Leaving Arsenal: whatever happened to Mark Randall?

[Red Gunner]

Leaving Arsenal: whatever happened to the talented Mark Randall?

Arsène Wenger felt Mark Randall 'was too good not to make it' yet Arsenal released him in 2011. He is now back in England looking for a new club after a topsy-turvy spell at Ascoli



It has been three months since Mark Randall claims he was last paid. The midfielder once described by Arsène Wenger as among the "next generation" for Arsenal signed a two-year deal for the Italian club Ascoli in September. But with the third-tier club, who were in Serie A as recently as 2007, declared bankrupt and having had their assets seized, the Englishman says he will terminate his contract this month in the hope of finding a new club, and a wage.

"I stuck it out for as long as I could but there comes a point where you have to put your foot down," says the 24-year-old. "I've got bills to pay. You never think of that when you're a kid growing up playing for Arsenal."

It has been a rude awakening for Randall. Having played in the Champions League, Premier League, League Cup and even Dennis Bergkamp's testimonial, he went on loan spells to Burnley, MK Dons, and Rotherham before being released by his parent club in 2011. Signing for Chesterfield that June, he was again released last summer. When the opportunity arose to move abroad, he jumped at it.

"Everything in Italy is more technical, which suits my game. Obviously Arsenal was technical, but it's totally different football in League One and League Two. The ball is flying over your head and everyone is charging round like headless chickens. There are a lot of managers that want to run you into the ground. The lower leagues is based around gym work, fitness, and conditioning. In Italy, the coaches always want players to have a ball."

In Italy, Randall found his feet immediately. On his full home debut Randall was named man of the match, setting up two goals, but it wasn't just the style of football that enamoured Randall to playing in the country. "It's more like a family. I had my birthday there; they brought me food and champagne, sung me 'happy birthday', started hugging and kissing me and I had only been there a couple of weeks. They're so different, fighting for the hairdryer, shaving their legs in the dressing-room! Not exactly Chesterfield is it? In England, there are more cliques. You go to work, get showered and go home."

Randall denies that his formative spells in England's lower leagues were detrimental to his development, but agrees that players in the top English academies are probably better suited to loan spells on the continent.

"Kevin Blackwell, the old Sheffield United manager while they were in the Championship, once told me after we [Arsenal] beat his team in the Carling Cup [in 2008], that he phoned Wenger the next day and asked if he could take a few of those players on loan and was turned down flat. He didn't give Kevin any players. That sums it up really."

How English clubs develop their young players, especially domestic players, is a hot topic. The FA chairman Greg Dyke recently stated just after setting up his FA commission that one of the biggest problems in English football is a lack of top talent playing in overseas leagues.

Feeder clubs have long been an issue in England, with the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea having to forge links with clubs in Belgium and the Netherlands, instead of building their own second team, like Barcelona B or Real Madrid Castilla in Spain.

When asked why more English players don't play abroad, Randall shrugs and puffs his cheeks out. "I'm not sure. Obviously the biggest obstacle is the language barrier. At Ascoli the coaches didn't speak one word of English. I had a little whiteboard with magnets that they would show me in the office. For the first few weeks it was impossible. For any player going abroad, learning the language is essential."

As a youth at Arsenal, Wenger had a profound impact on Randall and leaning forward, he visibly gushes at the opportunity to indulge in a little nostalgia. "Wenger used to come over to the youth-team pitches and watch us all the time. Pat Rice [the former assistant] would come over and often talk to Liam Brady", Arsenal's head of youth development, who coincidently had a spell at Ascoli in the 1980s. "They would want to see for themselves what was going on, what your attitude was. I can honestly say I've never seen another first-team manager show the same interest in youth players, at all the clubs I've been at since."

Rising through the academy alongside Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs, Randall remains "100% a Gooner", and having grown up battling a family of Tottenham supporters, there was little doubt who he was cheering in Saturday's FA Cup third round.

