Showing posts with label Middlesbrough FC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Middlesbrough FC. Show all posts
Golazo: Hamilton Ricard vs Bradford, FA Cup 2000-01
When Colombian striker Hamilton Ricard first arrived at Middlesbrough FC back in 1998 he struggled to find the scoring touch that had made him the top scorer in the Colombian league in 1997 earning himself the nickname "Hamilton Retard" amongst some of the less sympathetic Boro faithful.
He did come good for the club eventually netting 15 league goals in the 1998-99 a number only bettered by Fabrizio Ravanelli (1996-97) and club legend Bernie Slaven (4 times in the 80s & early 90s) since Alan Foggon hit 16 back in 1974-75.
Ricard's most fondly reemembered goals is this spectacular curling effort against Bradford City in January 2001. He eventually left the club after the arrival of Steve McClaren and has since gone on to have a career as an international journeyman footballer.
Boro fans
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| Carlos Marinelli, one of Middlesbrough FC's many links to South American football. |
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| It's not spam, honest guv. |
I admit it is kind of like spamming but I justify it to myself by saying that all I am selling is my enthusiasm for South American football & for football in general, giving out lots of information for free with no adverts on my site at all.
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| A mass of empty red seats is a familiar site to Boro fans, however this is the Darlington Arena, not the Riverside. |
It is very enjoyable to have conversations with random football supporters all over the world from Guayaquil to Ghana or from Bogotá to Boro.
Most websites have been sound, letting what are blatantly links to my own website stay on their forums without resorting to the deletion of my posts, however some over zealous site admins and moderators have deleted my account on their site and banned me completely before I've even posted anything at all. Coincidentally the club websites that have done this are generally the websites of the clubs with the most rude, angry and unreasonable fans too.
I often register on forums to ask advice about a particular goal or incident or just an overview of how fans of that particular club regard the player in question, so that I can add more information to my articles. Fans are usually more than happy to help and often provide loads more interesting and relevant information that I could possibly have anticipated. I am always willing to consider making informative additions or corrections to my articles upon request and attempt to read and reply to all my emails and comments on my website.
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| Boca Juniors, like Middlesbrough has one of the best online football communities I've come across yet. |
Despite this admission of bias I still think it should count for something though, when I say that the fmttm forum is still easily one of the best I've come across so far, in several years as a football writer and several months of writing this blog. It ranks alongside the very best club communities like Boca Juniors, Millonarios, Celtic, Estudiantes de La Plata and Crystal Palace!
What ever happened to? Hamilton Ricard
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| Hamilton Ricard playing for Middlesbrough. |
After struggling to adapt to life in the 2nd tier of English football in his first season and earning himself more than a few detractors amongst the Boro faithful, some of whom cruelly referred to him as Hamilton Retard.He rediscovered his goalscoring form after Boro were promoted to the Premier League, he scored in the double figures as the club's top scorer for the 1998-99 & 1999-00 seasons and making himself the most prolific striker Boro have had over a season since Fabrizio Ravanelli in 1996-97 and a better Premier League goalscorer than all of the big money signings to have come after him.
Ricard stayed with Middlesbrough for 4 years, making 132 appearances for the club in all competitions. He scored 43 goals in his time on Teesside, giving him a goal average of nearly 1 in 3 which is pretty good considering he made 25 appearances as a substitute. Ricard blew hot and cold for the Boro, he went on long runs without scoring a goal but on his day he was brilliant. His game winning curler against Bradford at Valley parade was a contender for goal of the season in 2000-01 and his 3rd goal at Highbury in 2001 will live long in the memory. He particularly enjoyed playing against London clubs, he scored plenty of goals against Wimbledon and Spurs, his first goal after only 30 seconds in a 3-1 win against Wimbledon in April 1999 remained the fastest goal scored at the Riverside until 2010. Another of his stand out performances came in a 0-3 away win against Spurs in September 1998 in which he scored 2 sublime goals, he repeated the trick the following season netting twice at White Hart Lane in a 2-3 win.
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| Hamilton Ricard alongside legendary Colombian midfielder Carlos Valderrama. |
Ricard fell out of favour after Steve McClaren arrived at the Riverside, he eventually joined Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia after he was released from his contract in 2002. He never settled in Bulgaria and returned to Colombia later that year after only making 9 appearances for CSKA.
Ricard joined up with Independiente Santa Fe back in his homeland. While he was there he was involved in a car crash that resulted in the death of a 17 year old girl.
In 2003 he had stints with Shonan Belmare in Japan and Cortuluá back in Colombia but he did not settle at either club. He refound his form in Ecuador in 2004 hitting 17 goals in 25 games for Emelec but his time there ended in disaster after he was banned from football for a year for attacking a referee and making obscene gestures at the crowd.
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| Ricard returned to Deportivo Cali in 2005 |
In 2005 he returned to his first team Deportivo Cali where he had won two league titles and finished as the top scorer in the Colombian league. He did not rediscover his form and after failing to score in six games he left Colombian football behind for the last time to join Spanish 2nd division side Numancia where he scored 2 goals in 16 games to help them to an 8th place finish.
In 2006 he joined Uruguayan side Danubio FC where he once again rediscovered his goalscoring touch, hitting 11 goals in 25 appearances to help them to win the Uruguayan league championship in 2007. It was in 2007 that he was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment in his absence by a Colombian court, a sentence his lawyers stated that they would appeal against and which as yet he still has not served.
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| Hamilton Ricard celebrating a goal for Danubio FC in Uruguay. |
After this success he was lured to China for the big money on offer from Shanghai Shenhua who had been scouring the Uruguayan league for players at the time. they also signed Uruguayans Sergio Blanco, Diego Alonso and Fernando Correa at the same time. Ricard had a successful spell in China, scoring 14 goals in 42 league games in his two years in Shanghai.
