Players Who We Could Have Signed or Should Have Kept ....

I'll start the ball rolling with Chopra (I am pretty sure would have come) and Mpenza (who was probably too expensive) + one we maybe should not have let go ... Devaney.

 

Sign: Trevor Benjamin

Kept: Jamie Hand

 

Kept: Neil Cox, Ardley, Vega, Robbo, and the geeza with long hair on the wing.

 

Should have kept Gravalaine
Should have signed Ben Foster!

 

Agree about.............

Chopra, and you are spot on, I reckon he would have signed as well

Another player who would have come is that guy who is at Southampton, banging them in for fun, Saga....something or other, remember we had him here on trial in January

As for who we should not have let go, there are so many over the years, but in recent times there is only one, other than Cook, but we did not have much choice in that one, and that is Robbo!!! the money we got was abysimal

And before it is said, I don't regret Ashley going, because it was good business for the club, though a little sad to lose a good player :sign16:

 

Two players we should have signed during the transfer window are Robert Koren and Chinedu Ogbuke. Koren was free transfer, Ogbuke would have cost £3M, which we could easily afford especially if we hadn't spent the money on Hoskins, Williamson and Kabba.

Players we should have kept: Brynjar Gunnarsson.

 

Kept: Gunnarsson-he was magnificent in midfield, my favourite player whilst he was here, what a top-draw goal at Sheffield United!

Signed: ANY OTHER STRIKER WITH PREM EXPERIENCE!

 

To be fair, Gunnarsson was OK for us, but didn't set the world alight. He has kicked on at Reading and done fantastically, but let's not pretend he was that awsome for us.

Chopra was a real "one that got away" but to be fair, at the time we all thought Webber was a far better bet and we didn't have the money for both. Still, Chopra's four goals at Burley will live long in the memory.

There are loads of players we should have signed. This is obvious from the fact that are current batch are overhelmingly not good enough.

 

but at the time newcastle still regarded him as a prospect.

 

dead right about chopra as he would have come for sure.

gunnarrsson I would have liked to have stayed but there was more to that one and if a player wants to go, what's the point?

robinson was poor business but said to be necessary. not sure I totally agree but we might never find out the truth about the accounts from those times.

darren ward we should have kept if we go back a little further. wasn't it ward out and vega in that summer? just to rub salt into the wound...

also a few years ago now, barry hayles would have come and done the business at that level at that time.

must be loads more but I suppose every club can say that. forest with marlon for instance!

 

Tommy Mooney

 

Paul Robinson:whoosh: :whoosh: :whoosh:

 

Collins John and Carlos Edwards should have been signed in the summer.

 

If this string was titled "players we should never have signed" i think it would be 3 times as long.

 

I agree with the should have signed Carlos Edwards and Chopra. It would have saved us money as well as we have spent it on far less players in Smith and Kabba (at the moment, they may come good next year!)

We should have bid 2 million for Foster as well in the summer once they got Kucaizk.

As for kept, no one recently but would have liked to see Paul Robinson stay here and be turned into a central midfielder in the Mahon position. I would have liked to have kept a couple of ex coaches as well, especially a certain Mr Gibbs.

 

i don't think chopra would've been massively successful. he's a poacher, and we haven't really had much scraps to feed him since early on in the season.

young going was fine, far too much money.

bryn was probably one of the disruptive forces that aidy got rid of, but was still a good player- far better than gav.

saganowski turned us down, not the other way round.

ogbuke would never have come in a million years.

i can't see how people could have criticised buying kabba and suggested buying hayles.

the one player we have missed this season is marlon, and i'm pretty sure it would've been very different if he'd been safe.

but it's ok, our squad will be the strongest in the championship by far, and i see no problems coming straight back up, when aidy will have experience in off season dealings

 

Pass me the spliff ....

 

seeing as I am the only person to mention hayles, I presume you mean me. what I actually said was:

"also a few years ago now, barry hayles would have come and done the business at that level at that time."

few years ago now.... at that time.... comprehende?

 

Back in 97/98 wasn't it? Certainly remember GT saying he was interested. Ended up going to Fulham because they had more money at the time. Obviously wouldn't be with us now, but would have been a good signing.

As for current who we should have signed
Carlos Edwards or Jobi Mcanuff (spl?)
Billy Sharp or Freddie Eastwood (no real evidence but i think both would have developed to the Prem quicker than Hoskins)

No one i'd have kept that has been sold in the last season, though if we go back a few years I agree with thoughts on Robbo and Ward.

 

I never that sure about Darren Ward and lets be honest, what's he done since? We got £500,000 for him and it took Milwall 4yrs to double their money. He's still playing Championship football and I've never heard him linked with Premiership clubs. I think we did ok out of that deal.

