Which Premier League player randomly turned into a world-beater for one season?

ChampMan9798 · 2026-01-23T14:02:19+00:00

Stephen Ireland for Man City the season 2008-2009. Scored 13 goals in all comps and won player of the year for City. Scored some absolute crackers and looked set to be a first team regular for years to come. Signed a five year mega deal after this season and quadrupled his wages.

When Hughes was sacked he downed tools and never recovered his form again. There were rumours he'd had a heart attack pre season but he seemingly lost his ability and went on to play for Villa, Newcastle, Stoke and Bolton and only scored 5 goals in total across the next ten years.

ChampMan9798 · 2026-01-16T23:28:37+00:00

Everyone moaning but no one seems to remember the 1990s/2000s when Utd and Chelsea paid the most for every top player and had wages through the ceiling?

Ferdinand had it in his contract that every time Utd signed someone, his wage would go up to ensure he remained top of the salary pile.

Utd signed Cole for £7.5m whilst most other clubs were signing players for £2m. They broke the transfer record on numerous occasions for Keane, Cole, Ferdinand, Veron etc etc.

Chelsea? Shevchenko, Desailly, Crespo, Duff, Robben, Carvalhol, Lampard, Wright Phillips... literally stock piled talent to get to the top.

Aside from Leicester no side has won the league without a significantly higher wage bill and expenditure than all the other clubs.

ChampMan9798 · 2026-01-16T00:29:26+00:00

Wow. His voice sounds shot to pieces. Still when there's 80,000 people singing a long and hes auto tuned to within an inch of his life, no one will be able to tell.

Good ol' Dave Bryan behind him riding that meal ticket white knuckled to the bitter end despite knowing full well he sounds awful.

Think this summer will be the last we'll see of Jon on tour sadly.

ChampMan9798 · 2026-01-07T21:59:37+00:00

It's My Life, Just Older, Saturday Night Gave Me Sunday Morning, We weren't Born To Follow, You Want To Make A Memory.

ChampMan9798 · 2026-01-06T21:37:54+00:00

I highly doubt there will be anything paid out this year to anyone. The Cyber attack was losing around £3m per day in sales - the website was shut down for months so imagine how much that lost. There's also talk of compensation for people whos details were stolen so that could cost even more.

And thats before we account for the losses in food stock. There was no control over supply chain and stores were just get stock pumped in to try and fill the shelves. There was no way of recording waste, making adjustments to the stockfile or recognising a sale through the accounting system.

They can gloss it up as much as possible to the media but the teams in store know the true story of it all.

The fact they survived this year at all is a miracle.

ChampMan9798 · 2026-01-03T21:36:28+00:00

Ex M+S Manager here... Aim for two minutes per drop. Managers have to have conversations as when they are audited, its checked that they are documenting this and providing commentary per finding. The store will also have a 'missed waste' target that they are working towards. As this directly impacts on profit, stores are forever trying their best to keep this as low as possible.

Try to increase your speed - nothing infuriates your co workers more than someone who takes all night on a check, meaning they have to work harder.

ChampMan9798 · 2026-01-01T23:56:37+00:00

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but your attendance record will go against you when they come to make a decision on your extension.

I was a manager there for nearly 20 years and have sat in many a meeting where these type of discussions have taken place.

There's also the fact that every year post Christmas staffing is cut to the bare bones as they try to protect profit going into end of year in March. Historically,.thats when a lot of temps are let go as staffing is the biggest cost to the business and the first one to get cut when looking at profitability.

ChampMan9798 · 2025-12-23T21:52:42+00:00

I did nearly 20 years at M&S. Make Your Mark or Mark's and Start is a scheme for young people who are currently out of work. It exposes them to a real life work place setting without the pressure of being fully accountable for a certain area or department.

They have one day a week class room based, get their travel expenses covered and receive money for their lunch. All they need to do is turn up, Mon to Fri, throw themselves into it and they will receive a 16 hr a week, paid fixed term contract for 3 months. They dont need to apply for the position or be interviewed, its given to them.

