Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Villa Memories => Topic started by: kippaxvilla2 on November 09, 2022, 01:28:46 PM
-
To use Risso's wording for 'Drinks' and following on from the Dendoncker thread.
Tommy Craig.
-
Nigel Callaghan didn't come cheap, second only to Hodge in terms of scorn poured on one individual.
-
Considering he's either our record signing or very near the top, you'd struggle to get more of a waste of money than Wesley. Admittedly, he seemed to be improving a bit when he was crocked.
-
Considering he's either our record signing or very near the top, you'd struggle to get more of a waste of money than Wesley. Admittedly, he seemed to be improving a bit when he was crocked.
Yeah, I'm not having that he was as bad has people make out
-
To use Risso's wording for 'Drinks' and following on from the Dendoncker thread.
Tommy Craig.
I never understood signing Craig especially for the fee and I was probably on around 8 at the time. In more recent times why did we sign Micah Richards with his extensive injury record?
-
To use Risso's wording for 'Drinks' and following on from the Dendoncker thread.
Tommy Craig.
I never understood signing Craig especially for the fee and I was probably on around 8 at the time. In more recent times why did we sign Micah Richards with his extensive injury record?
Two Three word answer
Tim FUCKING Sherwood
-
Intercepting Marlon F. Harewood’s transfer to Wigan.
P.S.I quite liked Tommy Craig.
-
Tommy Craig had a nice left foot but he wasn't quite what you'd call a Ron Saunders player.
-
I was fairly shocked when we signed Coutinho, that was unfathomable in a different way.
Don't remember there bring much joy when we signed Danny Drinkwater. A player who had done nothing since leaving Leicester and was known to have a drink problem.
-
Eric Djemba Djemba.
Why Why ?
-
Peter Crouch - we had Dublin Vassell JPA Balaban (OK) and we signed the Swedish bloke soon after who's name escaped
Worse it gave lazy press opportunity to beat Taylor with the 'Long Ball' stick
-
John Fashanu was my shout out loud ‘noooo!’ moment.
-
Wayne Routledge was a confusing one.
I thought Dendonker was a bizare signing and didn't think he'd be an upgrade on Nakamba, but he seems to be proving me wrong.
-
Wayne Routledge was a confusing one.
I thought Dendonker was a bizare signing and didn't think he'd be an upgrade on Nakamba, but he seems to be proving me wrong.
Routledge always looked half decent to me in the very few times he made an appearance
-
Crouch is a good shout. We had so many forwards at the time. Marcus Allback is the name you cannot think of.
Steve Stone is another. We were top at Christmas 1998 and didn't go and buy Juninho when we could have. We then faltered badly and signed Steve Stone. Yeah, he did ok for us, but it was a very 'meh' deal as far as I am concerned.
-
Patrik Berger
-
Adrian Heath
-
I don't think Adrian Heath was regarded as a bad signing at the time. SGT couldn't find a way of getting him into a winning side, so sold him pretty quickly to Man City. We didn't lose much on the deal.
-
Neale Cooper.
-
David Geddis. The blonde version of Ollie Watkins (without the goals), his control was shocking and hardly the replacement for Andy Gray. What was Sir Ron thinking? The following season went some way to never doubt him and Geddis went from Villa fans laughing at how poor he was into a cult hero.
-
Neale Cooper.
Wasn't that just about awful injury luck?
-
John Fashanu was my shout out loud ‘noooo!’ moment.
Yeah, I remember BFR getting stick about going to the WC with ITV and him saying "I'm going out there to scout some of the best players in the world".
Then came back with Fashanu.
-
John Fashanu was my shout out loud ‘noooo!’ moment.
Yeah, I remember BFR getting stick about going to the WC with ITV and him saying "I'm going out there to scout some of the best players in the world".
Then came back with Fashanu.
"He's not just a big duck egg"
-
Robert Pires who was so far past his best when we signed him it was painful to watch him play.
-
Robert Pires who was so far past his best when we signed him it was painful to watch him play.
The thing with him was that we had so many injuries we needed someone and he was the best available.
-
Kiraly.
Even as an emergency loan, there had to be better options than dragging a bloke off a building site.
-
2009. We were in the top 4 and looked to cement it by being linked with Falcao and Arshavin. We signed Heskey.
-
2009. We were in the top 4 and looked to cement it by being linked with Falcao and Arshavin. We signed Heskey.
That whole period, I swear MON just went insane. Buying Heskey when anyone with half a brain could see that he wasn't in any way shape or form what was required, or even the best available that we could get. Then throwing away the game against CSKA Moscow when we had IMO a very good chance of winning the UEFA Cup that season. It was just a month or so when he seemed to lose all common sense.
Addendum: The route to the final that year would've been:
2nd rd - CSKA Moscow
3rd rd - Shakhtar Donetsk (eventual winners)
QF - Marseille
SF - Dynamo Kyiv
F - Werder Bremen
-
Not that easy a run-in!
-
John Fashanu was my shout out loud ‘noooo!’ moment.
Yeah, I remember BFR getting stick about going to the WC with ITV and him saying "I'm going out there to scout some of the best players in the world".
Then came back with Fashanu.
"He's not just a big duck egg"
He is partly a big duck egg. But not just that.
-
John Fashanu was my shout out loud ‘noooo!’ moment.
Yeah, I remember BFR getting stick about going to the WC with ITV and him saying "I'm going out there to scout some of the best players in the world".
