Bad players that came good and good players that came bad

[alcoblade]

I thought that Ched Evans would go down as one of the most expensive flops we've ever signed at first. His first season yielded just 4 goals in 36 games.

To be honest, there's still a case of that. A £3,000,000 transfer fee, £3,000,000 in wages, finishing one division lower and the player lost for nothing.

The 4 month purple patch was just that.

UTB

 

[coaxingstar71]

I always think ‘keepers are the hardest to judge in terms of potential. Some look fantastic at 18 but don’t kick on. Others can seem ordinary until 25 then suddenly improve. So much of the game is mental for a ‘keeper and if they lose confidence, they can become woeful. Steve Simmonsen was regarded one of the best goalkeeping prospects around when he was at Everton. Look how what turned out. George Long was tipped for big things at 18 but now his career is hanging in the balance.

Bassett knew how to spot a good keeper.

Tracey - £12,500
Kelly - £150,000
Rees - £25,000

Even Benstead was decent, though can't remember how much he cost, probably not more than £30,000 though.

 

[grafikhaus]

Not sure if he was ever considered 'good' but Ashley Sestanovich came with a good rep. The rest is history...

But surely the crowning turd in the water tank was Claude Davis (who made Nosworthy look good). An absolute car crash who saw us waste £3m. Fortunately, Derby (who make managerial decisions at the Lane look sane) repaid us £3m for this fucking lump.

 

[JohnDenver]

Vas Borbokis was outstanding for us and then we sold him to Derby where he hardly played and didn't pull up any trees.

Wayne Quinn was also excellent for us and the terrible when we sold him.

I think the common factor there is they were both specialists wing backs who struggled to defend like a conventional fullback when played in a four.

Imagine those two in our current line-up. We'd win the league by March.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

We've bought a few players with a good track record that have been utterly bad, (Dean Hammond so bad he retired)

We've moved on players who have had a decent career elsewhere ( Simon Francis , Keith Edwards, Billy Sharp, the two latter so much we even took them back loosing money big time)

Add to the list

As for moving up in the world, try beating Traianos Dallas who became a Serie A regular and got the winner in Euro 2004 semis for Greece who beat holders Portugal in the final.
Leon Britton did exceptionally well at Swansea.
Not saying either was crap though.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Clive Mendonca was a mega scoring sensation for our youths or reserves (can't remember which) did we sell him or give him away? To become a mega scoring sensation at Charlton(and Scunthorpe (again) if memory serves me well) . God knows why it didn't work out here.

It was Grimsby not Scunny.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

he never seemed to get the goals when he put on the blades shirt, 8 goals in two spells of 5 years. He surely came good.

Those goals include a hat trick v QPR at the Lane in Aug 2008.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Luton Shelton...the names escaped me but didn't some big shy Chelsea player describe him as the next big thing?
Ade Akinpanicbuy...scoring for fun at Burnley, at least he got a goal against the pigs
Geoff Horsfield...decent debut Vs the pigs and then...

Warnock sure could spot a striker

Just remembered not long before Warnock bought him and Akinbiyi was playing for Stoke at the Lane. Warnock went spare as a foul from Ade went unpunished and Akinbiyi squared up to Warnock..lol.

 

[Jan Age]

I think the common factor there is they were both specialists wing backs who struggled to defend like a conventional fullback when played in a four.

Imagine those two in our current line-up. We'd win the league by March.

That is a valid point... they loved getting forward,scoring goals and joining the attacks... they were the days!

 

[PokerBlade]

Is that the same Billy Sharp that's scored 31 goals in 57 games?

I'd say he's came good rather than bad...

Looks like he's been lazy in 26 out of 57 games

 

[s35blade]

Brayford has to be up there, in his loan spell his bordering on a mythical figure who occupied many a mind, never reached anything close to the same form after his permanent return.
Hammond, Premier League player, and getting him seemed to border on obsession for Adkins.
Simonsen, played quite a big role in Stokes climb through the leagues, and came as the solution to our then 'Keeper crisis. Got steadily worse as he played for us.

 

[JohnDenver]

Brayford has to be up there, in his loan spell his bordering on a mythical figure who occupied many a mind, never reached anything close to the same form after his permanent return.
Hammond, Premier League player, and getting him seemed to border on obsession for Adkins.
Simonsen, played quite a big role in Stokes climb through the leagues, and came as the solution to our then 'Keeper crisis. Got steadily worse as he played for us.

Simo became instantly shite as soon as he signed his long term contract. Then he got steadily worse.

 

[s35blade]

Simo became instantly shite as soon as he signed his long term contract. Then he got steadily worse.

Bit of a Brayford then.