Trialists.   We've had many of them of over the years and while some were signed up and were both great successes and tragic failures, others have disappeared into the mists of time.

 

So aside from those who were signed up, who else have we had over the years?  How many of them them were missed chances?  And how many of them were lucky escapes?

 

I think we should go one at a time, it's more fun that way!

 

I'll start us off - 

 

Vladimirs Koļesņičenko - A Latvian international attacking midfielder who came on trial at the same time as Pavels Mihadjuks.  Brewster decided not to sign him.  Seems afterwards he played for clubs in Azerbaijan and the Ukraine as well as two spells at Skonto Riga, who he is now chairman of!  They also have Nauris Bulvitis playing for them as well!  

Edited September 12, 201312 yr by Renegade

Wes Hoolahan getting rave reviews after his Ireland performances this week. He's very much in the frame under Martin O'Neil and he's flying for Norwich too.

We were really close to signing him a few years ago. Talks were at an advanced stage, but for one reason or another, it failed to materialise.

 

As I recall he failed to negotiate a severance package from Livingston who were demanding quite a substantial amount for him but wouldnt pay to sign him. Though we were prepared to pay money for Rankin who we went for instead. Hoolahan is an excellent player, no question. 

Liam Molesworth!  Seemed a bit of a cocky wee lad who scored against Brora or somewhere from what I remember in a North of Scotland Cup match.  Was looking him up the other day funnily enough and I see he was at The Cove SC in the South Australia State League after trials with Kilmarnock and Bouremouth.  He's now at the wildly named Adelaide Blue Eagles in the South Australian Super League (probably a standard akin to the Highland League).

 

Has returned to Bromsgrove Sporting which is the club from where he came to us.  Sporting play in the Midland Football League Division 1 which is English non league level 6.  Was last at some Swedish Club so he has certainly tried his luck all over the place.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-transfer-news/record-sport-online-transfer-centre-6278176

Raith Rovers have started talks to bring striker Serbian striker Marko Vukanovic to the club with the 20-year-old, who also holds Swiss Nationality, already familiar with the Scottish game after a trial period at Inverness Caledonian Thistle last season.

Vukanovic started his career at the Lusanne Youth Academy and played for the Swiss under-17 side before playing for FC Baulmes and Yverdon-Sport in Switzerland ahead of a spell in Spain with Sabadell.

Raith had Australian Anthony Costa and Swiss-Turk Onur Yaldiz in on trial recently however it is believed that talks with Vukanovic’s representatives are at an advanced stage.

Luke Denson - A left back who came on trial from Colwyn Bay in 2012.  Seems to have left the Bay for Chester (presumably around the same time Danny Williams was there) a few months after his trial with us, before eventually moving to AFC Flyde.  Seemingly he's now back at Colwyn Bay, who play in the Northern Premier League (along with Salford City).

John Cofie - A forward who was on the books of Manchester Utd and was loaned to Royal Antwerp, Sheffield Utd and Notts County.  Saw him play against St Mirren U20's last month and looked very unfit and was taken off after an hour, he was told to go home the following day.

That'll be the same guy I saw playing at Grant Street.  Played 90 minutes and didn't do anything.  Hardly touched the ball.

Paul Edwards - Seemingly a left back/winger who had 'electric' pace.  A product of the Man City youth system, he went on to play for amongst others Doncaster, Swindon and Blackpool before coming to ICT on trial in the summer of 2010 after leaving Port Vale.  After leaving us with no deal signed, he later had three spells at Barrow, a loan spell at Mansfield and a season at Fleetwood.  Now 35, looks like he hasn't had another club since leaving Barrow last year.  Presume he's retired.

Looking up a couple of others, it seems Liam Molesworth is back at Bromsgrove, while Prince Rajcomar is playing in the Dutch second tier with MVV Maastricht.  Sean Evans is now at Newtown in the Welsh Premier Division.  I also see Oliver Norburn has yet to find a club (though was at some point in a relationship with some girl off Waterloo Road!).  Strange no-one's picked him up as I thought he looked a decent player.

Edited November 12, 201510 yr by Renegade

Not sure if this has been noted elsewhere but according to Sky Sports News we have Crawley Town midfielder Conor Henderson on trial this week. 