Then came back with Fashanu.
John FashaRnu.
-
The Fashanu signing just seemed to be so that Big John could be closer to the Central Studios so that he could film Gladiators more easily.
-
A friend of mine lived on the same road as Fashanu. He said Fash used to go running in bright neon with a headtorch and threatened to report one of his neighbours to the police for having a 'racist' dog.
-
Steve Stone - absolute rubbish
-
Steve Stone was a decent player for us, whether played as a wing back, winger or central midfielder. He played regularly for the side that got to the Wembley final in 2000.
Not my idea of a rubbish player.
-
Mark Kinsella, we were linked heavily with Matt Holland, who chose to stay at Charlton for family reasons. So we signed Kinsella off them instead. He was fucking atrocious.
-
The summer we signed Zat Knight & Harewood….remember at the start of that summer saying the two players I didn’t want were Knight & Harewood :-) if I remember correctly Knight signed a new contract at Fulham at the start of the summer & I thought we’d dodged the bullet…then a couple of weeks later he rocked up via a trip to the cop shop?
-
Mark Kinsella, we were linked heavily with Matt Holland, who chose to stay at Charlton for family reasons. So we signed Kinsella off them instead. He was fucking atrocious.
I caught Matt Holland off-guard on a football phone-in on Irish radio in 2012, asking him how close he was to joining 10 years prior. He gave the same reason - family, if I recall correctly.
I also naively suggested to the presenter that Financial Fair Play might lead to Villa's strategy of young and hungry eventually bearing fruit. (We'd just beaten Man City in the League Cup and you know how Villa wins can suddenly make our hopes and dreams attainable). The host replied, with the zinger "Hmm, Financial Fair Play is a bit like Communism. Great idea in theory but..."
-
Stephen Ireland & Micah Richards.
-
Terry Bullivant is another player Ron Saunders bought signed in the late 70s but he rarely featured. I can't remember whether he has injury problems or not.
-
Matt Holland's wife owned a stud farm and was earning more than he did.
-
Terry Bullivant is another player Ron Saunders bought signed in the late 70s but he rarely featured. I can't remember whether he has injury problems or not.
Didn’t we sign Terry Donovan at the same time?
Edit- to answer my own question, no. It was a few months later
-
Bullivant and Donovan were the sort of players most top-flight managers sign at some stage. They either work out or they leave without much cost.
-
Just looked up Donovan's scoring record for us.11 goals in 24 games.
-
Donovan scored a stack of goals for the reserves as well.
-
Francis McAvennie
-
Steve Foster. Terrible player. Terrible signing.
Others have mentioned Tommy Craig. The problem with him was that we bought him a couple of years too late when his best days were behind him, and the extent to which they were behind him became too suddenly obvious, as he could barely break into a trot.
-
Craig really wasn't a Saunders-style signing at all, was he?
-
Shay Given was a strange one. Very good keeper in his day but I think he was 36 when we signed him. We paid a lot of money for him and gave him a ridiculously long contract. A typical signing of that era...
-
Had to give him a long contract to effectively match his Citeh wages. We should, of course, have looked at other candidates.
-
Steve Foster. Terrible player. Terrible signing.
Others have mentioned Tommy Craig. The problem with him was that we bought him a couple of years too late when his best days were behind him, and the extent to which they were behind him became too suddenly obvious, as he could barely break into a trot.
Yeah, Tommy Craig had a wand of a left foot but was nowhere near industrious enough for Ron Saunders. A Charlie Adam type for the youngsters on here.
Steve Foster was indeed a disastrous signing. He was a legend at Brighton and played for England but had the turning ability of a cruise ship.
-
Steve Foster. Terrible player. Terrible signing.
Others have mentioned Tommy Craig. The problem with him was that we bought him a couple of years too late when his best days were behind him, and the extent to which they were behind him became too suddenly obvious, as he could barely break into a trot.
Yeah, Tommy Craig had a wand of a left foot but was nowhere near industrious enough for Ron Saunders. A Charlie Adam type for the youngsters on here.
Steve Foster was indeed a disastrous signing. He was a legend at Brighton and played for England but had the turning ability of a cruise ship.
But then did well at Luton afterwards
-
Adrian Heath , inchy ??
-
Adrian Heath , inchy ??
To replace McInally as well!
-
Shay Given was a strange one. Very good keeper in his day but I think he was 36 when we signed him. We paid a lot of money for him and gave him a ridiculously long contract. A typical signing of that era...
Made some cracking saves from Stephen Warnock in fairness
-
Shay Given was a strange one. Very good keeper in his day but I think he was 36 when we signed him. We paid a lot of money for him and gave him a ridiculously long contract. A typical signing of that era...
Made some cracking saves from Stephen Warnock in fairness
I forgot Given ever played for us. He was decent but overrated at Newcastle, very good shot-stopper but poor positioning & useless at catching & gathering.
-
He was also, as often stated, small for a goalkeeper, 6ft1in my arse
-
Shay Given thought we played ok in the 2015 FA Cup Final!
-
Saša Ćurčić, Niklas Helenius, Stephen Ireland, Boško Balaban
-
Saša Ćurčić, Niklas Helenius, Stephen Ireland, Boško Balaban
Some best forgotten names there.
-
Helenius was one of the few bright sparks in a dismal cup defeat against the Blades in 2014.
He had terrible health problems; I felt sorry for the lad.