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Footy's Forgotten #3: Jussi Jääskeläinen

Jussi Jääskeläinen was a goalkeeper, who played between 1992 & 2018 for the likes of Bolton Wanderers & West Ham United, amongst others.

Born on April 19th, 1945, in Mikkeli, Finland, he started his career at Mikkelin Palloilijat (MP), where he made his debut in 1992. He would play 64 times for the club until 1995, when he joined Vaasan Palloseura (VPS). There, he would make 54 appearances, helping the club to a 3rd place finish in the Veikkausliiga, before joining Bolton Wanderers for £100,000 in 1997.

After a season on the bench, he became the club's first choice goalkeeper, although missed out on the half of Bolton's promotion-winning season of 2000-01 season due to a cruciate ligament injury.

During the 2003-04 season, he helped Bolton to reach the 2003-04 League Cup final, where they lost to a Middlesbrough side which contained Mark Schwarzer, Gareth Southgate, Gaizka Mendieta, Boudewijn Zenden, & Juninho.

The 2006-07 season saw him lead Bolton to a 7th place finish in the Premier League, qualifying them for their 2nd UEFA Cup in 3 years. This earned him Bolton Wanderer's Player of the Year, as well as the 2007 Finnish Footballer of the Year.

He left Bolton at the end of the 2011-12 season, following Bolton's relegation to the Football League Championship. By this point, he had played 527 games for the club, including 474 in the league, & 11 in the UEFA Cup.

He officially joined West Ham United in June 2012, where he made 57 appearances for the Hammers between 2012 & 2015, notably helping them reach the 2013-14 League Cup semi-finals, where they lost 9-0 on agg. to Manchester City.

In 2015, he joined Wigan Athletic, helping them win the EFL League One in his first season. He would leave in 2017, before playing 1 game for ATK in India, retiring in January 2018.

On the international stage, Jääskeläinen played 56 games for Finland between 1998 & 2010. His debut came in March 1998, in a 2-0 win against Malta. However, despite this, he never played at an international tournament.

As a coach, he joined Wrexham as a goalkeeper coach under former Bolton teammate Sam Ricketts. He temporarily became a joint-caretaker manager alongside Graham Barrow & Carl Darlington for Wrexham's 0-0 FA Cup draw against Newport County, before going back to a goalkeeper coach. He would leave the club in June 2019 He also had a brief management career, as the joint-caretaker manager of 🇬🇧Wrexham AFC in 2018.

He has two sons who are also in football. His oldest, Will Jääskeläinen, currently plays for Woking, having previously played 4 games for Crewe Alexandra. Meanwhile, his youngest, Emil Jääskeläinen, currently plays for LIU Sharks, the soccer team of Long Island University.

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Footy's Forgotten #2: Emil Kostadinov

Emil Kostadinov was a winger & striker, who played between 1985 & 1999 for the likes of CSKA Sofia, FC Porto, Bayern Munich, & Fenerbahçe, amongst others.

Born on August 12th, 1967 in Sofia, Bulgaria, he started his career at CSKA Sofia, making his debut in 1985. At CSKA Sofia, he became part of an attack, which also contained Hristo Stoichkov & Lyuboslav Penev, which won 3 Bulgarian A Group titles & 3 Bulgarian Cups, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the 1988-89 UEFA Cup Winners Cup, where they lost to FC Barcelona.

In 1990, Kostadinov joined Portuguese side FC Porto, where he spent 4 years, scoring 43 goals in 114 games. At Porto, he won 3 Primera Liga titles, 2 Taca de Portugal, and helped them reach the semi-final of the 1993-94 UEFA Champions League, where again, he lost against FC Barcelona.

He would join Deportivo La Coruna for 9 games in 1995, before joining Bayern Munich. In his only season there, he helped them finish 2nd in the Bundesliga, as well as scoring a goal in the 1995-96 UEFA Cup Final, as they beat Bordeaux.

Once the season concluded, he joined Fenerbahçe for a season, where he scored 11 goals in 25 games, as they finished 3rd in the Turkish Super Lig.

Afterwards, he played for UNAL, returned briefly to CSKA Sofia, and Mainz 05, before retiring in 1999.

On the international stage, Kostadinov was capped 70 times for the Bulgarian national team, scoring 23 goals, the most notable of which being 2 in a 2-1 win against France, which eliminated them from 1994 World Cup qualifying. He would go on to play for Bulgaria at both the 1994 & 1998 FIFA World Cup, as well as Euro 1996, helping Bulgaria finish 4th in 1994.

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Footy's Forgotten Special Edition: John Caufield

This edition of Footy's Forgotten was made to go alongside Cork City's play-off match against Waterford, to hopefully stay in the Premier Division.

