John Filan, Brian Borrows, Marcus Hall, Kevin Richardson,
David Busst, Paul Williams, Gordon Strachan, Paul Telfer, Peter Ndlovu, John Salako
and Nii Lamptey. These eleven men were responsible for the last time Coventry
City overcame a two-goal deficit to win a league/cup fixture – 25th
October 1995 – City 3 Spurs 2 League Cup third round tie. The man listed last
on the team sheet may be unknown to younger City supporters but at the age of
16 (1990) he was a first-team regular with Anderlecht and one of the hottest properties
in world football. Pele hailed him his ‘natural successor’ and he would score
on his European Cup debut for the Belgian giants.
‘Old before his time’ can certainly be applied to Nii
Lamptey. He was smuggled to Belgium in the back of trucks, virtually kidnapped,
and after two years with Anderlecht shone for PSV Eindhoven (with his Robbie Keane-style goal celebration - see second clip) while collecting
international caps for Ghana. He joined City from Aston Villa, signed twice by
Ron Atkinson, and his year in sky blue, 1995/96, saw him debut at Anfield.
Lamptey scored twice, home and away, against Hull in the Coca-Cola Cup but made just six starts
with five substitute appearances before he was released to join Italian side
Venezia. His one goal at Highfield Road is in the clip below when he also had
his head trod on by a Hull defender who saw red for his slip of foot.
Ron Atkinson recalled how the restrictions on
foreign players along with the amount of time he spent away on international duty
made it impossible for him to feature regularly. Following his move to Italy,
still aged just 22, he became a journeyman, ending up in Argentina, Turkey,
Portugal, Belgium, Germany, China, Dubai and then home to Ghana. After scoring
on his international debut at 16 he partnered Tony Yeboah and Abedi Pele in a
fearsome strike force and went on to collect 38 caps, the last of which came in
1996. He promised so much and his arrival at City was a real coup, it was just
a shame it failed to work out for him.
Lamptey himself cited pressure as a big factor:
“When Pele said I could go on to become like him it was a great honour for me.
To get such high praise from him was wonderful but it had its negative side –
everywhere I went I was supposed to live up to very high standards. Once I
couldn’t meet people’s expectations I was considered a failure. It’s easy to be
a star but it’s difficult to maintain being a star. When I went to Belgium I
was alone at a very young age without anybody and it was so difficult.”
He has recently been immortalised by a group of Sky
Blues’ supporters – Knowl (gmkonline), Neil Allison (Sky Blues Blog), Joey
Crone and Ed Wilson - who have named a podcast after him – ‘The Nii Lamptey
Show’ - which you can download on iTunes and follow via twitter @NiiLampteyShow.
The audience is growing by the week and the content is excellent, you should
take a listen.
N.B. Lamptey's quote and Atkinson's recollection taken from Amy Lawrence's 'Four Four Two' article in 2004.
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