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Which signings have most disappointed you?

We've had plenty of rubbish players, but this is more about which players disappointed you, as when they signed you had high hopes (due to the fee or their reputation), but for one reason or another, they never lived up to your expectations. A lot of the RD signings (e.g. Polish Pete, Le Point) are excluded as I'd never heard of them, or had low expectations, ditto many the players we signed when broke like Simon Church and David Mooney

Picking 10 players from memory

Bradley Allen - at last a goalscorer, just what we needed in spring1996 to fire us to promotion. A QPR fan I worked with at the time was quite sad he had left. Instead it would be Super Clive a year later would be the star striker
Neil Redfearn - Barnsley's star player the previous season, our first £1m player, but never really fitted in
John Barnes - at the end of his career, and it showed. I struggle to think of any memorable moments from him
Francis Jeffers - someone who started his career brightly, then was poor for the next 15 years. At the time we signed him, everyone thought the dip in form was just temporary...
Dennis Rommedahl - an underwhelming spell with us really, for a guy with 126 caps and 21 goals for Denmark. Did score that goal though!
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink - a disinterested shadow of the world class striker he had been at Leeds and Chelsea
Luke Varney - another expensive striker to flop
Izale McLeod - another expensive striker to flop
Simon Makienok - just what we needed, a massive target man, the perfect physique to play in England, and being Danish should have no language/cultural problems either. Sadly he was yet another striker failure
Nicky Ajose - after all those foreign flops, at last we were signing domestic players. 24 league goals for Swindon the previous year, he'd be the 2016/17 "Super Clive"...maybe he'll still come good...

Honourable mention to Danny Murphy, who was disappointing in his first season, excellent for 2/3 months, then had a strop
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Comments

  • I am surprised you have not mentioned Ben Reeves
  • I think your list from Redfearn through to Hasselbaink would be my top five. The stand out disappointment was DR for me though. He was excellent before and after, but never (or at least very rarely) for us. Not disciplined enough to suit Curbishley's pragmatic team-based approach, and not quite exceptional enough to go it alone given the comparative strengths of our players to most of the opposition's. When we signed him, I thought we had really made the big time. When he went, I realised that we hadn't.
  • edited March 2018
    Andy Gray (not that one), who I think we spent 1m on or something silly like that.

    Makienok-As you say he was exactly what we needed. And you saw in fits and starts that he had really good technical ability. It's just we brought him in at a time when Igor was always injured, KAG was relied upon far too much, and then we had Tony Watt who wanted to take up similar positions. And he was left playing up front on his own in a team desperately lacking creativity in midfield.

    Bergdich - He joined us after playing for Genoa in Seria A. It's one of those good signings on paper but clear indication that we do not/did not do thorough enough scouting because he never settled and seemed to hate his time here. And he was absolutely awful. See also, Ba, El-Hadji.

    Cristian Ceballos - Showed in pre-season what he is capable of. He'd been living in London for like three years before joining us and was apparently a Phil Chapple recommendation. The little I saw of him before he got hurt at the start of 2015 I thought he looked quite tidy. But then that bad injury and never seemed to get back on track. Would have liked to have kept him this year.

    Theirry Racon - Had a lot of technical ability, but was either injured or not trusted in his preferred holding midfield role. Had been at Guingamp with Drogba and Maluda. Another one where the ability was there and we didn't get it out of him.

    Reeves* - So far he has come nowhere close to showing his ability. He is a really technically gifted player who can produce something from nothing (see his pass on Saturday for Zyro's goal) and he works hard and is really good at finding pockets of space. But he's yet top put in a complete performance with maybe the exception of Bury away. He has not been helped by not having a pre-season (his fault), injuries (not his fault), and being played on the right and having to cover Solly (not his fault). He should be exactly the type of player we need to break down packed defenses, but he is yet to show that.

    For me Varney and McCleod at the time felt like the typical signing from the lower leagues where they've scored goals a division of two below, but that doesn't always translate.
  • Wot no Marcus Bent?
  • LenGlover said:

    Wot no Marcus Bent?

    No because for all of his failures he did this:
    https://youtu.be/agbxHDO3IQo?t=1m4s
  • ross1 said:

    I am surprised you have not mentioned Ben Reeves

    I'm giving him time! Yes he has been very disappointing so far
    LenGlover said:

    Wot no Marcus Bent?

    My expectations probably weren't that high. His track record is of someone who never seemed to settle anywhere for long periods.

  • Andy Jones
  • I think it is unfair to include Barnes.Like Jesper Blomqvist or John Salako I think we always understood their best days were behind them.

