Players we should never have sold

[merlin]

Hamann didn't 'screw us over' - he actually liked the NE, but his words when asked why he left Newcastle were 'The Board was average, so the club was average'...

He also didn't get on with Gullit and found him arrogant.

Was a top class signing by Dalglish, would have played for us for years in the right circumstances..

[Cronky]

I voted for Woodgate, despite his injury problems.

 

This season, we've missed Dyer. Given that he was discontented, perhaps we had no choice but to sell him, but we miss having someone with pace in the midfield who can really spring forward.

[Optimistic Nut]

We got the best two years out of £6m, and he was never anywhere near the same player when he left, so not sure how getting the £6m back was a bad move. Gullit falling out with Hamann was just as significant as him falling out with Shearer. Hamann was exceptional that season.

[Guest battyleespeed]

First I thought Bellamy but he was such a troubled lad that he would had left anyway sooner or later (especially without SBR and Speed looking after him). So Distin it is for me... he has been one of the most composed defenders we've had in the last decade and in hindsight it was huge mistake letting him go as we are still trying to find defenders of his quality. He could still do a great job for us and at the time we should had played him in his preferred central role and offered him the wages he was asking for.

[Optimistic Nut]

We never sold Distin, we tried almost everything we could to keep him.

 

I'm not too sure about that. I think once Robson secured the Bramble deal he wasn't that fussed about signing Distin.

[Dr Spectrum]

We never sold Distin, we tried almost everything we could to keep him.

 

I'm not too sure about that. I think once Robson secured the Bramble deal he wasn't that fussed about signing Distin.

 

iirc the reason he came here was because (a) we beat your contract offer and (b) we were going to play him at centre half instead of left back...

 

I voted for him btw....blue tinted glasses and all that but he was a tremendous signing for MCFC, so many cuts above what youve had since hes gone (Well, maybe apart from that one guy everyone reckons was great but only played about 20 games), would have walked into the NUFC side at any point from that day onwards and still would today.

 

Just looking at the list tho. Only one other centre half and he's a crock. Sad inditement of the shite youve had back there if you only regret letting 2 players go in the past decade, only 1 of which I would suggest is a feasable suggestion given the others injury record and the fee you go, and are still not in great shape.

 

Robert tho. I think he's the other one. We've got a player like him now with the magic left foot and the fearlessness...what a difference it makes. Altho I'm not sure how much of that was still there by the time he went given he's done fuck all since.

[Mick]

It's a hard choice for me, you could argue Woodgate because he was a brilliant defender and wasn't replaced but to get that much money for a crock was really good business, the replacement was shite but doesn't make the selling wrong.

 

Speed looked finished when he was sold, he didn't seem able to find his own player with a pass, he's since proven that he obviously wasn't finished, the way he was sold was a poor way of backing the manager, it's not as if we brought in a fortune for him so he was a poor sale.

 

Bellamy was a poor sale, he was a very important player for us and was forced out of the club by a prick, he was far from innocent in his sale but I feel he was poorly managed by somebody who didn't know how to handle players on a daily basis, we had a manager who tried to rule by fear and it back-fired because Bellamy rebelled.  Bobby probably let him get away with too much but I don't think he was as bad as made out.  He was labelled as being trouble, some of the shite that was said about him was just that, shite.  He was labelled a racist while he was spending his spare time going into hospital to visit a young Asian lad who was on his last legs, I think he had cancer or something.  Normally I’d back the manager against a player but I couldn’t back Souness against Bellamy in the way I did when I would have seen Gullit stay instead of Shearer, the reason, I felt Bellamy wanted what was best for both him and the club, he only wanted to play in his best position, something I agreed with.  I think out of all of the players mentioned, Bellamy going was the worst for us.

 

I’m not too bothered about Robert going even though I liked him but I think the way he was handled at the end was shocking, the manager should not have put his own ego before the good of the club and he did do that and I think Souness cost us the chance of winning something, HE caused the problems by going way over the top when Robert went to the press, Souness should have said something and left it at that but no, once again his ego is more important than the club.  Robert wasn’t as bad as made out for tracking back, I can remember his getting bookings for making poor tackles when he was tracking back, he was just erratic and I think he did his best and tried to do the most important part of his job first, he made himself available to others to find and gave us a great outlet.

