496: Jason Euell, Wimbledon, Merlin’s Premier League 98 Official Sticker Collection

“Pele is king of the soccer field. To be king of your kitchen, use Crestfield wax paper.” When the Brazilian forward born Edson Arantes do Nascimento appeared in The Simpsons ahead of the critical clash between Mexico and Portugal it was clear that even the creators of everyone’s favourite yellow family knew that Pele was prone to a bold endorsement. I’m not even going to get started on the erectile dysfunction adverts apart from to quote the man himself and say “there are some things you don’t discuss in the dressing room”. 

As well as the innumerable sponsorship deals that have seen the Brazilian goal machine sing the praises of everyone from Subway to Volkswagen Pele has also been keen to provide his backing to a whole host of teams and footballers over the years. If his predictions had come true then Colombia would have won the World Cup in 1994, Nii Lamptey would have been proclaimed ‘the new Pele’ and Nick Barmby would be revered as “the English Roberto Baggio”. Instead Colombia were outclassed by the host nation and their captain was assassinated, Lamptey struggled to force Andy Townsend out of the Aston Villa line up and Nick Barmby emulated the Divine Ponytail in the sense that he briefly played in the same team as Fabrizio Ravanelli. Therefore it probably wasn’t the best news when Pele earmarked Wimbledon striker Jason Euell for future greatness.

Jason Euell graduated from the Dons’ youth academy to make his senior debut in an Intertoto Cup game against Turkish side Bursaspor in July 1995 and scored on his Premier League debut a few months later in a 2-1 home defeat to Southampton. With the likes of Efan Ekoku, Marcus Gayle and housewives’ favourite Dean Holdsworth leading the line it took Euell a while to break into the first team but two goals in the last two games of the 1996/97 season, both wins against Liverpool and Sunderland, convinced Joe Kinnear to involve the twenty year old more in the 1997/98 campaign. Although the Dons disappointed in the league Euell contributed four goals in five cup games to go with his four league strikes to finish as the club’s top scorer. He repeated the feat in 1998/99, this time with ten goals in 33 games, but warning signs appeared when Wimbledon’s season went into free fall following Kinnear’s heart problems. Under Egil Olsen the Dons crashed out of the Premier League in May 2000 and Euell was only able to contribute four goals despite starting every game.

Wimbledon held on to a fair few of their Premier League stars for their first season in the second tier in fourteen years but, despite the presence of Neal Ardley and Michael Hughes and nineteen league goals from Euell, the Dons failed to make the play-offs. Charlton Athletic stumped up a club record £4.75m to bring the striker across South London and he rewarded the Addicks with double figure returns in his first three seasons at The Valley. The goals dried up for both striker and club and Euell departed with long serving manager Alan Curbishley at the end of the 2005/06 campaign. Charlton turned to famed football management consultant Iain Dowie who moved across London from Crystal Palace to be nearer his family in Lancashire whereas Euell actually did move north to Middlesbrough for £300,000.

These moves would not work out particularly well for either Charlton or Euell. Dowie led the Addicks to eight defeats and only two victories during his twelve games in charge and their seven year stay in the Premier League was brought to an end despite Alan Pardew’s best efforts to rescue the sinking ship. Meanwhile a promising debut for Euell away at Arsenal proved to be a rare highlight in his one season at the Riverside where he failed to find the net in twenty appearances. Worst still he was on the end of racist abuse from a Boro ‘fan’ during a 0-0 draw with Liverpool which saw the offender banned from football for three years. Sadly this would not prove to be the last time that Euell would suffer such mistreatment from supposed football supporters.

When Gareth Southgate cancelled Euell’s contract at Boro he moved on to Southampton in the Championship where his 65 appearances produced a modest return of five goals. From here he moved to Ian Holloway’s Blackpool side and contributed four goals in 33 games to help the Tangerines into the Premier League. However, racist abuse reared its ugly head again during a League Cup tie with Stoke City when Euell had to be restrained as he responded to his abuser. Once again the culprit was banned from football for three years. Euell found first-team opportunities limited in the Premier League and, after a loan spell at Doncaster Rovers, found himself back at The Valley with Charlton at the start of the 2011/12 season. After two goals in fifteen appearances he spent nine games on loan at AFC Wimbledon bringing his career full circle and when Charlton decided not to renew his playing contract in the summer of 2012 he slotted straight into a coaching position with the Addicks. His work with the club’s under-21 side saw him credited with the development of future Premier League stars Joe Gomez and Ademola Lookman and he was headhunted for a role in the England under-20 set up in 2019.

A somewhat journeyman career with 98 goals in 495 appearances suggest that Jason Euell’s rise to greatness might go down as another of Pele’s misguided predictions. However, there is more to football than pure statistics and Euell’s determination to develop young talent may prove to be a far more enduring legacy than his playing career. The fact he achieved what he did on the pitch in the face of vile racism and the personal tragedy of the death of his baby daughter in 2001 speaks volumes of the man’s strength of character. It’s even more impressive when you find out that Euell was born deaf in one ear. In a recent interview Euell stated his desire to provide inspiration to the next generation of black coaches with the fittingly understated comment “if people can see me at a level where I’m at now or even higher in time hopefully it is ‘if Jason can do it, I can do it’”. Pele may have missed the mark about Jason Euell the player, but if the former Wimbledon man helps to address one of the sport’s biggest issues of equality, he might have been on to something after all.