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Players you underestimated when they signed...

13

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  • Amdy Faye. I always thought he was crap, I didnt realise until I saw him live a few times that he was even more crap than I thought.
  • Peter Shaw
    Martin Robinson
    Peter Shirtliff
    Clive Mendonca
    Claus Jensen
    Johnny Jackson
  • Keith Jones! Bloody brilliant signing
  • Loved the story from Curbs book on the signing of Jonesy.

    Met at a Service Station and Jonesy said "Right I want to play for you, and don't want this deal fucked up. Pay me what you pay the others and I'll sign this second!"

    Always felt it rather strange how he spent so much of his career at places like Brentford and Southend, could easily have played in the PL for the bulk of his career.
  • Could imagine him doing and saying that
  • Yann Kermorgant has to be the ultimate one of these.....the loopy penalty tart who cost Leicester promotion turned into a club legend.
  • Yann
    Deon Burton
    Michael Morrison
    Zheng Zhi

    ... Lee Bowyer when he was appointed caretaker manager...
  • Loved the story from Curbs book on the signing of Jonesy.

    Met at a Service Station and Jonesy said "Right I want to play for you, and don't want this deal fucked up. Pay me what you pay the others and I'll sign this second!"

    Always felt it rather strange how he spent so much of his career at places like Brentford and Southend, could easily have played in the PL for the bulk of his career.

    Kante at Chelsea is a poor man's Keith Jones.
  • Looking at this thread it just proves how astute curbs was compared to dowie and pardew
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  • Derek Hales. Come on, who knew?

    Not bad for a left back from Luton

  • There are so many but standout for me was Johnny Robinson.
  • Andy Hunt, not much of a record at WBA, did ok first season when we got relegated.

    Brilliant second season when getting promoted and was having an excellent season when illness stopped his career.
  • edited April 2018

    Peter Shaw
    Martin Robinson
    Peter Shirtliff
    Clive Mendonca
    Claus Jensen
    Johnny Jackson

    I thought Jensen was a brilliant player at Bolton so was absolutely over the moon when we signed him.
  • Jorge Costa. He seemed to be a washed up has been before he came over but he turned out alright.
  • Deon Burton

    Led the line brilliantly in L1, if we had been able to sign BWP a year earlier than we did, that would have been a great partnership

    My memory of Burton will always be the deliberate hand ball against Swindon when he was already on a yellow card !
    We were already down to 10 men with the African feller (name ?) Being red carded for a diabolical two footed tackle.

    Has always clouded my view of Deon Burton.

    Nicked a 2-2 draw on boxing Day.


  • Deon Burton

    Led the line brilliantly in L1, if we had been able to sign BWP a year earlier than we did, that would have been a great partnership

    My memory of Burton will always be the deliberate hand ball against Swindon when he was already on a yellow card !
    We were already down to 10 men with the African feller (name ?) Being red carded for a diabolical two footed tackle.

    Has always clouded my view of Deon Burton.

    Nicked a 2-2 draw on boxing Day.


    It was as if Sodje wanted to get himself sent off that day :-)
  • Kish, for sure.

    Someone mentioned it above, and it resonates with me as i was early teens when we went up the second time and i remember always being underwhelmed with Curbs' signings, we always seemed to miss out on the big names, the ones that would have people talking about them at school.

    With 20 20 hindsight, it just shows what an incredible set up we had then. Curbs had complete trust to build the team his way, go after the player he wanted and that would fit into the team. They were barely ever big names, so almost always underwhelming, but the team was always greater than the sum of its parts. I was so excited to be linked with Kezman, and distraught to lose out to Chelsea.

    Hand that money to Dowie, he buys the players you've heard of and we implode almost immediately. Granted a few of the players were household names purely for being dreadful...

    I can't see how a football club can operate at the top (or now championship) level as we did under Curbishley ever again, the risks and rewards are too greats. Burnley perhaps?
  • Jorge Costa. He seemed to be a washed up has been before he came over but he turned out alright.

    Hmm. Did you think he was a has-been, when he arrived? . He didn't. In his press conference, before hoping to make his debut against Chelsea, he said "Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank has never scored when playing against Jorge Costa". The journos giggled at his use of the third person, and he shut them up with his icy stare.

    He only came on for the last 10, or as the report put it " The Tank rumbled on for the final ten minutes" and sure enough, JFH didn't score, but if I rememeber rightly it was this one where Kevin Lisbie did, 3 mins from time.

    I thought he was fantastic, a privilege to watch, and I think Curbs letting him go, so that he could bring in Gary Rowett, was not his finest hour. Costa returned to Porto to captain them to the UEFA Cup trophy.
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  • Jorge Costa. He seemed to be a washed up has been before he came over but he turned out alright.

    Hmm. Did you think he was a has-been, when he arrived? . He didn't. In his press conference, before hoping to make his debut against Chelsea, he said "Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank has never scored when playing against Jorge Costa". The journos giggled at his use of the third person, and he shut them up with his icy stare.

    He only came on for the last 10, or as the report put it " The Tank rumbled on for the final ten minutes" and sure enough, JFH didn't score, but if I rememeber rightly it was this one where Kevin Lisbie did, 3 mins from time.

    I thought he was fantastic, a privilege to watch, and I think Curbs letting him go, so that he could bring in Gary Rowett, was not his finest hour. Costa returned to Porto to captain them to the UEFA Cup trophy.
    I think you've made the point yourself.

    Curbs didn't 'let' him go. He came to us effectively to get fit after injury and keep himself in the frame for international selection. It was always short term and he was always going back.
  • Andy Hunt
  • Jorge Costa. He seemed to be a washed up has been before he came over but he turned out alright.

