Welcome back to another edition of Where Are They Now?, the series that makes you go “Aw Christ, I forgot he existed and I wish this hadn’t reminded me!”
This week, I’ve decided to step back from laughing at hopeless strikers and instead take a jog down memory lane with a man that sat on Manchester United’s bench for so long, an imprint of his backside is probably still there. He’s none other than the South African sensation Quinton Fortune.
South African by birth, Fortune spent his teenage years playing for Spurs before he earned a move to Mallorca. He barely played (a familiar trait throughout his career) before joining Atletico Madrid. Again, our pal Quinton never played a lot in the first team but boy was he a star for their B team. A late 90s Dani Pacheco if you will.
Apparently that, and a couple of games at the 1998 World Cup, were enough for Sir Alex Ferguson in the summer of 1999 to splash £1.5 million on the 22-year-old Fortune. Well, 126 appearances in seven seasons hardly screams superstar does it? Yes, Quinton struggled with injury and the fact he was nothing more than glorified cover for the cover but when you consider that Kleberson, Djemba-Djemba and Bellion all came through Old Trafford at the time.
Still, Quinton was at Old Trafford for lots and lots of trophies though right? Right?
About that…
Manchester United won three Premier League titles while Quinton was at Old Trafford but it’s perhaps telling that Quinton played his fewest games in those seasons. So few that technically, he never should have got a medal. Fortunately, somebody at Old Trafford felt really sorry for him and he got a pity one while the real players celebrated their actual medals. He should have been called Quinton Mis-Fortune. Get it? Because he was unlucky? Mis-Fortune? Anyone? I’ll stop.
Unfortunately, Quinton’s ride on the United bench had to end eventually and he was released into the wild in 2006. He was allowed to run free all the way into the arms of Big Sam and Bolton where he played for a season and got a total of seven games. Excellent stuff. Flirtingly brief spells followed with Brescia in Italy and Tubize of Belgium before he finished his career with seven games at Doncaster in 2010.
Ever since his retirement, Quintbeenbeing doing some charity work (which is lovely, top man) and done some coaching while Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was wasting Vinny Tan’s money in Cardiff. He’s also taken part in some of those “legends” games. You know, the ones where they trot out the bench warmers from the early 1990s as legends because the actual ones have expensive homes to lounge around in.
As ever, I’ll finish off this little roundup with some weird videos I found on YouTube of Quinton. So, here’s a wild 90 second montage of his finest United moments. That it’s 90 seconds or so should say just about everything…
Here’s one of Patrice Evra tying Quinton up post-Carrick testimonial. He loved this game…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyNz_nW_E1U
And here’s Quinton getting a scalp pigmentation*. Obviously…
*Tales From The Top Flight does not endorse this hair clinic. We have our own hair…
Until next week…