Many who made way more appearances than Mo Camara. And many who, and he would gladly recognise this himself, had more technical ability than Mo Camara.
But were there any that were more entertaining than Mo Camara? Now we’re talking.
Swashbuckling is a word which could have been invented for the marauding left back whose Molineux stay at the turn of the Millennium was sadly short, but often sweet.
One of the game’s mavericks whose jet-heeled and scintillating pace could take him past an opponent within the blink of an eye. And who, despite boasting an excellent left foot, perhaps wasn’t always completely sure where an attempted pass or cross would ultimately end up.
Camara was a great entertainer. A footballer almost from a bygone age. But at the same time, that shouldn’t detract from his overall ability and a career which brought over 400 senior appearances in France, England and also Scotland, with the giants of Celtic.
And a career which, with a fairer wind, and without Wolves’ late-season squandering of a Championship promotion spot in 2001/02, would surely have brought many more Premier League appearances than a solitary one for Derby which wasn’t particularly auspicious - a 6-0 defeat against Liverpool at Anfield.
It is 25 years this summer since Camara joined Wolves. And next week, he turns 50. A perfect symmetry, and befitting of the fact he has now settled in the area and, for the last eight years, has been running the popular ‘Chill’ bar on Tettenhall’s High Street.
He will no doubt mark his latest landmark in much the same way as he played football, and in much the same way as he lives his life. With happiness, entertainment, and an infectious smile.
“Ah mate,” he begins, showing he has indeed acquired plenty of Wolverhampton ‘lingo’ down the years.
“You have to smile, don’t you?
“Everything I do in life I try to do my best – always giving 100 percent – and always with a smile.
“You only have the one chance at a career in football, and one chance at life, so you have to make the most of it.
“Like everyone, I have tough moments, we all do, but I think it’s about enjoying life as much as possible.”
Life for Camara began in Guinea before his early footballing dreams were developed at the Beauvais academy in France, where he also launched his professional career before moving to Le Havre, overlapping for a season with fellow future Wolf, Ludo Pollet.
There were loan spells with Troyes and Lille before he came across to play a couple of trial games for Wolves, impressing to the extent that he made a permanent £100,000 move, two-and-a-half decades ago this summer.
And kicked off something of a mutual appreciation society between himself and the Molineux faithful.
“As soon as I saw the stadium I just wanted to sign, and I never regretted it,” Camara reveals.
“That was also because of the fans.
Mo Camara
Mo Camara
“They were always so good to me, and I remember right from my first game, a friendly against Southampton when I played the second half, they accepted me straightaway.
“There was a really good feeling there and when I eventually came to leave Wolves, I was most sad because of that relationship with the fans.”
Camara’s first season at Molineux, in 2000/01, for the main part featured appearances from the bench with Lee Naylor pretty much nailing down the left back berth.
But in his second, he was far more prominent, playing a part in what, for so long, seemed sure to herald automatic promotion and Wolves’ debut ascent into the Premier League.
As has been so often and painfully documented, a slight downturn towards the end of the season, and incredible run from West Bromwich Albion, saw the two trade places and Wolves’ top two chances slip away, before the agony was completed by play-off semi-final defeat to Norwich.
There are many observers from the time who would suggest that Wolves actually played better football in the season they agonisingly missed out, than in the following campaign when they finally made it to the Promised Land.
At times they were unplayable. Untouchable. Scoring goals – and lots of them – for fun. But those memories are difficult to resurrect because of how it all finished.
“It was my best time at Wolves in that second year, although I still struggle to think about it because of what happened,” Camara explains.
“For so long we were unbelievable, I think the best team in the division.
“We were scoring so many goals, I think we’d have been good enough to stay up in the Premier League the way we played that season, and I still can’t believe or understand how we didn’t get promoted.
“It was almost perfect from the beginning of the season until the last five or ten games and then losing in the play-offs, which was horrible.
“Sometimes it’s just destiny, and things aren’t meant to be, and that’s the way I have to look at it.”
It was perhaps also Camara’s unfortunate destiny that the second leg of the play-off defeat against Norwich, when Kevin Cooper’s thunderbolt proved insufficient to overturn a first leg two-goal deficit, would prove his 52nd and last appearance in a Wolves shirt.
During the following pre-season, whilst still very much in the first team picture, Camara suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury in a friendly at Stockport which kept him out for the entirety of the campaign.
And so, when it came to the play-off final against Sheffield United at the Millennium Stadium, he was with the squad purely as a spectator, after which some difficult contract talks, the details of which he isn’t keen to go into, culminated in his Molineux departure.
“By the time I did get back to fitness the team were flying,” he recalls.
“It was the complete opposite to the season before, a bad start but then started flying and went up in the play-offs.
“I was at the Millennium Stadium and, in a way, it was quite difficult to be there.
“From a selfish point of view, I wanted to be involved, and wanted to play a part in the team getting promoted.
“But I wasn’t and hadn’t kicked a ball all season.
Mo Camara during his Wolves days
Mo Camara during his Wolves days
“The other side of that was that I was really glad for Wolves, for all my team-mates, and the fans, that they had finally managed to reach the Premier League.
“I didn’t want to leave Wolves, and Dave Jones was a great gaffer, who I still talk to now about how I wanted a new contract!
“But by then I had been out for so long and he was looking for some competition for Lee Naylor, and I never got my chance to play for Wolves in the Premier League.”
Camara was gone, signing for Burnley, where he enjoyed the most consistent run of form of his career, without even a hint of any injury concerns, chalking up 104 appearances over two seasons.
Gone but not forgotten, certainly when it comes to the friendships forged over his time at Molineux.
The list of those he remembers with great fondness is long, including the likes of Neil Emblen, Carl Robinson, Steve Sedgley and Simon Osborn.
Camara spoke pretty much zero English when he first arrived, and efforts to settle weren’t helped by regularly returning home to France with his then partner.
Camara in action for St Mirren
Camara in action for St Mirren
Kevin Muscat was a great help in the integration process, inviting him round for meals, and so too property agent Andrew Pearce, who used to work with new signings in providing accommodation, and is still good friends with Camara to this day.
The greatest friendship however - a bromance if you like - was one that you could never really have predicted. Between Camara and no-nonsense Scot, Alex Rae, albeit a character with a gentle interior in contrast to his sometimes fierce outward persona!
Their mutual mickey-taking was relentless. But founded on a very strong connection, to the point where Rae has since described ‘Mo Mo’ as a ‘brilliant room-mate’.
“We are from different parts of the world with different personalities, but in any walk of life, even say in an office, sometimes you just connect with people,” says Camara.
“From day one when Alex arrived, we got on so well, he is such a lovely guy and very friendly.
“I could call him at any time if I needed to, and we have kept in touch a fair bit ever since.”
Rae’s strength in the tackle and unbridled determination were very much part of his game back in the day and especially during his time at Molineux.
But for Camara, all the nice guys off the pitch such as Rae, Muscat, Emblen and more, changed in personality as soon as they crossed that white line!
“Away from football they were really kind and generous but so hard on the pitch, I had never seen anything like how determined and committed they were,” he says with a laugh.
Eventually however, he had to bid those team-mates goodbye.
After Burnley, came an incredible experience with Celtic, including being on an opposition squad to Rae when at Rangers, and then Derby, including their ill-fated Premier League campaign where he made that solitary appearance at Anfield.
There were loan spells with Norwich and Blackpool, a baker’s dozen appearances back north of the border with St Mirren and then a short spell in League Two with Torquay to round it all off.
And from there, a few years spent in the world of scouting, initially with Sunderland thanks to Eric Black, and then Derby, working for former Wolves Academy Director Chris Evans, and Manchester United, which was his final role before a change in circumstances prompted a change in direction.
“Manchester United have so many scouts in different places and I was covering the West Midlands in looking for potential Academy players, as well as tournaments abroad including in France, Belgium and Germany,” Camara explains.
In action for Celtic
In action for Celtic
“That was a bit better for me in terms of being closer to home because at Derby I was a European scout and was constantly travelling.
“Eventually, even though Manchester United was better for me, being involved in football is so intense and you can get a last minute call and go here or there to another game.
“With my new partner, I just wanted to be able to have my own business in some way or another, and to be able to control my own destiny.
“That made it time for a completely new chapter.”
That chapter was Chill. In the heart of Tettenhall. A venue where, as with football, Camara’s aim is to entertain and make people smile.
Regularly putting in the hard yards working behind the bar, he still enjoys many chats about modern football although he is a more infrequent visitor to Molineux these days, most recently last season for the game with Arsenal, the club he supports.
He did used to be a regular for Wolves Allstars, until having to undergo a knee operation, although, even as the big 50 approaches, he hasn’t ruled out a return!
It feels incredible to think that the keen and enthusiastic full back who travelled over to Wolverhampton with the world at his feet 25 years ago, is now firmly settled in the area, with a house and business, and very much a contented Wulfrunian!
Next Wednesday brings the next milestone.
Happy half century Mo! And keep on smiling.