Mcormack just scored a scorcher...again. I know hindsight is a wonderful thing, but could DJ's decision to re-sign Chopra & force Ross out be one of his mightiest blunders?
Yep......although he'd gone stale at Cardiff under DJ........under MM he would have been a good asset IMO ain't hindsight wonderful
didnt we only get like £300k for him? at the time i said on 606 that was a pathetically low fee for a player of his calibre, and although in his only good season he scored like 10 penalties, its was clear he had some part to play as he can score goals at this level. i'd rather him backup than jon parkin for example i know we needed to balance the books at the time, but come on, at that price he was bound to come back to haunt us
Yes a very bad decision. There is no doubt though there was a lack of discipline with McCormack as there was with a number of our players. Ive no doubt Malky would have sorted him out. Pity he wasnt loaned like Gerrard. How much would Matthews , Burke , Bothroyd , Ledley and McCormack be worth combined.? We got £300k in total!!!! No wonder we are in such debt.!!!
This is the legacy that DJ left behind unfortunately. Think we let DJ go two seasons too late. he was a good manager but had no respect for anyone and therefore didn't receive it either. To answer you question, I think signing Chopra and forcing our Rosco was an unbelievable mistake that will return to haunt us many times over
Not a mistake in my opinion. He'd gone well off the boil by the time we let him go. McCormack was overweight when he left and not that interested in playing his part in the team. Chops didn't have the same impact after injury although they had a pretty good partnership when they were on the pitch together. Why do people always look backwards and not forwards, let's move on folks and not look at the negatives of the past. DJ got us into a fantastic position under difficult circumstances. Malky is now in the seat and he's doing a fine job at the moment, let's enjoy it and have positive thoughts.
It was a well known fact at the CCS that Chopera and Ross hated each other and Chopera use to winned Ross up about getting the strikers shirt ,looks like Ross took it all too personal and decided to hit the bottle thus resulting in him getting barred from driving putting on excess weight and letting his confidence dip all the while Chopers must have enjoyed watching his demise with relish (so much for professionalism)seems DJ opted to retain the player that merited the highest fee/salary when realising and deciding the dressing room was not big enough for both (and bearing in mind that physically and emotionally Ross did not seem to have his head in the right place)it did seem DJ had his favourites and although i liked DJ i think he made some bad choices throughout his tenture with certain players whilst with Cardiff.
Totally agree T-G-I. There was a hell of lot going on with Ross in his head immediately after his first season here. His success prompted speculation about him leaving for a Prem club and his agent took every opportunity to ramp up the publicity. Brown at Hull wanted him - I think about 3 mill was being bandied about at the time. Ross had his head turned to the extent that he sulked when DJ and Ridsdale wouldn't play ball and it showed. He was under contract to the club and that was it. No doubt he was sidelined through the return of Chops. He and DJ apparently had a few spats over it and I think Ross even went public at one time, though that may have been our friends at WoL bigging the issue up. I would have kept him at City as well as Chops, though it seems that when DJ's got bee in his bonnet about a player, the writing was on the wall - just look at the Matthews situation.
Both Ross & Chops are good championship players but both have issues and need to be loved. It would not take long for either of them to be back in the bookies eating pies.
i remember ridsdale said the hull offer was £2m +£2m in add ons so to sell him a year later for £300k will inevitably be viewed as the wrong decision. i can understand rejecting the hull offer as he was our top scorer and a key player at the time but at the same time i'd like to know how ridsdale came to his valuation of around £300k. after his one good season his wages were increased with a 4 year deal so i still dont understand the decision.
The 'Matthews situation' was different because, good footballer that he was, nobody at the club (not just DJ) thought he could defend - I think they were right. They weren't that bothered about him going, as they weren't prepared to stump up good money for a bloke who wasn't good enough. Ross is a different case. I never thought we should have sold him, let alone for a paltry £380,000 (reported at the time). When fit, which was a problem (remember the hamstring problems twice), he was a fantastic player for us. Definitely worth having in the squad. I always believed that this was a sale that would come back to bite us on the bum. I really wish he was still here, and would always pick him in front of Miller or Earnshaw. Rossco's touch makes Miller look like a darts player. Sell on clause? I bet not.
iggy - I don't understand how you know that nobody at the club thought Matthews wasn't good enough and weren't that bothered about him going - if you do know this as a fact, then fair enough. For sure Matthews still had an awful to learn about defending, but to effectively say that DJ was right to publicly castigate a 17 year old for a poor defensive performance and virtually freeze him out of the first team scene is wrong. Anyway, enough about Matthews, this thread was about Ross who I totally agree should have been retained rather than be sold for such a derisary amount. He did go off the rails after that first season and his weight ballooned making him look something of a comedy act, but the guy has undoubted predatory skills and I wish he was with us now.
id give both our current strikers for that man atm (keeping gestede) no disrespect - to earnie atleast btw sparkey stop checking me out on my profile ive only just joined!
He was sat on this bench 90 percent of last season. This season, due to injuries to Becchio and Somma, he has started, he got fit, and has worked really well with our other loan striker Keough (from Wolves). Like so many other strikers, he's a confidence player, and when he started getting on the scoresheet, nothing will stop him now.
yep, his first season everything went his way - we got a shedload of penalties and he played every week. now after he got rewarded for this with a nice new contract everything went downhill from there really. at the time we sold him to leeds he wasnt making much of an impact for us, especially as it was clear that dave jones favoured parnership up front was chopra and bothroyd and that mccormack would have to be content being mainly used as an impact player. definitely a player who can score goals at this level though, as you said he is very much a form player, and thats probably why he hasnt ever played at a higher level to be honest.
