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Our best free signings?


eelpie

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Going back to 1980 according to Soccerbase, your options are: (with *denoting if I'm not sure if they were free but no fee is listed)

 

Pretty much anyone from the academy that we didn't pay for (and on that note I'll propose Gareth Bale as the winner with MLT a close second, Shaw, Walcott etc though I'm sure a few of them went for nominal fees somewhere along the line as kids).

 

Steven Davis (arguable as we paid a fee of sorts due to the confused ownership and registration situation at Rangers)

Artur Boruc

Tadanari Lee

Danny Butterfield

Jonathan Forte*

Richard Chaplow*

Dan Harding

Radhi Jaidi

Dan Seabourne

Jon Otsemobor

Ryan Dickson

Anthony Pulis

Lee Molyneux

Ryan Smith

Jason Euell

Lee Holmes

Chris Perry

Paul Wotton

Jermaine Wright

Chris Makin

Dennis Wise

Darren Powell

Tomasz Hajto

Djamel Belmadi

Jim Brennan

Jamie Redknapp

Leandre Griffit

Graeme Le Saux (swap)

Kenwyne Jones*

Marcus Hall

Andrei Kanchelskis

Darren Kenton

Jacinta Ela Eyene

Paul Murray (?!)

Paul Williams

Paul Telfer

Uwe Rosler

Jonathon Mills (?!)

Bruno Leal

Dean Richards - not a bad shout...

Paul Hughes

Scott Hiley

Michael Stensgaard

David Howells

Russell Watkinson (?!)

Bruce Grobbelaar (!)

Peter Reid

 

Despite that being only to 1994, Soccerbase doesn't have any frees but plenty of small transfer fees before that - but then that was pre-freedom of contract.

Edited by The9
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Ignoring the academy players which I don't think qualify as "free transfers", Dean Richards wins it hands down. Solidified our defence post Monkou, helped move us on from relegation battles to actually competing higher up the tables, and while he

Left acrimoniously we got a hefty fee for him.

 

My personal favourite free transfer was Harding.

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Converse to the ' Premier League Clubs record buys' thread, who were our best free signings, anyone?

 

(Booby Prize goes to the first person who mentions Ali Dia)

 

 

"The 9 " has made a great list to study (on #6) and although I'd be quick I'd consider that Jaidi and Boruc were certainly worth the effort, it really is a no-brainer as Dean Richards (R.I.P) was quite outstanding in his seasons with Saints, and although it must have seemed a good deal at the time, his move (following Hoddle) to Spurs really marked a downturn in his career when many thought he would go onto greatness.

 

In retrospect, Richards suffered the same fate as Lovren, who looked very good when playing alongside Jose Fonte, and in Deano's case he looked magnificent at times - (usually when playing the " aggressive CB role " alongside the more passive Claus Lundekvam), but he didn't really fit in at White Hart Lane, and Hoddle's departure and his later illness ruined that.

Edited by david in sweden
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For fellow oldies. Was Don Roper a free signing? I remember, as a nipper, when he came into the team his experience alongside young Paine and Sydenham improved morale and helped Saints improve performances at a bad time for the club.

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