Jump to content
IGNORED

The Curious Case of Karleigh Osborne


GrahamC

Recommended Posts

Given a free by Grimsby today.

I remember when he joined us and we were a right old mess at the bottom of League One, he was a “steady Eddie” defender who looked far more consistent than those around him.

That summer we went on the Botswana tour that Cotts loved so much (!) and some Botswanan nutter took a chunk out of his leg with a horrendous tackle,  by the time he was fit Flint, Williams & Ayling were an established back three and we romped away with the league.

He had a loan spell at Colchester, it didn’t go well, then another at Wimbledon which did.

When we released him it started to go really pear shaped for him, he joined Argyle, played once, but never again & joined Kilmarnock, he was substituted to avoid being sent off on his debut there, he never played again.

Joined Grimsby, where he struggled to get a game in a side stuck in the bottom half of the bottom division.

Yet I reckon he’d have started in the side in our promotion season if fit, now at 30 he looks in real danger of dropping out of the league.

Funny old game, eh?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe one of those players who has a brief golden season or two before fading. We've seen it before. Sometimes the issue is physical injuries, other times it's mental fitness and/or off-field problems.

Big Karleigh steadied our ship when we looked about as stable as a pisshead walking home after closing time.

Good luck to the guy. I hope he is able to rejuvenate his career somewhere.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, bristolcitysweden said:

He got games at Grimsby. They where in poor form though and Russel Slade was sacked.

Just 10 all season.

I think Red Robbo nailed it, injures appear to have done for him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really good story to highlight Graham - definitely an unfortunate case of what could have been.

If you look back however he was blighted by injuries right from the start of his career including at Brentford and Millwall. I guess centre back is no place to be a footballer if you can't get established in the team for long periods - ultimately managers don't want to build their foundations on someone they can't rely on making it through the season.

He certainly came across as a decent guy - although, after one of our last home games the season before promotion he came in the Raj Bari in Hotwells to pick up a takeaway. It had been the first ever day selling South Bristol sweatshirts and I gave him a free one on condition he tweeted a picture in it. He promised he would. He didn't. Let down!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Olé said:

Really good story to highlight Graham - definitely an unfortunate case of what could have been.

If you look back however he was blighted by injuries right from the start of his career including at Brentford and Millwall. I guess centre back is no place to be a footballer if you can't get established in the team for long periods - ultimately managers don't want to build their foundations on someone they can't rely on making it through the season.

He certainly came across as a decent guy - although, after one of our last home games the season before promotion he came in the Raj Bari in Hotwells to pick up a takeaway. It had been the first ever day selling South Bristol sweatshirts and I gave him a free one on condition he tweeted a picture in it. He promised he would. He didn't. Let down!

Remember running the Bristol 10k just a day or two after we won the league, he was at the starting line taking photos & seemed a good bloke.

Sad how it has gone for him since leaving us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Red-Robbo said:

Maybe one of those players who has a brief golden season or two before fading. We've seen it before. Sometimes the issue is physical injuries, other times it's mental fitness and/or off-field problems.

Big Karleigh steadied our ship when we looked about as stable as a pisshead walking home after closing time.

Good luck to the guy. I hope he is able to rejuvenate his career somewhere.

If I'm that pissed, I take the car! :facepalm:

No I don't before anyone starts but I know a few that do. :nono:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If he hadn't have been injured in Botswana, then could quite possibly have been starting the season as one of the first choice cb's that season. It would either have made his career, or alternatively, we wouldn't have come across the personnel/formation to take us on that amazing journey that season.

Funny old game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually he played a pretty important part in us being where we are today, because he and the wonderfully-named Nyron Nosworthy anchored our defence at the back end of the 2013/14 season, when things were looking dire at one stage.  32 points from 33 games had us in deep trouble, but we took 26 points from our last 15 to steer clear of trouble.  For the last ten games Osborne and Nosworthy played together at the back and our record was W4 D5 L1.  Very solid performer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

Actually he played a pretty important part in us being where we are today, because he and the wonderfully-named Nyron Nosworthy anchored our defence at the back end of the 2013/14 season, when things were looking dire at one stage.  32 points from 33 games had us in deep trouble, but we took 26 points from our last 15 to steer clear of trouble.  For the last ten games Osborne and Nosworthy played together at the back and our record was W4 D5 L1.  Very solid performer.

They tried to get the ball past Nyron..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...