Back in the day, in 1970, when football, in general, was less about business and more about the game – let’s call them the “glory days”, a Scottish youngster called James Cannon was signed as an apprentice with Crystal Palace. He had a trial with Manchester City, now the 5th on the list of the world’s most valuable football clubs in the world but he ultimately chose the Eagles. Three years later, he made his debut with the senior team, scoring his first goal in a match against Chelsea. He stayed with the club for fifteen years, appeared in more than 600 matches, and served as a captain for ten seasons. On the other side of the spectrum, we find Neil “Razor” Ruddock who only spent a season with Crystal Palace, appearing in 20 matches and scoring twice. This is the shortest career a player ever had with the Eagles – but it’s still far longer than the careers of these Premier League players below.
Marco Boogers (West Ham)
Marco Boogers has probably gone down in history as West Ham manager Harry Redknapp’s greatest screw-up. The player had a decent record with various Dutch second tier Eerste Divisie clubs before Redknapp signed him in 1995 before even seeing him play once. The decision backfired in a glorious way: minutes after stepping into the field in West Ham’s colors for the first time, Boogers delivered what will always be remembered as a “horror tackle” that almost sidelined Manchester United’s Gary Neville. Boogers was sent off immediately, then suspended for four matches. He stayed with West Ham for three seasons but only appeared in four matches, always as a replacement.
David Livermore (Hull City)
David Livermore left Millwall in 2006 for Leeds United, a team on its way out of the Premier League due to a variety of issues. Leeds paid £500,000 for him to Millwall… but it seems that this money was needed elsewhere and pretty urgently, because Livermore only spent ten days as part of the team, leaving for Hull City for £500,000 without even stepping into the playfield once. Livermore went on to play 25 league games with Hull, helping the team escape relegation.
Nick Culkin (Manchester United)
Back in the 1998-99 season, Manchester United was in its prime – and so was Nick Culkin, a young goalkeeper who managed to work his way up to become the third-choice for the team, who ultimately went down in history as the player with the shortest premier league debut ever. In a match Arsenal at Highbury on 22 August 1999, Culkin replaced goalkeeper Raimond van der Gouw in stoppage time and took a free kick from the Gunners. The referee blew the full-time whistle immediately afterward. Culkin’s entire career with Manchester United was about half a minute in one game against Arsenal.
