Jamie Cassidy had the footballing world at his feet and was living every football fan’s dream – today he was jailed for 13 years for running a cocaine empire.
At the age of 15, the Merseyside prodigy who played alongside Michael Owen and Jamie Carragher was England’s top scorer for the England under-16 team.
While never in the same criminal way, the England team with him at the European under-15 championships in 1993 also failed to reach the heights expected of them.
One was tragically killed in a car crash but the rest failed to fully make the grade at senior level for their country, apart from Ipswich Town legend Richard Wright.
Only a handful became Premier League regulars with the rest playing at a lower level or dropping out of professional football completely. Some became physios others went into banking and construction. One is a senior clerk in a barristers’ chambers.
Before he turned to crime, attacking midfielder Cassidy was also part of a Liverpool team that won the club’s first FA Youth Cup with a 4-1 win over two legs against a West Ham team featuring Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard.
But after getting injured he became better known as ‘the Nuclear-Dog’ – the nickname he gave himself as he directed team of dealers to sell cocaine and plotted to bring millions of pounds of Class A drugs to the UK from South America.
As he faces 13 years behind bars, his life in prison is a world away from where he stood 20 years ago.
Smiling at the camera, chest puffed out in his England shirt, there was no clue then that he would go from a young talent with seemingly boundless potential to a dangerous drug dealer.
Below, MailOnline looks at what became of the forgotten ‘Class of 93’, including its fallen star Jamie Cassidy.
The squad is (left to right) back row: 1 – Marlon Broomes, 2 – Michael Millett, 3 – Stephen Clemence, 4 – David Hilton, 5 – James Dungey, 6 – Andrew Duncan, 7 – Richard Wright, 8 – Paul Teather, 9 – Andrew Fotiadis. Front row: 10 – Emmanuel Omoyinmi , 11 – Jamie Cassidy, 12 – Andrew Ducros, 13 – John Curtis, 14 – Lee Hodges , 15 – Jamie Kyte, 16 – Leon Bell
Hero to zero: Jamie Cassidy, second left, is awaiting sentencing for drug smuggling. He’s seen with his teammates David Thompson, Michael Owen (and Jamie Carragher in 1996
Cassidy in a mug shot released today following his sentencing for drug trafficking
1. Marlon Broomes
Also in the photo is Marlon Broomes, who began his professional career at Blackburn Rovers and was part of the squad that won the league title in the 1994-5 season. He played for the side until 2001 and is pictured in 2023
Centre back Marlon was seen as one of the great hopes of the team but never truly made it big.
He was part of the Blackburn squad of 1994/95 who won the Premier League but he never played again.
Over seven years at Ewood Park he played 31 games before moving to Sheffield Wednesday and Preston.
Now 46, he finished his career at Altrincham. He is now a football consultant his son, also a defender, is part of Manchester City’s academy.
2. Michael Millett
Michael Millett (right) tragically died in a car crash in 1994
Tragically, one of their number, Michael Millett, would go on to lose his life within a year of the team photo being taken.
A talented youngster who could play in defence or midfield, he played three league games and one League Cup for Wigan Athletic.
Then, on September 21, 1995, he was killed in a car crash near Garswood on Merseyside.
It was just one day before his 18th birthday.
3. Stephen Clemence
His 1993 teammate Stephen Clemence made his Premier League debut for Tottenham against Man Utd in 1997. He is now head coach of Gillingham
Stephen Clemence, son of England legend Ray, made it from youth football into the Premier League with a debut for Tottenham against Man Utd in 1997, before appearing for Birmingham and Leicester.
He then followed the well-trodden path into management and is now head coach of Gillingham.
4. David Hilton
The England left-sided player was being chased by most of the top clubs in the country but plumped for Alex Fergusons’s Manchester United.
He was praised by one journalist while a schoolboy for his ‘healthy appetite for raiding down the wing’
He would never play for the Red Devils and made one appearance for Darlington – a late substitute in a 1–1 draw with Rotherham United in Division Three.
5. James Dungey
James Dungey went into banking, working for HSBC in the Midlands
He was most famous for a goal he conceded.
He was Plymouth’s No1 when his opposite number, Jimmy Glass, slammed his way into history on May 8, 1999.
Glass scored in the last minute to keep Carlisle United in the football league.
6. Andrew Duncan
Andy Duncan was a centre back for Man United – but never played for the first team.
He joined Cambridge United in 1998 for £20,000 and became a legend for the club, playing 328 times and scoring 11 goals.
7. Richard Wright
Richard Wright was the only player to play for the England first team
Ipswich Town legend Richard Wright was billed as one of the great goalkeeping talents for many years, but he would only ever gain two full caps for England.
He was a hero for his local club in Suffolk but moved to Arsenal as a rival for David Seaman – but he never hit the heights expected.
He played for Everton, Sheffield United and also two more spells at Ipswich.
