Players who have never scored

[Mumpo]

Players who have never scored

This is the sort of thing I mean (for strikers) - Kaba Diawara, who sullied his goalless spells with thee English clubs by scoring for Balckburn in a 6-1 win over Rochdale in the League Cup. Unlucky, Kaba.

[treibeis]

Players who have never scored

HSV's Dennis Diekmeier has never scored in over 150 professional league games.

Jerome Boateng was doing really well (over 100 professional league games without a goal) until he joined Bayern. Now he's knocking them in like nobody's business, with three in 107 games.

He could, I suppose, get the record of the most-capped outfield player never to have scored for his country. He's got 53 caps and no goals at the moment, and has only just turned twenty-seven.

[Crusoe]

Players who have never scored

I think more defenders should score no goals. It speaks of a bloody minded determination to do just one job, and do it properly without frivolous distractions like scoring goals or celebrating.

[3 Colours Red]

Players who have never scored

treibeis wrote: Jerome Boateng... could, I suppose, get the record of the most-capped outfield player never to have scored for his country. He's got 53 caps and no goals at the moment, and has only just turned twenty-seven.

This is a surprisingly difficult thing to check without going through every centurion's Wikipedia or RSSSF page individually (and I for one can't be arsed) but Ashley Cole's 107 caps without scoring a goal seems like it's right up there.

[seand]

Players who have never scored

Speaking of non-scoring strikers at international level, it took John Aldridge 20 games to score for Ireland. He ended up with a respectable 19 in 59 internationals though.

Ashley Cole's 107 has been topped though, step forward Enar Jääger of Estonia, no goals in 113 caps. And he's only 30 so the sky's the limit.

[seand]

Players who have never scored

seand wrote: Speaking of non-scoring strikers at international level, it took John Aldridge 20 games to score for Ireland. He ended up with a respectable 19 in 59 internationals though.

Ashley Cole's 107 has been topped though, step forward Enar Jääger of Estonia, no goals in 113 caps. And he's only 30 so the sky's the limit.

Bjorn Nordqvist managed 115 caps at centre back for Sweden without a goal. Jääger's on the verge of topping that, let's hope he doesn't sully his record by lashing home a 30-yarder against San Marino in the meantime.

[Harbinger of Hope]

Players who have never scored

I remember Jon Stead being a classic example of a non-scoring striker, having gone 11 months without a goal, until he finally scored his first for Sunderland in April, having arrived the previous summer for almost Ł2M. His only other goal was against Southend in a 3-1 defeat, I assume in a cup. 2 in 35 overall.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Players who have never scored

Justin Edinburgh managed to turn out 213 times for Spurs and score only one goal.

[tee rex]

Players who have never scored

Mumpo wrote: What's the record for strikers? How many games would a striker get without scoring a goal? A dozen or so? Perhaps for a couple of clubs?

Clinton Morrison has been at Exeter City nearly a year now, raging against the dying of the light. He hasn't scored for us yet (though in fairness, he usually gets about ten minutes a game).

[jwdd27]

Players who have never scored

Paul Longden had 368 league appearences for Scunthorpe without troubling the scoresheet, or in fact even looking interested in scoring.

A proper old fashioned full back, before they all started bombing forward and fancying themselves as attackers. A solid 6 or 6.5 out of 10 every week, did his job in defence and the opposition penalty area was none of his business.

He did blot his copybook late in his career by scoring in the penalty shootout against Blackpool in the 1992 play off final.

[delicatemoth]

Players who have never scored

Green Calx wrote:
They should have asked her if her husband had ever picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Thanks for a moment of proper giggly glee, GC.

Steve Whitworth patrolled the right flank over 503 league games for Leicester, Sunderland and Bolton without getting near the goal. He even demonstrated that this was entirely from choice by scoring in the Charity Shield (one of those '70s ones featuring neither champions nor Cup winners).

Unfortunately, a late career switch to Mansfield seemed to precipitate a crisis, he scored twice in 80 league games for them. Gamekeeper turned poacher indeed.

[1974ddr]

Players who have never scored

Gary Williams played over 300 games for Villa and only scored twice, both in an 8 - 2 drubbing of Exeter in the League Cup. Not sure whether he scored any more in later life (Leeds, Watford and Bradford).
I'm sure there was an article in WSC years ago about Sunderland's fullbacks in the sixties / seventies- Irwin and Malone?- and their lack of goals, something like three between them in 600-odd games.
Pre-war, and probably for some time after, full backs were expected to be seen and not heard as far as the opposition's box was concerned, so it's not that unusual for full backs of that era to have a poor scoring record.

[Eggchaser]

Players who have never scored

Jobi1 wrote:

What's the record for strikers? How many games would a striker get without scoring a goal? A dozen or so? Perhaps for a couple of clubs?

Didn't Iain Dowie go about 18 months without scoring for West Ham before bagging that glorious own goal in the League Cup at Stockport?

I remember that. It was a corking header, perfectly placed, barring the net into which it hurtled.

Steve Potts played about a billion games for us and scored just the one.

[3 Colours Red]

Players who have never scored

Karl-Heinz Schnellinger famously never scored in his nine seasons at AC Milan (although he had done so at each of his previous clubs - indeed at Köln he was positively prolific with 8 in 84), so there might have been a sense of schadenfreude (appropriately enough for a German) when he scored against Italy in THAT 1970 World Cup semi-final.

[pebblethefish]

Players who have never scored

For non scoring forwards, Murray Jones's spell at Brentford deserves a mention. Signed as a replacement for 38 goals in a season Dean Holdsworth, he played 20 games for Brentford at centre forward without scoring. I don't know what he did afterwards, but having seen all twenty of those games, I can't believe he's found the back of the onion bag since, even in the back garden against his three year old.

[treibeis]

Players who have never scored

When at Bristol City, Murray Jones averaged a goal a game. He never actually made an appearance, though.

If Wikipedia is anything to go by, his record is stunning. In a 12-year career at 14 clubs, he made just over 100 appearances and scored 11 goals.

How did he ever get a new job? What scout said, "Right, Murray Jones. Has had six different clubs in the last five years and hasn't scored for any of them. THAT'S our man!"?

[Sam]

Players who have never scored

Moreover, how do you play 100 games in twelve years as a professional, and still find a new club? Winston Bogarde managed double that figure.