I recall being at Gillingham in the Cup Ms Lat begged Parker not to leave, he was in our away crowd.
After he’d gone we played away at Chelsea Sky had a brief interview with me where I suggested we are not a one man team our strength is the sum of our parts. Sadly Parker was worth 3 of those parts.
Ms Lat was devastated, I like so many felt this was like a devastating blow which you could argue we are still suffering from today.
And his greatest number of appearances for any of his clubs was whilst at Charlton.
Haven't read through all of this thread, but one that stuck with me was Soulymane Diawara when we sold him right at the end of the transfer window the first season after relegation from the premier league. I know he had a bad game vs Wycombe that many never forgave him for, but I thought he has decent player and would have been a top player in the Championship. Him a Majid Bougherra would've been a good pair I think and Diawara went on to have a good career in France, playing in the Champions League so I think that backs up the idea he could have been good for us given a bit more time and patience.
Selling Bent was inevitable as he was too hot a property for us to keep him, but having had that money come in, plus the parachute payments, it felt like we shouldn't be forced to sell anyone else. Letting Diawara go that late in the window kind of confirmed the lack of ambition to get back up, which was only heightened by letting Andy Reid leave in January. It was the tiotal opposite to what we did when we got relegated and then re=promoted. We sold Mills that year, but reinvested in players like Kiely and hanging onto the likes of Kinsella and Rufus paying dividends in the long run.
Financially things were a lot different after the second relegation though. Once teams have been in the PL for a while, their cost base increases both on and off the pitch, and teams end up with a lot of expensive deadwood...
@killerandflash didn't want to quote all of that but your spot on. The first time we were relegated we didn't have squad players on silly money, the second time we certainly did. Unfortunately the club sold the wrong ones. Sounds familiar doesn't it.
Haven't read through all of this thread, but one that stuck with me was Soulymane Diawara when we sold him right at the end of the transfer window the first season after relegation from the premier league. I know he had a bad game vs Wycombe that many never forgave him for, but I thought he has decent player and would have been a top player in the Championship. Him a Majid Bougherra would've been a good pair I think and Diawara went on to have a good career in France, playing in the Champions League so I think that backs up the idea he could have been good for us given a bit more time and patience.
Selling Bent was inevitable as he was too hot a property for us to keep him, but having had that money come in, plus the parachute payments, it felt like we shouldn't be forced to sell anyone else. Letting Diawara go that late in the window kind of confirmed the lack of ambition to get back up, which was only heightened by letting Andy Reid leave in January. It was the tiotal opposite to what we did when we got relegated and then re=promoted. We sold Mills that year, but reinvested in players like Kiely and hanging onto the likes of Kinsella and Rufus paying dividends in the long run.
Financially things were a lot different after the second relegation though. Once teams have been in the PL for a while, their cost base increases both on and off the pitch, and teams end up with a lot of expensive deadwood...
Yes but we also sold Bent for 5 times as much as we sold Mills for.
Parker left went I was 11. I was so upset and still don’t think I’m properly over it, even now at 26.
It would’ve been easier to move on if he’d gone on to be a Chelsea and England regular like he was destined to be but they sold him 18 months later after 15 League appearances.
They never intended on playing him - they already had Makelele and Lampard. They threw £10m at us just to rip the heart out of their competition. That is the primary reason I will forever hold Chelsea in contempt, third behind Millwall and Palace.
Billy Bonds was the biggest one for me. What saddened me too was that Billy Bonds was seen as West Ham ‘through and through’ all too quickly. More recently, I enjoyed Paolo di Canio’s brief stay with us.
£50K for William Arthur Bonds was, and remains, an insult. West Ham had a very good side but Eddie Bovington at right-back was one of the relatively few weaknesses. Billy was the easy and CHEAP solution. He would have moved nowhere else but WHU. From his CAFC debut in Feb 65 he became an instant fixture in the team.
Paolo Di Canio was a joy to watch no doubt about it, he was playing in a genuinely good team and possibly the best Charlton side I've seen.
