Player Departure That's Most Upset You

[dingledog]

Mick Jones to Leeds

 

[Vancouver]

Sir Brian leaving for Leeds. We all knew it was coming but it still stung when I saw him wearing a white shirt.

Can you imagine the uproar on BU if it was around when we sold Deane and Fjortoft? Jesus Christ!

 

[Dutch]

TC. Broke a young lad's heart. Still just stare at him in awe whenever I see him. But at least I got my new TC mug from the shop on Saturday

 

[La_Blade]

I was quite a late starter with the Blades, so for me its Brown going to Spurs. I was convinced he was staying and we'd go up, or that we'd gamble on him going on a free at the risk of what he offered. Pretty much the same as killa in january I fear.

 

[mickle-blade]

Still not got over selling Mick Jones !
Angry that we sold TC - even though it was always going to happen.
After that I've come to expect that any player we have who is any good is going to be sold on.
All these years on and nothing changes.
If only we had had all our quality players at the same time. UTB

 

[Kentblade]

Still not got over selling Mick Jones !
Angry that we sold TC - even though it was always going to happen.
After that I've come to expect that any player we have who is any good is going to be sold on.
All these years on and nothing changes.
If only we had had all our quality players at the same time. UTB

If only seems to be the two words that come to mind being a blade supporter.
We even tried to sell the great Jimmy Hagan to them across the city of all people.
He did not want to go and he didnt.Will never forget that moment even if I was very young.
Had some great players but never all at the same time.
Still we have hung on to Killa and have got in the midfielder that we have been crying out for.
Could be a shrewd move imo.
UTB:thumbup:

 

[happyhippy]

Has to be Deano to the dirties. It was the way it was done more than owt. Had Harry been about, he may not have gone, and we almost certainly would have survived.

 

[Ollessendro]

It's funny the fuss everyone is kicking up about Deane and Fjortoft leaving.

Deane was a different story, but the Fjortoft deal had been on for ages. I remember it well. Gareth Taylor and Jan Age were fighting it out for the number 9 jersey. They were similar styles of player (except one much better than the other). That lazy donkey Taylor hit a bit of form when Fjortoft was on the sidelines and all the United fans got behind Taylor. For once Taylor was putting the effort in. He scored the best volley i've seen (behind Van Bastens in 88) against Forrest and looked shit hot. I remember sitting on the kop and everyone singing 'one Gareth Taylor, there's only one Gareth Taylor .... '.

The blades fans made their choice and it was that carthorse Taylor and not the talented Jan Age. Those of you who are making it out as the upset of the century have very short memories. The club made the natural option of keeping the player that the fans seemed to like the most.

Of course it was gutting to loose 2 players of such quality on one day. This was compunded with Dean Saunders (and Borbokis I seem to remember) going and Taylor resulting back to his fat, lazy crapness.

 

[mickle-blade]

If only seems to be the two words that come to mind being a blade supporter.
We even tried to sell the great Jimmy Hagan to them across the city of all people.
He did not want to go and he didnt.Will never forget that moment even if I was very young.
Had some great players but never all at the same time.
Still we have hung on to Killa and have got in the midfielder that we have been crying out for.
Could be a shrewd move imo.
UTB:thumbup:

:hello:Too true KB. Perhaps the days have gone when a player no longer has much of a choice when it comes to being transfered. I think Dane Whitehouse was the only one in recent times who stood firm and refused a move away.
All down to the money and the only way we will hang on to Killa is by offering terms comparable to the so called 'bigger' clubs.
Still we have him for now and hopefully Harper will give us the mementum to push on. UTB

 

[cooperblade]

I'm a soft sod so hate to see anyone i like leaving. Bad ones were Agana to notts co before derby match, bradshaw to norwich, tonge to stoke and stead to ipswich all hurt. Deano to leeds probably the worst though

 

[davidpinder]

Has to be Deano to the dirties. It was the way it was done more than owt. Had Harry been about, he may not have gone, and we almost certainly would have survived.

your right about if harry had been around he may not have gone i have a video of the 1990/91 season (first in top flight) and Man utd bid 2m for Tracey and harry said no he was building a team not selling one. Top man

 

[Ollessendro]

I was sorry to see Mitch Ward leave with Kendall. Howard really brought the best out of him in 1996/1997; he had a fantastic season. Always gave his all for united. Gutted when he left.

