Players you thought would be great but turned out to be...

[2b2bdoo]

Dean Gordon was one player I raved about, remember watching him for boro thinking he was brilliant, he came here a bit older as they do and well, he wasn’t very good, as always Leggy won his place back.

[Crisp White Lines]

Godfrey Ingram?

The quickest buy 'n' sell I can remember.

[Hilts]

Richard Langley.

[2b2bdoo]

Richard Langley.

100% that’s it, never felt so underwhelmed watching someone.

[DubaiDai]

100% that’s it, never felt so underwhelmed watching someone.

Turnbull. Unable to make the starting eleven after a £2M transfer

[Der Kaiser]

Richard Langley.

I got drilled straight in the face whilst sat in the family stand by a pre-match warmup free kick that went well wide of the goal as a 7/8 year old by that ****er, took me off my seat. Imagine for anyone who saw that it was his best contribution he made whilst with us.

Least I got given a kitkat by a kind steward

[the other bob wilson]

Callum Robinson has been a good Championship player for a decade and for some of that time, he wasn’t a bad Premier League one either He’s played just short of forty games for Ireland and is scoring at a rate of one in every four which isn’t bad - I’m not aware of any reputation he had for trouble marking as well.

Robinson was a good player until he came to Cardiff and, apart from showing he was a crap penalty taker, wasnt doing too badly last season before the injury which ended it for him.

He’s had a poor season this time around though no doubt about that and I don’t think he’s been putting the effort in either (again, I’m unaware of this being a criticism of him in the past). Supporters tend not to take the possibility of off field issues into account when judging players, so let’s include the possibility that there may be non footballing reasons for the fact that he’s barely made an impact this season, but there’s an elephant in the room which has to be mentioned - we have a manager that criticised him in public in the autumn, has rowed with him during matches, spoken vaguely of injuries and illness to Robinson that kept him out of the first team picture for months and now he’s dropped him for disciplinary reasons.

Maybe Robinson deserves the treatment he’s received from Erol Bulut, but I can’t help thinking he wouldn’t be appearing in this thread if we had a different manager.

[dandywarhol]

Lynex and Chandler and the New Zealand players

[LA Bluebird]

A trio of big money signings our first season in the Prem spring to mind here, I was convinced that Medel, Caulker and Cornelius would absolutely do the business for us. Medel and Caulker were decent but downed tools at some point, the less said about Cornelius the better.

[Wales-Bales]

...not so great (you thought I was going to say sh*t didn't you?)

You should do a hit or miss thread at the beginning of the season.

[City123]

I was pretty pleased when we signed Bowler, he's hardly hit the heights expected. I thought Ebou Adams would be a good signing, having seen him play I think it's clear he wasn't

I thought Benkovic was a really good piece of business on loan. He was horrendous in his one appearance at Wycombe

[splott parker]

Fan Zhiyi, decent crowd at a reserve game to see his City debut. Not much to write home about.

[Citizen's Nephew]

I was pretty pleased when we signed Bowler, he's hardly hit the heights expected. I thought Ebou Adams would be a good signing, having seen him play I think it's clear he wasn't

I thought Benkovic was a really good piece of business on loan. He was horrendous in his one appearance at Wycombe

Yeah, I really went for bigging Benkovic up and had a good old joust with Pedro over him who called it straight away. Another one of my failures for us.

[Wash DC Blue]

Richard Langley.

That would be my choice too.

[olderblue]

Callum Robinson has been a good Championship player for a decade and for some of that time, he wasn’t a bad Premier League one either He’s played just short of forty games for Ireland and is scoring at a rate of one in every four which isn’t bad - I’m not aware of any reputation he had for trouble marking as well.

Robinson was a good player until he came to Cardiff and, apart from showing he was a crap penalty taker, wasnt doing too badly last season before the injury which ended it for him.

He’s had a poor season this time around though no doubt about that and I don’t think he’s been putting the effort in either (again, I’m unaware of this being a criticism of him in the past). Supporters tend not to take the possibility of off field issues into account when judging players, so let’s include the possibility that there may be non footballing reasons for the fact that he’s barely made an impact this season, but there’s an elephant in the room which has to be mentioned - we have a manager that criticised him in public in the autumn, has rowed with him during matches, spoken vaguely of injuries and illness to Robinson that kept him out of the first team picture for months and now he’s dropped him for disciplinary reasons.

