Liverpool Player's Career Derailed After Being Shot in Horrific Nightclub Attack

A former Liverpool defender was shot at a nightclub just months after making his debut for the Premier League club.

There are several injuries which are common in football, such as hamstring strains/tears, damaged knee ligaments, broken bones, and general lower-body muscle injuries.

But very rarely is a player sidelined due to being shot. But back in October 2003, ex-Liverpool defender Jon Otsemobor sustained an injury to his buttocks after a gunman armed with a small-calibre pistol opened fire at a Liverpool City Centre nightclub.

An 18-year-old man who was out drinking with the defender was also hit in the hand, while a 24-year-old man who had also been part of the group was hit 20 minutes later, according to BBC News.

The player, who was 20 at the time, had made his Liverpool debut in a League Cup tie against Southampton less than a year before the incident, before going on to make his maiden Premier League appearance in a 1-1 draw away against Newcastle United during the 2003/04 campaign.

The injuries Otsemobor sustained kept him out for several weeks before he returned to action.

Jon Otsemobor in action for Liverpool against Bolton in 2003 (Credit:Getty)

The defender opened up about the incident when speaking to Planet Football in 2019 and revealed that ex-Reds and England striker Robbie Fowler “had a bit of trouble” in the same nightclub a few months prior.

“My friend had just had his first son, so we all went out to town to wet the baby’s head,” he said.

“My friend was having trouble with a lad in the club, so he took a gun from another lad, despite us telling him not to.

“This other guy fired a gun in my direction, probably to scare me away, but it took some other lad’s hand off and then it hit me.”

After describing how blood was pumping from the wound he suffered, the Liverpudlian added: “When the paramedic arrived, he told me that the bullets had passed through me and that, had it hit me further up, my hip would have been shattered and that would have been the end of my career.”

Jon Otsemobor playing for Crewe in 2006 (Credit:Getty)

Despite the horrific incident, then-Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier stuck by him and continued to involve him before the arrival of Rafael Benitez spelt the end of his time at his boyhood club in the summer of 2004.

Speaking about the moment he realised he was not being offered a new contract at Liverpool, the full-back said: “I met with Benitez in his office and he told me he wasn’t going to give me another contract.

"I didn’t want to leave Liverpool, and I was sobbing in the room, asking Benitez to give me just an extra year, but he told me he had made his decision."

Following a loan spell at Crewe Alexandra during the Spaniard’s first season as Liverpool boss, Otsemobor penned a permanent deal at Rotherham United before returning to Crewe ahead of the 2006/07 campaign.

A successful three-year stint at Norwich City followed before the right-back went on to represent Southampton, Sheffield Wednesday and Milton Keynes Dons.

The 42-year-old then retired following a short loan spell at Tranmere Rovers in 2014 and is now involved in property development.

The Liverpudlian also revealed that he “regrets” going to the places he used to go because they “painted the wrong picture” of him.

Nonetheless, the former defender made 141 League One and 111 Championship appearances in his career, which is more than most people can envisage.