 

Nobby going for the first time was puzzling and probably the biggest mistake by Bobby, both the sale and his treatment before he went.  Nobby was handed a better contract because he’d decided that his international career was over, and it was because he fell out with his manager and said he’d not play for him again, something which I’m sure he meant but that changed when his international manager changed, when that happened his reason for not playing for Peru was also gone so he decided that he wanted to play for his country again.  He had every right to make that decision and a former international manager should have understood that, Bobby had worked with players like Ronaldo who kept going off and playing for Brazil so why did Bobby take a different stance with Solano?  I have no idea and think it was totally out of order.

 

Ginola was a brilliant player, his goal against Ferencvaros was probably the best goal I’ve ever seen a Newcastle player score.  Ginola proved how good he was after leaving us but also proved later that he could be a massive strop, again though, it’s all about managing individuals and the manager who decided to get rid of him was at fault as much as the player.  Everybody is different and certain players may prove to be more time consuming than others, Ginola was one of then, he seemed to need to feel wanted and appreciated.

 

Sir Les may be my all-time favourite Newcastle player, he would be in my top 5 without a doubt, he was a cockney but loved the club.  We’d do very well as a club if we could get 11 Les Ferdinand’s and I mean attitude rather than 11 brilliant forwards.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player who could seem to hang in the air for a header like Les could, I’m sure he could almost levitate.  A few people think Rod Lee was the best pound for pound that Keegan ever spent, I think it could also be argued that Les was considering we got our money back.  I don’t know if Les was sold behind the back of the manager but I do remember Dalglish saying that he knew nothing about a possible sale and also that he didn’t want him to go, getting the money back on Ferdinand at his age might have looked good business but it turned out to be terrible business for us and may be the reason why we fell from 2nd to 13th without him and Shearer injured.

 

The sale of Cole was a puzzle and I was gutted but was more than happy when we eventually brought in Sir Les to replace him.  Cole had problems with his shin splints so it was never certain how many games we’d get out of him.

Hamann has been mentioned, he could have been a brilliant player for us, in fact he was brilliant.  He could tackle and his shot from range was almost as good as we’d see later with Robert.

 

After saying all of that, I’ve gone for Bellamy because of his impact and the fact that he was probably the youngest of those seriously mentioned so could have played longer, nobody could argue that we were better with him than without.

 

[Thespence]

Cole as we sold him to a team we were trying to keep up with & he was bloody good.

[Optimistic Nut]

Cole as we sold him to a team we were trying to keep up with & he was bloody good.

 

True, but at the same time, we got a player in the deal who was crucial to the man we went on to spend the Cole money on.

[Thespence]

Cole as we sold him to a team we were trying to keep up with & he was bloody good.

 

True, but at the same time, we got a player in the deal who was crucial to the man we went on to spend the Cole money on.

 

We already had team that could supply Cole though.

[tmonkey]

Always maintained from the start that we should never have sold Woodgate.

 

Yes, he was having serious problems staying fit, but his age and his calibre should have warranted us sticking with him, because there was always going to be the chance of Woodgate staying fit again, and that is easily worth £13million in my eyes, especially at a time when we were struggling and were just as unlikely to replace him with someone in his class.

 

I hope we never get rid of a borderline world class player at that age just because of injuries. If performances and physique go downhill (eg Owen slow, Duff empty) then yes, look to phase replace them, but Woodgate returned from injury every time looking just as good as before he picked it up. Again, stick by a player of that class and age because he has time for things to be right again. Prime example is Ronaldo, who from 98 to 2002 was constantly crocked, yet since then hasnt had a major injury and turned out to be a great buy for Madrid.

[macphisto]

Ferdinand for me as you don't break up a 50 goal partnership that he had with Shearer in your first season in the Champions League! Madness! He may have been good to watch but he didn't really produce the goods so I'd rather have got rid of Tino instead of Ferdinand.

 

Seems to be a lot rose tinted glassed on with regards to Ginola as after he got sent off against Arsenal he was never the same player again under both Keegan and Kenny. Robert produced a lot more than him in his time here, might not have been as good to watch but he created and scored more.

[Thespence]

Players we should never have bought......now there is a epic.

[Karjala]

Ferdinand.

 

Best team we've had for fuckin years, and he was key to it. 50 fuckin goals in a season between him and Shearer and we sold him? Unbelievable.

[Lenny]

I voted Ferdinand, but I was tempted to vote Hamann, he was brilliant in his season for us, I'll always remember that goal against Arsenal.

