Sonny Pike
 Pike in 2022 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 1983 (age 42–43)[1][2] | ||
| Place of birth | Enfield, England | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| Enfield Colts | |||
| Enfield | |||
| 1996 | Leyton Orient | ||
| Stevenage Borough | |||
Sonny Pike (born 1983) is an English former footballer who became famous at a young age for his talent, which saw him being compared to players regarded as among the greatest of all time, such as Diego Maradona and George Best.[3][4] Despite his early promise, Pike left the match at the age of 18 without ever having played professionally.[5]
Early life and football career
Pike was born and raised in Enfield.[2] He joined Enfield Colts at the age of six, moving to Enfield F.C. at the age of ten.[2]
Pike received much publicity when he went on trial with Dutch club Ajax in 1995;[2][6][7] though the club wanted to sign him, he returned to England to sign for Leyton Orient instead.[2] During his time in the media spotlight, he featured in advertisements for Coca-Cola and McDonald's, attended awards ceremonies with leading footballers, and entertained the crowd before the 1996 Football League Cup final.[6][2] He was due to move to Chelsea until he featured on a Channel 4 documentary titled Poaching & Coaching in May 1996, which made allegations of illegal payments and resulted in him being banned from representing any club for a year.[6][2] He later went on trial with both Queens Park Rangers and Crystal Palace before signing with Stevenage Borough.[6][2] He had a trial at Grimsby Town,[6] before quitting football at the age of 18.[2]
There were reports in the media that Pike had a non-league career at clubs such as Barnet and Waltham Forest under an assumed name,[7] or was playing in Dundee, but he has denied those reports.[6]
Later career
In 2016 Pike was working as a taxi driver in London.[6] In February 2020 he opened a football academy.[8] He is married with two children.[2] He continues to be cited by the football media as the archetype of a heavily promoted child prodigy who ultimately did not achieve success in the sport.[9]
References
- ↑ "First Person Plural". Radio Listings. 14 January 1996. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
Twelve year old Sonny Pike is a footballing genius
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Doyle, Mark; Legate, Jay. "Back to the future: Sonny Pike returns to Ajax". Goal. Retrieved 30 June 2026.
- ↑ "Too much too young?". BBC News. 23 June 1999. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
- ↑ "The story of English Maradona". The Irish Mirror. 21 May 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
- ↑ Salmon, Ken (23 June 2022). "Lost soccer talents: teen players who sparkled too early". 90soccer.com. Retrieved 30 June 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ames, Nick (25 February 2016). "Sonny Pike on life as a football prodigy: 'At 17 my head was finished. I was suicidal'". The Guardian.
- 1 2 "Sonny Pike". When Saturday Comes. Archived from the original on 22 May 2012.
- ↑ Ames, Nick (31 March 2020). "How Sonny Pike, the wonderkid who fell to earth, is guiding young players". The Guardian.
- ↑ Dickson, Andrew (28 November 2016). "Celtic's Karamoko Dembele will hopefully have more good fortune than me, says Sonny Pike". Sky Sports. Sky Group. Retrieved 21 May 2020.