John Caufield was a striker, who played notably played for Cork City between 1986 & 2001.

Born on October 11th, 1964, in New York City, he moved to County Roscommon in Ireland at a young age. When he was young, his father would take him to Athlone Town matches, which included their 0-0 draw against AC Milan in the 1975-76 UEFA Cup.

His football career started in 1983, when he started as a defender for Athlone Town. During the 1983-84 season, he, alongside former Ireland international Turlough O'Connor, helped the reserve team win the League of Ireland B Division. His League of Ireland debut would come shortly after, when he came off the bench against Home Farm.

He would move to West Cork in 1985, and started working at an electronics store in the area. He continued playing football as well, playing for Wembley in the Munster Senior League.

Caufield would join Cork City in 1986, making his Rebel Army debut in the League of Ireland Cup against Kilkenny City. Shortly after, he would score not only his, but also the club's first hat-trick, in a 3-2 win against Sligo Rovers.

He, alongside Pat Morley and Dave Barry, became notable members of the Cork City team of the 1990s, winning the 1992-93 Premier Division, the 1997-98 FAI Cup, 3 League of Ireland Cups, and 11 Munster Senior Cups. In total, he made 455 appearances for the club, scoring 129 goals, both being club records (although, he does share the goals record with Pat Morley). He also won the LOI Premier Division top scorer during the 1991-92 and 1994-95 seasons, scoring 16 goals both times.

He would leave Cork City in 2001, spending a season at Avondale United, before retiring in 2002.

Alongside being a footballer, Caufield also played Gaelic Football for both Roscommon GAA and Cork GAA, winning an All-Ireland Junior Football Championship in 1990.

His managerial career started in 2002, when following his retirement, he became the coach of Avondale United in the Munster Senior League, helping them win the Senior Premier Division twice, a Senior First Division, and 2 FAI Intermediate Cups. He also helped them reach the 2004-05 Munster Senior Cup final, where they lost to Cork City.

Caufield would leave in 2010, to join University College Cork AFC, helping them to win a Senior First Division title, and a Collingwood Cup.

In November 2013, he replaced Tommy Dunne as the manager of his former side Cork City, who had just finished 6th in the 2013 LOI Premier Division season. He would help the Rebel Army to finish top 2 for 5 seasons in a row between 2014 & 2018, winning the Premier Division in 2017, as well as winning 3 President of Ireland's Cup in a row, and reaching 4 successive FAI Cup finals between 2015 & 2018.

However, he couldn't replicate his league success in Europe, only getting to the 3rd Qualifying Round of the UEFA Europa League, losing to Genk in 2016-17, and Rosenborg in 2018-19. And following a disappointing start to the 2019 Premier Division season, he would leave Cork City in May 2019.

In August 2020, he would join Galway United in the LOI First Division. He initially struggled to get promoting, losing the promotion play-offs 3 times in a row, before winning the 2023 LOI First Division with 94 points, 25 points ahead of 2nd place Waterford. His contract with the club expires at the end of 2023, but if he does stay on, he will manage in the Premier Division for the first time since May 2019.

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Footy's Forgotten #1: Fran

Fran (Francisco Javier González Pérez) was a left-midfielder, who spent his whole career at Deportivo La Coruna, becoming the club's record appearence holder (435) & 5th highest goalscorer (44).

Born on July 14th, 1969, in Carreira, Galicia (Spain), he made his debut for Deportivo La Coruna in 1988, in a 2-1 loss against Valencia CF. By 1993, he was playing a majority of Deportivo's games, having scored 24 goals by this point, and already being club captian.

In 1995, after helping his club win the Copa Del Rey, he nearly joined Real Madrid (which also nearly happened in 1992, when Real Madrid signed a pre-contract, which fell through before the transfer could take place), but the deal ended up falling through, as he didn't want to leave.

Despite being limited to 22 matches due to injury during the 1999-2000 season, he managed to help his side win both the 1999-2000 La Liga title, and the 2000 Supercopa de España.

He would help his club win the double again in 2001-02, and helped them to reach the UEFA Champions League semi-finals during the 2003-04 season, where they lost to FC Porto, before retiring in 2005 at the age of 35, 17 years after his initial debut.

On the international stage, Fran made his debut for Spain in 1993, during a 1-1 draw against Mexico. He was capped a total of 16 times between 1993 & 2000, including 2 at Euro 2000 (VS Norway & FR Yugoslavia, his last Spain match), scoring 2 goals (VS Austria & San Marino, both in 1999)

He is the younger brother of José Ramón, who also played for Deportivo La Coruna around the same time, and is the club's current youth team coach. His son, Nico González, currently plays for FC Porto, having spent the last 2 seasons at FC Barcelona.