{"id":2473,"date":"2017-04-27T15:00:56","date_gmt":"2017-04-27T14:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.talesfromthetopflight.com\/?p=2473"},"modified":"2017-04-27T12:13:03","modified_gmt":"2017-04-27T11:13:03","slug":"journeyman-xi-now-olympian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.talesfromthetopflight.com\/2017\/04\/27\/journeyman-xi-now-olympian\/","title":{"rendered":"The Journeyman XI now has an Olympian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Journeyman: A worker or sports player who is reliable but not outstanding<\/em><\/p>\n

Welcome back to the series which lauds some great Premier League servants who perhaps fell a little bit short of the Ballon d\u2019or shortlist. So far we have 8 players in a rather weird looking 2-3-2 formation, but that does mean we need to get back on the recruitment horse and pick out a new Journeyman. This week, I\u2019ve signed up an England International who is also an Olympian. Surely this must be some sort of mistake?<\/p>\n

Step forward Steven Caulker, the man who burst onto the Premier League scene as a promising defender but ended it as an emergency striker under Jurgen Klopp. How did it come to this?<\/p>\n

Down the Lane<\/h3>\n

Caulker joined Tottenham\u2019s academy as a 15-year-old, and like many young players he had to go out on loan to make his way in the game. Loan spells at Yeovil in 2009\/10 and Bristol City in 2010\/11. Impressing in both spells and earning some accolades along the way, there was also time for Caulker to make his Spurs debut in a home defeat to Arsenal in the League Cup in September 2010. However, it would be 2012 before he would turn out for Spurs again.<\/p>\n

Swan Loan<\/h3>\n

Caulker\u2019s first taste of Premier League action would arrive in the 2011\/12 season, where a season-long loan to newly promoted Swansea would offer him valuable game time at the top level. Despite an 8 week injury disrupting the early part of the campaign, Caulker was a regular in an impressive Swansea side that finished 11th in their first season in the top flight, making 26 appearances. A number of teams expressed a desire to take Caulker on loan for the following season, but Caulker had other business to attend to first.<\/p>\n

Olympian<\/h3>\n

The summer of 2012 was a time of great excitement in Britain. The Olympic Games were here, and Britain was going to put on a show. Unfortunately, having done the hard work of reaching an agreement that allowed Great Britain to enter a football team despite competing as individual nations with UEFA, Stuart Pearce was given the managerial job and, let\u2019s face it, he was a far better player than a manager. Caulker made Pearce\u2019s squad but David Beckham was overlooked for Ryan Giggs. Now, I don\u2019t want to go off topic here, but for all the work Beckham did around Britain\u2019s Olympic bid how could you not pick him Stuart? Do you not think the players would have been inspired by playing with an International icon? Pah. A wasted opportunity. Although Team GB made it out of the groups, a defeat on penalties to South Korea was overshadowed by the events in another stadium that night. For Caulker though, it was back to Tottenham.<\/p>\n

The Spurs Way<\/h3>\n

Spurs appointed Andre Villas-Boas at the start of the 2012\/13 season, and AVB took a shine to our man Caulker and kept him around for the season. With a Europa League campaign to come, there would be ample opportunity for game time, and so it proved with a Premier League debut in September 2012 as a substitute against QPR. This was a golden age for Caulker, as the following week he played in Spurs 3-2 win at Old Trafford before scoring his first goal a week later against Aston Villa. Here it is\u2026from the stands, for some reason.<\/p>\n