Players you wanted to see fail before they left

[Bergen Blade]

I think he meant more "given the opportunity to" (e.g. more of a chance to see what they could do, or to prove the manager that didn't fancy them right)

Correct. Probably an awkward title, but it was intentional.

Sometimes you really rate a player, you've seen him do well at the level we're at, and want him to play.

I wanted this thread to be about players who aren't proven, but you personally have a suspicion or hope there could be something in him that the manager just hasn't realised, yet. You may suspect there is something that the management sees in training every day that suggest the player isn't as good as you think, but it is boring to just assume that!

To release that sense of frustration you want to see it with your own eyes that, maybe, he wasn't that good after all (like Coulibaly). Or that you were right all along and have a exceptional eye for talent (like Marsh, or Tønne)!

 

[I should coco]

Correct. Probably an awkward title, but it was intentional.

Sometimes you really rate a player, you've seen him do well at the level we're at, and want him to play.

I wanted this thread to be about players who aren't proven, but you personally have a suspicion or hope there could be something in him that the manager just hasn't realised, yet. You may suspect there is something that the management sees in training every day that suggest the player isn't as good as you think, but it is boring to just assume that!

To release that sense of frustration you want to see it with your own eyes that, maybe, he wasn't that good after all (like Coulibaly). Or that you were right all along and have a exceptional eye for talent (like Marsh, or Tønne)!

Paul Shaw.

We all knew there was a reet player in there, but Warnock, who signed him, wasn't having any of it.

 

[Gin&Juice]

Retsos and Regan Slater most recent. Both gone on to do alreyt.

 

[Bergen Blade]

Jonas Wirmola – I saw less of us live that season, but recalled an excellent debut against Wimbledon and then he sort of drifted into obscurity. Was he injured? Seemed to go on to have a decent number of years at Malmo.

Jon O’Connor – was it the Hutchison deal he was part of? Think he barely played that first season (fair enough given the decent options at CB/RB), but thought when he came in briefly the following season post-Bruce retirement he looked fairly tidy on the right of the back 3 when we were really short of options. Don’t think he started more than a handful of games in the end.

Jon Cullen – he’d arrived with an impressive goal record from midfield, but at a time we were buying up all sorts in that Spackman season. I can’t remember any of his appearances. I’ve heard he was Axel Smeets level awful, but would have been good to have seen more. Feels like the Nathan Thomas of his era.

Colin Cryan – think he came through at a time when we (and the game in general) were all about big physical centre-backs, but I seem to remember him as a youngster that looked steady in reading the game and tidy on the ball. Not sure he ever started for us, and was a bit on the short side to be given a go. I wonder whether had the likes of him and Ross come through ten years later they might have had more of a chance at making it – or at least ended up having the sort of career Reed and Broadbent went on to have rather than disappearing out of the EFL.

Cryan looked more like a midfielder to me and in 2003/04 I was so frustrated with McCall's lack of mobility that I wanted Cryan to be tried there.

 

[Blade In Flame]

Alan Whittle.

 

[I should coco]

Retsos and Regan Slater most recent. Both gone on to do alreyt.

Slater is a good shout but I also think Ben Whiteman should have had a better crack at it too.

 

[djbaldken]

Players you wanted to see fail, ideally by career ending injuries, and definitely didn't want to see arrive:

Terry Curran

End of thread

I have a Terry Curran story for you.

