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The ones that got away.

13

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  • I remember a family friend telling lennie Lawrence about Ian wright at Greenwich borough he said if he was that good he would be picked up already.
  • Swisdom said:

    Alex Ferguson. Read an old programme and he was set to sign for about 30k, don't know what happened.

    It would have been a world record fee at the time

    Makes you wonder how differently things could have been if he'd played for us and got that affinity he has with Man Utd!
    Surely we wouldnt have been paying a WR fee for Ferguson? He wasn't that good was he? Didn't even play for Scotland.
  • Swisdom said:

    Alex Ferguson. Read an old programme and he was set to sign for about 30k, don't know what happened.

    It would have been a world record fee at the time

    Makes you wonder how differently things could have been if he'd played for us and got that affinity he has with Man Utd!
    Surely we wouldnt have been paying a WR fee for Ferguson? He wasn't that good was he? Didn't even play for Scotland.
    Tommy Docherty on Ferguson ..'He had everything that a professional footballer could want .... except talent' (:->)
  • From a personal point of view-

    Alan Pardew - playing for Yeovil at Barking & Tooting in 1985 - signed by Palace.

    Andy Hessenthaler - for Dartford v Kings Lynn & various other games 1987-88, signed by Watford.

    Mark Kinsella- Colchester v Exeter (FA Cup 1st Rd 1990), signed by Charlton!

    Efan Ekoku - for Sutton Utd (can't remember the opponents) 1989, signed by Bournemouth.

    Paul Furlong - Enfield v Fisher Athletic 1989, signed by Birmingham.

    On each occasion was sent to watch a different player and came away with a report on those listed. No one ever listened. (4 were for Luton - Kinsella was Blackburn. For the record he was playing at sweeper and Dalglish had seen him on a training week at Liverpool).

    Also remember seeing CP for Palace Reserves v Bristol Rovers at Tooting & Mitcham.

  • edited September 2012
    I can remember many years ago at a Bromley supporters meeting recommending to Richard Murray to sign a young Aaron Lennon from Leeds , Henry put me in my place and told me i played too much football Manager ( too right) i wonder whatever happened to him.......
  • I can remember many years ago at a Bromley supporters meeting recommending to Richard Murray to sign a young Aaron Lennon from Leeds , Henry put me in my place and told me i played too much football Manager ( too right) i wonder whatever happened to him.......

    I think Henry still posts on here occasionally - when he's not flogging off the contents of his loft.
  • Tutt-Tutt said:

    From a personal point of view-

    Alan Pardew - playing for Yeovil at Barking & Tooting in 1985 - signed by Palace.

    Andy Hessenthaler - for Dartford v Kings Lynn & various other games 1987-88, signed by Watford.

    Mark Kinsella- Colchester v Exeter (FA Cup 1st Rd 1990), signed by Charlton!

    Efan Ekoku - for Sutton Utd (can't remember the opponents) 1989, signed by Bournemouth.

    Paul Furlong - Enfield v Fisher Athletic 1989, signed by Birmingham.

    On each occasion was sent to watch a different player and came away with a report on those listed. No one ever listened. (4 were for Luton - Kinsella was Blackburn. For the record he was playing at sweeper and Dalglish had seen him on a training week at Liverpool).

    Also remember seeing CP for Palace Reserves v Bristol Rovers at Tooting & Mitcham.

    Didn't Ekoku play for Sutton in their famous FA Cup 3rd round win over Coventry?

    At the time Coventry were 1st Division and FA Cup Holders, was it Ekoku playing or the other big lad, Lennie Dennis?
  • Don Hutchinson was very close to signing
  • edited September 2012
    Didn't we supposedly have a double deal lined up for Jensen and Gudjohnsson but then Chelsea stepped in and offered the same amount for EG as we'd agreed for the pair?

    I believe we also scouted Drogba just before he had that great Season at Marseille and the price quadrupled.

    Think we had a young Rio Ferdinand on trial too before West Ham signed him.

