The fine line between success and failure in sport

Jason Puncheon, on loan to Blackpool and playing in the Premier League on a weekly basis at the moment played at Lewes in the Conference South just 4 years ago. So what has changed in that time? I imagine not a lot. He may have knuckled down and matured as a player, but surely this can’t have improved his game by 5 divisions to enable him to play in what has been described as “the best league in the world”.

He’s not the only one either. Take Jermaine Beckford, Everton’s summer capture from Leeds United. He was plying his trade at Ryman League Wealdstone 5 years ago, scoring 35 goals in 40 games, although he didn’t stand out particularly when we played him at Worthing.

DJ Campbell is a another one, seemingly rejected by the professional game, in 2005 was playing at Ryman League Yeading, who had a decent FA Cup run and all of a sudden league clubs are scrambling all over each other for his signature, a race that Brentford won. He did stand out when we played him, and his stats of 65 goals in 88 games for Yeading can’t be argued with. He always scored when I marked him for Worthing, as I remind everyone when he’s on TV.

So what changed? One season they are regarded as not being good enough, and the next they are hot property. It’s funny how quickly things change in sport. You just have to be seen by a manager who likes the look of you and your luck can change immeasurably. It’s the same with managers, with Roy Hodgson recently being given the West Bromwich Albion job when he was an apparent disaster at Liverpool only a month previously.

Sport is fickle, and the reason it’s so popular is that it divides opinions, which is the reason that all these seemingly weird things happen, like Campbell going from warehouse manager to Premier League footballer in the space of 18 short months. I can only assume that an ambitious lower league player looks forward to when the cameras are at their game so that they have a chance to impress and move up through the leagues. And who can blame them?

It’s a funny old game Saint.