 

[JohnDenver]

I'm a soft sod so hate to see anyone i like leaving. Bad ones were Agana to notts co before derby match, bradshaw to norwich, tonge to stoke and stead to ipswich all hurt. Deano to leeds probably the worst though

Two sides of one coin...

Deano to Leeds meant relegation with a capital R. He was the first hero I lost.

Whereas Jags to Everton wasn't upsetting - it was just the consequence of relegation and that's what hurt.

Similar but very different.

 

[TONYBLADE]

yep ..when Agana went to notts county just before piggy match a truly sad day...!!!

 

[jkblade7]

jags , beattie , ndlovu and jon jo otoole

 

[JJ Sefton]

Id have to go for Deane the first time as well.

 

[JJ Sefton]

your right about if harry had been around he may not have gone i have a video of the 1990/91 season (first in top flight) and Man utd bid 2m for Tracey and harry said no he was building a team not selling one. Top man

As I remember it Man U were looking at him to replace Jim Leighton whod had a nightmare in the Cup final against Palace and Alan Hodgkinson suggested him to Ferguson. Then his cheekbone got smashed and Fergie had to go for his second choice, Peter Schmeicel.

I was on the train down to Plymouth in the promotion season and ran in Geoff Taylor. We chatted for him for a bit and he told us that we came close to swapping Deane for Dion Dublin with Man U.

 

[Lt. J Dangle]

The picture of a beaming Keith Edwards in that hideous white jacket signing for Leeds with Billy Bremner gurning behind. It makes my blood run cold thinking about it now. We were at Elland Road early the next season and I stood next to a bloke who spent 90 minutes berating him. "Edwards, you've dropped your ******* wallet!"

We had the last laugh and won 1-0

 

[Bakewell Blade]

My Dad ses Deane, Fjortoft and Mick Jones but Jagielka sticks in my memory, 4million, he'd be worth 4x that now

 

[Silent Blade]

First blade player I was upset to see leave us was John Tudor to Newcastle in Jan 1971. Three years later it was Geoff Salmons to Stoke which was a sickener and in 1976 TC left for L**ds was a bad day for me.

 

[Revolution]

The club made the natural option of keeping the player that the fans seemed to like the most.

They even said this, and it was absurd. It was a fig leaf to cover their own incompetence. There was chanting at games urging Taylor not to leave (notably at the Charlton game) but if you'd asked those people "One striker has to be sold - should it be Fjortoft or Taylor?" I bet those choosing Fjortoft would be in a minority.

Sales that have made my blood boil:

1. Way out in Front, Black Thursday, 15 January 1998
2. Deano the 1st time
3. Beattie
4. Edwards the 2nd time
5. Both Kyles at once
6. Brown
7. Agana

 

[bricktop]

The one that absolutely left me heartbroken was the sale of Brian Deane to Leeds the first time round.

What is more gutting in hindsight is the fact that if we had kept him, in all likelihood we would have stopped up in 1993/94, and with the television money coming in to the game we could have kicked on and stayed up in the top flight for a lengthy period of time

 

[Ollessendro]

The club made the natural option of keeping the player that the fans seemed to like the most.

They even said this, and it was absurd. It was a fig leaf to cover their own incompetence. There was chanting at games urging Taylor not to leave (notably at the Charlton game) but if you'd asked those people "One striker has to be sold - should it be Fjortoft or Taylor?" I bet those choosing Fjortoft would be in a minority.

I have to disagree with you! I remember it pretty clearly at the time. And the vast majority of Unitdites got behind Taylor at that period of time.

Of course any Blade in the right mind would have wanted Jan Age to stay over Taylor. Fjortoft was skillful, good in the air, strong as an ox, decent with both feet, he was clam in front of goal and talk about finish. Of course now we have hindsight that Taylor was playing the football of his career at that moment and after his place in the team was sure he reverted to being a lazy, good for nothing Donkey.

Deane aside. People are right to say that the selling of Fjortoft was tragic. To lose such a talented player is always horrible. However, I have found it mildly irritating that people keep banging on about it. People are quick to forget that it was actually Blades fans who instigated his departure.

 

[TopBoy]

I was absolutely gutted when Tongey left, a player who when he was on his game was unplayable. He didn't do it enough prior to him leaving but still gutted all the same.
Of the current crop I'd be devastated to see Morgan go. He defends like his life depends on it and should be given the freedom of the city when he hangs his boots up.

TB.

 

[BrixtonBlade]

Agree with you about Morgan.
I'd say the same about Monty too though <ducks>.

 

[Selly]

It's funny the fuss everyone is kicking up about Deane and Fjortoft leaving.