He later moved to Manchester City where he remained on the books of Manchester City for four years, but never made a first-team appearance. He then stayed on as a coach.
8. Paul Teather
Man Utd and Bournemouth defender Paul Teather now works as a physiotherapist.
He begin his career as an apprentice with United and turned professional in 1996. He remained at Old Trafford until being released on a free transfer in 2001 – but never played for the team.
He finished his career at Northwich Victoria.
9. Andrew Fotiadis
Hitchin-born Andy Fotiadis started his career with Luton Town, making more than 100 appearances for the club.
He then moved to nearby Peterborough and to Heybridge Swifts in East Anglia.
10. Emmanuel Omoyinmi
Omoyinmi joined West Ham United as a trainee in May 1995.
He played around a dozen games for the Hammers and later played for at least 11 other clubs in England and Scotland, notably Bournemouth and Leyton Orient.
Emmanuel would later finish his career on the south coast with Worthing.
11 – Jamie Cassidy
Jamie Cassidy celebrating winning the FA Youth Cup in 1994. He was part the Liverpool squad that won the club’s first FA Youth Cup with a 4-1 win over two legs against a famously good West Ham team, featuring Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard
Cassidy was arrested in the wake of the law enforcement infiltration of EncroChat, an encrypted communications system favoured by organised criminals
Aged 15, he was England’s leading goal scorer – even netting three in the European Championships in 1994 – and winning a place at the FA School of Excellence at Lilleshall.
Today he was jailed for 13 years.
Cassidy, whose username was Nuclear-Dog, directed a team of drug dealers who sold the cocaine to clients in Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and Glasgow.
He also oversaw the collection of cash and acted as his brother’s ‘bookkeeper’.
The operation was exposed when EncroChat was cracked by the French intelligence service and messages about the March and April consignments were revealed.
Prosecutor Richard Wright KC said Cassidy played a ‘managerial role,’ receiving a wage from the ‘business’ which was run by his older brother, Jonathan, 50, and his associate Nasar Ahmed, 51.
Jonathan Cassidy, a former builder, and Ahmed both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to evade the prohibition on the importation of controlled drugs, as well as conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and conspiracy to transfer criminal property.
In mitigation, Paul Greaney KC, for Jamie Cassidy, said his client was paid a wage for his role and did not share in the proceeds from the sale of the drugs.
‘He was acting under a significant degree of control with only a limited degree of autonomy,’ the barrister said.
Outlining his client’s fall from grace, Mr Greaney told the court: ‘Jamie Cassidy was a footballer of exceptional talent and promise. He was signed by Liverpool at the age of nine. With Jamie Carragher he was awarded one of 16 places at the FA Centre of Excellence.
‘At the age of 15, he was the leading scorer for the England under 16 team in the 93/94 season with six goals including three in the European under-16 championships.
‘In the following season he was the top scorer for the England under 16-team.
‘He was a part of the Liverpool team which won the FA Youth Cup alongside Jamies Carragher and Michael Owen. He then broke into the first team making a number of appearances but injuries wrecked his career.’ In his 2008 autobiography Carragher, who is two months younger than Cassidy, said his youth teammate would have been a ‘certain Liverpool regular,’ but for injuries.
12. Andrew Ducros
Andrew Ducros played for Coventry City 10 times, including in the Premier League.
But like many of his teammates he never went on to bigger things.
He went to Nuneaton Borough and Kidderminster Harriers.
Most recently he played for Evesham United.
13. John Curtis
John Curtis of Manchester United in action during the FA Carling Premiership match against Barnsley in 1997
Defender John Curtis did break into the Manchester United team – playing 14 times for the club.
He then played for other big football league clubs including Blackburn, Barnsley, Sheffield United and QPR.
John would would finish his career in Australia. He now runs an elite coaching business in the United States.
14. Lee Hodges
Lee Hodges only played three times for West Ham and after a series of loan moves, including to Ipswich, he settled at Scunthorpe United making more than 100 appearances for the Lincolnshire club.
He played for more than 25 years, most recently for Herongate Athletic near Billericay.
15. Jamie Kyte
Jamie played for Charlton Athletic but moved away from football.
He is now a senior clerk in a barristers’ chambers.
16. Leon Bell
Leon Bell played for Ipswich Town as a schoolboy but never played for the first team.
He was released and went to Cambridge United and then Chelmsford City. He later played for Woodbridge Town in his native Suffolk.
How a Liverpool prodigy once picked over Steven Gerrard swamped Britain’s streets with cocaine: Inside the dramatic rise and fall of ‘certain future international’ Jamie Cassidy who turned to organised crime when injury left his football career in tatters
By Cameron Roy
It is an academy famed for producing some of England’s most talented players of recent times.
Jamie Carragher, Michael Owen and, more recently, Trent Alexander-Arnold are among the stellar names to have graduated through Liverpool’s youth system, before going on to become global superstars.
