So chaps.. in your lifetime of suppoting NUFC what would you say are the three best and three worst signings you've seen us make? I'll get the ball rolling with.... Best Signings Brian Kilcline - We needed a rock to save our skins.. he was that chap Andy Cole- Cost £1.7m from Bristol City and broke the record for goals in a season Alan Shearer- Call me sentimental but he carried us game after game. If we hadn't had him we may have done a SAFC and become somwhat of a yo yo team. Honourable mention..... Robert Lee - cost £800k from Charlton and bossed our midfield for years. Worst Signings Owen- A leech who bled us dry and only ever gave a crap about England and horses Xisco- Just woefully out of his depth Boumsong- Utter garbage and something is still fishy about that deal
Best signings for me: Alan Shearer would be top - not really a lot you can say about it. Coloccini - the bloke is an adopted Geordie and a legend. One of the best defenders we've ever had in my book. Given - probably the best keeper of his era besides Schmeichel. I hate him for deserting us, but he'd be vocal enough for 2-3 years prior to leaving about our need to strengthen and it never happened so I can't really blame him if I'm honest. Worst signings: Luque - £9m and absolutely **** all to show for it. Marcelino - two words...sore finger ! Viana - clueless signing for me. One of SBR's rare errors in the transfer market I feel !
Killer did a job for us but I never thought of him as a superstar, just somebody that got on with his job and was good at what he did. Saw him at one of the Talk Ins I went to and he had hardly changed from his early days with us. Shearer, Cole and Ferdinand were three great goal scoring strikers and we were lucky with them. Shearer and Ferdinand complimented each other and were overjoyed whenever one of them scored, no competition between them, just two great team players. Rob Lee was a real team player and I never heard anybody say a bad word about him. Always gave 100%. Mickey the midget was a mercenary that never had his heart in the game and was far too full of himself. The poison dwarf should have been gone long before he was. Xisco was over hyped and out of his depth and Boumsong was a total joke.
I'm looking from a value for money viewpoint, soooo.... Solano, Beardsley, cole. Worst... Owen, boumsong and luque Our first 11 now probably cost as much as these three
I dunno, I rated viana it just never worked out for whatever reason. Mad to the it was him or Ronaldo though! I personally think kluivert was a bigger let down, yes he scored vital goals but I remember this feeling of being robbed of seeing the real kluivert when I used to watch him Shout for Stephanie guivarch?
For me: Best: Got to be Big Al, Krul for £100k has got to get a deserved mention.. Worst: Carl Cort, Xisco, Luque, Owen...
Best: Demba Ba - free transfer, scored some valuable goals for us. Pound for pound the best signing we made in recent years. Beardsley - People forget that the Combination of him and cole ripped defences to shreds. Technically gifted and still serving the club well today. Woodgate - By far the best defender we have had for many years. Injury prone yes but when he played we where solid at the back. Special mentions to players like John Beresford, Bobby lee and Sir Les. NOTE: I didnt include Shearer because he cost us a fair penny and was already class before we signed him. Worst: My goodness we have had some but easily the three below: Marcelino - Plain awful. Boumsong - WTF did we sign this clown for. Obertan - let me explain. This kid has the ability, has the speed but just plainly doesnt use it. His delivery is awful. Owen was not included even though I hate the toerag. When he played he played well enough, scored some goals and on the basis that I dont want to take my personal feelings into the decision he does not make my worst 3.
Somebody that hasn't been mentioned yet, that came in for a lot of stick from a certain section of not606, Gary Speed who worked tirelessly and was a great servant to the club in my opinion. Scored some great goals and helped to make many more. A bit underestimated in my opinion.
Best - Shearer, Ginola (if he's only scored that volley against Ferencvaros then that would have been enough), Coloccini Worst - Bramble, Obertan, Alan Smith Honourable mention to Rob Lee also as his hat trick of headers against Antwerp is probably my earliest memory of Newcastle.