Parker was the heartbeat of that team though and having Chelsea wave a load of money under his nose halfway through the season, especially when they had to pull put of signing him in the summer because they were potless still angers me.
I, and many others would have totally understood (still been absolutely gutted) if he had left in the summer but leaving mid season and disrespecting Curbishley with his tantrum mean I have found it pretty impossible to forgive him or get over it.
Richard Murray described the whole thing at a fans Q&A down Maidstone 12 years ago and all it did, as pragmatically as RM described the tale, was enrage me again.
The consensus seems to be (1) Parker (2) Hales (3) Bonds/Glover (4) Reid/Di Canio
Is losing Karlan Grant likely to be at the same level? If he winds up at Huddersfield I can see him playing maybe 12 games, scoring 3 goals and then dropping into the Championship. He might - assuming we went up after reaching the play offs - end up playing us next season. What kind of advance is that for him? Bigger wages?
A better move would surely be Rangers: guaranteed a regular first team slot and European football every season.
The consensus seems to be (1) Parker (2) Hales (3) Bonds/Glover (4) Reid/Di Canio
Is losing Karlan Grant likely to be at the same level? If he winds up at Huddersfield I can see him playing maybe 12 games, scoring 3 goals and then dropping into the Championship. He might - assuming we went up after reaching the play offs - end up playing us next season. What kind of advance is that for him? Bigger wages?
A better move would surely be Rangers: guaranteed a regular first team slot and European football every season.
Comments
After he’d gone we played away at Chelsea Sky had a brief interview with me where I suggested we are not a one man team our strength is the sum of our parts. Sadly Parker was worth 3 of those parts.
Ms Lat was devastated, I like so many felt this was like a devastating blow which you could argue we are still suffering from today.
And his greatest number of appearances for any of his clubs was whilst at Charlton.
Mike Bailey to Wolves
Billy Bonds to Wet Spam
And a little later Lenny Glover to Leicester.
Almost broke a youngsters heart, well for a couple of weeks anyway. Bailey was my all time favorite, closely followed by Billy Bonds.
The quality in those 4 players is mind blowing to me, even now i can see them in my minds eye ' doing their stuff. '
It would’ve been easier to move on if he’d gone on to be a Chelsea and England regular like he was destined to be but they sold him 18 months later after 15 League appearances.
They never intended on playing him - they already had Makelele and Lampard. They threw £10m at us just to rip the heart out of their competition. That is the primary reason I will forever hold Chelsea in contempt, third behind Millwall and Palace.
£50K for William Arthur Bonds was, and remains, an insult. West Ham had a very good side but Eddie Bovington at right-back was one of the relatively few weaknesses. Billy was the easy and CHEAP solution. He would have moved nowhere else but WHU. From his CAFC debut in Feb 65 he became an instant fixture in the team.
Parker was the heartbeat of that team though and having Chelsea wave a load of money under his nose halfway through the season, especially when they had to pull put of signing him in the summer because they were potless still angers me.
I, and many others would have totally understood (still been absolutely gutted) if he had left in the summer but leaving mid season and disrespecting Curbishley with his tantrum mean I have found it pretty impossible to forgive him or get over it.
Richard Murray described the whole thing at a fans Q&A down Maidstone 12 years ago and all it did, as pragmatically as RM described the tale, was enrage me again.
Is losing Karlan Grant likely to be at the same level? If he winds up at Huddersfield I can see him playing maybe 12 games, scoring 3 goals and then dropping into the Championship. He might - assuming we went up after reaching the play offs - end up playing us next season. What kind of advance is that for him? Bigger wages?
A better move would surely be Rangers: guaranteed a regular first team slot and European football every season.
Every year my birthday seems to be ruined by a key departure - parker, Yann, Andy Reid, Danny Murphy to name but a few.
That would give you a birthday to remember, right?
Grant to Huddersfield
Even tho it was expected its still gutting