Players we were after and should have signed

[Gladystweet]

Not a player but Brian Clough.
Pretty sure we were after him once...?

 

[Ashtonian]

Although I'm aware it's not a popular opinion, there's a possibility that the answer to that question would be the championship.

As well as Flo, Royle wanted to sign Claus Eftevaag (an absolute no mark centre half) and a 35 year old Barry Horne. The story I always heard was that Eftevaag failed his medical (he retired not long afterwards) but Royle wanted us to sign him anyway in order to get Flo. That sort of recklessness could have killed the club in those days.

I'll always have a lot of time for Joe Royle but I think his management spell is viewed with blue tinted specs in a lot of cases. We were going rapidly backwards by the time he left, and the idea that Claus Thomsen could be the answer to our problems suggests Joe may not have been the man to halt the slide.

Possibly. But at the same time the question i fire back to you is does it matter who the player is if the manager is right? Royle although may never have been some top class manager and certainly may or may not have not done any different to what happened, he did put fight into the team. the dogs of war mentality, which is something which was lacking when kendall and smith then took the job. We will never know the answer to it but would this fighting mentality have counted for something? especially when you take into account you could slot kanchelskis, ferguson, flo, dave watson, and if it carried on, matterazzi, dacourt, speed to name a few?

 

[Lanolin]

Possibly. But at the same time the question i fire back to you is does it matter who the player is if the manager is right? Royle although may never have been some top class manager and certainly may or may not have not done any different to what happened, he did put fight into the team. the dogs of war mentality, which is something which was lacking when kendall and smith then took the job. We will never know the answer to it but would this fighting mentality have counted for something? especially when you take into account you could slot kanchelskis, ferguson, flo, dave watson, and if it carried on, matterazzi, dacourt, speed to name a few?

Well the fighting mentality didn't seem to count for a lot when we were knocked out of domestic cups by York and Bradford, nor when we lost 6 consecutive league games and only won 1 in 12 (at home to Forest, who ended up finishing bottom). So I'm going to stick my neck out and say no.

 

[catcherintherye]

Tore Andre Flo- Would have been a perfect foil/support for Fergusan as he got injury problems and suited Royle's system perfectly.

Ian Rush- In the late 80's when we were linked, would have been a big statement signing.

Petr Cech- No explanation required

Essien- Again no explanation required.

 

[boris]

Cech and Essien as above but I also know for a fact we were quite close to getting Flamini under Moyes as well so I'll add him to the list.

 

[catcherintherye]

Possibly. But at the same time the question i fire back to you is does it matter who the player is if the manager is right? Royle although may never have been some top class manager and certainly may or may not have not done any different to what happened, he did put fight into the team. the dogs of war mentality, which is something which was lacking when kendall and smith then took the job. We will never know the answer to it but would this fighting mentality have counted for something? especially when you take into account you could slot kanchelskis, ferguson, flo, dave watson, and if it carried on, matterazzi, dacourt, speed to name a few?

Kanchelskis had gone at that point and we didn't sign a lot of the above until 18 months after Royle left.

Joe had lost the plot a bit by the end of that season. However the malaise was not entirely down to him and that from the following 5 seasons we endured 3 relegation fights (2 of which we were lucky to survive from, just a goal away from the drop) shows it wasn't entirely down to him.

Calm heads were needed with Joe back then. He wasn't a massively calm head and had got himself into a bit of a state with Southall and The Echo and Johnson didn't show the sort of leadership Kenwright did.

We went from being tipped for title outsiders to relegation fodder far too quickly. Watson and Southall were too old and weren't adequately replaced, while Parkinson was a huge loss (alongside legs finally catching up with Horne & Ebrrell).

There needed to be a rebuild job, but Royle had bought in some good players who had lost their way a bit and I'd liked to have seen him stay another season. Flo would have been a fantastic buy and taken a lot of pressure off Fergusan which would have been a big help. There was still a good nucleus, Short, Speed, Barmby, Unsworth, Fergusan. We also had a lot of talented lads emerging from below in our youth side.

 

[Ashtonian]

Well the fighting mentality didn't seem to count for a lot when we were knocked out of domestic cups by York and Bradford, nor when we lost 6 consecutive league games and only won 1 in 12 (at home to Forest, who ended up finishing bottom). So I'm going to stick my neck out and say no.

Kanchelskis had gone at that point and we didn't sign a lot of the above until 18 months after Royle left.

Joe had lost the plot a bit by the end of that season. However the malaise was not entirely down to him and that from the following 5 seasons we endured 3 relegation fights (2 of which we were lucky to survive from, just a goal away from the drop) shows it wasn't entirely down to him.

Calm heads were needed with Joe back then. He wasn't a massively calm head and had got himself into a bit of a state with Southall and The Echo and Johnson didn't show the sort of leadership Kenwright did.

We went from being tipped for title outsiders to relegation fodder far too quickly. Watson and Southall were too old and weren't adequately replaced, while Parkinson was a huge loss (alongside legs finally catching up with Horne & Ebrrell).

There needed to be a rebuild job, but Royle had bought in some good players who had lost their way a bit and I'd liked to have seen him stay another season. Flo would have been a fantastic buy and taken a lot of pressure off Fergusan which would have been a big help. There was still a good nucleus, Short, Speed, Barmby, Unsworth, Fergusan. We also had a lot of talented lads emerging from below in our youth side.

See i think the problem here is that i was like 8 when Royle came in so admittedly all the ins and outs of moyes and martinez tenures i know now, i don't really know from back then. So if i am wrong in my train of thought then fair enough, my mind seems to remember the 7th place and winning at the time, more so than any problems there may have been at the time

 

[Tel001]

Edin hazard apparently

Please explain... and hopefully I can decide it's not true...

 

[Tel001]

Nigel Martyn when he was in his prime!

This

 

[Ashtonian]

Please explain... and hopefully I can decide it's not true...

off the top of my head i can't remember where i read it. but it was along side the likes of chech and essien type of players. we wanted hazard when he was only 17 if i remember right, before he had really broke through at lille (was it?).

 

[catcherintherye]

See i think the problem here is that i was like 8 when Royle came in so admittedly all the ins and outs of moyes and martinez tenures i know now, i don't really know from back then. So if i am wrong in my train of thought then fair enough, my mind seems to remember the 7th place and winning at the time, more so than any problems there may have been at the time

We were in free fall but still around 12/13th when Royle left. I think we only won 1 of the last 10 games or so and still stayed up. We'd have probably scraped over the line.

There's no doubt though Royle lost the plot, I can't make any argument against that. My point would have been, with a stronger chairman and clearer leadership he may have been able to turn it around the following season.

 

[Lionel Naismith]

Leroy Fer, looks decent this year & different to what we have.

 

[jackyboy]

Tore Andre Flo- Would have been a perfect foil/support for Fergusan as he got injury problems and suited Royle's system perfectly.

Ian Rush- In the late 80's when we were linked, would have been a big statement signing.

Petr Cech- No explanation required

Essien- Again no explanation required.

Don't remember much of Flo.

Was he also a target man?

 

[n01efc]

Didn't we turn down cantona?

 

[catcherintherye]

Don't remember much of Flo.

Was he also a target man?

He was yes, ended up going to Rangers for over 10 million and Sunderland for 13. He wasn't as aggressive as Fergusan or as good in the air but had probably a slightly better touch.

They could have played together though, particularly under Royle's style where he liked balls into the box and direct football. I think he'd have taken a lot of pressure of Fergusan by ensuring he wasn't the focal point of our attack and diverting attention, as well as allowing us to rest him. For the figures quoted it was a real miss at the time not to bring him in.