Rate the Blades #1 - John Gannon

[Carlton Blade]

Was going to be a 6 but a bloke who sat near me on the old family enclosure absolutely despised him and was annoyingly vocal about it. So giving him a 7 on the off chance he sees it

 

[Guesty]

John Gannon corners were brilliant and his free kicks were something special.

Came to our house when it was my birthday (must have been somewhere in my 20's) to drop off a Xmas present I knew he was coming but I didnt expect him to bring Simon Tracy who gave me a pair of signed goalkeeper gloves. (John's wife Justine (she was a model!) mentioned above was a family friend via her Grandma at the time lost touch later on). Also went to their wedding at the Sheffield Moat House. We have an old VHS video of it somewhere that my brother did. Something happened to their official video and they asked for a copy of ours. Although it mainly shows my Grandad and Glen Hodges getting upto loads of mischief. They got on really well those two. My Grandad was a massive SUFC fan and it was a dream day for him meeting all the players. He had so much whiskey that night. Def Leopard gate crashed the reception later when they realised the wedding was on.

Here's a thing - he visited my house when I was a kid, and he brought Simon Tracy! Clearly they enjoyed being a double act.

 

[Revolution]

Was going to be a 6 but a bloke who sat near me on the old family enclosure absolutely despised him and was annoyingly vocal about it. So giving him a 7 on the off chance he sees it

I once read a parody of Praise and Grumble in a Wednesday fanzine (Just another Wednesday, I think) in about 1989-90 where they imagined, amongst other things, a Blade calling and praising United for a big win, praising Deano and a couple of other players who got sent off, and praising the ref. They had Bob Jackson saying "So they were all very good?" and the guy replying "Yes. Except for Gannon. He was F****** garbage".

dangerously close to reality!

 

[Oohaah! Bob Bookah!]

For those giving Gannon a 10, what score are they giving Deane?
Surely Gannon is not on a par with Deane, Edwards, Morris, Agana etc?

 

[Revolution]

For those giving Gannon a 10, what score are they giving Deane?
Surely Gannon is not on a par with Deane, Edwards, Morris, Agana etc?

Deane - No
Edwards - No
Morris - it's close if you take into account that Gannon played at a much higher level.
Agana - you might argue Gannon had more impact than Agana, who as much as I love him had the following career with us:

1987-8: Limited impact due to injury (only 2 goals)
1988-9: 30 goals in all competitions and ever present in the league and the 3 cups (61 games, which is the club record)
1989-90: good season, interrupted by injury again and Deane doubled his league goal tally (21 v 10).
1990-1: only 2 league goals, scored in last game of season. Looked a bit overmatched.
1991-2: in a purple patch when sold, having scored 4 in 15 games.

In the 4 seasons they overlapped, there is a good argument that Gannon had a better season than Agana.

 

[I should coco]

Deane - No
Edwards - No
Morris - it's close if you take into account that Gannon played at a much higher level.
Agana - you might argue Gannon had more impact than Agana, who as much as I love him had the following career with us:

1987-8: Limited impact due to injury (only 2 goals)
1988-9: 30 goals in all competitions and ever present in the league and the 3 cups (61 games, which is the club record)
1989-90: good season, interrupted by injury again and Deane doubled his league goal tally (21 v 10).
1990-1: only 2 league goals, scored in last game of season. Looked a bit overmatched.
1991-2: in a purple patch when sold, having scored 4 in 15 games.

In the 4 seasons they overlapped, there is a good argument that Gannon had a better season than Agana.

We always talked about a lot of his goals being the result of the 'Agana bobble', i.e, elemnts of good fortune.
I loved him as a bloke and watched some great times, but there was a massive difference between Dean and Agana.

The old adage that 'form is temporary, class is permanent' could be applied to Agana.

 

[Revolution]

We always talked about a lot of his goals being the result of the 'Agana bobble', i.e, elemnts of good fortune.
I loved him as a bloke and watched some great times, but there was a massive difference between Dean and Agana.

The old adage that 'form is temporary, class is permanent' could be applied to Agana.

Agana had an awful time at Notts County after he left us.

In 1988-9 Agana probably had a better season than Deano. He was POY and in the PFA team, ever present and outscored Deano in the league. But Deano shot past him after that.

If you wanted to make a list of players who we sold at exactly the right moment, he'd be on it. See also Lee Morris and Curtis Woodhouse.

 

[Carlton Blade]

Agana had an awful time at Notts County after he left us.

In 1988-9 Agana probably had a better season than Deano. He was POY and in the PFA team, ever present and outscored Deano in the league. But Deano shot past him after that.