    That said at West Ham away he was superb and orchestrated a crucial win although hr almost needed to be carried off the pitch. I would go as far as saying it was one of the best displays I have ever seen from an Addick.
  • I thought Thurman was gana be the next Buffon.

    He just turned up at sparrows lane pulled in at the car park and assumed he was in our starting 11 until real Madrid come in.
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  • Andy Jones
    Dennis Rommedahl
    Francis Jeffers
    Neil Redfearn
    Nicky Ajose
    Lee Novak

  • Hasselbaink, purely for his terrible attitude. A piss taker of the first water. I would like to meet him and ask him why he cared so little for us.
  • We've had plenty of rubbish players, but this is more about which players disappointed you, as when they signed you had high hopes (due to the fee or their reputation), but for one reason or another, they never lived up to your expectations. A lot of the RD signings (e.g. Polish Pete, Le Point) are excluded as I'd never heard of them, or had low expectations, ditto many the players we signed when broke like Simon Church and David Mooney

    Picking 10 players from memory

    Bradley Allen - at last a goalscorer, just what we needed in spring1996 to fire us to promotion. A QPR fan I worked with at the time was quite sad he had left. Instead it would be Super Clive a year later would be the star striker
    Neil Redfearn - Barnsley's star player the previous season, our first £1m player, but never really fitted in
    John Barnes - at the end of his career, and it showed. I struggle to think of any memorable moments from him
    Francis Jeffers - someone who started his career brightly, then was poor for the next 15 years. At the time we signed him, everyone thought the dip in form was just temporary...
    Dennis Rommedahl - an underwhelming spell with us really, for a guy with 126 caps and 21 goals for Denmark. Did score that goal though!
    Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink - a disinterested shadow of the world class striker he had been at Leeds and Chelsea
    Luke Varney - another expensive striker to flop
    Izale McLeod - another expensive striker to flop
    Simon Makienok - just what we needed, a massive target man, the perfect physique to play in England, and being Danish should have no language/cultural problems either. Sadly he was yet another striker failure
    Nicky Ajose - after all those foreign flops, at last we were signing domestic players. 24 league goals for Swindon the previous year, he'd be the 2016/17 "Super Clive"...maybe he'll still come good...

    Honourable mention to Danny Murphy, who was disappointing in his first season, excellent for 2/3 months, then had a strop

    Harsh on Barnes - his performance at West Ham away was a masterclass. Also turned the game when he came on against Liverpool. I remember the first thing he did was a drag back that completely took 2 Liverpool players out the game.
  • edited March 2018
    Souleymane Diawara - all I remember about his stint at Charlton was him getting criticised for wearing gloves during autumn. His career after Charlton proved he was a decent defender, it just never worked out for him here. He won Ligue 1 with Bordeaux after he left Charlton which is very impressive and he also won the league with Marseille.

    Simon Walton - He was really highly rated when we signed him from Leeds and was meant to be a star for the future. He is now playing in the conference at the age of 30.
  • edited March 2018

    We've had plenty of rubbish players, but this is more about which players disappointed you, as when they signed you had high hopes (due to the fee or their reputation), but for one reason or another, they never lived up to your expectations. A lot of the RD signings (e.g. Polish Pete, Le Point) are excluded as I'd never heard of them, or had low expectations, ditto many the players we signed when broke like Simon Church and David Mooney

    Picking 10 players from memory

    Bradley Allen - at last a goalscorer, just what we needed in spring1996 to fire us to promotion. A QPR fan I worked with at the time was quite sad he had left. Instead it would be Super Clive a year later would be the star striker
    Neil Redfearn - Barnsley's star player the previous season, our first £1m player, but never really fitted in
    John Barnes - at the end of his career, and it showed. I struggle to think of any memorable moments from him
    Francis Jeffers - someone who started his career brightly, then was poor for the next 15 years. At the time we signed him, everyone thought the dip in form was just temporary...
    Dennis Rommedahl - an underwhelming spell with us really, for a guy with 126 caps and 21 goals for Denmark. Did score that goal though!
    Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink - a disinterested shadow of the world class striker he had been at Leeds and Chelsea
    Luke Varney - another expensive striker to flop
    Izale McLeod - another expensive striker to flop
    Simon Makienok - just what we needed, a massive target man, the perfect physique to play in England, and being Danish should have no language/cultural problems either. Sadly he was yet another striker failure
    Nicky Ajose - after all those foreign flops, at last we were signing domestic players. 24 league goals for Swindon the previous year, he'd be the 2016/17 "Super Clive"...maybe he'll still come good...