    Other players available for sensible prices at a time we could attract them would also include Damien Duff & Phil Jagielka as well as the likes of Wright, Ashton and Phillips as have already been mentioned.
  • Kevin Keegan - Mark Hulyer tried to sign Kevin Keegan from Hamburg at the time that we eventually signed Alan Simonsen. Both playing legends, of course.

    Oh, and we also nearly signed Stanley Matthews but pulled out because he was in his late thirties so was considered too old.....and yet he played on at the highest level until the age of 50! The oldest footballer ever to do so in England.
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  • Don Hutchinson was very close to signing

    I remember that, he went to Sunderland instead and year later went to West Ham.

    Good good player, wonder if we wouldve got Claus Jensen if we had managed to get Don.
  • Don't suppose many people remember Paul Wilkinson but back in '85 Lennie almost signed Grimsby's up and coming striker but he chose Everton: 'a big club' instead. He didn't do so well there but Lennie did eventually sign him for 'Boro in '91. Remember him scoring in the first minute against us in a 2-5 defeat around '93 or '94.
  • i think Mike Newall was a near miss as well
  • Mark Falco, around the first couple of seasons in the top flight over at Selhurst.
  • christian vieri when we had that inter deal!? what happened with that apart from a similar away kit?
  • Cory Gibbs. Oh sorry, he did sign.
  • shirty5 said:

    Mark Falco, around the first couple of seasons in the top flight over at Selhurst.

    He went to Watford instead and then to the Spanners to replace Sheringham in about 1991- they hated him!
  • Steve Claridge was one that was often linked to us, but never actually signed - he had enough clubs as well!
  • Teddy Sheringham .................. allegedly bought a house in Danson Road linked to the move to us but changed his mind about signing for us at the last minute
  • remember us heavily linked with Gabriel Batistuta roughly 2001
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  • Gudjohnson and Flamini were the two for me, as I believe they were close to signing and not just paper speculation.

    Can you have imagined a midfield with Jensen, Flamini and Parker, and with Gudjohnson in front ?
  • edited September 2012
    "Oh, and we also nearly signed Stanley Matthews but pulled out because he was in his late thirties so was considered too old.....and yet he played on at the highest level until the age of 50! The oldest footballer ever to do so in England."

    i don't think it was the age, seed walked away from this deal as brown envelopes were required and seed was above this. i could be making that up though
  • Mentioned before but Kezman for me.
    I even read an interview with him when he said he understood why the top clubs had not come in for him as he had not scored in the 10(or however many) games he had played in the Champions League, although his record in the Dutch league was excellent. He said he hoped to prove his worth in the Premier League with Charlton which would then lead to a move to a top 4 club.
  • christian vieri when we had that inter deal!? what happened with that apart from a similar away kit?

    Remember we were going to get all their out of favour players and people coming back from injury, because they didn't have a reserve side. Damn.

  • Mary Beer...oh yes..never mind..she got away..that rich bastard with his posh cars and fancy ways.. where's my glass?
  • It makes me laugh about Ferguson not being good enough. Record buy for Rangers at the time and scored above one in two, also scored 45 odd goals for Dunfermline in one season in the Scots prem. Tommy Docherty, couldn't even get into the Celtic team.

    Mateja Kezman, though he'd have to be a loon to leave PSV and join us. Nowadays it'd probably happen due to the gulf in wages.... as long as Chelseas didn't come knocking.
  • Were we ever close to signing Drogba!?
  • meldrew66 said:

    Teddy Sheringham .................. allegedly bought a house in Danson Road linked to the move to us but changed his mind about signing for us at the last minute

    Pardew wanted to bring him in 2007, he wanted to come but Curbs would not let him.
  • Gudjohnson and Flamini were the two for me, as I believe they were close to signing and not just paper speculation.

    Can you have imagined a midfield with Jensen, Flamini and Parker, and with Gudjohnson in front ?

    Yes, but would they track back.......?.....:)

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