[Guest MrSundlofer]

Who voted for Jenas? Two Spurs fans I suppose...

[Mick]

Who voted for Jenas? Two Spurs fans I suppose...

 

Wullie was probably one of them.

[Yorkie]

What qualifies as a mistake, then? I don't see Bellamy as a massive mistake - we were going nowhere and keeping Bellamy wouldn't have helped. Yes he was a very good player and i liked him a lot when he was here, but he wouldn't have prevented us from finishing 13th/14th imo.

[Dokko]

What qualifies as a mistake, then? I don't see Bellamy as a massive mistake - we were going nowhere and keeping Bellamy wouldn't have helped. Yes he was a very good player and i liked him a lot when he was here, but he wouldn't have prevented us from finishing 13th/14th imo.

 

In your opinion. I think we'd have done a lot better with Bellamy in our team, especially after Souness left.

 

For one we wouldn't of bought Owen, that alone is a huge reason why Bellamy's sale was a massive mistake.

[GM]

What qualifies as a mistake, then? I don't see Bellamy as a massive mistake - we were going nowhere and keeping Bellamy wouldn't have helped. Yes he was a very good player and i liked him a lot when he was here, but he wouldn't have prevented us from finishing 13th/14th imo.

 

In your opinion. I think we'd have done a lot better with Bellamy in our team, especially after Souness left.

 

For one we wouldn't of bought Owen, that alone is a huge reason why Bellamy's sale was a massive mistake.

 

Benefit-of-hindsight-tastic.

 

Regardless of the miserable saga his signing has become since, surely you can't be pretending that you weren't excited by the prospect of Owen & Shearer up front when it became a possibility?

[Dokko]

What qualifies as a mistake, then? I don't see Bellamy as a massive mistake - we were going nowhere and keeping Bellamy wouldn't have helped. Yes he was a very good player and i liked him a lot when he was here, but he wouldn't have prevented us from finishing 13th/14th imo.

 

In your opinion. I think we'd have done a lot better with Bellamy in our team, especially after Souness left.

 

For one we wouldn't of bought Owen, that alone is a huge reason why Bellamy's sale was a massive mistake.

 

Benefit-of-hindsight-tastic.

 

Regardless of the miserable saga his signing has become since, surely you can't be pretending that you weren't excited by the prospect of Owen & Shearer up front when it became a possibility?

 

Isn't that what this thread is about? Every sale is in the past, don't have a go for a fact i cannot change.

[GM]

What qualifies as a mistake, then? I don't see Bellamy as a massive mistake - we were going nowhere and keeping Bellamy wouldn't have helped. Yes he was a very good player and i liked him a lot when he was here, but he wouldn't have prevented us from finishing 13th/14th imo.

 

In your opinion. I think we'd have done a lot better with Bellamy in our team, especially after Souness left.

 

For one we wouldn't of bought Owen, that alone is a huge reason why Bellamy's sale was a massive mistake.

 

Benefit-of-hindsight-tastic.

 

Regardless of the miserable saga his signing has become since, surely you can't be pretending that you weren't excited by the prospect of Owen & Shearer up front when it became a possibility?

 

Isn't that what this thread is about? Every sale is in the past, don't have a go for a fact i cannot change.

 

Yeah. Sorry mate.

[Baggio]

If it wasn't the fall out with Souness it would have been something else.

 

He even fucked up his dream move to Liverpool by being a tit.

[Taylor Swift]

Bellamy's true value for us was only realized when he left, not before or during his stay. When he left we had fuck all pace and movement up front, and since then we've had no one who could change the way the other team's defend us like he did. Bad sale.

 

Hamann is an interesting one in that we were pretty much shite when we sold him so it wasn't like he was the key player in our Championship run or something. Though he proved his worth for Liverpool and is currently doing so at City, I don't think him being allowed to leave was a big mistake, at least not as big as letting Bellamy go.

[Dokko]

If it wasn't the fall out with Souness it would have been something else.

 

He even fucked up his dream move to Liverpool by being a tit.

 

But he was our tit.

 

He was a petulant child who needed to be kept in line, but he'd die for this club, and he had a talent too.

 

Sometimes you can forgive as long as it doesn't go too far, i don't think it ever went too far when he was here, or at Liverpool, Liverpool saw a chance to make some money and put it towards Torres, can't blame them.