Marco Boogers
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Marco Boogers (born 12 January 1967) is a Dutch former professional
footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
who played as a forward. Boogers spent almost all of his career in the Netherlands, apart from an ill-fated spell at English club
West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
. He later worked as technical director at FC Dordrecht and managed the club on an interim basis in 2005.


Club career


West Ham United

After a decade playing in the Netherlands, especially prolific in their second tier
Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as t ...
, Boogers joined
West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
from Sparta Rotterdam for £1 million in July 1995, even though West Ham manager Harry Redknapp had never seen him play. Coming on as a substitute against Manchester United at Old Trafford in only his second appearance for the club, he was almost immediately sent off for a violent knee-high challenge on
Gary Neville Gary Alexander Neville (born 18 February 1975) is an English football pundit and former player. He is also a co-owner of English Football League club Salford City. After retiring from football in 2011, Neville went into punditry and was a comm ...
. The press called it a "horror tackle" and suggested that Boogers was hired to injure a Manchester United player on purpose. Boogers himself claimed the wet grass made him slide too far and noted that Neville was able to finish the match, but nevertheless he was suspended for four matches. In November he returned as a substitute against Aston Villa in a 4–1 loss. He played his last match a month later, on 2 December, against
Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
in a 4–2 defeat. He never started a league match for West Ham; all four of his appearances for the club were as a substitute. During his first few months at West Ham Boogers had been suffering from worsening pain in his knee. After an
MRI Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio waves ...
scan he underwent an emergency surgery. As his recovery was expected to take three months he was given permission by Redknapp to return to the Netherlands on 28 December in order to attend the birth of his son. While Boogers was recovering from his injury Redknapp signed another striker,
Iain Dowie Iain Dowie (born 9 January 1965) is a football manager, former professional footballer and sports television pundit. He played as a striker from 1983 until 2001, notably in the Premier League for Southampton, Crystal Palace and West Ham Unit ...
, rendering Boogers surplus to requirements.


Return to the Netherlands

In February 1996, Boogers was loaned out to Groningen for the remainder of the season, but a few days before he was scheduled to play his first match his knee problems returned and worsened, sending him back into recovery until March 1997. Even though he was still under contract at West Ham, Boogers knew he would not play there again. He last visited the club in February 1996 and never returned. He finished his career playing for
RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional football club based in Waalwijk, that is currently competing in the Eredivisie. Its name is derived from 'Rooms Katholieke Combinatie' ('Roman Catholic Combination' in Dutch) and was established as a merger ...
, FC Volendam and Dordrecht '90.


Technical director

After retiring as a player, Boogers worked for hometown club Dordrecht as technical director. His position was under threat, after he infamously clashed with then coach
Jan Everse Jan Everse (born 5 January 1954 in Rotterdam) is a retired Dutch football player and manager, who is currently head coach at amateur side BVCB. Playing career Club He made his professional debut for Feyenoord in a November 1973 Eredivisie matc ...
over Boogers' behaviour in 2015. The book ''Koning van de Krommedijk'' (King of the Krommedijk stadium) was written about Dordrecht's 2014–15 Eredivisie season, but primarily about Boogers. He was briefly caretaker manager in 2005 after
Robert Verbeek Robert Verbeek (born 26 July 1961) is a Dutch former soccer player and subsequently a manager. He currently coaches the first football squad of RV & AV Sparta. Verbeek is the younger brother of former Oman manager Pim Verbeek. As a player, he feat ...
was dismissed. After returning to his previous role, Boogers left the club in August 2017.


After football

Redknapp would later criticise Boogers in an interview, labelling him a poor player. He also claimed that he never saw Boogers play and that he contracted him on a whim based on a videotape where he appeared to be a world class player. Boogers himself disputed this and claimed scouts from West Ham United attended several of his matches with Sparta before signing him. In 2007 Boogers was voted number 19 in ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
poll of the "50 Worst footballers (to grace the Premier League)."


Personal life


Caravan myth

During his convalescence in the Netherlands, ''The Sun'' newspaper ran an article claiming Boogers was depressed and had been found on a mobile home site in the Netherlands. Bill Prosser, who worked as West Ham United's PA and travel arranger at the time, disputed this claim, explaining to ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
's'' " The Fiver":


References


External links

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Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boogers, Marco 1967 births Living people Footballers from Dordrecht Association football forwards Dutch footballers FC Dordrecht players FC Utrecht players RKC Waalwijk players Fortuna Sittard players Sparta Rotterdam players West Ham United F.C. players FC Groningen players FC Volendam players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Premier League players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England EBOH players