Almost got em -players that were linked with Everton

[MARK SMITH]

The Catt tried to buy a 17-year-old Kenny Dalglish from Celtic, but Jock Stein wouldn't sanction it.
Who was the Argentine centre mid Marcel Brands tried to buy in his first summer with us but couldn't get a work permit? We brought in a DoF with a great knowledge of the South American market, which he couldn't use.

 

[Vaughan]

Scott Parker and Momo Sissoko big ones for me. Both had agreed to come here until Newcastle and Liverpool came in with bigger offers. We ended up with Phil Neville.

I always remember the rumour mill swirling around Robbie Keane in the summer of 2005 when he was out of favour at Spurs but i dont think we ever put in a bid. I remember seeing that on teletext rumour mill and 'refreshing' it for the next few days to see if it would come off.

Bellamy the other one that summer, apparently Moyes just talked about himself for the whole meeting accordign to Bellamy, but we know Bellamy was a difficult character so may not have been true.

Moutinho could have been amazing though we probably would've just been watching Yobo and Lescott thump it long to Yakubu/Andy Johnson/Louis Saha (imagine having one of those three playing for us now) and completely bypassing him.

Luis Diaz one really strings considering how good he's been for Liverpool and how it fell down due to James who's been on a minimum of £150k a week for 8 years refused a paycut.

Wonder how we could have shaped up in 03/04 with Michael Carrick threading balls to Wayne Rooney rather than Scott Gemmill.

Missing out on Shaqiri in 15/16 to Stoke also felt like a big blow. The obvious thin g being that we were meant to be chasing Champions League but were getting outbid by Stoke, the latter that we had Barkley, Deulofeu and Rom up top, all we needed was another quality wide player to compliment them and give us balance, instead we had Kone and Cleverely playing as a left forward and then the Martinez reign collapsed. Sliding doors moment there for me.

 

[Black Belt Jones]

Missing out on Shaqiri in 15/16 to Stoke also felt like a big blow. The obvious thin g being that we were meant to be chasing Champions League but were getting outbid by Stoke, the latter that we had Barkley, Deulofeu and Rom up top, all we needed was another quality wide player to compliment them and give us balance, instead we had Kone and Cleverely playing as a left forward and then the Martinez reign collapsed. Sliding doors moment there for me.

Felt Tim Howard got old overnight under Martinez, like a boxer. Can't really stand the Catalan flim flam artist all things considered, but he was let down there. Solid man between the sticks and the spine of that team would have been seriously strong.

McCarthy turning average / crocked didn't help either - he was very good in his first season.

 

[Daytripper]

David Hirst
Mark Schwarzer
Alan Thompson
Stan Collymore

 

[TGW89]

Sean Davis in 2003 was my first genuine brush with disappointment I can remember. The year after I seem to recall interest in Dickov, but got Bent instead. Wise choice, even if the guy suddenly couldn't hit a cow's ass with a banjo the wrong side of 2004

 

[Daytripper]

Roy Keane , went to Celtic instead.