    Hmm. Did you think he was a has-been, when he arrived? . He didn't. In his press conference, before hoping to make his debut against Chelsea, he said "Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank has never scored when playing against Jorge Costa". The journos giggled at his use of the third person, and he shut them up with his icy stare.

    He only came on for the last 10, or as the report put it " The Tank rumbled on for the final ten minutes" and sure enough, JFH didn't score, but if I rememeber rightly it was this one where Kevin Lisbie did, 3 mins from time.

    I thought he was fantastic, a privilege to watch, and I think Curbs letting him go, so that he could bring in Gary Rowett, was not his finest hour. Costa returned to Porto to captain them to the UEFA Cup trophy.
    Costa didn't want to say. Rowett was excellent in his (very short) Charlton career
  • Bryan Hughes
  • Jorge Costa. He seemed to be a washed up has been before he came over but he turned out alright.

    Hmm. Did you think he was a has-been, when he arrived? . He didn't. In his press conference, before hoping to make his debut against Chelsea, he said "Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank has never scored when playing against Jorge Costa". The journos giggled at his use of the third person, and he shut them up with his icy stare.

    He only came on for the last 10, or as the report put it " The Tank rumbled on for the final ten minutes" and sure enough, JFH didn't score, but if I rememeber rightly it was this one where Kevin Lisbie did, 3 mins from time.

    I thought he was fantastic, a privilege to watch, and I think Curbs letting him go, so that he could bring in Gary Rowett, was not his finest hour. Costa returned to Porto to captain them to the UEFA Cup trophy.
    Sounds a bit like the myth that Charlton fans forced Curbs out.
  • Peter Shaw
    Martin Robinson
    Peter Shirtliff
    Clive Mendonca
    Claus Jensen
    Johnny Jackson

    I thought Jensen was a brilliant player at Bolton so was absolutely over the moon when we signed him.
    Same here. He played against in the quarter final of the FA cup and ran the game.
  • LenGlover said:

    Jorge Costa. He seemed to be a washed up has been before he came over but he turned out alright.

    Hmm. Did you think he was a has-been, when he arrived? . He didn't. In his press conference, before hoping to make his debut against Chelsea, he said "Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank has never scored when playing against Jorge Costa". The journos giggled at his use of the third person, and he shut them up with his icy stare.

    He only came on for the last 10, or as the report put it " The Tank rumbled on for the final ten minutes" and sure enough, JFH didn't score, but if I rememeber rightly it was this one where Kevin Lisbie did, 3 mins from time.

    I thought he was fantastic, a privilege to watch, and I think Curbs letting him go, so that he could bring in Gary Rowett, was not his finest hour. Costa returned to Porto to captain them to the UEFA Cup trophy.
    I think you've made the point yourself.

    Curbs didn't 'let' him go. He came to us effectively to get fit after injury and keep himself in the frame for international selection. It was always short term and he was always going back.
    The manager that Costa had fallen out with had been sacked so he was able to return. Some bloke called Jose Mourinho was by then in charge, whatever happened to him?
  • BWP: He'd started at Man City where he never looked quite good enough in an awful Stuart Pearce side, then kept kind of falling down the divisions. He'd scored goals at, Plymouth was it, where we got him from? But I thought he'd be a disinterested poacher who wasn't clinical enough and didn't offer anything outside the penalty box. To be fair, he was some of that at times, but Powell was clever to build a team that allowed him to be that.

    Rick Holmes: Thought he seemed like a decent lower league journeyman.

    Parish News Letter: thought he was well past it. He wasn't always brilliant, but far better than I expected. And he made Dougherty look 80. Actually, Dougherty's face and playing style made him look 80.

    Billy Clarke: I remember saying in preseason I thought he'd be a Marmite player. His movement always looked really good but I thought he wouldn't do enough with the ball, wouldn't score or create enough for some. He didn't score a ton of goals or create loads of chances, but he was just so good with that movement and his pressing and game intelligence that it didn't really matter.

  • CafcSCP said:

    Keith Jones! Bloody brilliant signing

    This. I was underwhelmed by his signing but he ended up one of my absolute favourites.
  • Kish, for sure.

    Someone mentioned it above, and it resonates with me as i was early teens when we went up the second time and i remember always being underwhelmed with Curbs' signings, we always seemed to miss out on the big names, the ones that would have people talking about them at school.

    With 20 20 hindsight, it just shows what an incredible set up we had then. Curbs had complete trust to build the team his way, go after the player he wanted and that would fit into the team. They were barely ever big names, so almost always underwhelming, but the team was always greater than the sum of its parts. I was so excited to be linked with Kezman, and distraught to lose out to Chelsea.

    Hand that money to Dowie, he buys the players you've heard of and we implode almost immediately. Granted a few of the players were household names purely for being dreadful...

    I can't see how a football club can operate at the top (or now championship) level as we did under Curbishley ever again, the risks and rewards are too greats. Burnley perhaps?

    God I remember being gutted about Kezman.
    It felt like we were finally going to be a prestige club.
    Felt the same about Dennis though.
    As you say, clubs like ours will always work better with grafters who are somehow a little invested in the club.
    I worked with Jean Johansson the other day (JJ’s wife). She said the atmosphere around the club was utterly unique to anything they’d experienced before or after. She described it as a family where players and wives all stuck together, socialised as a group and helped each other out.
    I hope we can get back to those days. With Bowyer and the other JJ in charge long term, we might just have a chance.

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