Michael Johnson

[KS55]

For me, he could've been KDB. Unbelievable player. But also shows that you can be good at something and still not love it enough to want to dedicate your life to it.

A friend of mine was a talented athlete. As a junior, his rival never beat him. That rival was Mike Tagg who won a silver at the Euro championships. My mate never made it there: he had discovered girls and booze and food. He always said you had to really love it to adopt the lifestyle of an athlete.

 

[KS55]

Just spent the night in the company of Micheal and his father and honestly I have learnt more about football in one night than I have in 5 years. His dad was literally coaching pep style football twenty years football before pep was. Absolutely facscinating. Have a google of Coervar football. I had never heard it it until tonight. His old man had a local team from urmston going and beating Juventus and Real Madrid teams away from home 20 years ago with Micheal in the team. Incredible to listen to.

Will Coerver was a Dutch player and coach in the 70s. No surprise that an innovator came from that part of the world at that time. Lucky you @worsleyweb to hear about it first hand.

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

I think some of the greatest mental strength is required to admit you're upset. The fact this lad has gone on to rebuild his life and not be a lonely barfly sat alone talking in a pub about how he once had it all, is to be respected.

 

[Bobby the blue]

Glad to hear he is doing well and living a good life. Mental health issues can strike anyone at any time without warning. Sounds like he has some a great job in overcoming those issues. I know most envy footballers and the stuff that comes with it but for some it can be a burden. The pressure especially at a young age is beyond comparison really so kudos to Michael for speaking about it and doing something about it. You only have to look at that young lad at City who ended his life recently to see how it can go if not dealt with.

As a side and just my views although I thought he was a good player I never really thought he would be a top top drawer player. Would have had a decent career but to me he just missed out on that something special that would set him apart from any premier league midfielder. My opinion only.

 

[Hart of the Matter]

Great to hear he is thriving. There was a way he covered the ground that reminded me of Colin Bell. Only seen players on few occasions that do this in this way. Felt the same about KDB when I first saw him live at a game as well. Fine company to be compared with for sure.

 

[butlerkb]

Briefly spoke about in the Nedum podcast here,

Highly recommended for anyone else who is interested in what he is up to etc.

Thx for the post, sad story for a brilliant prospect, didn’t go too far into his injuries and why they couldn’t be cured. One unlucky guy, but nice to see he is at peace with it. Nedum is a good interviewer, I’ll look up other podcasts thanks to you. Nice to see city bringing him into the fold.

 

[decmancity]

Thx for the post, sad story for a brilliant prospect, didn’t go too far into his injuries and why they couldn’t be cured. One unlucky guy, but nice to see he is at peace with it. Nedum is a good interviewer, I’ll look up other podcasts thanks to you. Nice to see city bringing him into the fold.

No problem, some really good chats on there. Nedum is very good at this media stuff, a great ambassador for City to have.

 

[eastmanc]

MJ had a better football IQ than Phil Foden? Where the fuck did you drag that one from? He was a fine player, could have been great, but you must have seen something special in terms of football IQ that I didn’t

Phil Foden is another level all together. Michael had the potential to be a very good player, but to compare him with Foden and say he had better footballing iq is ridiculous. IMHO.

 

[butlerkb]

Phil Foden is another level all together. Michael had the potential to be a very good player, but to compare him with Foden and say he had better footballing iq is ridiculous. IMHO.

I think , because of injuries, we will never know how good he could have been, but he was certainly talked about the same way as Phil , in his day

 

[eastmanc]

I think , because of injuries, we will never know how good he could have been, but he was certainly talked about the same way as Phil , in his day

As you say we will never know. The difference between the two players is Phil Foden is probably one of the first players on Pep’s team sheet but I don’t believe Michael would have got into this side, I could be wrong but as you say we will never know.