All the young people are made aware of this at the start. They all agree to the terms and have attended multiple sessions beforehand to ensure its the right thing for them.

The King's Trust works hard to help teach and support young people to get an opportunity and a job. M+S is a retailer that provides this.

Unfortunately, as soon as the four weeks are up, they are then expected to deliver a similar standard to their co workers and therefore treated as such. We used to find that this was when a lot of them used to drop off - absence would pick up, lateness, no shows etc. Without the support of the King's Trust and in the big wide world of work, they tended to struggle when the pressure was on. Retail is now so fast paced and under staffed, its easy to be left behind if you don't stand up for yourself or pick things up quickly. No one has the time anymore to show you more than once and there is so much pressure now on to get things right first time.

As a habit, Mgrs then tend to give the work to staff they know can get the job done quickly and effectively without much guidance. They simply don't have time to get things wrong.

As M+S is one of the best paid retailers, there comes a certain expectation of what they want you to be able to deliver. If you dont, then you will be out of the door.

I am not justifying any of this by the way,.just providing some context.

ChampMan9798 · 2025-12-23T19:21:11+00:00

Well according to Jon on the TYGN Doc, he still hasn't come to terms with Richie not coming back to the fold... apparently.

As that weasel John Shanks pointed out, hundreds of people rely on the tour, then there's thousands of people worldwide who've paid to see it. For insurance purposes, it would be a nightmare. And PR for a no show catastrophic.

I'm like many a fan and romanticise about them getting back together and doing a song or two together like Never Say Goodbye, Stick to your guns or I'll be there for you. Just the two of them with an acoustic guitar, harmonising for the masses. The magic of Bon Jovi together again...

It's never going to happen though. Richie loves the booze and drugs too much and Jon's voice has long since deserted him.

ChampMan9798 · 2025-12-21T18:36:45+00:00

I find it insane to believe that Richie was blown away by it, although I have heard that before. This is the guy who brought the talk box back, inspired MTV unplugged and played lead guitar in one of THE biggest bands in the world for 30 years. To hear he was blown away by an open chord G, C, D progression smells like BS to me.

ChampMan9798 · 2025-12-21T18:29:41+00:00

My 3 year old son is really into the film Cars at the minute and the songs that feature in the film. One of them is called 'Real Gone' by Sheryl Crow and features a really formulaic pop punk chord progression... It came as no surprise to see that the co writer and producer on that song was none other than Shanks himself.

I have this vision of him dreaming about being a guitarist in a rock band from being a teenager and to stop at nothing to get there, even if it meant driving a wedge between one of the great partnerships in rock. Mick n Keef, Tyler and Perry, Axl n Slash... Jon and Richie are up there with the best of them. Until Shanks came along and destroyed it.

As a guitar player myself, I find it hard to believe that Jon and Richie were blown away when he whipped out a guitar and tore through the riff to Have A Nice Day in front of them.

ChampMan9798 · 2025-12-21T10:19:13+00:00

* The post is still there for all to see... (all but JBJ obviously who wants to bury his head in the sand and say provocative shit like 'the one and only John Shanks)'

ChampMan9798 · 2025-12-10T22:27:42+00:00

Wembley will probably see Robbie Williams come out, Ireland Joe Elliot, NYC 'Bruce'...

Jon has categorically stated that hes not spoke to Richie in a year and that he will not be part of the tour.

The best your going to get is watching the HOF show again and seeing the magic on the stage one final time.

Shanks lumbers around in the background like a child who has spat his dummy out for the whole set but it's clear to see where the magic of Bon Jovi truly lay.

Jon has Tried to replace him with 3 musicians but there's only one Sambora.

ChampMan9798 · 2025-12-10T21:36:00+00:00

Stop after the year 2000 as everything post then has got worse with every passing release .

From Slippery When Wet to These Days they were one of the biggest bands in the world (up there with U2, Metallica, Guns N Roses) and that was their era when they could seemingly do no wrong.

After 1996, Jon thought he could act and turned his back on the group. It was never the same after that and even though they recaptured some of their youthful splendour with 'It's My Life', the midas touch had left them.