    Honourable mention to Danny Murphy, who was disappointing in his first season, excellent for 2/3 months, then had a strop

    Harsh on Barnes - his performance at West Ham away was a masterclass. Also turned the game when he came on against Liverpool. I remember the first thing he did was a drag back that completely took 2 Liverpool players out the game.
    Maybe, I guess I just expected more from him in terms of goals and creating chances for others.
  • Bloody Roland Duchâtelet , thought he would herald the start of great things, instead quite the opposite unfortunately !!!
  • Ralph Milne
  • Tony Watt
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  • MrLargo said:

    Rurik Gislasen - signed as a 16 or 17 year old, think we beat some big name clubs to his signing, seemed like a genuine hot prospect. Had a reasonable career, 43 international caps and now playing in second tier in Germany.

    Yassin Moutaouakil - France U21 captain, Barcelona, Celtic, Lazio, Aston Villa and Everton all supposedly chasing his signature but he chose us instead, as you would. Rabona flick to set up a goal against Scunthorpe and generally very impressive in his first couple of games, but then got injured and became more interested in Harry Arter's mum. All went down hill from there, drifted down the leagues to Hayes and Yeading. Now a personal trainer -https://www.puregym.com/personal-trainer/yassin-moutaouakil/ - possibly offering a discount if you bring your mum along to your first session.

    Blimey. I see he expects Hard work, Discipline, Patience and Perseverance from his clients... an expression involving pots and kettles springs to mind...


  • Andy Jones
    Dennis Rommedahl
    Francis Jeffers
    Neil Redfearn
    Nicky Ajose
    Lee Novak

    add to that list of striker Tony Watt and you'll have a perfect squad of strikers that had the potential but produced very little. Since the retirement of Killer & Flash we have been starved of quality strikers apart from 2 years from Super Clive & D Bent, plus a season of BWP and Big Yann. What is it with CAFC & strikers ?


  • Andy Jones
    Dennis Rommedahl
    Francis Jeffers
    Neil Redfearn
    Nicky Ajose
    Lee Novak

    add to that list of striker Tony Watt and you'll have a perfect squad of strikers that had the potential but produced very little. Since the retirement of Killer & Flash we have been starved of quality strikers apart from 2 years from Super Clive & D Bent, plus a season of BWP and Big Yann. What is it with CAFC & strikers ?
    David Whyte and Andy Hunt both produced 20+ goals in a season. Bartlett and JJ had good years in the top flight. Vetokele looked pretty good before we flogged him half to death. Not convinced we've had it that bad.

  • edited March 2018
    Stig said:

    I thought Diawara got better all the time he was with us. Is my mind playing tricks?

    I remember him getting better too. He seemed a case of an expensive signing who struggled to settle immediately and made some bad mistakes at least in part due to a season of turmoil and the pressure and ire seemed directed at him. Also he wore gloves.

    I saw him play many times in the Champions League after he left us and he always looked a solid player. Maybe had a mistake in him at the level but certainly had enough ability to have been a good signing for us.
  • edited March 2018
    Oh, Marco Motta is another one. Saw him play for Roma, Juve, and Italy and he looked like a good attacking wingback. When I saw him play for us he looked unfit and positionally awful. A lot of that was probably down to not having played in six months when we signed him, and I remember he had a couple good games, but I thought he would add a lot more than he did.
  • Of the current crop, Mark Marshall. One of the few games I went to last year was home to Bradford and Marshall recently impressed me playing against us. I have been to more games this season and don't think I have seen him play particularly well on any occasion, although of course he was out inured for the first part of the season which probably didn't help him.
  • edited March 2018
    In contrast to the thread title, I have been pleasantly surprised by Fosu who I thought would be a bit part player.

    He's good, very good, but JDS seems to be the only player on the same level as Fosu is.
  • Diego Poyet - On loan from WHU.

    Reza Ghoochannjhad - Clearly had skill, clearly wasn't physical enough despite being "one of the strongest players" at the club.
  • Johnny Oestergard, Vigo Jacobson, Ben Reeves, Mark Marshall, Andy Gray, Amdy Faye, Traore.
  • SDAddick said:

    Oh, Marco Motta is another one. Saw him play for Roma, Juve, and Italy and he looked like a good attacking wingback. When I saw him play for us he looked unfit and positionally awful. A lot of that was probably down to not having played in six months when we signed him, and I remember he had a couple good games, but I thought he would add a lot more than he did.

    Motta and Fanni were both excellent players, but signed when they were unfit and off the pace. If they had been signed in the summer, I think we would have had a much better season than we did...
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