Last season, Randall scored in the FA Cup, when Chesterfield thrashed Hartlepool 6-1 in the first-round. He watched the weekend's third-round action from his home in ****** Keynes as he considers his next step, with interest reportedly coming from Spain, Bulgaria and Latvia.

As recently as 2010, Wenger described Randall as having "so much quality that I refuse to think he will not make it". Having not made it at Arsenal, does he feel he has wasted his talent? "No, playing abroad has given me a fresh start. I learned so much tactically in Italy, especially defensively, and I'm a better player now. Leaving England was part of maturing. If I was a young player at a top team again, that's what I'd do."

http://www.theguardian.com/football/201 ... nal-ascoli

[Red Snapper]

Interesting, a shame really. He was a promising youngster like Jay Simpson who is also clubless at the moment, David Bentley too although that's just funny. Dagenham and Redbribdge are also benefiting from the ex Arsenal youth pool currently.

[QuartzGooner]

I wonder how it is that more of our youth our players do not make it with us.
Not as stars, because it can be quite apparent who is as good as an Ozil and who is not, but as players who can be in the squad for a while and play first team games, as opposed to being registered with the club but in that twilight zone between the reserves and the first team squad i.e. where Akpom and Afobe are now.

I suppose in Afobe's case injury has played a part?
It did with the once promising Ian Selley and Ryan Garry.

Some of our youth players do get into the squad for a bit, such as the Hoyte brothers, and I guess even Stephen Hughes falls into this category, but there are many more that seem no worse to me than Emmanuel Eboue, Amaury Bischoff or Ryo Miyaichi.
Former players such as Steve Sidwell, Jay Simpson, Fabrice Muamba and Guy Demel are some examples that I can think of.

Randall looked good to me, but who knows what happens in training, or out of hours?

[Red Gunner]

Interesting, a shame really. He was a promising youngster like Jay Simpson who is also clubless at the moment, David Bentley too although that's just funny. Dagenham and Redbribdge are also benefiting from the ex Arsenal youth pool currently.

According to Sky Sports, he is now playing in Thailand!

http://www1.skysports.com/news/12040/8948103/

[LDB]

Good on him for having the balls to play abroad. There is no point in some of these academy players (especially creative midfielders) playing in the lower leagues in England. It is fully of shitty managers that like to talk a good game about playing decent football but in reality are just kick & rush merchants. And frankly the fans are no better, you're far more likely to get a response from the crowd, even in the premier league, from sliding into a tackle by the corner flag then by splitting open a defence or taking out two opponents with a bit of skill.

I'm sure when England are outplayed by every team they face in Brazil people will spend a few hours clogging up the phone-ins about how we're technically deficient before clamouring for their club to sign the next Lee Cattermole while labelling Ozil 'lazy'.

[StuartL]

I wonder how it is that more of our youth our players do not make it with us.
Not as stars, because it can be quite apparent who is as good as an Ozil and who is not, but as players who can be in the squad for a while and play first team games, as opposed to being registered with the club but in that twilight zone between the reserves and the first team squad i.e. where Akpom and Afobe are now.

I suppose in Afobe's case injury has played a part?
It did with the once promising Ian Selley and Ryan Garry.

Some of our youth players do get into the squad for a bit, such as the Hoyte brothers, and I guess even Stephen Hughes falls into this category, but there are many more that seem no worse to me than Emmanuel Eboue, Amaury Bischoff or Ryo Miyaichi.
Former players such as Steve Sidwell, Jay Simpson, Fabrice Muamba and Guy Demel are some examples that I can think of.

Randall looked good to me, but who knows what happens in training, or out of hours?

I never understood why Lansbury wasn't given more of a chance - he looked decent to me and could have been a squad player

[augie]

I wonder how it is that more of our youth our players do not make it with us.
Not as stars, because it can be quite apparent who is as good as an Ozil and who is not, but as players who can be in the squad for a while and play first team games, as opposed to being registered with the club but in that twilight zone between the reserves and the first team squad i.e. where Akpom and Afobe are now.

