gbandit Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 No wonder Wenger was so successful in that period, was so far ahead of the game in terms of bringing in players from Europe but especially France Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paully Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 Great thread this btw! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Likelylad Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 6 hours ago, TheBrownBottle said: Some of Wenger’s buys changed English football mind. Anelka for £500k was unreal. So was paying 10% of what we paid for Bramble for Kolo Toure in the same summer (the big money we wasted in that period is piss-boiling tbh) Petit & Overmars for less than 10m in the summer of 97. Some outrageous business across the board. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 Viduka's goal v Fulham is allowed to stand. We stay up ahead of Hull. Does Shearer stay on as manager in the Premier League? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
christ Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 3 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said: Viduka's goal v Fulham is allowed to stand. We stay up ahead of Hull. Does Shearer stay on as manager in the Premier League? No. Ashley gives him the same short shrift and we end up with some absolute chancer like Owen Coyle. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomYam Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 30th January, 1977, NUFC were in the chasing pack behind Liverpool, but our manager resigned and joined Everton. Before leaving he told the players his 'coach' (ball collector and pair of ears), Richard Dinnis, would make a good replacement. 18 months earlier Gordon Lee had replaced Joe Harvey as manager. Lee had strong political opinions that permeated into his football pholosophy and believed the team should operate as a singular unit without stardust and theatrical footwork. Out went Supermac and Terry Hibbitt. In came Alan Gowling, Geoff Nulty and pragmatic football. Led by Nulty, seconded by Tommy Craig and Gowling, while also seemingly supported by Tommy Burns, Irving Nattrass and Alan Kennedy, the players threatened to go on strike if Richard Dinnis was not appointed permanent manager. The weak and embattled board of directors caved in to player power! All went well enough for the remaing 3 months of the season, but the team lost 4 of their last 5 games and close season quickly showed the ineptitude of our novice and meek manager. Season 1977-78 started with a win but we then lost 12 consecutive domestic games. The kindly (if hopeless) Dinnis was sacked and, true to form, he was replaced by the sergeant-majorly disciplinarian, Bill McGarry. SBR to Sourness or Ossie Ardiles to Jim Smith, anyone? Sliding doors: what would have happened if the board had stood firm? We may well have struggled in February as we appointed a new manager (Ian Greaves and Graham Taylor were top of the list), but we surely wouldn't have had the calamatous season and ignominious relegation which followed. A dark cloud hovered over the club from 1977 to 1982 - could it all have been avoided? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Bailey Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 Great thread and so many excellent posts already. We have had so many nearly moments and wasted/lost opportunities. (At times it does feel as if we will always be the nearly club and as if a curse hangs over us) Must be the club with so many lost chances/opportunities. Onwards and upwards though Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colos Short and Curlies Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 Possibly the biggest of all for English football is what if Fergie hadn’t won that first trophy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pancrate1892 Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 On 01/03/2024 at 09:47, Optimistic Nut said: He'd dropped Ginola which was fair enough as he played Robbie Elliott LM and his goals arguably clinched us the CL spot that season. He then sold Ginola AND Elliott though. Was just talking about that earlier to someone! I think it was when dogleash changed the formation to wingbacks and then Elliott starting scoring goals from wing back. As you say ginola was ostracized . But in what circumstances does a club sell a young player who is at the height of their development and weighing in with goals that secured Europes premier competition....to Bolton, for 2.5m!? Then we've got neither, and he sells Bez who was scoring goals from left back and was actually our top scorer with barnes. Then the stupid cunt bought des Hamilton and played him there Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzz Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 David O'Leary appointed manager in August 2009. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pancrate1892 Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 On 01/03/2024 at 12:21, mighty__mag said: Destroyed everything for me, even when Keegan sold Cole he had a replacement lined up, Hamman and Solano came late, but he was buying all kinds of crap, he could simply have consolidated all the poor purchases into one or two solid ones at the time, and held onto everything we had. We were nearly there in terms of quality, he did a total demolition job on Keegans era. Never was a fan, and unlike you, I didn't rate him. Each to their own though. 100% right. Saying dalglish had an eye for a player (based on Newcastle) is like saying I've got an eye for interior design by smashing up your house, setting fire to it and then fucking off with 100k for the job. Dalglish reign was putrid. For every solano, there's about 10 disasters Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLC Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 5 minutes ago, Pancrate1892 said: 100% right. Saying dalglish had an eye for a player (based on Newcastle) is like saying I've got an eye for interior design by smashing up your house, setting fire to it and then fucking off with 100k for the job. Dalglish reign was putrid. For every solano, there's about 10 disasters Totally this, sadly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomYam Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 25 minutes ago, Colos Short and Curlies said: Possibly the biggest of all for English football is what if Fergie hadn’t won that first trophy A big one for sure, but surely the biggest 'what ifs'? would surely relate to disasters like the outbreak of two world wars (eg. would Charlton Athletic have become a dominant force of not for WWII ?) and, particularly, how different would the story of ManU have played if they had decided to book themselves into a hotel in Munich instead of trying to take off for a third time? The likelihood is they'd have won many more trophies over the next 10 years but would not have become the monolithic club that they became subsequently. The club - quite understandably - gained enormous numbers of new supporters after that hideous event and Busby and players like Charlton and Foulkes had an almost superhuman drive to succeed afterward. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crayola Kid Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 1 hour ago, Pancrate1892 said: 100% right. Saying dalglish had an eye for a player (based on Newcastle) is like saying I've got an eye for interior design by smashing up your house, setting fire to it and then fucking off with 100k for the job. Dalglish reign was putrid. For every solano, there's about 10 disasters SBR added Bellamy and Robert to a side that had national captains of England, Wales, Eire, NI, Greece and Peru. Full of character and heart, just needed finesse. Dalglish signed almost all of them so however bad his time was, some credit for the players brought in is due. Some. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingxlnc Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 1 hour ago, Colos Short and Curlies said: Possibly the biggest of all for English football is what if Fergie hadn’t won that first trophy Connected to this is the fact that wasn’t Ferguson linked to the Newcastle job after Keegan? Fergie used it to get a new contract for himself but can you imagine if replaced KK? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonas Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 2 hours ago, Colos Short and Curlies said: Possibly the biggest of all for English football is what if Fergie hadn’t won that first trophy If we'd beat them in the 5th round that year we'd have had Sheffield United, Oldham and Palace QF, SF and final. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Checko Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 (edited) Looking back at the .com transfer history, fuck me but we brought in some dross under Robson as well. It was nearly two years before we bought anyone good Bolded are what I'd say were good signings, Bolded and a star very good to great signings. Obviously a bit distant now and you'll have different memories, but: Kevin Gallacher Helder Gavilan Bassedas Cordone Cort - Maybe would have been better if not for injuries O Bernard [Free] Lua Lua Acuna Wayne Quinn Andrew O'Brien - Don't remember being especially good, but could be said to be value at £2million and 100plus appearences Bellamy* Robert* Distin [1 year loan] - Wish we'd made this permanent Jenas Viana - Shame this one Bramble Woodgate* - Darren Ambrose Bowyer [free] Milner* N'Zogbia* Kluivert Butt Carr Obviously Milner didn't do quite as much for us but he was still a great buy. A few other passable signings, but the Bellamy/Robert window aside, we weren't exactly killing it in the market. Edited March 3 by Checko Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezzle Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 21 hours ago, TomYam said: A big one for sure, but surely the biggest 'what ifs'? would surely relate to disasters like the outbreak of two world wars (eg. would Charlton Athletic have become a dominant force of not for WWII ?) and, particularly, how different would the story of ManU have played if they had decided to book themselves into a hotel in Munich instead of trying to take off for a third time? The likelihood is they'd have won many more trophies over the next 10 years but would not have become the monolithic club that they became subsequently. The club - quite understandably - gained enormous numbers of new supporters after that hideous event and Busby and players like Charlton and Foulkes had an almost superhuman drive to succeed afterward. How good would Edwards have been, my dad already said he was the best talent he had seen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Acuna was brilliant. Gallacher and Helder also huge in getting us from a relegation scrap to mid-table. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
llcoolc157 Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 After getting promoted in 1984 an emotional Keegan said 2 things I’ll never forget… ”I wish I’d played for this club and these fans in my prime” but more importantly “now is the time for this club to go into debt and back the manager”… A forward line of Keegan, Waddle and Beardsley… Terry and Davy Mac in midfield.. Wharton and Roeder in defence… And did we back Cox… did we fuck… instead we ended up with him leaving, Charlton coming in and the likes of Cunningham, Reilly and Pat bloody Heard… Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superior Acuña Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 1 hour ago, Checko said: Looking back at the .com transfer history, fuck me but we brought in some dross under Robson as well. It was nearly two years before we bought anyone good Bolded are what I'd say were good signings, Bolded and a star very good to great signings. Obviously a bit distant now and you'll have different memories, but: Kevin Gallacher Helder Gavilan Bassedas Cordone Cort - Maybe would have been better if not for injuries O Bernard [Free] Lua Lua Acuna Wayne Quinn Andrew O'Brien - Don't remember being especially good, but could be said to be value at £2million and 100plus appearences Bellamy* Robert* Distin [1 year loan] - Wish we'd made this permanent Jenas Viana - Shame this one Bramble Woodgate* - Darren Ambrose Bowyer [free] Milner* N'Zogbia* Kluivert Butt Carr Obviously Milner didn't do quite as much for us but he was still a great buy. A few other passable signings, but the Bellamy/Robert window aside, we weren't exactly killing it in the market. 👀 (but aye, agree Helder, Acuña, and Gallacher were all at least decent signings) Would like to have seen Kluivert under Bobby Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orphanage Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 (edited) 29 minutes ago, llcoolc157 said: After getting promoted in 1984 an emotional Keegan said 2 things I’ll never forget… ”I wish I’d played for this club and these fans in my prime” but more importantly “now is the time for this club to go into debt and back the manager”… A forward line of Keegan, Waddle and Beardsley… Terry and Davy Mac in midfield.. Wharton and Roeder in defence… And did we back Cox… did we fuck… instead we ended up with him leaving, Charlton coming in and the likes of Cunningham, Reilly and Pat bloody Heard… Ah the 633 squadron ... ( 6ft 3 ) Edited March 3 by Orphanage Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collage Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Lua Lua was pretty good, Bramble was up and down to say the least but overall not a bad signing, Ambrose was cheap and decent Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
80 Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 1 hour ago, Optimistic Nut said: Acuna was brilliant. Gallacher and Helder also huge in getting us from a relegation scrap to mid-table. Never really knew why Acuna didn't get more chances in midfield. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Icarus Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 2 hours ago, Optimistic Nut said: Acuna was brilliant. Gallacher and Helder also huge in getting us from a relegation scrap to mid-table. I loved Acuna like. Brave as anything and absolute nails. Definitely one of those cult players who doesn't get enough of a mention. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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