Deane was a different story, but the Fjortoft deal had been on for ages. I remember it well. Gareth Taylor and Jan Age were fighting it out for the number 9 jersey. They were similar styles of player (except one much better than the other). That lazy donkey Taylor hit a bit of form when Fjortoft was on the sidelines and all the United fans got behind Taylor. For once Taylor was putting the effort in. He scored the best volley i've seen (behind Van Bastens in 88) against Forrest and looked shit hot. I remember sitting on the kop and everyone singing 'one Gareth Taylor, there's only one Gareth Taylor .... '.

The blades fans made their choice and it was that carthorse Taylor and not the talented Jan Age. Those of you who are making it out as the upset of the century have very short memories. The club made the natural option of keeping the player that the fans seemed to like the most.

Of course it was gutting to loose 2 players of such quality on one day. This was compunded with Dean Saunders (and Borbokis I seem to remember) going and Taylor resulting back to his fat, lazy crapness.

I remember it slightly differently. From what I remembered there were rumors around that Taylor was going to be sold, as we also had Saunders and Marcelo, as well as Deane and Fjortoft.

At a game around Chrstmas against Charlton, I distictly remember the Kop singing "One Gareth taylor" after he scored. At that point I honestly thought there was no way we would sell him now.

I was right, unfortunatley Charsle Green was also at the club and decided that

• 500k was too good to turn down for a player with 6 months left on his contract
• As we weren`t going to sell Taylor, we had better sell t'other one
  
  tosser...

 

[Muttley]

At the time nobody knew how evil Charles Green was or that ANYONE had to leave. If they had been honest with us, and told us we had to get rid of one, two.......seven......then Deane and Fjortoft would have been the ones we all wanted to keep.

 

[Billyblade]

I was right, unfortunatley Charsle Green was also at the club and decided that

• 500k was too good to turn down for a player with 6 months left on his contract
• As we weren`t going to sell Taylor, we had better sell t'other one
  
  tosser...

Ah! Charles Green. I can still hear the song now "Charles Green, you f#+*ed up our team"!

For me, I remember having a paper round as a kid and reading on the back of someones Star that Colin Morris was leaving. I was that gutted I cried.

 

[Ollessendro]

I remember it slightly differently. From what I remembered there were rumors around that Taylor was going to be sold, as we also had Saunders and Marcelo, as well as Deane and Fjortoft.

At a game around Chrstmas against Charlton, I distictly remember the Kop singing "One Gareth taylor" after he scored. At that point I honestly thought there was no way we would sell him now.

I was right, unfortunatley Charsle Green was also at the club and decided that

• 500k was too good to turn down for a player with 6 months left on his contract
• As we weren`t going to sell Taylor, we had better sell t'other one
  
  tosser...

You are only re-iterating what I stated Selly Oak. We had Saunders, Marcelo, Deane, Fjortoft and Taylor, i.e. an abundance of strikers. Taylor and Fjortoft were very similar (in terms of style of play not ability). It seemed fairly logical that we would keep one and ship out the other.

The fans made their choice by getting behind Taylor. That is why I am a little mythed that people are stating Fjortoft going as heartbreaking. I know there was the element of Deane going as well.

Don't get me wrong I am not condoning what United did. In fact I'm condeming it. Selling Deane and Fjortoft was tragic. Then to let Dean Saunders go in the same season was the icing on the cake.

My dad's mate is Charles Greens half brother. He reckons Green was the fall guy and he was helpless and it was McDonald pulling all the strings. I told my dad's mate never to introduce me as I might have a tendancy to knock him!?

 

[Selly]

You are only re-iterating what I stated Selly Oak.

Apoligies for that, I hadn`t read your second post, when I wrote that

We had Saunders, Marcelo, Deane, Fjortoft and Taylor, i.e. an abundance of strikers. Taylor and Fjortoft were very similar (in terms of style of play not ability). It seemed fairly logical that we would keep one and ship out the other.

Considering our position at the time, it wasn`t the logical assumption at all. Bear in mind we didn`t know at the time what a mess the finances were in.

The fans made their choice by getting behind Taylor. That is why I am a little mythed that people are stating Fjortoft going as heartbreaking. I know there was the element of Deane going as well.

I think it was the fact that we sold both at the same time, you could have expected 1 or the other, but to sell our leading striker, and one of the 2 players fighting out to be his partner was rediculous.

In summary Charles Green (or whoever was pulling the strings) :loopy: