Piran Posted 26 May, 2016 Share Posted 26 May, 2016 Charlie George - absolutely fantastic player but injured when he joined us and hardly ever fit. When he was fit he was sensational. You could mention Peter Osgood in the same vein as well. A world class player who could be brilliant - such as when he demolished Marseille - but didn't do it enough for us. But then he should never have had to spend three seasons when he was at his playing peak in the second division. Well, I for one absolutely loved watching Osgood play, and certainly do not consider that he was a disappointment with Saints. Many times watching him, I would think it was worth the admission fee just to see him perform, and I don't remember him being 'hardly ever fit'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5string Posted 26 May, 2016 Share Posted 26 May, 2016 Graeme le Saux & Jamie Redknapp. Thought we showed vague ambition by signing 2 'big' names (ok, GLS was a swap for Wayne Bridge, though I was disappointed to lose the excellent WBridge). Wish we'd never bothered. Both treated us like a retirement/care home! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cat Posted 26 May, 2016 Share Posted 26 May, 2016 Graeme le Saux & Jamie Redknapp. Thought we showed vague ambition by signing 2 'big' names (ok, GLS was a swap for Wayne Bridge, though I was disappointed to lose the excellent WBridge). Wish we'd never bothered. Both treated us like a retirement/care home! I don't remember Le Saux being that bad. Granted at that stage of his career he was a downgrade on Bridge, but he wasn't terrible by any means. Redknapp was ready for the knackers yard when he joined. To be fair to him he did try, it was just that his body couldn't respond. He seemed genuinely gutted when we were relegated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 26 May, 2016 Share Posted 26 May, 2016 David Prutton. Was considered a coup when he signed and billed as a future captain and long term central midfield star. Never lived up to it though. Kevin Davies the second time round, half the player we sold to Blackburn. Kerry Dixon, was a great striker for Chelsea but awful for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonist Posted 26 May, 2016 Share Posted 26 May, 2016 David Prutton. Was considered a coup when he signed and billed as a future captain and long term central midfield star. Never lived up to it though. Kevin Davies the second time round, half the player we sold to Blackburn. Kerry Dixon, was a great striker for Chelsea but awful for us. ha yes, i was pretty pleased with Prutton and Higginbotham that day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Katalinic's 'tache Posted 26 May, 2016 Author Share Posted 26 May, 2016 David Prutton. Was considered a coup when he signed and billed as a future captain and long term central midfield star. Never lived up to it though. Kevin Davies the second time round, half the player we sold to Blackburn. Kerry Dixon, was a great striker for Chelsea but awful for us. Half the player, but twice the size... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Bateman Posted 26 May, 2016 Share Posted 26 May, 2016 David Prutton. Was considered a coup when he signed and billed as a future captain and long term central midfield star. Never lived up to it though. Kevin Davies the second time round, half the player we sold to Blackburn. Kerry Dixon, was a great striker for Chelsea but awful for us. Yes to all of those. David Hirst? I was pleased to get him in. Juanmi. There are too many to list that exceeded expectations though - Patrick Colleter grew on me for some weird reason as did Kevin Richardson (although he was no Jimmy Case was all you'd f**king hear). We also had many kids who were hyped up to f**k and never lived up to anything; Mark Paul, Cosimo Sarli, Kevin Gibbons etc etc., and watching dross like Richard Dryden. God most of the 90s was sh*t, thank god for Flowers, Dodd, Kenna, Shearer, Le Tiss, Eklund and later Beattie and Pahars (the latter just in the 90s, I can't even remember?). How about managers you were excited by who did f**k all? Souness for me. I was excited Souness was joining Southampton as manager, only to find out later that he pretty much killed off the academy. Awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenilworthy Posted 26 May, 2016 Share Posted 26 May, 2016 Well, I for one absolutely loved watching Osgood play, and certainly do not consider that he was a disappointment with Saints. Many times watching him, I would think it was worth the admission fee just to see him perform, and I don't remember him being 'hardly ever fit'. It was George i was talking about being hardly ever fit. Osgood himself admitted to not being fit when he joined us - had he been we would almost certainly not have been relegated. But after then he actually put up a good appearance record for Saints. His Chelsea record was better than a goal every 3 games in the first division, with us it more like a goal every 4 to 5 games in the second division which is not bad by any estimate. But matches of world class brilliance like Sunderland home in 75/76 were not always the case - it was disappointing that he went off on loan to Norwich at one point and left early in the promotion season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 26 May, 2016 Share Posted 26 May, 2016 Yes to all of those. David Hirst? I was pleased to get him in. Juanmi. There are too many to list that exceeded expectations though - Patrick Colleter grew on me for some weird reason as did Kevin Richardson (although he was no Jimmy Case was all you'd f**king hear). We also had many kids who were hyped up to f**k and never lived up to anything; Mark Paul, Cosimo Sarli, Kevin Gibbons etc etc., and watching dross like Richard Dryden. God most of the 90s was sh*t, thank god for Flowers, Dodd, Kenna, Shearer, Le Tiss, Eklund and later Beattie and Pahars (the latter just in the 90s, I can't even remember?). How about managers you were excited by who did f**k all? Souness for me. I was excited Souness was joining Southampton as manager, only to find out later that he pretty much killed off the academy. Awesome. Scott Marshall was another one, although I would say ecstatic is pushing it when we got him from arsenal for £500k and think we beat a few club for his signature, he'd played a few times for arsenal the previous season when I think they we're champions. he was considered to be quite a signing. IIRC he played twice we lost 3-0 and 4-0, he scored an own goal in both games and was one of the worst players I've ever seen. Remember Jon Gittens? SOld him for £60k, resigned him a few years later for £600k and you could see why all we got was a tenth of what we payed for him straight away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maggie May Posted 26 May, 2016 Share Posted 26 May, 2016 Carsten Jancker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hackedoff Posted 26 May, 2016 Share Posted 26 May, 2016 Bit of a trend with this lot either- Good players but past their best - Injury prone - Panic buys - South American - Tossers - A combination of some / all of above Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maggie May Posted 26 May, 2016 Share Posted 26 May, 2016 Scott Marshall was another one, although I would say ecstatic is pushing it when we got him from arsenal for £500k and think we beat a few club for his signature, he'd played a few times for arsenal the previous season when I think they we're champions. he was considered to be quite a signing. IIRC he played twice we lost 3-0 and 4-0, he scored an own goal in both games and was one of the worst players I've ever seen. One of them came off his arse too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintBobby Posted 26 May, 2016 Share Posted 26 May, 2016 The signings I was most excited about over the last ten years or so were Delgado, Skacel, , Ramirez and Osvaldo. No one else got close to being as exciting as those signings. My reaction was "meh, nothing to see here...probably a waste of money" to the signings of Lambert, Fonte, Wanyama, Clyne, Long and Mane. This conclusively proves that, whilst I love football and the Saints, I have to confess I know jack all about either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shance Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 Ramirez. At the time I watched quite a bit of foreign football and Gaston was widely regarded as one of the top young prospects in world football. When Lawrenson made his 'They won't sign him' comments on MOTD I was actually thinking the same. I couldn't believe it when we got him. He was a massive let down. Osvaldo. Really thought he would be a top signing. As it was, he couldn't get into games and effect them like he could and he turned out to be a ****ing mentalist proved by what he's done since leaving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkshire Saint Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 Paul Moody ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldNick Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 Still one of the best footballers I've ever seen in the red and white stripes, truly wasted in WGS's system but I'll never forget him dismantling Spurs! It's funny how we see things differently, I thought he was poor and too slow for the PL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Johnson Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 I had high hopes for Stig Johannsson but turns out football manager isn't real. Those were the days were every Norwegian was the next big thing! Erik Nevland Tommy Svindal Larssen Stig Johannsson Martin Knudsen Bjørn Heidenstrøm At least Bakayoko actually scored a few for Everton!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saintrich Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 most of obvious ones already mentioned. Jelle Van Damme signing for £2.5m seemed like an exciting signing at the time and didn't amount to much. I remember Jason St Juste being on the back page of the echo shortly after we were relegated in 2005 and there seemed to be a bit of hype around him. He never played a game for us. also, I did a paper round in around 2002/2003 and Javier De Pedro seemed to be on the back page for a number of weeks, was quite p!ssed off that we didn't sign him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjsaint Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 Hard to see past Delgado for this one although Dani Osvaldo gives him a f***in run for his money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrfahaji Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 I liked Boa Morte at Arsenal, in fact he was probably one of my favourite non-Saints (as irrational as that may seem), so was ecstatic when he signed for us. Perhaps I was biased but I remember him coming on in a few games for the last 10 minutes and making a real difference, could never understand why he didn't get more of a run. The fact he went on and did well at Fulham after suggests that he could have been a lot better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sussexsaint Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 Steve De Ridder was hardly at fault - it was idiots who took a youtube compilation and assumed we were getting Messi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 I liked Boa Morte at Arsenal, in fact he was probably one of my favourite non-Saints (as irrational as that may seem), so was ecstatic when he signed for us. Perhaps I was biased but I remember him coming on in a few games for the last 10 minutes and making a real difference, could never understand why he didn't get more of a run. The fact he went on and did well at Fulham after suggests that he could have been a lot better. Great goal at Watford. I liked him but we never saw a lot of him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddie Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 In fairness Juanmi did get quite a bit of press/hype. Lots of videos being posted of his goal against Barcelona a few seasons ago and the fact none of us knew about him meant we were fairly optimistic about being a '2nd striker to Pelle'. In recent years he'd be up there on my list of people with biggest gap between hype and reality/performance. Yes the hype wasn't as much as some of the others...but the reality...he was abysmal, probably as much in training as much as when he got some game time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatch Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 