From the Banks of the River Severn

...to the shores of Scandinavia, Australasia, Africa, and many others, but sadly not Sicily – yet. Gone are the days when players from Ireland were considered exotic, and with easyjet and the European Union making the football world ever smaller, even a quaint little lower league side like Shrewsbury Town can build up a decent XI of overseas alumni, nine of whom own representative honours of some description.

To keep things fair, I’ve only included players who were either born abroad – obviously – or who are English-born but have represented their adopted country at some level - meaning Andreas Arestidou misses out, but Ömer Rıza, the proud holder of a Turkey B cap, makes the cut.

GK: Benny Gall

I have to confess it’s a poor start for me, since Benny Gall was slightly before my first ever Town game, but word of mouth and the internet have both informed me of the Danish ‘keeper’s existence. Making 34 appearances between 1996 and 1998, Gall may not have set the world alight but probably had a more exciting career than Scott Cooksey and Mark Cartwright – winning a Danish U21 cap in 1990, he left Town to join Esbjerg fB in his homeland’s Superliga.

Esbjerg were relegated in 2000 but a year later Gall joined Danish giants FC Copenhagen, where, as a reserve ‘keeper, he won four titles and was part of several Champions League squads. Making just eight league appearances in six years, this Scandinavian Stuart Taylor now manages in the third tier.

RB: Jason van Blerk

Overpaid, past his best and unfit – a classic Kevin Ratcliffe signing. Before lumbering around Gay Meadow in the glorious relegation season, van Blerk actually made 33 appearances for Australia in the 1990s whilst featuring for West Brom, Millwall, and the Netherlands’ Go Ahead Eagles. 

Collector's item - Sagi Burton's signed St Kitts and Nevis shirt

CB: Sagi Burton

Sagi, or Osagyefo Lenin Ernesto to his mum, was born in Birmingham but made three appearances for Saint Kitts and Nevis in 2004 whilst playing for Peterborough. Alongside his ‘Boro teammates Calum Willock and Adam Newton, aggressive defender Burton played in a 2-0 friendly defeat to Northern Ireland, before featuring in both legs of a tie against Barbados in the second round of CONCACAF qualification for the 2006 World Cup. 

Saint Kitts won 5-2 on aggregate with Newton and Willock both scoring, before losing all six games in the group stage with a goal difference of minus 22. The trio were called up again for the Caribbean Cup qualifiers in 2006, but this time decided that Peterborough was more attractive than Barbados and stayed at home.

CB: Shane Cansdell-Sherriff

Versatile SCS has played a solid three seasons for Town so far and shows no sign of stopping. Shane also played for Australia’s under 23s at the Athens Olympics in 2004, featuring against an Argentina side including Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano in the group stage, before losing a quarter final against Iraq. In March this year his strong, consistent performances for Town led to a call up to the full squad for the first time.

LB: James Meredith

I admit this one is a bit forced, and mainly because Thomas Nielson was before my time, but Meredith was indeed born in Australia and did indeed play for Shrewsbury Town. Three times. Very poorly. He found his level during a loan spell at Telford, and now plays regularly for York City. According to his Wikipedia, he once dated a Page Three girl. Well done James.

Derek Asamoah (left) signs for the Pohang Steelers

RM: Derek Asamoah

Another with an interesting career, Ghanaian winger Asamoah worked the backwaters of England’s lower leagues before joining Town in 2006. A successful season climaxing in a Wembley play-off defeat was followed by a hugely acrimonious transfer to the French top tier side Nice, as Gary Peters referred to the striking striker as “a selfish player and a selfish person” – both parties handling the situation with an admirable lack of playground dignity.

Peters’ voodoo doll must have taken a serious pounding however as Asamoah spent two luckless and gameless years in France before making three appearances for the mighty Hamilton Academical. As one of Derek’s privileged 3000 Facebook friends, I have witnessed the pictures of successful subsequent moves to Lokomotiv Sofia and now to South Korea’s Pohang Steelers, where he plays in front of 17,000 obsessive Koreans in the K-League. Asamoah has made four appearances for Ghana since 2006.

Terry Dunfield celebrates his first international goal

CM: Terry Dunfield

Another to leave under a bit of a cloud, many Town fans cursed Thierry Dunfield for wanting to return to his home city to earn more money, play in a higher quality league and perhaps play for his country. What a bastard.