2 hours ago, SteveA said:

Not sure if this has been noted elsewhere but according to Sky Sports News we have Crawley Town midfielder Conor Henderson on trial this week. 

I caught the very end of the STV item about 6.25pm on this tonight. As usual too much noise from others in the house to hear it all but I thought I heard we had signed him until the end of the season. Another midfielder though, even if an ex Arsenal Academy player to boot. Still looking for that elusive striker to replace Billy and a left back?

John-Christophe Ayina, who was on trial with us in pre-season (last season), has been released by Rochdale.

I see Conor Henderson has signed for Grimsby Town (who he was previously on loan at).  Also, the aforementioned ex-Man United striker John Cofie (a big lumbering bloke who didn't do anything) signed for Wrexham about a fortnight after his trial with us.  He's since been released.  Unbelievably, according to Wikipedia, Man United signed him from Burnley at the age of 14 for £1m!

Some people may also remember the pacy winger and striker Toby Ajala (not Ayala as many in the press were misspelling his name) who we had on trial a few months, who scored at a reserve game at Grant Street.  Looks like he signed for Dover Athletic shortly after his trial with us and has just signed again for Torquay in the last week or so.

Midfielder Oliver Norburn, formerly of Bristol Rovers and Plymouth and was on trial in pre-season and played against Forres and St Mirren, signed for Guiseley AFC in November. They play in the National League (previously the Conference).  At the time I was surprised we didn't sign him as I thought he looked a decent player.

It was never really announced if it was true or not, but there was talk in the pre-season that we had Petershill midfielder Mark Lamont (who'd previously played for St Mirren and Dumbarton and had also attracted interest from Hamilton Accies) on trial.  Looks like we might see him in action this afternoon as he later signed for Stirling Albion!

Edited January 9, 201610 yr by Renegade

JJ Hooper who was on trial with us pre season, scored his first goal for Port Vale today (Jan 17).  He is a regular bench warmer, but got on in second half today and scored a consolation goal in a 3-1 loss at Millwall.

Edited January 17, 201610 yr by Caley Mad In Berks

John-Christophe Ayina has been signed by Newport County.

John Cofie has signed for AFC Telford United in the Conference North.  His second club since coming on trial late last year.

 

On 11/9/2015 at 5:39 PM, Renegade said:

Luke Denson - A left back who came on trial from Colwyn Bay in 2012.  Seems to have left the Bay for Chester (presumably around the same time Danny Williams was there) a few months after his trial with us, before eventually moving to AFC Flyde.  Seemingly he's now back at Colwyn Bay, who play in the Northern Premier League (along with Salford City).

He's just been named the manager of Colwyn Bay!

Also I see Prince Rajcomar has left Maastricht and signed for Romanian side ACS Poli Timisoara.  They play in Liga I alongside Astra Giurgiu and Gregory Tade's Steaua Bucharest.

Kerrea Gilbert joined St Albans City in 2015 but left after after they gained promotion to the Conference South. He hasn't had a  club since and is now studying to be a personal trainer.

Adriano Pellegrino left Perth Glory in 2011 (after being strongly linked with Celtic and had a trial with Motherwell) and joined fellow A League side Central Coast Mariners.  Since then he's had spells in Malaysia with Kendah, Cambodia with Phnom Penh Crown and in Thailand with Udon Thani.  He recently signed for the American side Tulsa Roughnecks, who also had Taylor Morgan on their books who came on against us for Falkirk in the cup final!

Earlier in the thread the former Man United striker Phil Marsh was mentioned who was on trial for us in 2007.  Since his last mention he's left Guiesley (after loan spells at Barrow and Stalybridge Celtic) and had spells at Salford City, Ashton United and Welsh second tier side Cefn Druids.  Looks like he's without a club after leaving them last year.  He's had 14 clubs in his career and is still only 29!

 

Edited April 2, 201610 yr by Renegade

Benjamin Omerovic has signed for Norwegian side Honefoss BK in Norway.  They play in 2.Divisjon which is the third tier and last played in the top flight (Tippeligaen) in 2013.  I also see the club's manager is named Rene Skovdahl.  No idea if he's related to the former Aberdeen manager though.

