Most suicidal player transfer

[w7 bee]

Noticed a feature on John O''Mara in programme, before my time, but could'nt understand the logic in selling him when we just got promoted. In my time I think it's between Deano & DJ, although Sinton comes to mind. Glad to say those days are over for now & the foreseeable future!

 

[dbee3]

Nicky Forster didn't end too well.

 

[sonofabee]

Noticed a feature on John O''Mara in programme, before my time, but could'nt understand the logic in selling him when we just got promoted. In my time I think it's between Deano & DJ, although Sinton comes to mind. Glad to say those days are over for now & the foreseeable future!

You're lucky you were too young, we sold John O'Mara cheap to Blackburn and failed to replace, upset a great Manager and went straight back down. As I recall the top goalscorer was a midfielder from the North West named Alan Murray who ended up with a total of 6 or 7 goals!

That was only the start of things to come, we regularly sold top strikers and failed to replace for the next 40 years, thank God we have Matthew now.

 

[Downbeat Bee]

Webb's offloading of players and purchasing of Southern League quality players to replace them.

 

[Isleworth_Bee]

Nicky Forster for me. John O'Mara was before my time and In closer times its got to be the DJ transfer.

 

[sonofabee]

O'Mara, Cross, Forster, Taylor, Bliss, Deano, Asaba, DJ and none of them were replaced properly?

 

[Guildford Bee]

Nicky Forster. We had no choice but to sell DJ.

 

[Isleworth_Bee]

Nicky Forster. We had no choice but to sell DJ.

True

 

[Ealing Bee]

Nicky Forster. We had no choice but to sell DJ.

And we were never going to keep Sinton (as per the OP), who went on to have a fine career in the top flight and for England.

 

[bees66]

Taylor

he didn't want to play div 4 football.. for me personally Sinton and Forster..

 

[shepperton bee]

O'Mara and Holdsworth in equal measure....both were disastrous for the club in the short term and cost thousands of fans who lost heart with the total lack of ambition each sale signalled.

 

[Wise old Bee]

I was around in the O'Mara era but feel that selling Forster was a massive error although I expect that nice Mr Webb was pleased with his percentage of the transfer profit as was that parasite Eric Hall who had been touting Forster around since soon after he joined us.

 

[bostonhanwell]

Deano for me. An absolute hammer blow.

 

[sonofabee]

Deano for me. An absolute hammer blow.

Same here, we get up and sell a 35 goal player and replace with Murray bloody Jones who fails to score in a league game.
Jeez, he was pony

 

[Banana]

Probably too many to mention. Forshaw wasn't one of them thank goodness.

Actually, we'll never know....unless you have access to a parallel universe

 

[readingbee]

Same here, we get up and sell a 35 goal player and replace with Murray bloody Jones who fails to score in a league game.
Jeez, he was pony

Murrey "bloody" Jones, now that was a suicidal transfer !!!!!

 

[hobbsy]

Forster was the first for me, so that's the one that hurts the most.

 

[ruislip bee]

Big John was the first to hit me. Soo many since.

 

[BRbee]

O'Mara, Cross, Forster, Taylor, Bliss, Deano, Asaba, DJ and none of them were replaced properly?

All were suicidal transfers but O'Mara's probably had the most negative impact. It depresses me just reading that list let alone thinking about it.

 

[Nada Bee]

Hreidarssson.

I know Noades couldn't say no to £2.5m in his back pocket but I firmly believe we would of got promoted if he stayed.

He was a machine.

 

[ruislip bee]

Hreidarssson.

I know Noades couldn't say no to £2.5m in his back pocket but I firmly believe we would of got promoted if he stayed.

He was a machine.

He was the Hermanator. I'll be back!

 

[DavidgRushden]

George Francis and Jim Towers being sold to that horrible lot down the road who pretend to play in blue and white. A total disaster for us, but probably only
remembered by the "older" supporters.

 

[marvelous007]

Holdsworth and Forster cost us. Hopefully those days are behind us. When a player leaves GP it's on our terms This will be tested again, come January as "Harry Redknapp" was at the Blackburn game watching Pritchard (Spurs player) and Grey but other players like Jota may have also caught his greedy eye.

