is playing in the league that produced both Champions League finalists last year.

Mancienne made just four first team appearances for Chelsea and was loaned out for 5 separate spells – twice at QPR and three times at Wolves. In Germany he’s made 37 appearances for the Bundesliga club, but has recently been frozen out and made to train on his own due to the club’s financial crisis.

Anton Ferdinand (Defender – Antalyaspor, Turkey)
After making seven appearances on loan at Turkish club Bursaspor last season, Anton Ferdinand has now moved to the country permanently by signing for Antalyaspor following his release from QPR.

Ferdinand is now team-mates with former Liverpool and Aston Villa striker Milan Baros, but there wasn’t much to get excited about on his debut as they were held to a goalless draw at Gaziantepspor. Sadly for Anton, who occupies number 55 for his new team, he lost his next match 2-1 against his former club, despite Baros getting on the scoresheet.

Eric Dier (Defender – Sporting Lisbon, Portugal)
The story of 19-year-old Eric Dier is one that seems to have slipped under the radar in this country. Dier moved to Portugal when he was just 10-years-old after his mother was offered a job working in the country during the 2004 European Championships. P.E. teacher at his international prep school, Miguel Silva, was the man to first discover his talent and was then referred to scouts at Sporting Lisbon.

While his parents returned to England in 2010, Dier remained at the Sporting academy and progressed through the age groups. After making seven appearances for the Lisbon side’s B team, Dier made his senior debut in 2012 – assisting the only goal of the match in a 1-0 win over S.C. Braga. The Cheltenham-born teenager has now gone on to make 15 appearances for the Portuguese club, scoring one goal during that time. Dier has played at youth level for England from under-18 to under-21, but we’ll have to wait and see whether or not his current location will affect his chances of a call-up to the senior squad in the future.

Steven Caldwell (Defender – Toronto FC, Canadian team but playing in the American MLS)
Scottish defender Steven Caldwell brings a wealth of Premier League experience with him to Toronto after playing for Newcastle, Sunderland, Burnley and Wigan all in the English top flight. The 32-year-old is now captain of the MLS club after joining them on a free transfer following his release from Championship side Birmingham earlier this summer.

The former Scotland international has helped bring the team’s goals-against average from 1.5 to 1.0 goal a game, and joins fellow Brits Robert Earnshaw, Darel Russell and Richard Eckersley in the squad.

Adam Moffat (Midfielder – Houston Dynamo, USA)
Scottish midfielder Moffat makes our ‘Brits Abroad XI’ due to his ability to score a stunning goal like the one in the video below.

The tough tackling midfielder started his career at Rangers in the youth team before moving to lower league Scottish football with Ross County and Elgin City – training just twice a week, he had to work part-time at Gap in order to earn a living.

In 2007 he moved to USL second division club Cleveland City Stars thanks to Elgin assistant Richard Huxford, who made the deal happen. At that time he was on around $600 a month and had to live with a host family. It was just before he was due to fly home that he got his big break at the age of 21 when he was named in the league’s ‘Best XI’. He caught the eye of MLS club Columbus Crew’s head coach Sigi Schmid who subsequently offered the Scot a trial.

Despite an early injury, Moffat battled his way back into the starting line-up and quickly became a fans favourite with his tenacious style of play. The 27-year-old went on to play for Portland Timbers and his present club Houston Dynamo with some saying he deserves a call-up to the Scotland squad.

Giles Barnes (Midfielder – Houston Dynamo, USA)
Big things were expected from Giles Barnes as a teenager playing for Derby County with Premier League clubs keen to sign him.

Despite deciding to stay at Derby he still made it to the Premier League after they gained promotion via the play-offs – a season in which Barnes was named Young Player of the Year and began to gain a reputation by supposedly saying “whoosh” as he ran past defenders. A broken foot sustained in the Play-Off final victory was only picked up after the match, meaning he would miss the whole of the next campaign’s pre-season. The injuries carried on throughout Derby’s return to the Premier League and so he made 21 appearances and never really found his previous form.

After being released by Derby he went on to play for West Brom and Doncaster before moving to Houston in 2012. It would have been interesting to see if Barnes could have lived up to his expectations had he not been so unlucky with injuries.

