Evening all- just saw this on charlton live and thought I would post it as a few members might be able to assist with stories about when and how close we were to signing some of these individuals: Charlton LIVE The One's That Got Away FC: GK: Antti Niemi DEF: Mathieu Flamini, Richard Gough, Sammy Kaffour, Alex MID: Bastian Schweinsteiger, Tim Cahill, Steve Sidwell, Ronaldo FW: Mateja Kežman, Kevin Keegan SUBS: Christian Bolanos, Anthony Stokes, Craig Gordon, Stephen Pressley, Andy Townsend, J.J. Okocha, Benni McCarthy, Mark Van Bommel Manager: Billy Davies Where we ever near to signing Schweinsteiger or Ronaldo? I can't imagine in a million years we were (both were first teamers as teenagers for bigger clubs). Anyone able to shed any light? I too remember JA mentioning keegan. Was he on to something? The rest of the players I pretty much remember. I recollect we had beaten everton to flamini, only for arsenal to come in at the last minute. Would you guys also add anyone? Alex Song should be there- we had an agreement to sign him if we stayed up.
One player i know as a definite - Aaron Lennon. His Dad and Uncle are taxi drivers in Leeds, and when i workd there in 2004/2005, i would occassionally get picked up by either of them because they worked for the taxi company that was used by the company i worked for - and they told me he was about to sign for us when Spurs came in with a last minute offer.
I remember at the time thinking why didn't we move for Lennon- he only went for about a million in the end if I remember rightly? It's ok though, we went for the more talented Simon Walton
There is something in the Cristiano Ronaldo rumour. A year before he made his move to Manchester United, there was newspaper talk of him coming to us (for about £1 million), but I'm not sure how much truth there is in that. I don't know how close we came to signing him for him to be considered one that "got away"
Also, did Antti Niemi not sign for us on loan for a while? At the same time Deano was in goal. Just checked Wiki and it says he made no appearances, did he come in as back-up? Definitely something in the Tim Cahill thing as well. I'm sure we were about to sign him for £500K before Everton swooped in. Stephen Pressley turned us down when we were right near the bottom of the Championship, and signed for Rangers instead. Am I the only one not bothered about letting Anthony Stokes "get away"?
Reckon it was paper talk- I think Liverpool wanted him the summer before, and again when united signed. Plus Utd have that agreement with sporting, so would have had first option on all players. I remember Cahill well. He was away and we were waiting for him to come back. Upon his return everything was going smoothly but he was due to go away again(maybe with Australia?). At that point he did a quick u-turn and signed for Everton. The theory being he had too much respect for the 'wall. Pressley I remember well- but ahead of most I'd have Scott brown. Les reed bid 5 mil for he and thomspon(now at boro) when they played for hibs. Any stories on Bastien?
I thought that was when we was bottom of the Prem and he went Celtic instead?? I remember being livid about Kezman. What happened with Jay Jay? Are you saying we could have had Jay Jay and JJ...
Apologies The Kish, you're right. I got my SPL giants mixed up. Also the player who rejected us when we slumped in the Championship was defender Wayne Brown who chose League 1 Leicester over us. Surprised he's not on the 'got away' list
super yes keegan nearly did sign for us before simonsen as i said before huyler the chairman wanted a big name signing keegan was available at the time and i did here that keegan was all for it as well and even had a photo taken standing in front of home area this i know to be 100 per cent correct info (ive seen photo somewhere but cant rem where)the fee i been told was 300k a lot of dosh for charlton back then.Aparantly the deal collapsed due to another offer from another english club could have been liverpool or southampton not to sure-if no one believes me on this just ask lennie if anyone knows him!i would have loved keegan to havesigned for us at that time could have taken the club up.
from my memory ones got away---- im sure ferdinand bros started with us before west ham if correct smalling fell out with club we all know about defoe! zamora was at selhurst with us in youth team i also believe beckham had a trial with us at time! i also am aware of a 500k bid for ashley young at watford being excepted by watford at the time
Sounds like the majority of these were "lucky escapes" rather than missed opportunities. I would rather grieve over the good players we had on our books and let slip away for nothing or nominal fees like Turner, Primus and Sh i ttu, only to pay larger sums later to fill the same positions with inferior players.
i did here about beckham wanting to play for us while he lived in leyton when growing up i hope someone can check into this info