 

[SH]

Deano, without the slightest doubt. Proper Premier League quality. 38 goals in one season. Just think about that with the benefit of hindsight - 38 goals in a season! We've struggled since to find players who could score half that ... Until now

 

[Ashford Bees]

Getting mugged of Andy sinton by those hooped fakwits. We were on a roll.

 

[GEOFFBEE]

George Francis and Jim Towers being sold to that horrible lot down the road who pretend to play in blue and white. A total disaster for us, but probably only
remembered by the "older" supporters.

Quite right, David!
And George Bristow joined them, for good measure.
And, yes, it was a disaster for us, as we then got relegated...

 

[nick logan]

Deano , Millen , Forster , Donaldson off top of head , prob loads more

 

[wanderer paul]

Cross. Sweetzer. McCulloch. Hurlock. Sinton. Holdsworth. Blissett. Forster. Taylor. Campbell. Owusu. P.Evans. Too many to name.

Hopefully we're not a selling club anymore.

 

[BRbee]

Originally Posted by DavidgRushden
George Francis and Jim Towers being sold to that horrible lot down the road who pretend to play in blue and white. A total disaster for us, but probably only remembered by the "older" supporters.

Quite right, David!
And George Bristow joined them, for good measure.
And, yes, it was a disaster for us, as we then got relegated...

Yes the transfer of the Terrible Twins and George Bristow seemed inexplicable to me. I don't recall us being that desperate for money at the time - indeed the fees involved were minimal, if I recall, for proven goalscorers and a classy half back. As GEOFFBEE says we were then relegated.

Some of the other suicidal transfers mentioned were at least partially driven by the various financial crises we've experienced over the last 50 years.

 

[the birds and the bees]

Deano for me. An absolute hammer blow.

sold a roller (holdsworth ), bought a skoda (murray jones)

 

[bostonhanwell]

sold a roller (holdsworth ), bought a skoda (murray jones)

No that's unfair, Skoda went on to be quite good.

 

[the birds and the bees]

true but murray didnt

 

[Bernard1958]

George Francis and Jim Towers being sold to that horrible lot down the road who pretend to play in blue and white. A total disaster for us, but probably only
remembered by the "older" supporters.

 

[Bernard1958]

Agree, the twins were irreplaceable but the club was skint. Put donations in a bucket only to get Brian Bedford from that lot up the road

 

[North London Bee]

Agree, the twins were irreplaceable but the club was skint. Put donations in a bucket only to get Brian Bedford from that lot up the road

He came from Scunny where he went after QPR

 

[spirebee]

Half the mid 90s team that went on to play in the 2nd tier for Gillingford and half the 2002 team that went up to the 2nd tier with Reading(ford) and some to the Prem. One player is bad, but seeing half a team perform at a higher level is harsh!

 

[ruislip bee]

Half the mid 90s team that went on to play in the 2nd tier for Gillingford and half the 2002 team that went up to the 2nd tier with Reading(ford) and some to the Prem. One player is bad, but seeing half a team perform at a higher level is harsh!

Agree so much. The Reading situation was really hard to take. 5 players and our manager I think - or was that Brighton - or both?

 

[Bush Tuckerman]

sold a roller (holdsworth ), bought a skoda (murray jones)

Wasn't Joe Allon the clubs stated replacement for Deano?

 

[monkeymagic]

Agree, the twins were irreplaceable but the club was skint. Put donations in a bucket only to get Brian Bedford from that lot up the road

Even Jim Towers didn't want to leave Brentford. Moreso given what we got…. "I didn’t particularly want to go to QPR. Why he sold me and George, I don’t know. They might have had a money problem but it wasn’t massive money we went for. About ten thousand in the end but it wasn’t big money so why they needed that I don’t know"

 

[South Acton Bee]

No Mr Jones

 

[sacbfc]

Wasn't Joe Allon the clubs stated replacement for Deano?

No. Murray Jones was the replacement. When he didn't work, we signed Joe Allon to replace him.

 

[Bush Tuckerman]

No. Murray Jones was the replacement. When he didn't work, we signed Joe Allon to replace him.

