Squillaci for me was a big dissapointment as he looked to be the strong, assured older CB we had been crying out for, only to turn out not good enough for the league. Chamakh wasn't a dissapointing signing though. Yes we had big expectations as he had been doing very well in his previous season (scoring 6 goals in 6 CL games in a row), but he cost us £0 in a transfer fee and for half a season people where saying RVP would struggle and have to fight for his place in the team. Didn't Chamakh get ~12 goals in half a season, win us a few penalties and several free-kicks plus a few assists, prior to being dropped for the dutchman? Just for that he was a good signing. Unfortunately he has never regained that form - he showed glimpses of it against Reading, but he isn't good enough to be anything more than a back-up at a top club. So i wouldn't say Chamakh was a dissapointing signing, but it was/is dissapointing that he hasn't managed to recapture that form.
Im going back a few years but one has to be Pennant. Sighned as a teenager and hailed ass the best kid in the country. sadly it never happened for him as an adult. Another is Bischoff. Signed as a great plaayer and was one of the worst
My first Arsenal game was blessed by the fantastic Malcolm MacDonald . i aint a youngster . http://www.11v11.com/matches/birmingham-city-v-arsenal-18-january-1977-83706/
If gunner.be.alright is an adult who was old enough to attend a footy game in 1977 and not a 12 year old then i fear for the state of this country
Igor Stepanovs was pretty disappointing, he was signed as a big, technical and skilfull CB and turned out to be a bit of a turkey. But in recent times it has to be Park for me. We spent a fair bit of money on him and he's just disappeared into the ether, completely baffling signing ????
maybe im expecting too much then . Whenever in future i think ," jeez , squillaci is rubbish " i should think " still , we did have worse defenders in the late 70s so , we are doing fine . " strange logic that is . Liverpool logic i call it .
you sure do but you can be sure of one thing , If Arsenal lose OR win i shall be here to discuss the victory/loss . Unlike afcftw who , after the blackburn/bradford fiascos was mr ****in invisible. Talk about sing when your winning eh ? I am Mr glass half empty , but he's Mr "Glass is always overflowing even when some twat from Bradford City has just stolen the ****ing glass.."
If your first game was watching MacDonald there is no way you would say that Chamakh & Squillaci are our most disapointing signings.
I would agree with what you say about Squillaci.When we bought him he was playing for a Spanish team who were competing in the CL and was also a French international.
As a complete outsider can I just say that for every Reyes there has been a Bergkamp! For every Squillaci a Campbell, so many gifted players in my lifetime (and thats a long time), you're bound to get a few wrong!! Really can't believe David Platt got a mention in this thread he was bought in to do a job and did it well in my opinion.
This thread is about the personal thoughts and feelings of Arsenal fans, it's not a 'bad signings' thread. One man's disappointing signing can be another man's solid performer, it's all about personal perspective. I think some people may view Arshavin as a disappointing signing because of heightened expectations due to his reputation. After his first half-season many were expecting to see him smashing them in and winning us games on a regular basis. I thought he was going to be a true Arsenal legend after the Liverpool match but I don't think anyone can reasonably argue that he is now. This may be regarded as a huge disappointment to some, not so much to others; it's subjective. I think you have misunderstood the nature of this thread.
Reyes was a class act, the disappointment came from him ****ing back off to Spain. You're right to point out that Platt did alright for Arsenal too, he had quite a legacy when he joined us late in his career. The only Arsenal players i've been disappointed with are the ones who don't give their all for the club when they play.
@gunner.b.alright I've been on a training course over the last few weeks away from home and working on weekends, so i have been having to watch the games at different times to everyone else (and ive been watching the games already knowing the final scores which sucks). So i havent been commenting when we have won or lost as i haven't been at a computer/tv. Luckily i've finished it and for now i'll be able to watch at least the tottenham game live. And regardless of the score i'll be giving my opinions as usual im sure.
@suker_suker - on reading my post back i can see what you mean. But some of the comments where suggesting Arshavin was obviously a total flop and maybe in my haste to stand up for him (as he has been quality for us) i missed the fact that each persons perspective can give a different answer to the question based on initial expectations etc.. (you can see i considered it when looking at squillaci and chamakh, but overlooked it in my initial post when analysing Arshavin)
For all the bad transfers made by Arsenal there were certainly a lot of excellent ones too. In fact more excellent ones than bad ones imo. If you are looking for bad signings you need look no farther than SAF who has splashed the cash on Veron, Bebe, Barthez, Forlan etc who didn't exactly make the right impressions while at manure.
