The legacy of Martin O'Neill

[KevinGage]

Not a terrible player by any stretch.

But ask yourself this, would any of the other sides around us have gone for him. Or Harewood, Heskey, Beye, Knight? and so on

[Dave]

Almost certainly not.

Although Liverpool did apparently go in for Heskey.

[KevinGage]

It would have been much more preferable if he'd rocked up there to put the kybosh on their title challenge that year.

[Somniloquism]

When we went for Harewood and Knight we were 12th, so yes, other teams around us would and have gone in for them.

[Dave]

It would have been much more preferable if he'd rocked up there to put the kybosh on their title challenge that year.

Indeed. An absolutely ideal replacement for the half-season that Torres isn't fit.

[KevinGage]

Er, no.

Wigan and B-lose were keen to sign Harewood. So that's a side who'd just narrowly avoided relegation and one who had just gained promotion.

I'm pretty certain Zat Knight didn't have any takers apart from us back in 2007 either. It was also quite revealing at the time that quite a few Fulham fans were glad to see the back of him.

Isn't the idea of progressing and pushing the thing on signing better players? Be they from clubs on a par or better than us, or good players from struggling sides. Not players who are only attracting attention from sides battling relegation or from struggling sides who nevertheless have deemed said player not to be up to standard.

[Dave]

Considering what was available at the time I'm not going to even entertain trying to justify the Harewood signing, but I still think Knight was absolutely fine.

Even if we could have done it all much better, it wasn't a disaster by any stretch.

[KevinGage]

Not a disaster, no.

But in keeping with the general theme that we were signing players a notch or two below the required level over a prolonged period which -in the final analysis- was probably the biggest single reason why we came up short in the past two seasons.

[pauliewalnuts]

Knight wasn't a disaster. He wasn't very good, but not a disastrous signing.

With Harewood the problem wasn't just the fact that we signed him (and he plainly was not good enough), it was who we didn't sign. We needed a goalscorer, MON - God knows why - thought it was him.  We then ended up trying to convince ourselves that he was actually alright.

Then there's the bogus "he did a job for us" argument. He contributed next to nothing and cost us 8 or 9 million pounds over his contract. If anyone wanted proof that our wages policy was out of kilter, then Harewood was a pretty good example of money flushed down the bog.

[Dave]

Right, having started low I'm going to meekly suggest that Knight was actually a good signing rather than not simply 'not disastrous'.

Anyone still with me?

[KevinGage]

I can accept the logic (just about) that he was signed as a squad player.

I don't think he was signed to be the focal point of the attack, rather to act as cover for JC and Gabby who the manager obviously had a fair degree of faith in.

But I find it very hard to buy into the train of thought that he was the very best we could manage at the time, as we'd only finished mid-table the season before. Our stated aim was Europe and back then we had far better resources than all the clubs around us like Blackburn, Everton and even Citeh.

[KevinGage]

Right, having started low I'm going to meekly suggest that Knight was actually a good signing rather than not simply 'not disastrous'.

Anyone still with me?

Can't go with that.

Memorable goal v Arsenal but far too error prone.

[pauliewalnuts]

Right, having started low I'm going to meekly suggest that Knight was actually a good signing rather than not simply 'not disastrous'.

Anyone still with me?

I'm sorry, Dave, I wish you all the best, but I'm out.

*Duncan Bannatyne face*

[Dave]

Right, having started low I'm going to meekly suggest that Knight was actually a good signing rather than not simply 'not disastrous'.

Anyone still with me?

Can't go with that.

Memorable goal v Arsenal but far too error prone.

Dammit, tried to go for too much too soon.

Your above post about Harewood I agree with completely though. Considering Blackburn signed Santa Cruz who went on to score 17 league goals for them that season a few days after our Harewood coup, there is simply no argument that he was the best we could have attracted.

[Somniloquism]

Er, no.

Wigan and B-lose were keen to sign Harewood. So that's a side who'd just narrowly avoided relegation and one who had just gained promotion.

I'm pretty certain Zat Knight didn't have any takers apart from us back in 2007 either. It was also quite revealing at the time that quite a few Fulham fans were glad to see the back of him.

Isn't the idea of progressing and pushing the thing on signing better players? Be they from clubs on a par or better than us, or good players from struggling sides. Not players who are only attracting attention from sides battling relegation or from struggling sides who nevertheless have deemed said player not to be up to standard.

They were both bought as backup players to the exiting team. Yes, we should be buying first teamers and making the current first teamers into the squad players, but at the time we did need more depth and it was easier to deepen the squad by getting Knight and Harewood. The same with Beye as well, later on. We off loaded Knight when his services weren't needed anymore to another team in 13th position (where he is a constant starter). Harewood should have been got rid of earlier but he did spend most of the last few seasons out on loan which should have reduced his wage costs at least during that time.

Heskey was definitely a mistake, and we should have got better. He was definitely that years Cascarino, but don't forget this was the time that Carew had his mysterious back injury he picked up around the time of the Rocket Club incident. We only really had Gabby playing out of his skin up front on his own. It was also the year that his performances for Wigan had got him back in the England setup and he was being credited in helping Rooney for England (similar to how he helped take the pressure of Owen previously). If he had come in and helped out with Gabby we wouldn't have had this conversation as we would have been 4th. But the wages he is on is a joke.