That's kind of what I meant...I thought the club suggested that Joe was the replacement after Murray didn't work out! It was a few months into the season wasn't it

 

[YorkBee]

As I can still remember it O Mara was the one that hurt he went for peanuts to Blackburn while a certain Kerry Dixon at the same time went to Chelsea rumour was that Chelsea first came in for O'Mara but when refused went to Reading for Dixon for a lot of money in those days circa 100,000 and then a couple of weeks later O'Mara was sold anyway for a derisory amount. I remember too the outrage that season he got a 6 game ban or something for too many bookings when these days you have to bite the ref to get such a ban. Still finished as league top scorer

 

[sonofabee]

As I can still remember it O Mara was the one that hurt he went for peanuts to Blackburn while a certain Kerry Dixon at the same time went to Chelsea rumour was that Chelsea first came in for O'Mara but when refused went to Reading for Dixon for a lot of money in those days circa 100,000 and then a couple of weeks later O'Mara was sold anyway for a derisory amount. I remember too the outrage that season he got a 6 game ban or something for too many bookings when these days you have to bite the ref to get such a ban. Still finished as league top scorer

Dixon was way later than O'Mara, think you're confusing with Robin Friday who was around similar time?

O'Mara was actually pipped to top goal scorer if I recall by a Peterboro player named Price ?

 

[ruislip bee]

As I can still remember it O Mara was the one that hurt he went for peanuts to Blackburn while a certain Kerry Dixon at the same time went to Chelsea rumour was that Chelsea first came in for O'Mara but when refused went to Reading for Dixon for a lot of money in those days circa 100,000 and then a couple of weeks later O'Mara was sold anyway for a derisory amount. I remember too the outrage that season he got a 6 game ban or something for too many bookings when these days you have to bite the ref to get such a ban. Still finished as league top scorer

Yeah we really struggled when he was out. First game back was a Monday night IIRC. We won 2-1 (or nil) and he scored. I was in the Royal Oak End and I remember the whole end was chanting his name. Deafening! I think the game might have been against Lincoln or maybe Swansea with a crowd of circa 13,000. I dare say wanderer Paul will correct me!

 

[North London Bee]

Yeah we really struggled when he was out. First game back was a Monday night IIRC. We won 2-1 (or nil) and he scored. I was in the Royal Oak End and I remember the whole end was chanting his name. Deafening! I think the game might have been against Lincoln or maybe Swansea with a crowd of circa 13,000. I dare say wanderer Paul will correct me!

Lincoln 2-0. O'Mara header. Terry Scales thunderbolt

 

[Isleworth_Bee]

Seeing half that 2002 team playing for Reading whilst we struggled was really hard. To then see them playing in the Prem was harder.

 

[NigeriaRay]

As I can still remember it O Mara was the one that hurt he went for peanuts to Blackburn while a certain Kerry Dixon at the same time went to Chelsea rumour was that Chelsea first came in for O'Mara but when refused went to Reading for Dixon for a lot of money in those days circa 100,000 and then a couple of weeks later O'Mara was sold anyway for a derisory amount. I remember too the outrage that season he got a 6 game ban or something for too many bookings when these days you have to bite the ref to get such a ban. Still finished as league top scorer

Dixon was years later. You possibly mean Bill Garner (later of the Bees) who went for 100k from Southend to Chelsea around the same time

 

[wokinghambee]

As I can still remember it O Mara was the one that hurt he went for peanuts to Blackburn while a certain Kerry Dixon at the same time went to Chelsea rumour was that Chelsea first came in for O'Mara but when refused went to Reading for Dixon for a lot of money in those days circa 100,000 and then a couple of weeks later O'Mara was sold anyway for a derisory amount. I remember too the outrage that season he got a 6 game ban or something for too many bookings when these days you have to bite the ref to get such a ban. Still finished as league top scorer

When I was chatting to John at the game last saturday, I told him that we were all gutted that he had left us for Blackburn.. He replied that he HAD to go as there was a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that he was'nt happy with.. He did'nt seem to want to say much more than that so I did'nt ask any more on the subject !!.

 

[Leonardo]

Selling Heriderson for a good fee which was kind of understandable but squandering 1/4M of that on Scott Marshall was a mystery ...