Andrew Driver (Midfielder – Houston Dynamo, USA)
Driver completes our trio of Houston midfielders, but it’s hard to leave the 25-year-old out. The Englishman made 143 appearances for Hearts in the SPL as well as gaining a single cap for the England under-21 side. He was once the subject of a £3 million offer from FC Twente, while Chelsea also made an enquiry for his services.

Since 2010 though, Driver’s appearances were limited due to injury and he eventually no longer wished to play under new Hearts boss at the time Paulo Sergio. A loan move to Houston followed in February this year, before permanently signing for the MLS club after his contract ran out. In May he won the man of the match award after scoring the winner against LA Galaxy.

James Keene (Forward – IF Elfsborg, Sweden)
Having been loaned out to seven different clubs, James Keene is a man constantly on the move. He started his career in the Portsmouth youth set-up and went on to make two senior appearances in his first spell at the club. Loan moves to Kidderminster, Bournemouth and Boston followed before his first excursion to a club abroad – Swedish Allsvenskan side GAIS where he finished the season as the club’s top scorer with 10 goals in 22 league games.

That was enough for Swedish champions Elfsborg to offer him a five year contract, which he accepted. His best return for the club in a single season was eight goals in 27 matches and he was loaned out once again to Norwegian outfit Fredrikstad FK and fellow Swedish side Djurgardens IF.

Last season Keene returned to his first club Portsmouth in a one-month loan deal where he scored one goal in nine matches before coming back to his parent side and scoring five goals in 2013. Keene was also part of the Elfsborg team that lost 1-0 on aggregate to Celtic in the Champions League qualifier last month.

Bradley Wright-Phillips (Forward – New York Red Bulls, USA)
Wright-Phillips made his name playing alongside his brother, Shaun, for Manchester City in the Premier League. While his brother went on to join Chelsea and QPR with a return to Man City in between, Bradley took a less glamorous route by playing for Southampton, Plymouth Argyle, Charlton and Brentford.

This summer the 28-year-old joined MLS club New York Red Bulls where he plays alongside former Premier League stars Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill. Although he hasn’t scored in his two appearances for the club, there were glowing reports from his first start against D.C. United which said his efforts should have been rewarded with a goal.

Lee Tuck (Forward – Bangkok FC, Thailand)
Huddersfield man Lee Tuck is clearly a man not afraid to test himself in unusual locations. After struggling to make an impact in non-league football with Farsley Celtic, he went to Thailand after being invited by a friend to play for Nakhon Pathom FC.

He impressed enough to earn a move to Thai second tier team Bangkok FC and his adventurous lifestyle has paid off as he scored 45 goals in 60 appearances for the club, which also led him to win the country’s Golden Boot award as well. Now he is a big name in Thailand and was recently asked to pose for photographs by local fans outside the national stadium where Manchester United were playing a pre-season friendly.

SUBS:

David James (Goalkeeper – IBV, Iceland)
Jordan Stewart (Defender – San Jose Earthquakes, USA)
Richard Eckersley (Defender – Toronto, USA)
Adam Eckersley (Defender – Aarhus, Denmark)
Nigel Reo-Coker (Midfielder – Vancouver Whitecaps, USA)
Lloyd Sam (Midfielder – New York Red Bulls, USA)
Brian Howard (Midfielder – CSKA Sofia, Bulgaria)
Luke Moore (Forward – Elazigspor, Turkey)
Jordan Robertson (Forward – Gaz Metan Medias, Romania)
Emile Heskey (Forward – Newcastle United Jets – Australia)

Management team:

Bobby Williamson (Gor Mahia, Kenya)
After managing Kilmarnock, Hibs, Plymouth and Chester, Williamson took the unusual step of becoming the Uganda national team manager in 2008. Despite narrowly missing out on qualification for the 2013 African Cup of Nations, the Scot was sacked.

In July this year though, he decided to stay in Africa and was named the manager of Kenyan Premier League outfit Gor Mahia.

Brian Deane (Sarpsborg 08, Norway)
Deane experienced playing abroad as a player with Benfica and Perth Glory and he now manages Norwegian top flight club Sarpsborg.

Follow @AndyMaynard91

This photograph was provided by Jan S0L0 via Flickr