most of obvious ones already mentioned. Jelle Van Damme signing for £2.5m seemed like an exciting signing at the time and didn't amount to much. Playing for LA Galaxy now with Gerrard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 Keegan, of course, it was an incredible shock to see that on the local TV news at 6.00pm but we always knew we were only a stepping stone before he went to Newcastle. Charlie George was an extremely exciting signing and despite coming to us injured we had high hopes of him. I had an 'I saw Charlie George Play' sticker in my car because I was at the FA cup replay at Highbury when Laurie brought him on as a sub against Arsenal. The response from the Arsenal crowd was fantastic, but we still lost the reply.... Laurie's system of bringing in top players towards the end of their careers often worked and the late 70s, early 80s were a great time for Saints' fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Boy Saint Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 I remember being massively under-whelmed the first time I saw Anders Svennson, it was away at Gillingham either in a pre-season friendly or a league cup game. He had been massively bigged up on what would have been the old version of this site and he wasn't at all what I was expecting, just a bit meh. He was always competent but never really that top-level cut-above than many thought we were buying. The frustration with him was you had to check the weather vane on the spire of St Mary's Church, just to see which way the wind was blowing, for an inkling as to which Anders would take to the pitch for us that afternoon. Some days un playable, others "oh I forgot he was on the pitch". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadoldgit Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 I might even go back 35 years ago ...and say ..Kevin Keegan. YES alright ....I know he did great things whilst he was with Saints, but the manner of his departure was very disappointing. I am with you David. He spent a lot of the second season out injured and I was hoping he would stay for another season to make up for it. Didn't he fall out with Big Mac? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky_Mark Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 Vegard Forren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dig Dig Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 Was anyone really "ecstatic" about signing Forren? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shurlock Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 Was anyone really "ecstatic" about signing Forren? Speak for yourself. After missing out on Coutinho in Jan 2013, he was a cracking consolation prize Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david in sweden Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 (edited) I remember being massively under-whelmed the first time I saw Anders Svennson, it was away at Gillingham either in a pre-season friendly or a league cup game. He had been massively bigged up on what would have been the old version of this site and he wasn't at all what I was expecting, just a bit meh. He was always competent but never really that top-level cut-above than many thought we were buying. Although I wouldn't disagree with that totally...but a lot more came to light after his return to Sweden. Saw a number of interviews on SVT with him and he knew how to talk football. Always asked about his time at Saints, he came up with a number of interesting stories. Signed by Stuart Gray, but then he didn't get so much playing time after Strachan came. Strachan told him (and Fabrice Fernandes ) that they were " too much alike " as players and that he (Strachan) would only select one of then at a time. Anders' "best role " was playing as an attacking MF behind the front two, but in his time he was used wide on the wings, and later Strachan tried him as a defensive MF, and then criticised him for " not getting in the game ". How could I , he commented ..when they played lots of long balls upfield and way over our heads ! His critical comments about Harry Redknapp were outstanding. He (Redknapp) knew nothing about football, he said ..and his dressing room talks were only ....go out there and play then..... Returning to Sweden, Anders went back to Elfsborg and played on for another 10 years (retired last summer aged 39) and clocked up around 150 games for Sweden. Never saw the best of his potential, but a good look at him in with You Tube clip when Saints beat Spurs twice in a week and see Anders' solo run / goal in a 4-0 Cup win. NOTE: also take a look at what we missed of Anders' performances with You Tube clip......Anders Svensson no taco no party Edited 27 May, 2016 by david in sweden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadoldgit Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 (edited) To turn it around - a signing I wasn't happy with but ended up being well chuffed with was........Carlton Palmer! Edited 27 May, 2016 by sadoldgit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 David Prutton although a decent player for us. When we signed him, he came with huge potential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadoldgit Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 Going back into the mists of time, Frank Saul. He came from Spuds in exchange for Martin Chivers and boy did we get the sh*tty end of that deal! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 just for LOLz Kerry Dixon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadoldgit Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 Paul Rideout. Not terrible but not in the same class as the strikers he followed in those days and a big let down for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALWAYS_SFC Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 Paul Rideout. Not terrible but not in the same class as the strikers he followed in those days and a big let down for me. The only time he was any good was in the Tranmere disaster... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadoldgit Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 The only time he was any good was in the Tranmere disaster... And I seem to remember him scoring a perfectly good header at Old Trafford only to have it disallowed because I assume you are were not allowed to score at Old Trafford if you were the away side! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 27 May, 2016 Share Posted 27 May, 2016 Such a myth. Saganowski lost form, he had a purple patch and we signed him. He kept running around and putting the effort in, but wasn't that great. Are we really suggesting he could just turn on and off that level of goalscoring form when he felt like it and no longer bothered?! Has to be Osvaldo overall. Even without the insanity and lack of respect, from what I'd seen of him I thought he'd just be a hell of a lot better. For us he looked slow, his finishing was poor and he got pushed off the ball too easily. Saganowski literally looked like he switched off his "give a toss" meter the second he got a full time deal, it was completely brazen. But I'd go for Ryan Smith - he was utter gash, came in with a load of hype, so one footed he looked like he was going to fall over every time he had to change direction. Lee Holmes wasn't much better, always injured. Best game for us was Kelvin's Testimonial. Mark Hughes was a big letdown too. Osvaldo was clearly an excellent footballer with the brain of a complete nutcase. Delgado was clearly decent, just never available. Anyone saying Skacel is out of their mind - he was a player coming from the Scottish leagues to a team in the Championship, had a great partnership with Bale, and was still good even when made to play left back. One of our best players during the decline in the mid-2000s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNSUN Posted 28 May, 2016 Share Posted 28 May, 2016 In the 90's with our relegation struggles, I was always excited by players we signed from bigger clubs as I never knew what to expect, but hoped for good things. Some came off, like Beattie and Shipperley, but some didn't, like Kanchelskis, Marshall and Boa Morte. One who hasn't been mentioned that falls in that bracket was Mark Walters. Great pedigree but hardly played for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyboy Posted 28 May, 2016 Share Posted 28 May, 2016 Michael Wilde Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeBizzier69 Posted 28 May, 2016 Share Posted 28 May, 2016 Graeme le Saux & Jamie Redknapp. Thought we showed vague ambition by signing 2 'big' names (ok, GLS was a swap for Wayne Bridge, though I was disappointed to lose the excellent WBridge). Wish we'd never bothered. Both treated us like a retirement/care home! I'm pretty sure that Le Saux hit real form with us and there was paper talk about his form earning an international recall? Thought both were good for us (IMO) and was great to see Redknapp spraying the ball about when not crocked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horley CTFC Saint Posted 28 May, 2016 Share Posted 28 May, 2016 I am with you David. He spent a lot of the second season out injured and I was hoping he would stay for another season to make up for it. Didn't he fall out with Big Mac? Rumour was Big Mac wanted to get rid of a midfielder and KK got a complex about it being him - in the end I think we lost Graham Baker and Keegan around the same time.....but I could be wrong! Anyway KK was a Pratt and a good call for this thread - never forget the game against WBA when John Wile owned him...lost count of the times KK was caught offside. It was then that I first realised how unaware he was as a player Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monk Posted 28 May, 2016 Share Posted 28 May, 2016 Agustin Delgado will always stick as the one that disappointed me. Federico Arias was another one, dubbed the torpedo unfortunately he was more of a balloon losing its air. The strangest one for me was Michael Stensgaard the keeper. Having never seen him play and only knowing of his existence due to the Premier League sticker book; he was the player I would recreate in my blue Pony - Sanderson goalkeeper kit in the garden. The obvious ones: Osvaldo Ramirez Saganowski (mark II) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BallBoy Posted 28 May, 2016 Share Posted 28 May, 2016 Stuart Ripley deserves a mention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COMEONYOUREDS Posted 28 May, 2016 Share Posted 28 May, 2016 Zlatan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mowgli Posted 28 May, 2016 Share Posted 28 May, 2016 Tommy Forecast Seriously? That signing excited you??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mowgli Posted 28 May, 2016 Share Posted 28 May, 2016 Mark Paul. I remember being quite excited when we beat a host of clubs to sign him for £75000 from Kings Lynn. Never played a game. Disappeared into the depths of non-league obscurity. Crikey. What a fickle lot we are. Most of those mentioned I have quite fond memories of with the exception of Speedie and Hughes who were in my book just a nasty couple of characters so far up their own backside it wasn't true. Then again, the signings never excited me so they don't meet the criteria. On balance I'd agree with you. Got very excited by Mark Paul who was a real discovery that we nabbed under the noses of the big boys - but as you say, he never played a game as far as I can recall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattiiiboiii7 Posted 28 May, 2016 Share Posted 28 May, 2016 I might be wrong here as I was fairly young at the time, but why hasn't Ricardo Fuller been mentioned?? Was he any good? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadoldgit Posted 28 May, 2016 Share Posted 28 May, 2016 Rumour was Big Mac wanted to get rid of a midfielder and KK got a complex about it being him - in the end I think we lost Graham Baker and Keegan around the same time.....but I could be wrong! Anyway KK was a Pratt and a good call for this thread - never forget the game against WBA when John Wile owned him...lost count of the times KK was caught offside. It was then that I first realised how unaware he was as a player I think Lawrie Mac accused him of cheating (as in not putting in the effort) after a defeat and their relationship was never the same again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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