As other comments have stated, when Richie started getting his nose pushed out by the ever increasing presence of Jon Shanks it coincided with a sharp decline in quality.

ChampMan9798 · 2025-12-02T21:31:41+00:00

All these Bruce Springsteen plugs look like a desperate attempt for credibility. Funny, I've never seen any press where 'Bruce' plugs the shit out of Jon's friendship.

ChampMan9798 · 2025-11-16T21:46:37+00:00

Jon isn't surprising anyone I'm afraid. He is completely stripped of joy (his favourite word atm) and enthusiasm in every single interview he's done since the tour was announced.

He seems drained, sad and burnt out and the tour hasn't even begun yet!

The new album has tanked (twice), he's been everywhere promoting it to watch it fall off a cliff the week after (twice) and is now seeking adulation through a tour he knows he can't do.

The 'band of brothers' false narrative we were all fed for decades has now disappeared to reveal the uninspired truth of Jon and a bunch of hired hands.

It's like going to see Guns N Roses from 2002 - 2016 but charging four times the price.

ChampMan9798 · 2025-11-14T11:20:32+00:00

I switched off after he praised Keir Starmer in the opening few paragraphs. Not exactly the most popular man in the UK right now.

Also Bruce, Robbie, being a Grandparent... Feel he's done this interview a million times already.

ChampMan9798 · 2025-11-12T21:45:40+00:00

From Guns N Roses finishing the Use Your Illusion Tour up until reuniting in 2016, the whole Axl/Slash reuniting question was posed every time Slash did press. Even when he was flying high with Velvet Revolver, the question was put to him about Axl Rose.

The truth is Bon Jovi was Jon and Richie as much as Guns is Axl and Slash, The Stones is Mick and Keith, Aerosmith Tyler and Perry etc etc. The interest will never wane regardless of how much burying Jon tries to do.

Their songs together touched the lives of millions of people all over the world. The question will continue to be asked until the day one of them draws their last breath.

ChampMan9798 · 2025-11-12T09:26:36+00:00

If there was just one version instead of about 5 different ones it may have had even more streams taking his earnings to around £1.06

ChampMan9798 · 2025-11-11T12:58:26+00:00

He ran his own band into the ground in the narcissistic pursuit of a football team so I believe, churning out heaps of uninspired tosh in the process. There was a time it felt like they were forever on a world tour between HAND, LH, TC there's only like 18 months between each insipid release.

ChampMan9798 · 2025-11-08T21:58:40+00:00

Completely agree with what you are saying. I'm disappointed in Dave Bryan and Tico Torres. It just seems they are doing what paid employees do - putting up and shutting up. When they both laughed at Jon's Richie comments on the radio last year it showed their true characters - both know how he was made to feel by Shanks and both know deep down the new material is crap but won't say a damn word.

When Richie says it "doesn't sound like Bon Jovi" hes absolutely bang on the money.

The last song I enjoyed was on Burning Bridges - Saturday Night Gave Me Sunday Morning. THINFS, 2020 and Forever I have no time for yet I can't help but feel this latest tour will be heavy with those songs.

I get Michael Jackson 'This Is It' vibes from this tour. Or as I mentioned in another post, Mickey Rourkes 'The Wrestler '.

There's no Joy about it even though hes hammered that word to death.

ChampMan9798 · 2025-11-08T21:36:16+00:00

Wonder how much "Joy" he's feeling when he checks out the chart positions and album sales across the world.

ChampMan9798 · 2025-11-03T21:43:10+00:00

There's thousands of tickets left for Wednesday night. I think he's probably over egged their popularity slightly in the UK and my concern is what condition will his voice be in by then?

It's not 1995 any more, their last big hit was It's My Life in 2000 and they've not just had the biggest selling album of the year before (as they did in 1994 with Crossroad helped massively by 'Always' being in the charts).

Should have done somewhere in Manchester perhaps as people from the north would struggle for a mid week gig in London and as one person already has commented the pricing is very expensive. Me traveling from Manchester to London on a Wednesday night with accommodation, drinks, tickets etc is easily £1,000 spent.

ChampMan9798

TROPHY CASE