9 minutes ago, Renegade said:

Benjamin Omerovic has signed for Norwegian side Honefoss BK in Norway.  They play in 2.Divisjon which is the third tier and last played in the top flight (Tippeligaen) in 2013.  I also see the club's manager is named Rene Skovdahl.  No idea if he's related to the former Aberdeen manager though.

Jimmy Calderwood ?

21 hours ago, 12th Man said:

Jimmy Calderwood ?

Nah, Jimmy Calderwood isn't related to Ebbe Skovdal. You're thinking of Rene Calderwood.

ICT reject Callum Morris has just joined Aberdeen. Quite an upward trajectory he's on - Morpeth, Dunfermline, Dundee Utd, Aberdeen.

On 4/2/2016 at 0:10 AM, Renegade said:

Earlier in the thread the former Man United striker Phil Marsh was mentioned who was on trial for us in 2007.  Since his last mention he's left Guiesley (after loan spells at Barrow and Stalybridge Celtic) and had spells at Salford City, Ashton United and Welsh second tier side Cefn Druids.  Looks like he's without a club after leaving them last year.  He's had 14 clubs in his career and is still only 29!

 

Bored earlier so decided to look up where some of these trialists ended up.  Phil Marsh is now 30 and playing for Runcorn Town in the North West Counties League (the ninth tier of English football).  His third club since the post quoted above.  Strange to think he was at Man United, came on trial with us and then signed for Blackpool who were then in the Championship down south.  

Conor Henderson left Grimsby after three games and then returned to Crawley Town, whom he was at when he came on trial with us.

Liam Molesworth is now at another team in England's ninth tier, Walsall Wood in the Midland League Premier Division.

John Cofie (a slow lumbering former Burnley and Man United centre-forward) eventually signed for Southport after leaving AFC Telford.  He also spent time on loan at Chorley and Bradford Park Avenue.

Toby Ajala is now at Gateshead.

Prince Rajcomar has since left Romania and is now playing in the third tier of Belgian football with KFC Oosterzonen Oosterwijk.

Oliver Norburn is now at Macclesfield Town.

Edited April 2, 20179 yr by Renegade

Some may remember a Jamaican striker who came on trial at the start of the season called Jomar Loza. He also turned out in a reserve match for us (and looked nothing special). He's since signed for Maidstone who also have Ben Greenhalgh (who's currently away on loan at Hemel Hempstead Town!). 

Jonh-Christophe Ayina - Left Newport County last year and is now at Italian side Virtus Francavilla in Serie C.

Marlon Jackson - Winger and striker who was on trial with the club around the time we signed Ibra Sekajja.  Later had two spells with Oxford, Tranmere and is now at Newport County.

Ayodele Dare - On trial at the same time as Jackson, some may remember him being pictured in a Stoke top around that time, though there was no evidence he played for them - or where he'd been previously.  It looks like his previous club was Dolphins FC in Nigeria, before he signed after his trial with us for Skonto Riga.  No idea where he is now.

Andrew Blake - New Zealand U20 cap who played for us last week at Brora and Nairn seems to have turned out for Hibs at Berwick the other night.  I wonder, had we opted to sign him, if a transfer fee would've been involved as he seems to be still contracted to New Zealand side Eastern Suburbs FC.  They play in Auckland.

I see David Ferguson has signed for Ayr.  He played for us against Nairn last week.

Liam Molesworth is now playing for another Midland League Premier Division side, Coleshill Town.  He scored the winner yesterday in their 4-3 FA Cup win against his former club, Bromsgrove Sporting.  Sporting was the side he was with when he came on trial up here.

It was one of several good goals in the game and can be seen here 

This is worth watching not just for Molesworth's goal (and others) but to illustrate the kind of video service a 9th tier English club can provide to its fans.  It is also evident that they have a better PA system than us!

Turns out New Zealand full back Andrew Blake who turned out for us against Brora and Nairn ended being signed by Hibs after a trial, though without any press release by the looks of things.  He's just joined East Stirlingshire on loan.