Maybe Robinson deserves the treatment he’s received from Erol Bulut, but I can’t help thinking he wouldn’t be appearing in this thread if we had a different manager.

Great point about the off field activities that players could be involved in?
I wonder how much clubs put into looking after their assets?
There’s always stories around over players who find themselves in financial difficulties because of gambling addictions etc
Wether it’s Gambling, excessive alcohol, drugs, laughing gas chasing other blokes wife’s there are lots of temptations for a lot of players, with a lethal combination of too much time and lots of money at an early age
It’s easy to see how some get involved in some of the things listed.
I doubt too many agents are particularly interested in these things, probably more interested in helping move the players on, on a regular basis?

I don’t know what the answer is, but in an industry that spends millions of pounds annually on new assets, I’d have a team of people who are experts in all sorts of fields from sports psychology to financial expertise at the club to help minimise these problems if it was my money involved!!!!

I guess doing a bit of due diligence on a player before signing him would help beforehand

For me Madine has to be the biggest waste of time and money in recent years

[jon1959]

Great point about the off field activities that players could be involved in?
I wonder how much clubs put into looking after their assets?
There’s always stories around over players who find themselves in financial difficulties because of gambling addictions etc
Wether it’s Gambling, excessive alcohol, drugs, laughing gas chasing other blokes wife’s there are lots of temptations for a lot of players, with a lethal combination of too much time and lots of money at an early age
It’s easy to see how some get involved in some of the things listed.
I doubt too many agents are particularly interested in these things, probably more interested in helping move the players on, on a regular basis?

I don’t know what the answer is, but in an industry that spends millions of pounds annually on new assets, I’d have a team of people who are experts in all sorts of fields from sports psychology to financial expertise at the club to help minimise these problems if it was my money involved!!!!

I guess doing a bit of due diligence on a player before signing him would help beforehand

For me Madine has to be the biggest waste of time and money in recent years

Excellent post.

[Bobby Dandruff]

I think that a common mistake us fans make is that when we see a player produce a moment of brilliance like Tanner did against Swansea, we can automatically think that they can do it on a regular basis, or the equivalent of on a consistent basis. They can't, and that's the difference between good players and average to poor, Consistency. Also, good players find a way to show quality. That doesn't mean that they wouldn't show more in a team where things are in their favour for their ability to show through, but nevertheless, they still show it, because good players usually have a brain.

One thing I hate on here is the excuses trotted out for players who don't perform or who continue to make the same mistakes time after time. It really is in them. We have all seen good players in poor teams over the years and they still stand out, they still make a difference, they have that intelligence and ability as well as work rate. And I would also say that good players don't make excuses or blame others , because that's a weakness of character. Taking responsibility is up there with the highest of talents, and that's what the best players do, or anyone that's any good in their field.

Well said Dennis.

[Bobby Dandruff]

Callum Robinson has been a good Championship player for a decade and for some of that time, he wasn’t a bad Premier League one either He’s played just short of forty games for Ireland and is scoring at a rate of one in every four which isn’t bad - I’m not aware of any reputation he had for trouble marking as well.

Robinson was a good player until he came to Cardiff and, apart from showing he was a crap penalty taker, wasnt doing too badly last season before the injury which ended it for him.

He’s had a poor season this time around though no doubt about that and I don’t think he’s been putting the effort in either (again, I’m unaware of this being a criticism of him in the past). Supporters tend not to take the possibility of off field issues into account when judging players, so let’s include the possibility that there may be non footballing reasons for the fact that he’s barely made an impact this season, but there’s an elephant in the room which has to be mentioned - we have a manager that criticised him in public in the autumn, has rowed with him during matches, spoken vaguely of injuries and illness to Robinson that kept him out of the first team picture for months and now he’s dropped him for disciplinary reasons.

Maybe Robinson deserves the treatment he’s received from Erol Bulut, but I can’t help thinking he wouldn’t be appearing in this thread if we had a different manager.

The point about (uncontrollable at least) off field factors is a good one, as I learned from listening to an interview with Mark Hudson.

That said, for a humble fan, it can often feel like excuses, when some those factors are largely brought upon the players by themselves.

[Bobby Dandruff]

...not so great (you thought I was going to say sh*t didn't you?)