I suppose in Afobe's case injury has played a part?
It did with the once promising Ian Selley and Ryan Garry.

Some of our youth players do get into the squad for a bit, such as the Hoyte brothers, and I guess even Stephen Hughes falls into this category, but there are many more that seem no worse to me than Emmanuel Eboue, Amaury Bischoff or Ryo Miyaichi.
Former players such as Steve Sidwell, Jay Simpson, Fabrice Muamba and Guy Demel are some examples that I can think of.

Randall looked good to me, but who knows what happens in training, or out of hours?

I know that compared to many of the others named here he got a better run, but Stephen hughes was a player that I always thought was going to be a good player for us. He had a sweet left foot, loads of technical ability and seemed to have a good footballing brain but he was unfortunate to be breaking into the side at a team when the manager was trying to topload it with French players

[QuartzGooner]

Augie

I thought Hughes looked really good when he first came into the team but seemed to lose form and confidence after a season or so.
Is that just my view or does anyone else share that?

[I Hate Hleb]

I think injury done for Hughes.

[Blade]

So many opportunities for British players here is Asia.
You just need a good agent [can get a US$100k salary with some Malaysian/Thai clubs.

e.g Pablo Aimar playing in Malaysian PL.

Come back Robbie Flower!

[DB10GOONER]

It's an oft discussed topic; why some youth players that looked the dog's bollocks don't make it at a big club in the PL. My coach knows a couple of the Oirish based scouts that work for PL clubs and he reckons they reckon that two of the biggest deciding factors (with all things being equal, as in - attitude, motivation, effort, no bad injuries, no criminal activity, no drug/alcohol abuse etc) are really consistency of performance and luck.

Most youth players that are still with big clubs by the ages of 17 - 19 can play to a high level. But the ones that make it in the PL are the ones that can play to that level more consistently than the ones that can't. What the actual cut-off point is regarding what is an acceptable level or "amount" of consistency is often vastly different from club to club and that is where the luck element comes in. You might be lucky enough to be at a club with a manager/coaches that have a lower consistency requirement than someone of equal talent that fails at a club with a manager that demands higher levels of consistency. Your manager will persist with you longer and thus you get a higher level of coaching and train/interact with better quality players for longer giving you a better chance of making it than the guy at the more demanding club that ends up getting moved on to a smaller club and trains with lesser coaches and players during this vital time of development.

[TeeCee]

Randall was always very poor, looked way out of his class at Arsenal. There have been many many better looking players at his age who still turned out to be nothing. He was at the club far too long.....but then again, Wonga's mantra is to keep players as long as possible to try to breed loyalty in them I think (which never works anyway).

[Dan_85]

Randall was always very poor, looked way out of his class at Arsenal. There have been many many better looking players at his age who still turned out to be nothing. He was at the club far too long.....but then again, Wonga's mantra is to keep players as long as possible to try to breed loyalty in them I think (which never works anyway).

Was just gonna say this. Did anyone actually watch this guy? He was toilet. He's probably a nice bloke, best of luck to him & all that, but was never good enough for Arsenal.

[JakeN13]

I have also wondered a lot over the years why Wenger keep buying below average players from abroad instead of giving the players we have in our youth team a chance. The only thing I have come up with is that the youngsters probably are going to have to play regularly at some stage if they ever are going to develop.

One player I always liked was Matthew Connolly, who I once saw bossing Sol Campbell around at The Underhill.He seems to have had a lot of injury problems since leaving but felt he had real potential.

[TheCook]

There was a young English striker we had in the late 90s / early 00s,always knocking around the squad and sometimes on the bench.

He has now sunk without trace, but he did come on in a league match at Leicester when we were 3-0 up, and he scored near the end, but was incorrectly given offside, and was never heard from again - As mentioned elsewhere, luck like that can play a big part in young careers.

Now what was his name.....??