Football wonderkids who went off the rails – from Prem ace’s month-long burglary spree to star’s £64m cocaine bust
THEY were once the bright-eyed youngsters tipped for greatness – but even with all the talent and potential in the world, the football industry can be a fickle place.
With so much fame and fortune so young comes a dangerous downside, and whether it’s a result of injury or by going off the rails, football careers can easily come to an abrupt end.
Which means sadly not all top league ‘wonderkids’ are going to be able to carve out the illustrious careers they’d once hoped for, and some encounter a spectacular fall from grace.
Here are the teen football prodigy whose lives went off the rails to varying degrees after being tipped for big things, and how it impacted their career.
Jamie Cassidy
Jamie Cassidy, 46, was once a hugely popular youth player who starred in Liverpool’s star-studded youth side in his heyday, alongside the likes of Jamie Carragher and Michael Owen.
During his teenage years he became one of the top goal scorers in youth football country, and he won the FA Youth Cup in 1996.
However, sadly it all went downhill after his career was hampered by injury, and without his football career, Cassidy spiralled into a life of crime.
Last month he was jailed for 13 years for his role in a huge drug conspiracy alongside his brother, which involved using encrypted phones to import cocaine into the UK from South America.
Cassidy pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and conspiracy to conceal, disguise, convert or transfer criminal property.
Ciaran Dickson
Former Celtic and Rangers starlet Ciaran Dickson, 22, was once tipped for first team football and scored two goals in his first two appearances for Celtic’s B team.
However, Dickson consistently flouted the law over the years and this ultimately led to tragedy as he went on to kill a teenage pedestrian in a drunken hit and run while still signed to the top team.
Forensic scientists calculated that Dickson was approximately more than three times over the drink drive limit.
Thomas Ross KC, defending, said: “Nothing said by Ciaran Dickson can offer comfort to Aidan’s family and friends… He recognises that he is fully deserving of a sentence of imprisonment.”
Dickson’s previous convictions also include careless driving from December 2020.
He was also convicted of punching his ex following their split in April 2023, and was ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid work.
Callum Flanagan
At Man United in the Nineties, Callum Flanagan was a highly regarded youth player who’d shown real promise.
However, shortly after scoring in Manchester United’s 2-0 win over Man City in the FA Youth Cup, everything changed in 2004 when the then-19-year-old was driving team-mate Phil Marsh home after a training session.
In what he later described as one of the “most harrowing days of [his] life”, he raced fellow United youth player Mads Timm, crashing and flipping his Honda Civic.
He was released from the club shortly after, and after pleading guilty to dangerous driving was handed an eight-month sentence at a young offenders’ institution.
He has since turned his life around, and reportedly now lives in Australia where he’s carved out a career as a personal trainer and firefighter.
Speaking to an Australian paper, Flanagan said: “If I could give any advice it would be to focus fully on football and don’t let outside things get in the way.”
Ismail H’Maidat
Former Arsenal trialist and Crystal Palace wonderkid Ismail H’Maidat cost Roma £3.5million back in 2016 and seemed destined for great things.
But just two years later in 2018 he was jailed for 46 months for his role in a month-long spree of armed robberies – despite earning at the time a reported £9,000 a month.
The Dutch-born star, who trialled with the Gunners in 2012 and joined Crystal Palace the following year, robbed betting shops, a supermarket and a petrol station.
Quincy Promes
Former Holland star Quincy Promes, 32, stood out when he played for the likes of Sevilla and Ajax, but his career became blighted by his recent serious run-ins with the law.
Last month the winger was sentenced to six years in prison for his involvement in the smuggling of 1,363kg of cocaine into Antwerp, estimated to be worth around £65million.
That wasn’t the first time the ex-Netherlands international has been in trouble, having received an 18-month sentence just last year for stabbing his cousin in the knee at a family party.
Now the Dutchman is serving time in the infamous Al Aweer prison in the UAE – a far cry from the high life famous footballers usually enjoy.
Andy van der Meyde
Andy Van Der Meyde came out of the famed Ajax academy in the Nineties, and helped Holland reach the Euro 2004 semi-finals.
He managed to avoid getting in trouble with the law, but he saw his personal life spiral after he encountered a turbulent spell at Everton that led to problems with gambling, sex, drugs and depression.
He struggled in his first season with injuries and quickly fell into an alcohol and prescription drug-fuelled spiral, eventually quitting football at just 32.
“You can quickly go off the rails because there is no limit and you could do what you wanted,” he previously said.
“It was going out and drinking, and not thinking of reality.”