One of my favourite ever players for us is Zeng Zhi. He was an absolute workhorse, brilliant on the ball and could really finish. I loved him and I was so happy when we signed him permanently for the championship as I'd assumed he'd stay in the prem. Sadly he left after that season and I was gutted but by that time Pardew had lost the plot anyway.
Andy Jones - never lived up to expectations, but I liked him as he always put a shift in
I was seeing a girl from Prestatyn when we signed him and made her go to a game at Rhyl (where he started his career) with me to see if I could buy an old programme from a game he'd played in.
Got chatting to the guy in the programme shop who was very excited that Andy had signed for us, the fans loved him. Ended up having a beer with a load of fans that the guy introduced me to.
'Top tips on how to impress a girl' by Dave Mehmet.
Souleymane Diawara - described by Richard Murray, with more than a hint of a sneer, as “apparently the best centre half in the world you’ve never heard of” after he’d paid £3.7m for him.
Never thought he was given much of a chance to settle and only played 26 games (although that included 8 clean sheets). Went back to France, we made a loss, and went on to be transferred to Marseille for €7m two years later. Won the French cup 4 times, a record at the time.
We had a ginger midfielder in Chris Powell’s first season (the half season, not the full one). He was an ex Man U youth player but I can’t remember his name
We had a ginger midfielder in Chris Powell’s first season (the half season, not the full one). He was an ex Man U youth player but I can’t remember his name
We had a ginger midfielder in Chris Powell’s first season (the half season, not the full one). He was an ex Man U youth player but I can’t remember his name
Souleymane Diawara - described by Richard Murray, with more than a hint of a sneer, as “apparently the best centre half in the world you’ve never heard of” after he’d paid £3.7m for him.
Never thought he was given much of a chance to settle and only played 26 games (although that included 8 clean sheets). Went back to France, we made a loss, and went on to be transferred to Marseille for €7m two years later. Won the French cup 4 times, a record at the time.
He would be my shout (along with Pringle). I thought Diawara was actually quite decent but in a bad team. Good career before and after his time with us.
Tony Watt first player I thought of, even though he had some sublime moments in a Charlton shirt (I doubt any of us will forget that keeping the ball for a minute moment at The Valley), but overall he didn't perform to the level he should have, and I guess he only scored 7 or 8 goals for us in total.
I need to check my spelling but Alexei Smertin, signed I think by abromovich for Chelsea as a favour to his mate then loaned to us. Thought he was class
Diawara had a few stand-out bad games for us, but also had a lot of the raw materials to be a good defender and didn't get a lot of time/patience from us to adjust to English football. I would say he was more inconsistent than just plain shit. I thought he was going to boss the Championship and help us get promoted back to the prem at the first attempt and then go on to be good, but instead of using the Bent money to hold onto the rest of our better players and build a team for another crack at the Prem we sold anyone with any value and went down the pan rapidly. His subsequent career showed there was a good player in there.
It scary, looking back, how fast nearly 20 years of hard work and rebuilding was undone once Curbs left the building and we are still dealing with the fall out of some of that mis-management.
Another one I liked was Gary Rowett. I liked him as a more powerful right back who could get forward but also defend and I liked his ability to play in a back three with Fish and Rufus (a back three with about two working knees between them). I felt like he was exactly the kind of player Curbishley could get the most out of but his injuries meant he barely got any time with us
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appreciate his work ethic.
The start of Richard Murray being a twat.
Had such high hopes when he joined but at least i got to see his one and only cameo appearance at Ipswich.
Bulot though, that's the stuff
It scary, looking back, how fast nearly 20 years of hard work and rebuilding was undone once Curbs left the building and we are still dealing with the fall out of some of that mis-management.