Defectors Watch

[swedish dave]

On 23/02/2026 at 17:35, VectisSaint said:

But as another poster put it, this was 2  years after Antonio, so can't say the two were related. Must admit I thought you and me thought more about the performance on the pitch rather than £sd. Gaston was actually pretty good before his dead leg problem set in. Very popular among the crowd (the ones at the stadium rather than the keyboard warriors). Things went wrong I agree, but really don't think he was a disaster. Osvaldo was a disaster granted..Again a real shame though because lime GR he was a very good signing and talented player, just a shame that he was a bell end. 

I agree with you Vectis ..that match performances are the key factor, but sadly when those expensive players 

finally leave  the first question is always ....was he worth it ?.  I guess (like me ) you have quite a few decades

under your belt, but I always felt that our greatest successes were players who cost " next to nothing " to sign

Paine, Sydenham, Channon head up that list, but the majority of those who broke our club record were a total

waste of space. Looking back my list of  exceptions starts with Tony Knapp and Ron Davies , but few others.  

 

Martin Chivers record transfer to Spurs gave us Frank Saul. To be fair, a mediocre player, who greatest credit

was scoring a Cup Final goal, but his deal cost us a hefty 45K - and he was gone in 2 years with little to show

in the record books.  In the last 15 years, the best signings (Lambert and Fonte's name stand out as best) 

but the likes of the two Latin players (mentioned above ) but many later (post Koeman) additions were a disaster

with the likes of Carrillo and Onuachu and Sulemana being the costliest. Nowadays, signing expensive players

is akin to buying a lottery ticket where the selling club frequently gets the jackpot .