Difficult one - there's those that were the best at that moment in time, and those that turned out to be among the best. Best at time of buying - Andy Cole, Alan Shearer, Les Ferdinand. They kept the legend going. Best overall - Alan Shearer, Peter Beardsley, Robert Lee. Honorable mentions for Albert, Speed, Ginola, Solano, Given. Worst - Boumsong, Owen, Marcelino. I'll elaborate... Boumsong because he went to Rangers for next to nowt just 4 months before we spent the best part of £10m...and there was always something funny about the links between his agent, Shepherd and Souness' links to Rangers. Really dodgy fecking business that. Owen summed up everything that was wrong with Shepherd at the time - spending money we didn't have on a player who didn't want to come for £6m more than had been agreed with Liverpool purely to look like the big man with NUFC's best interests at heart. Shambolic piece of "business". Marcelino was a shambles, an awful footballer with no balls at all. He was the biggest fanny to ever pull on the jersey, a truly awful human being let alone a footballer. Another product of a non-existent scouting system. But we've had some stinkers in our time - Guiv'arch, Cort, Luque, Bramble, Obertan probably about the worst of 'em.
Difficult one as Nedders quite correctly points out because of the context of time. At the time Wyn Davies, Jackie Sinclair, Benny Arentoft and Jim Scott were fantastic buys. When Keegan came in and brought in Scott Sellars, Paul Bracewell and David Kelly they were inspired buys then Beardsley, Andy Cole and Albert all proved to be masterstrokes, as did Shearer and Ferdinand. I've been watching the lads since late 1950's and there's been numerous players that couldn't kick snow off a rope but special mention must go to Billy Rafferty, Tony Cunningham and Kit Napier. I think there's a difference between best signings and best players depending on circumstances at the time so my best 3 players are Tony Green, Beardsley and Ginola, however my best 3 signings are Beardsley, Rob Lee and Andy Cole.
Robson signed a couple of young lads who had the potential to develop into excellent quality players. Cort also springs to mind. Sometimes it just doesn't work out. I still think Bowyer was one of the most questionable signings of Bobbys time. Where would Ranger cone in the worst signing scheme of things? Cost nowt but he very well had the potential to be a star. If only we could have morhed him with Shola.
Value for Money - Rob Lee - steal at 700K. Decade at the top with us, over 300 apperances and nearly 50 goals to boot from midfield. Pure genius from KK. Krul - 100K. One of the few good things to happen in Souness's reign! A dutch international goalkeeper who now has a real affinity with the area and club. Bassong - 500K. Another KK master stroke. Only stayed a year as we went down but he was sold for 8m! Mind I could add loads from KK's first spell - 250K Killer, 650K Bes, Venison 250K, Sellars 700K, Cole 1.75m, Beardsley 1.5m, Hottiger 600K, Allen 300K, Mathie 250K, Bracewell 250K Then you had the likes of Gav Peacock and Ned Kelly prior to his reign. The importance of Kelly's goals would never be forgotten in these parts. Olivier Bernard on a free from Robson and Nobby (2.5m) and Given (1.5m) both Dalglish were all bargains too. Best Signings - the common theme here is commitment to the cause, longevity and class Shearer - Nothing needs said, just a different class. Best striker we've ever had by a stretch in my time watching the club. Speed - An estute signing by Dalglish (one of a few he made to be fair). Served us really well, over 200 appearances, nearly 30 goals. Beardsley (2nd time) - Just fantastic to watch, epitomised everything you'd want in a modern footballer. He scored nearly 50 goals in 120 odd appearances, set up countless others, worked his bollocks off, brought moments of sheer brilliance. Worst Signings Owen - Although I have nothing against him personally and think he gets a rough ride from our supporters without good reason, he was simply an awful move by Shepherd which was all about the fat mans ego. He didn't want to come so we offered him ridiculous money to persuade him. We lavished ridiculous riches upon him, paid way overboard as a transfer fee and then never played in a way which suited his style (partnering him with two of the laziest players to ever pull on the shirt Viduka and Martins). He was already injury prone, but we moaned about that too! We got what we bought essentially! Marcelino - I honestly do not know where to start with this guy. A wimp and mercenary. I'm sure him and gullit just arranged some little scam. Nile Ranger - Nothing to do with money, just the shame he brought on the club. I did consider Anderrsson, Guivarch, Bassesdas, Cort, Xisco, Shola (its been a tough 10 years you bastard), Obertan, Luque, Fumaca (should never have been allowed in that treasured shirt, not even for ****s and giggles ), Des "I have slow genes" Hamilton
Best: Keegan both as player and manager, Pedro and for me my final favourite best signing was Tino, coming off that plane in the snow made me tingle1 Worst: Sourpuss, Dogleash and The poisoned dwarf