Canadian Thierry began his Town career with some truly diabolical performances after joining in January 2009, before becoming one of the team’s key players the following season, a metronomic midfielder who glued the side together. A first international cap followed, with Canada manager Stephen Hart famously and publicly telling him he needs to play at a higher level, which Thierry duly sought in 2010.

A move to Vancouver Whitecaps seemed like a winner all round then, and as the team struggle through their debut MLS season Thierry has been the star in a poor team. Five more international caps have followed as promised, including a goal against Ecuador, and a recent move to Toronto FC will put him at a stronger level.

CM: Gylfi Sigurðsson

He may well have only played five games on loan from Reading in 2008, but other than Joe Hart, Sigurðsson has reached greater heights than any other recent Town player. Despite his slight build at the time, he was a convincing playmaker whose quality over most of his teammates was painfully obvious.

After a handful of games for Town, Gylfi had another loan spell at Crewe before breaking into Reading’s first team in 2009. Twenty-one goals from midfield, including an injury-time equalising penalty at Anfield, won him Reading’s Player of the Season and much interest from Premier League clubs, but it was Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga who won his signature in 2010 in exchange for £6 million.

In his first season for the cash-rich Germans, ten goals and another Player of the Season award followed for the still-young midfielder, who has now earned five international caps for Iceland on his way to becoming one of their most important players. Away days at Bayern Munich must seem a far cry from a Tuesday night at Accrington Stanley.

LM: Benjamin van den Broek

It would be reasonable to say that Benji, a likable chap who was clearly a talented footballer, was never really given a fair crack of the whip at Town. A strangely inspired signing by Paul Simpson, rescued from the ashes of his previous club HFC Haarlem’s bankruptcy, the Dutch forward never got the run in the team that his talents deserved. Injuries and a lack of a real position didn’t help his case, and nor did the arrival of Graham Turner who just didn’t seem to fancy him.

After just eleven appearances in more than a year, Benji has since joined FC Den Bosch in the Eerste Divisie, the Dutch second tier, where Ruud van Nistelrooy began his career. I have a strange feeling that like so many discarded Town players, the decision to release van den Broek will come back to haunt us. 

CF: Kris Bright

Another interesting Paul Simpson signing, hopes were high for New Zealander Kris Bright as we watched the above video of his (solitary, against Thailand) international goal. Completely underwhelming, but difficult to judge definitively since he never seemed to come on before 85 minutes, Bright generally flattered to deceive but did have occasional moments of quality before joining Budapest Honvéd – once the home of Ferenc Puskás.

Unfortunately for New Zealand, that’s where the similarities to the legendary Hungarian end, with no caps being added since Bright’s fourth – which in fairness did come against Spain at the 2009 Confederations Cup. Once named by Football365 as the worst player at the 2010 World Cup, Bright didn’t actually make the final squad and was left as a reserve – tellingly, Rory Fallon was taken instead.

CF: Guy Madjo

“We’ve got Guy Madjo, better than Eto’o” the chant optimistically went, as rumours went around of Madjo once being picked ahead of Samuel Eto’o for Cameroon. This, unfortunately, was a slight exaggeration – our hero was simply picked as a non-playing replacement for one of the world’s best strikers as Eto’o suffered one of those convenient injuries which somehow always seem to crop up before international friendlies.

This wasn’t the end of Madjo’s Indomitable Lions career however – he was named in the provisional under 23 squad for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which excused him from the first few weeks of Town’s season. Madjo featured in a friendly against Japan, but evidently didn’t impress as he missed out on the final squad and returned to Shropshire with his tail between his legs. After a promising start to his Town career, the striker faded, and left for rather unexpected spells in China and Albania before recently signing for Stevenage.

Heat's 2007 Torso of the Year, and star of Turkey A2 Team

Subs:

Thomas Nielson Danish left back of the mid 1990s.

John Keister Absymal midfielder for Town, made two appearances for Sierra Leone.

Ömer Rıza Once played for Turkey A2 – their B team. Awful for Town.

Rory Fallon Terrible loanee from 2001 now has 10 caps for New Zealand.

Glynn Hurst Has apparently earned five caps for South Africa under 23s.

Fola Onibuje Utterly dreadful Nigerian winger who played one League Cup game for Town.

(Is there a theme here?)

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