If you wanted to make a list of players who we sold at exactly the right moment, he'd be on it. See also Lee Morris and Curtis Woodhouse.

Claude Davis, although 10 minutes after he was signed may have been better.

 

[Guesty]

Agana had an awful time at Notts County after he left us.

In 1988-9 Agana probably had a better season than Deano. He was POY and in the PFA team, ever present and outscored Deano in the league. But Deano shot past him after that.

If you wanted to make a list of players who we sold at exactly the right moment, he'd be on it. See also Lee Morris and Curtis Woodhouse.

Nick Blackman? Also Jordan Slew.

 

[I should coco]

If you wanted to make a list of players who we sold at exactly the right moment, he'd be on it. See also Lee Morris and Curtis Woodhouse.

If you wanted to make a list of players who we sold at exactly the right moment, he'd be on it. See also Lee Morris and Curtis Woodhouse.

If you wanted to make a list of players who we sold at exactly the right moment, he'd be on it. See also Lee Morris and Curtis Woodhouse.

Wayne Quin says hello.

 

[Carlton Blade]

Wayne Quin says hello.

I'm not sure I agree with that. We could have got a much bigger fee than £750k, especially pre-injury

 

[Revolution]

Nick Blackman? Also Jordan Slew.

Blackman is the complete opposite: a player sold at exactly the wrong moment.

We sold our top scorer on the last day of the transfer window without telling the manager in advance, and we brought inthe corpse of Jon Forte and the useless Dominic Poleon as his replacements.

Now I know many people say that Blackman only scored pens, but he got six goals from open play too, which is four more than those two clowns managed between them.

Forte's wretchedness in front of goal was a big factor in the stupid Wilson sacking too.

We were not promotion certainties when we sold Blackman, but it was a daft thing to do when we were in the mix in a poor division.

Slew's Blackburn move killed his career, sadly for him.

As for Wayne Quinn, I think that unlike Morris (crocked) and Woodhouse (lost interest in the game, basically) we would still have had a serviceable player at Championship level had we not sold him, and we got less for him than the other two.

 

[Guesty]

Blackman is the complete opposite: a player sold at exactly the wrong moment.

We sold our top scorer on the last day of the transfer window without telling the manager in advance, and we brought inthe corpse of Jon Forte and the useless Dominic Poleon as his replacements.

Now I know many people say that Blackman only scored pens, but he got six goals from open play too, which is four more than those two clowns managed between them.

Forte's wretchedness in front of goal was a big factor in the stupid Wilson sacking too.

We were not promotion certainties when we sold Blackman, but it was a daft thing to do when we were in the mix in a poor division.

As for Wayne Quinn, I think that unlike Morris (crocked) and Woodhouse (lost interest in the game, basically) we would still have had a serviceable player at Championship level had we not sold him, and we got less for him than the other two.

I dunno about all that, we seemed to sell Blackman for good value, he hardly tore it up at Reading and he was a complete failure at Derby. I think we rode a rare hit streak and got decent money.

 

[Revolution]

I dunno about all that, we seemed to sell Blackman for good value, he hardly tore it up at Reading and he was a complete failure at Derby. I think we rode a rare hit streak and got decent money.

Which we wasted.

 

[Guesty]

Which we wasted.

Oh no doubt on that score.

 

[I should coco]

I'm not sure I agree with that. We could have got a much bigger fee than £750k, especially pre-injury

I thought it was more than that, but on the basis he only had went on to play 15 games for Newcastle, surely the final judgement has to be that we got the best of the deal.

 

[RossoDeltic]

I knocked a point off for that penalty miss v Southampton.
It may have sounded a good idea for Booker to not take it as it would have been Pandemonium if he had completed his hatrick

 

[Aganarama]

I knocked a point off for that penalty miss v Southampton.
It may have sounded a good idea for Booker to not take it as it would have been Pandemonium if he had completed his hatrick

That annoyed me for ages. Thinking about it, it still does!

 

[fifty shades of blade]

I remember being on the kop when it was standing. Gannon got injured and had to go off, some prikes near me cheered.

 

[Sithblade]

I knocked a point off for that penalty miss v Southampton.
It may have sounded a good idea for Booker to not take it as it would have been Pandemonium if he had completed his hatrick

Sure he had scored a penalty before, Wolves home in the promotion season?

 

[Aganarama]

Sure he had scored a penalty before, Wolves home in the promotion season?

Yes - 3-0 win. Whitehurst scored a late header. Deane got the first.