This season: Tanner. I championed him after pre-season and his Swansea goal but I think he's pretty awful now. Got that one wrong. Spectacularly. Also noticed he has 'Bluebirds' on one boot and 'CCFC' on the other. Don't know why it does but I just think it's a bit naff.

Wintle: after his run at Blackpool and when he came back he looked like a new signing imo. Since then, I think he's terrible and his set-pieces are an embarrassment to football. I wrote ages ago that he should never, ever, ever take a corner again in the professional game. I think Taylor Swift should write a song about him.

This could be a long thread…..

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Great point about the off field activities that players could be involved in?
I wonder how much clubs put into looking after their assets?
There’s always stories around over players who find themselves in financial difficulties because of gambling addictions etc
Wether it’s Gambling, excessive alcohol, drugs, laughing gas chasing other blokes wife’s there are lots of temptations for a lot of players, with a lethal combination of too much time and lots of money at an early age
It’s easy to see how some get involved in some of the things listed.
I doubt too many agents are particularly interested in these things, probably more interested in helping move the players on, on a regular basis?

I don’t know what the answer is, but in an industry that spends millions of pounds annually on new assets, I’d have a team of people who are experts in all sorts of fields from sports psychology to financial expertise at the club to help minimise these problems if it was my money involved!!!!

I guess doing a bit of due diligence on a player before signing him would help beforehand

For me Madine has to be the biggest waste of time and money in recent years

Didn't we have one poster who claimed that Madine's flick on for Pilkington to score at Sheff Utd was worth the transfer fee alone as it helped win promotion?

[Nobody's Rep]

Didn't we have one poster who claimed that Madine's flick on for Pilkington to score at Sheff Utd was worth the transfer fee alone as it helped win promotion?

Different thread or topic 🤔 know but always thought pilkington was hard done by with other managers other than Slade - never felt he let us down whenever he was asked to play

Madine though - gash 😂

The 17 foot German we signed for me tops the list - I was young and easily wooed - always something romantic about signing a foreign player that it is guaranteed that they will be good but alas a litany of players prove this romantic wrong

[Keyser Soze]

Different thread or topic 🤔 know but always thought pilkington was hard done by with other managers other than Slade - never felt he let us down whenever he was asked to play

Madine though - gash 😂

The 17 foot German we signed for me tops the list - I was young and easily wooed - always something romantic about signing a foreign player that it is guaranteed that they will be good but alas a litany of players prove this romantic wrong

If we are thinking of the same guy I remember that - I think it was Jorn Schwinkendorf or something like that. He was rubbish but I had the same excitement!

For me my choice is Koumas on his second visit, and Robbie Fowler. Although too decrepid for top league, I thought he might bag a few more here. I think service to him was poor, but his body was just knackered and he didn’t look after himself.

[Mr Soul '68]

If we are thinking of the same guy I remember that - I think it was Jorn Schwinkendorf or something like that. He was rubbish but I had the same excitement!

For me my choice is Koumas on his second visit, and Robbie Fowler. Although too decrepid for top league, I thought he might bag a few more here. I think service to him was poor, but his body was just knackered and he didn’t look after himself.

Yeah, I too was very, very disappointed with Fowler. I thought he was a shoe-in for 18-20 goals for the coming season. Of the three "has-beens" we signed that summer, Hasslebank was by far the best. I can't seem to remember Trevor Sinclair doing that much.

[Keyser Soze]

Yeah, I too was very, very disappointed with Fowler. I thought he was a shoe-in for 18-20 goals for the coming season. Of the three "has-beens" we signed that summer, Hasslebank was by far the best. I can't seem to remember Trevor Sinclair doing that much.

Yep, Sinclair was injury prone if my memory serves me well. I agree - Jimmy Floyd at least put himself about and was serious about it. You got the impression he was giving 100%. I liked him - wish we had taken a punt on him for a coaching role.

[2b2bdoo]

Yep, Sinclair was injury prone if my memory serves me well. I agree - Jimmy Floyd at least put himself about and was serious about it. You got the impression he was giving 100%. I liked him - wish we had taken a punt on him for a coaching role.

I’m not doubting you but I don’t remember Sinclair being that injury prone. JFH gave it a good go, that Wolves goal was wow. Fowler was such a dissapointment, he would have scored plenty but never fit.