Gus Caesar

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Gus Caesar
Personnel
Surname Gus Cassius Caesar
birthday March 5, 1966
place of birth Tottenham , London ,  England
size 183 cm
position Central defender
Juniors
Years station
1982-1984 Arsenal FC
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1984-1991 Arsenal FC 44 (0)
1990 →  Queens Park Rangers  (loan) 5 (0)
1991 Cambridge United 0 (0)
1991-1992 Bristol City 10 (0)
1992-1994 Airdrieonians FC 57 (1)
1994-1996 Colchester United 62 (3)
1997-1998 Partick Thistle 1 (0)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1987 England U-21 3 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

Gus Cassius Caesar (born March 5, 1966 in Tottenham , London ) is a former English football player . As a central defender, he went through the youth departments of Arsenal FC and was considered a hopeful talent before his career suffered a major setback after the sensational league cup final against Luton Town . In the 1990s, the three-time England U-21 international was then only under contract with much less ambitious clubs.

Athletic career

Arsenal FC (1984–1991)

After joining Arsenal in 1982, Caesar signed his first professional contract in February 1984 after convincing performances as a center and full-back. He finally made his debut on December 21, 1985, when Viv Anderson failed on right-back and coach Don Howe called the newcomer for the upcoming league game against leaders Manchester United in the starting line-up. Without any visible nervousness, Caesar delivered a good performance, neutralized the form strong winger Jesper Olsen and helped the "Gunners" to a 1-0 victory. However, the expectations associated with the successful debut could rarely be met in the period that followed. Responsible for this were injury problems in the form of a damaged groin as well as a double broken ankle and the fact that he rarely found his way into the team as a substitute for David O'Leary and thus gained little game practice. So he got stuck in his development between the first team and the reserve team.

In the season 1986/87 he came to various positions in the defense at least 15 league appearances before he more often represented O'Leary in the subsequent season 1987/88 and completed 22 First Division games. But what should ensure the sporting breakthrough, instead led to a traumatic experience on April 24, 1988. Caesar stood at the side of Tony Adams in the central defense of Arsenal , who met the outsider Luton Town in the league cup final . When Arsenal led 2-1 with less than ten minutes before the end of regular time and what the sure winner looked like, Caesar failed to break free in his own penalty area. Instead, the ball found its way to Luton's Danny Wilson , who equalized to 2-2. The turning point was initiated and at the last minute Mark Stein scored the 3-2 winning goal for the "Underdog".

Caesar did not recover from this faux pas and by the end of the 1990/91 season he only played a total of five league games for Arsenal. Briefly loaned to the club from late November 1990 for two months to city rivals Queens Park Rangers before he was released in the summer of 1991. Caesar was later exposed to malice and ridicule several times and Nick Hornby also dealt with his career in the 1992 novel Fever Pitch . Hornby compared Caesar's failure with the situation of a musician or, in his case, that of a writer and argued that talent and ambition are not enough.

The post-Arsenal period (1991–1996)

After his time at Arsenal, Caesar had brief stints at Cambridge United and Bristol City before moving to Scotland for Airdrieonians FC . There he reached the final of the Scottish FA Cup in his first season in 1991/92 , which was lost 2-1 to the Glasgow Rangers , but Caesar got his first games in a European club competition against Sparta Prague (0-1 , 1: 2 in the first round of the cup winners' competition ). After another year in Airdrie, he returned to England, where he was two years in the fourth division for Colchester United on the field. The free transfer Caesar was immediately a regular player and, due to his experience, a win in defense and after 47 competitive games in the 1994/95 season and his first goal in English professional football at Easter 1995, he left another 29 games and even two goals in the 1995 season / 96 follow.

Outside of professional football, he played briefly for Dagenham & Redbridge before emigrating to Hong Kong in 1996 . There he worked in the finance and insurance industry, combining smaller football engagements. He also worked for the Buler Rangers as a sports director and later helped establish an official Arsenal football school in the region.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "England - U-21 International Results 1986-1995 - Details" (RSSSF)
  2. ↑ "GUS CAESAR: I still have nightmares about Wembley final disaster" ( Memento of the original from January 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (EDP24) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.edp24.co.uk
  3. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1995-96 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0-09-180854-9 , pp. 39 .
  4. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1996-97 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1996, ISBN 978-1-85291-571-1 , pp. 47 .
  5. ↑ “What Happened Next? Gus Caesar " (FourFourTwo)
personal data
SURNAME Caesar, Gus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Caesar, Gus Cassius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH March 5, 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Tottenham , London