In 2009 he returned to Danubio FC where he scored 3 goals in 10 games before being released at the end of the Apertura 2009 tournament and in 2010 his nomadic football career took him to the 10th different country when he joined Deportes Concepción of the Chilean 2nd division.
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| In January 2010 Ricard joined his 12th club in the 10th different country of his nomadic football career. |
"Ham the man" Ricard is fondly remembered by many Middlesbrough fans as well as the fans of Deportivo Cali in Colombia, APOEL in Cyprus, Danubio FC in Uruguay and Shanghai Shenhua in China. He is less fondly remembered at a succession of other clubs where he failed to find his goalscoring touch. What is clear is that he deserves his place on the list of the World's greatest international journeyman footballers.
Part of the What ever happened to? series.
What ever happened to? Jaime Moreno
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| Jaime Moreno in the Middlesbrough away strip. |
He played 20 league games for Middlesbrough in the 1994-95 season scoring one goal, which came in a 1-1 draw against Barnsley on 11 March 1995. He did not have a good goal scoring record for Middlesbrough but he is fondly remembered as one of the squad that won the 1994-95 division one championship and promotion to the Premier league.
It was during his time in the North-East that Jaime met his wife Louise. She went with him to live in the US, they have had five children.
In 1996 he left the Boro to join MLS "soccer" side DC United. His first few years with the team were a great success, he helped them to win the MLS Cup in 1996 and 1997, the US Open Cup in 1996 and he won the MLS Golden Boot with 16 goals in 1997 .
He was a key player for the Bolivia national team during the 1997 Copa América where they reached the final only to lose out 2-0 against Brazil, easily their best performance in the competition since they won it for the one and only time in 1963.
In 1997 he was loaned back to Middlesbrough where he scored a single goal in his five appearances, an 80th minute winner against Stoke City on 1 February 1998.
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| Moreno became an iconic player for MLS side DC United. |
In 1999 he helped DC United to another MLS Cup scoring the winning goal in the final, he then played in his fourth Copa América tournament for Bolivia. In the early 2000s his form began to slip and he put on weight. He was dropped from the Bolivia national team in 2000, missed most of the 2001 season due to injury and most of the 2002 season due to a fall out with coach Ray Hudson. In 2003 he was traded to New York MetroStars where he scored 2 goals in 11 games, including one against DC United.
In 2004 he returned to United and began to regain his form, helping United to their 4th MLS Cup and earning another nomination for the MVP award at the end of the season. In 2005 he was named in the MLS all Time Best XI along with fellow South Americans Marco Etcheverry and Carlos Valderrama.
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| Jaime Moreno played 75 times for the Bolivia national team. |
In 2010 Jaime and his wife launched their charity called 99 Dreams, One Heart Foundation, which has the twin objectives of supporting youth development in soccer and funding research into Lyme disease (his wife and two of his children are sufferers).
By the time Moreno announced his imminent retirement from professional football on 12 August 2010 he had set the all time goalscoring record in the MLS currently 132, became the only player to achieve 100 goals and 100 assists in the league, had been picked in 5 MLS Best XIs and the All Time Best XI and is one of only two players to have played in all of the15 MLS seasons along with Jesse Marsch.
When Moreno moved to the US he intended to stay a couple of years then move back to European football, but as it went his family settled there and he became a club legend and a record breaking player in American soccer. The Boro faithful that saw Moreno playing game after game without scoring back in in 1994 may find it hard to believe that he has had all of this success since leaving the club, but I'm fairly sure that none of them begrudge him it.
See also
Part of the What ever happened to? series.
What ever happened to? Carlos Marinelli
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| Marinelli celebrates a goal with his Middlesbrough team mates. |
I don't want to be hard on the man, he was a teenager in a cold and smoggy city thousands of miles away from his home in Buenos Aires and he was never going to be as good as Maradona, so the "new Maradona" tag was an unfair burden. He did have a couple of good performances for the Boro, most notably netting two goals in a 5-1 win against Derby County in November 2001.
Boro fans will know that he failed to earn himself a regular place in the first team and made the majority of his appearances as a substitute. He was eventually farmed out on loan to Italian 2nd division side Torino FC, before joining the Italian club permanently in 2003 after making 53 appearances for the Teessiders in all competitions (29 as a substitute), netting only 4 goals.
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| Marinelli during his time in American "soccer" with Kansas City Wizards. |
The most regular run of first team football of Marinelli's career was probably his time at Kansas City Wizards between 2007 and 2008 where he held down a first team place making 41 appearances. he eventually left the club after a bust up with manager Curt Onalfo. He is remembered by Wizards fans as an unmotivated and infuriating player who wasted his potential.
Marinelli left the US to join one of the best names in world football, fallen Colombian giants Millonarios, (who were one of the best clubs in the world in the 1950s). He never settled there and was soon offloaded, he then showed up back in Argentina playing for 2nd division side Aldosivi in 2010, but was released by the club at the end of the 2009-10 season.
In September 2010 he joined Győri ETO of the Hungarian first division but again his stay there was a short one and in 2011 he turned up at Peruvian champions Universidad San Martín where he put in a brilliant substitute performance in a 2-0 win against San Luis in the 2011 Copa Libertadores.
It doesn't matter how many lies are added to Wikipedia to make him look a better player by his agent or greatest fan, he never lived up to the promise he showed as a teenager, he never scored enough goals, he has been criticised for ineffectual performances and lack of discipline on the field and for his poor attitude off it.
To give him some credit he has kept on playing and his career as an international journeyman footballer has given him a much wider experience in life than most of his armchair critics back in England. He has lived and played professional football in Argentina, England, Italy, Portugal, United States, Colombia and Hungary after all.
Part of the What ever happened to? series.
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