Sold Simpson who goes on to win the EPL Can't remember Thauvin in any game but he goes on to win World Cup,asking for a friend.
Simpson was terrible for us, we were well rid. I did think Thauvin should have got another year but maybe he's just more suited to the French league. When I was on holiday a bar I was in had a Ligue 1 programme on and showed all of his goals from last season, some quality 1s in there, mixed with a few tap ins and even a few headers which surprised me. Maybe he could have played as a number 10 the way we play now.
Just one of those things. Simpson was excellent for us but to be fair we were trying to upgrade with Debuchy. Its a shame we couldn't have retained him. To be honest though some of our support didn't understand football, they couldn't see just what the likes of him and Raylor were bringing to the table. Then when it all went tits up, they looked for their next scapegoat. The manager or the owner. We have a habit of hounding people out.
Bit of a bubble post. Every club has these. What about Nzonzi, didn't he play for Blackburn (not particularly brilliantly)? Or Mandanda at Palace? Man U didn't bother with Perisic, Spurs lost Modric. Thauvin never, ever wanted to be here. It was a big fail on the club's part to push on and on with the transfer, purely to grab a bargain from a desperate Marseille. Was part of Carr's remit - find a club in the **** and rinse the talent. Hell, we're still doing it - Feyenoord struggling, so we went after Jorgensen. They held firm. What confuses the hell out of me is how limited we are; there's clear issues at Lisbon which other clubs (Wolves) are taking advantage of, yet we're dragging our heels wondering what to do with the Hayden transfer request.
Conversely we also have a pretty good record of selling players for large amounts of money who go on to do nothing a la Sissoko and Carroll.
For what it's worth I do actually agree with Free-dor (shuddering thought) that Simpson was good for us (I wouldn't say excellent). He looked a limited player but good bottom half of the Premiership stock - seem to recall a fair amount of goal-line clearances.
****ing loved Simpson. But for his annoying penchant for crossing when he had no ability to, he was the perfect RB for any team outside the top 4. Found Debuchy to be a pretty underwhelming alternative looking back. And you're right, ridiculous amount of goal-line clearances for his position.
Sorry I should qualify that. Good would be his performance level. Excellent would be his value for money. He cost us something like 800K.
Simpson always allowed too many crosses to come in. "Keep backing off Simpson" was the cry from the stands. Average going forward at best. Hard worker though and from the Perch mould - limited talent but a grafter. It can take you far.
