Jobi McAnuff was one of Wimbledon’s most highly rated young talents, before the team forged itself into a new identity with the MK Dons. 10 years after making his debut he is finally getting a shot at the big time with Reading.
Eight years ago one of the most storied clubs in English football came to a sad end, and it’s a tale which still shocks and it hard to imagine that it was allowed to occur.
Wimbledon, the FA Cup winners from 1988, and Premier League stalwarts almost ever since, were no more. They ceased to exist, after a deal to relocate them to Milton Keynes was struck.
Wimbledon’s incredulous fanbase decided not to stand for it, and created their own club AFC Wimbledon, which has rapidly risen up the football league from scratch, and are just one division below the MK Dons, now sitting in League Two.
One of the saddest things about Wimbledon changing to the MK Dons, was that much of what made them successful was taken away. The club had been an impressive production line for talent, even in the late 90s.
Those to come through the ranks included Jason Euell, Nigel Reo-Coker, and Chris Perry, all who went onto have enjoy impressive Premier League careers, while Carl Cort would have done too had it not been for injury.
A player touted as Wimbledon’s best yet, was young midfielder Jobi McAnuff, who forced his way into the club’s first team in 2001/02, becoming a regular.
By this time Wimbledon were in the first division, now the Championship, and in the summer of 2002 AFC Wimbledon were created after the announcement they would relocate, before the move happened officially two years later.
McAnuff was the last of the old Wimbledon’s bright young talents to come through the ranks, but circumstances meant a return to the Premier League was never going to happen for them, and he was missing out.
Shortly before Wimbledon folded in 2004 and relocated, McAnuff was let go to raise funds. He did not command a transfer fee, such were the dire straits the club were in, they needed his wages off their books, and let him go to West Ham in the January of that year.
Boss Stuart Murdoch said at the time his thoughts on the deal were “not publishable,” and added, “it’s like losing a member of the family.”
West Ham at the time were in the Championship, a league McAnuff would remain in throughout his 10 year career to date. West Ham had a large squad, and McAnuff found it hard to make an impression alongside so many established stars, and was sold to Cardiff the following summer, netting the Hammers a tidy profit of £250,000.
It was a good move for the player too, as he got back to playing regularly, and even scored past West Ham. He would later repeat this habit of scoring past his former clubs against Cardiff.
The Welsh side soon found themselves in a spot of financial trouble, and a year later the player was sold on again, for £600,000 to Crystal Palace, with club owner Sam Hamman who knew him from his Wimbledon days saying he was “Sorry to see him go.” Suddenly the player tipped for the very top was meandering in the division below and in danger of losing momentum.
McAnuff had in the meantime played international football for Jamaica, just the one game, and retired from it in 2005 at only 23, reportedly viewing it as a distraction.
A steady yet unspectacular time at Palace saw him sold on two years later, another sideways move this time to Watford, who paid £1.75 million to sign him. He would go onto play more than 80 times for the club, before making one more transfer two years later, moving down the road to Reading, taken with him by former boss Brendan Rodgers, now at Liverpool of course.
It did not work out for Rodgers at Reading, but at the Royals, the players has finally got his reward for a decade of hard work. He can finally say he is a Premier League player.
He got close a season earlier, Reading were beaten play-off finalists in 2011 by Rodgers’ Swansea side. In the semi-final McAnuff had scored a belter against his former club Cardiff to get to Wembley.
A rebuilding phase started after Reading sold Shane Long, a move which many thought would rule out promotion. McAnuff was handed the captaincy, and neither club or player have looked back since. The Royals went on a winning run which saw them clinch automatic promotion ahead of his former side West Ham, and he had reached the promised land.
Now 30, the versatile midfielder is a fixture of the Reading side, featuring in both of the club’s Premier League games so far this season. Before the season he said he was thrilled to return, adding he was “like a young kid,” eagerly looking forward to his opportunity.
When he was 20 and so highly rated he may have thought the Premier League would come easy, it certainly has not, but it means the player will appreciate it all the more, and be determined not to let the chance pass him by.
For fans of the old Wimbledon, it will be hugely satisfying to see one of their last young home developed talents reach the top, and they too will hope their new club will eventually ascend to the same level.
image: © joncandy
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