Not to mention, of course, the jewel in the crown, Steven Gerrard – argued by some as being the greatest player to ever pull on the club shirt.
But even Gerrard was once operating in the shadow of Jamie Cassidy – the teenager picked ahead of the future England captain for the FA’s centre of excellence, and considered by many the most prestigious talent of all.
At the age of 15, Cassidy was the leading scorer for the England under-16 team in the 1993-94 season with six goals, including three in the European under-16 championships.
Cassidy alongside fellow youth team star Jamie Carragher
A few years later he, alongside teammates Jamie Carragher and Michael Owen, was a key player of the Liverpool team that won the club’s first FA Youth Cup with a 4-1 win over two legs against a famously good West Ham team, featuring Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard.
Pictures from the day show Cassidy’s face beaming with joy as he held the trophy aloft at Anfield.
A first-team contract was swiftly offered by Liverpool and signed.
The manager of the England senior team Glenn Hoddle was so impressed with what he saw he invited Cassidy to spend time with the squad before one match because he was sure he would be a future international.
But despite the high hopes from his family, friends, managers and football fans – Cassidy would never play a match for Liverpool.
He would be released by the club in 1999 at the age of 21, before playing a few games for Cambridge United, then drifting into non-league football.
Cassidy’s life took a different path. This week, now 46, he has been jailed for being involved in an industrial scale importation of cocaine from South America to Europe.
He worked alongside his elder brother Jonathan, 50, a former builder who headed the operation that for several years saw regular shipments of cocaine to Amsterdam from cartels in South America.
Despite being a star of Liverpool and England’s youth team, Cassidy never played a game for the club
The young star also attracted attention from England manager Glenn Hoddle
Cassidy’s former teammates Michael Owen and Jamie Carragher would go on to have glittering careers in football
Jamie Cassidy pictured with his Cambridge United teammates. After playing eight games for the club he drifted into non-league football
From the Netherlands the drugs would be hidden in modified vehicles and brought to Liverpool, where Jamie would distribute it to associates across England and Scotland.
The multimillion-pound enterprise involved a money laundering operation and the brothers invested in several pieces of property and land in Liverpool.
Jonathan has one large area of land, near Jamie’s home, with enough water in it he was planning on turning into a fishing lake, according to The Times.
Instead of the glittering football career that his friends and teammates enjoyed, Cassidy is looking at a long prison sentence.
Despite joining the Liverpool Academy aged 12, his career began to take a downward turn after a series of injuries.
A serious knee and leg injury robbed him of his pace and left him struggling as he matured.
Jamie Carragher, who became a Liverpool defensive legend with 508 first-team appearances from 1996 to 2013 is just two months younger than Jamie.
The manager of the England senior team Glenn Hoddle was so impressed with what he saw he invited Cassidy to spend time with the squad before one match because he was sure he would be a future international
Instead of the glittering football career that his friends and teammates enjoyed, Cassidy will now be spending years behind bars
In his 2008 autobiography Carragher said Cassidy would have been a ‘would have been a certain Liverpool regular if he hadn’t suffered so much with injuries’
The spectacular fall from grace is thought to have devastated Cassidy
Gerrard also mentions Cassidy in his 2006 autobiography, mentioning his ‘pure quality’ banter and expressing jealousy at his opportunities to train at the Liverpool training centre as a youngster
In his 2008 autobiography he said Cassidy would have been a ‘would have been a certain Liverpool regular if he hadn’t suffered so much with injuries’.
Gerrard also mentions Cassidy in his 2006 autobiography, mentioning his ‘pure quality’ banter and expressing jealousy at his opportunities to train at the Liverpool training centre as a youngster.
But Cassidy is far from the only promising young footballer to have a career cut short due to injuries.
However with a potential promise so huge from himself and those around him, the spectacular fall is thought to have devastated him.
Manchester Crown Court will hear on Wednesday how he turned his competitive drive into a criminal empire.
He was arrested in the wake of the law enforcement infiltration of EncroChat, an encrypted communications system favoured by organised criminals.
Steven Gerrard would go on to lift the UEFA Champions League trophy in 2005
Carragher has now become a successful Sky Sports pundit. Pictured in April 2020
The end-to-end phone network code was cracked by the French intelligence services in the summer of 2020, and the information was passed to the UK’s National Crime Agency.
It led to the discovery that Cassidy, along with his brother Jonathan and their business partner, Nasar Ahmed, had been operating undetected for years.
Authorities discovered in six weeks alone Jonathan organised deals of 356kg of South American cocaine to come to Amsterdam – worth £28 million in UK street value.
The sophisticated operation involved the expert movement of money around the world – undetected by the authorities.
Jamie was eventually arrested in October 2020 at the airport after returning from Dubai.
In his house the police found a black machete, an encrypted telephone and a Greater Manchester police case summary of the operation that would lead to the gang members’ arrest.