In the late 70s early 80s I managed a team in the Rotherham Sunday league. They were a good bunch of lads and we were all quite close. We often had nights out together.
My midfield play-maker had a sister who was going out with Curran at the time. We'd all gone out one night to Tiffanys on Main Street Rotherham , accompanied by wives and girlfriends. Who should turn up but the midfielders sister along with Curran.
The drink flowed and the as the women got on the dance floor the men were all sat around a large circular table and the talk of course was mainly about football. It was around the time that Curran wasn't getting a game. I knew he was fit so i asked him why he wasn't in the team. He said him and Jack Charlton had had a big bust up and wouldn't play him. I think it was something to do with him being sent off in a match that almost caused a riot. The upshot was he was got the blame and was being shut out. I remember him saying along the lines he was pissed off and would rather play for anyone other than Jack Charlton.
At that point i said well we've got a game on Sunday if you fancy a run out.
I cant remember where it was now, but it was somewhere at the back of beyond. He didn't dismiss it out of hand and we thought there was a chance he'd turn up and play.
But he didn't.
And we lost.
Twat!

 

[CrookesBlade]

Paul Shaw.

We all knew there was a reet player in there, but Warnock, who signed him, wasn't having any of it.

“The Poor Man’s Dennis Bergkamp”

 

[CrookesBlade]

He was crap

He was indeed crap for us but had seemingly had a decent spell in the PL for Leeds.

Couldn’t understand how we’d managed to get him (in the days when 0.5 million was big money for us), why we then never played him…..and then why he was so poor when we did.

Tri Dellas probably fits into the category as well.

Whilst he got a few games over the course of two seasons he was never a regular. Adrian Heath was happy to release him at the end of his contract with the words “I doubt he’ll be missed if he’s only played that many games”.

 

[Kenilworth]

I wasnt against the signing but I admit I was baffled by his decision to drop down a division to join us. He was Wendy's best player and I think he hated playing under Jack Charlton.

I didnt watch many of our games during the 1982-83 season because I was playing football regularly on Saturday afternoons. I dont remember seeing Curran play for us.

You were lucky.
I had no spit left after every game

 

[Silent Blade]

You were lucky.
I had no spit left after every game

Had a look at the 1982-83 games in Clareborough's book. I went to the League Cup games against Grimsby and Barnsley also the FA Cup replay against Boston. Out of the league games I went to Doncaster home Chesterfield away and home to Orient (Jeff King's comeback and scored not long after coming on as sub) but not sure if I went to more league matches. I see that out of the 6 games I am certain that I attended, the Grimsby match was the only one Curran played in but I still dont remember seeing him in the red and white shirt.

I dont remember seeing Tony Towner playing for us too.

 

[crucialkneeligaman]

He was crap

beg to differ.

 

[JohnDenver]

When I was a kid I saw Graham Anthony in the reserves a few times. Seemed to me he could pass a ball better than some of our first teamers. He barely had a sniff.

Just one of countless players who looked good at a lower level, but the professional coaches knew his limitations better than us punters.

 

[Pet Sounds]

“The Poor Man’s Dennis Bergkamp”

The Bergkamp link is a good shout. He came through at Arsenal when Bergkamp was there and one of his few Blades goals was a wonderful Bergkampesque bit of skill (maybe like that Dellas goal its quality has grown in my memory through years of never seeing it). Shaw was the victim of that old Sheffield United trick of buying a player who offers something different, and then playing a system that doesn't allow them to do that . Fortunately we have to some extent moved on from that, albeit not completely. His post United career suggests that Warnock may have been right, but maybe not being able to take his opportunity did for him . Possibly, rather than not allowing players the opportunity to fail we have sometimes set them up to do just that.

 

[Shawy24]

Correct. Probably an awkward title, but it was intentional.

Sometimes you really rate a player, you've seen him do well at the level we're at, and want him to play.

I wanted this thread to be about players who aren't proven, but you personally have a suspicion or hope there could be something in him that the manager just hasn't realised, yet. You may suspect there is something that the management sees in training every day that suggest the player isn't as good as you think, but it is boring to just assume that!

To release that sense of frustration you want to see it with your own eyes that, maybe, he wasn't that good after all (like Coulibaly). Or that you were right all along and have an exceptional eye for talent (like Marsh, or Tønne)!

I liked Erik. Thought he was a good little player. Was I wrong? Didn’t do much in the big leagues after us though.