 

Two things about this thread.... Firstly, things wouldnt have been much different as the Watford side as a whole should have been strengthened anyway. We would still easily be bottom 3 IMO

... and second, "I see no problems coming straight back up"... well you're just having one big laugh arent you!


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Sorry, just reading your post again... are you taking drugs yellow and proud?

"Our squad will be the strongest by far?"

Why am I bothering re-quoting? That whole post is absolute tosh!


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What major problems do you see re: coming back up? We might not be good enough for the Premiership but we'll be fine in the Championship. I think some people need to look at that division this year and see just how shocking it is by comparison. Obviously there's no guarantees about bouncing straight back but I'd say your scepticism is unfounded. 2005/6 should give you hope.

 

Sorry UEA but ive seen too many lame performances so far this season by the Golden boys... teams are beating us in 2nd or 3rd gear.

Tottenham had an absolute stroll against us... its pathetically poor.

I used to admire (as fans) our positive attitude but theres positive and realistic.... the rate we're going we not even gonna beat the 26 point mark acheived in 99 and that for would be completely unacceptable.

We are now seriously over laden with players, it seems Aidy has not got the first clue what his best 11 is.. Of the signings made since the summer, dare i say it, only Tommy Smith and Big Dan have been (just about) up to the task.

The way things are, we are a bottom half fizzy pop side.

We need massive MASSIVE changes in the summer and a serious wedge of dough spent.



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Of course teams like Tottenham are beating us without getting out of 3rd gear - have you looked at the value of their team? Their sponsorship deal is £10m/season for god's sake! I just don't see how you can say we're a "bottom half" team when it's the nucleus of the same team as last time. Even the players we've added who aren't up to Prem class should fit right in at Championship level. I know it's disheartening but a decent summer away and we'll be ready to fight the good fight again. Of course investment in the team is crucial - the squad is at a massive transistion point now. Expect lots of fringe players to burger off in the summer to start with.

PS We got 24pts in 2000 (just to cheer you up )

 

£36 on Sat to watch complete carp.... we had nothing, showed nothing.

Spurs had a kick around basically, almost a warm up match and even rested players.

We should have been out of the blocks bloody going for it with a "what the hell attitude"

How many shots on target again? 1?

Absolutely pathetic!

Im sick of hearing people being all pretty on here about how things arent that bad, they bloody well are. We're in big trouble and it feels like im in a very small minority of people that can see it.


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I do see what you're saying but the nucleous is gone (Ash and Marlon).... and before you say anything, I dont see Marlon returning to that form!
He'll be off.........


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Time will tell on Marlon. I don't think any team would buy a player who's been out with a knee injury for a year. Of course I have no more clue than the next bloke if he'll get his form back.

You also have to take into account that team morale is shattered. Not just dented. It's in tiny weeny little pieces and is gonna need a lot of work over the summer to hit the ground running in August.

 

sorry, must've scanned through yours. hold my hands up lads, my bad

 

Completely agree.

 

Exactly. 6pts in the Championship that would have been worth. Jeez, by the way some of you are talking it's as if we were Reading last season, mullering everyone in sight. News flash: we were awful about a third of the time. Just goes to show how poor that division is compared to the ruthless Premiership.

 

Well said.....last season, despite our excellent points return, how often did we destroy teams compared to scraping out the result? Apart from that spell when all we did was score 4 goals we generally didn't rip teams apart, just grounded out the results, a body of consistency if you will. Those '6' points came against teams that specifically raised their games because they had nothing to lose and we still triumphed.

Yes, we've been poor this year and yes, personally speaking i'm getting sick and tired of spending what little cash i have following the team to almost certain defeats, but it's not all doom and gloom, we have cash in the back, stadium redevelopments on the way and squad that apart from losing Ash and Springy has been given considerable depth, with players who will be able to perfrom well at championship level.

 

I hear what Luke and UEA are saying, but I am concerned that the depth of our squad is meaningless if there is no actual quality there. Despite having a glut of players, I don't know if many of them will have an impact even at Championship level. Also disapointing this year, is the fact that we have failed to bring in anyone who can do it at Prem level, which means that if we do get promoted (and it is a big if) we will still be as carp as this term.

 

Well we know Tommy Smith can do a job at championship level. Williams seems like a straight replacement for Springy. Players like Hoskins, Priskin and Kabba will certainly provide better back-up than dodgy loan signings like Trevor Benjamin etc. Big Dan will be a monster at Championship level, look how he dominated Plymouths attack. Once we clear out the deadwood, add a decent right back, new 1st choice keeper and maybe a decent winger we'll have a fairly tidy looking squad. Lets take Reading as an example, building a side for 5 years keeping the main nucleus and look at them now. We'll keep the players we want to keep and be able to flog or release those we don't want.