Stud mark of doom Posted 17 October, 2015 Share Posted 17 October, 2015 Quite a selection to choose from - from (hazy) memory Osvaldo Gaston Delap um, David Hurst? Alan Mclocklan Barry Horne? David Armstrong Kevin Keegan Peter Osgood Ron Davies Seems a distinct downward trend (with time) to me? Best - Big Ron; worst - The Italian (nut) job. Also, pretty clear that most of these were not as good as our best free signing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadoldgit Posted 17 October, 2015 Share Posted 17 October, 2015 I remember being told that Rory Delap looked a genius in training and could go past people with the ball for fun and to be fair to him he went on to have a long career than we did in the Premiership. Alan McClaughlin (however you spell his name) was one of the worst for me. Our first £1m signing as I recall and very poor for us, Best ever must have been Kevin Keegan. Twice European Player of the Year signs for Saints - and not for massive money either. My dad phoned me up at work to tell me. Amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norwaysaint Posted 17 October, 2015 Share Posted 17 October, 2015 You have to include Delgado really. Although his transfer fee was slightly less than Delap officially, we were obliged to buy Kleber Chala for a million, when we clearly had no use for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Boy Saint Posted 17 October, 2015 Share Posted 17 October, 2015 I remember being told that Rory Delap looked a genius in training and could go past people with the ball for fun and to be fair to him he went on to have a long career than we did in the Premiership. Alan McClaughlin (however you spell his name) was one of the worst for me. Our first £1m signing as I recall and very poor for us, Best ever must have been Kevin Keegan. Twice European Player of the Year signs for Saints - and not for massive money either. My dad phoned me up at work to tell me. Amazing. Not long been home from school, phone rings, my mate Willy from round the corner: "you've just signed Kevin Keegan!!". i told him not to be so stupid he says "watch Newsround in a minute if you don't believe me". Certainly was a day when football had a double take in our direction. Lawrie Mac said that the following season after him signing Saints wacked up the ticket prices and no one flinched, opposing teams had their biggest gates against Saints that season just to see KK, I guess it would be comparable to Saints signing Lionel Messi today!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SW5 SAINT Posted 17 October, 2015 Share Posted 17 October, 2015 Quite a selection to choose from - from (hazy) memory Osvaldo Gaston Delap um, David Hurst? Alan Mclocklan Barry Horne? David Armstrong Kevin Keegan Peter Osgood Ron Davies Seems a distinct downward trend (with time) to me? Best - Big Ron; worst - The Italian (nut) job. Also, pretty clear that most of these were not as good as our best free signing. Don't forget Charlie George and Perry Groves............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadoldgit Posted 17 October, 2015 Share Posted 17 October, 2015 We did sign a number of players who were pretty much finished by the time they came here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Jim Posted 17 October, 2015 Share Posted 17 October, 2015 For the worst you've also missed Gavin McCant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stud mark of doom Posted 17 October, 2015 Author Share Posted 17 October, 2015 For the worst you've also missed Gavin McCant Surely he wasn't a record signing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Appy Posted 17 October, 2015 Share Posted 17 October, 2015 For the worst you've also missed Gavin McCant Do you mean Neil? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr X Posted 18 October, 2015 Share Posted 18 October, 2015 jermaine wright? Callumn Davenport? Neil Mcann? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB Fry Posted 18 October, 2015 Share Posted 18 October, 2015 jermaine wright? Callumn Davenport? Neil Mcann? When were they record signings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectisSaint Posted 18 October, 2015 Share Posted 18 October, 2015 Some people seem to be having difficulty with the concept of "record signing". The original list missed Jay Rodriguez who was our record signing for a brief period in the summer of 2012 before Ramirez was finally signed. Record signings used to mean some of our best ever players, Big Ron being by far the best. The original Ossie (Peter) was also superb, though his best years were behind him when he joined us. KK was also of course one of the best ever English players. David Armstrong, hugely underrated, great player. I didn't realise that Barry Horne was a record signing, have to say he was in an era where I did not follow Saints as closely as before or after. Alan McLaughlin looked to be brilliant when he was at Swindon, but for some reason never really showed that form again after he joined us. Delap and Delgado really started the downward spiral of record signings, punctuated only by J Rod of course. Gaston has been a disappointment, though there is still a great player in there somewhere trying to get out. As for Dani, he was still a top player, just a complete and utter ***** (and he is Argentinian by the way, only plays/played for Italy due to his parentage). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stknowle Posted 18 October, 2015 Share Posted 18 October, 2015 Some people seem to be having difficulty with the concept of "record signing". I went to a record signing once. Depeche Mode signed my record. I still have it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cambsaint Posted 18 October, 2015 Share Posted 18 October, 2015 I was working in Stoke at the time we signed Kevin Keegan, and I was a supplier to Stoke City FC (complimentary tickets every home match and League cup final tickets). Everybody was amazed when the news broke and extremely jealous. Probably our best ever signing, the other two being Ron Davies and Alan Ball. We signed Charlie George at approx the same time as Peter Osgood, unfortunately his knees had gone, but they could provide sublime moments of skill, I'm sure I remember them passing to each other wing to wing all the way up the field once, making the opposition look clueless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectisSaint Posted 18 October, 2015 Share Posted 18 October, 2015 We signed Charlie George at approx the same time as Peter Osgood, unfortunately his knees had gone, but they could provide sublime moments of skill, I'm sure I remember them passing to each other wing to wing all the way up the field once, making the opposition look clueless. I remember Charlie George playing, but now I have this image of his two knees playing on opposite wings. I know they were shot, but they were surely never that far apart :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr X Posted 18 October, 2015 Share Posted 18 October, 2015 When were they record signings? oops duh I just read worst signings! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eelpie Posted 18 October, 2015 Share Posted 18 October, 2015 I went to a record signing once. Depeche Mode signed my record. I still have it. He wasn't so good in goal though. Didn't like to get his clothes muddy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stud mark of doom Posted 18 October, 2015 Author Share Posted 18 October, 2015 We signed Charlie George at approx the same time as Peter Osgood, unfortunately his knees had gone, but they could provide sublime moments of skill, I'm sure I remember them passing to each other wing to wing all the way up the field once, making the opposition look clueless. Pretty sure they didn't play together - osgood signed the year we went down -73/74 - and left during our promotion season - 77/78 I think. Charlie George signed a couple of years later when we we back in the top flight and played with Keenan etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad Wolf Posted 19 October, 2015 Share Posted 19 October, 2015 Osvaldo's gotta be the worst surely? I didn't realise Osgood, Keegan and Davies were free, they were all before my time but if I had to say a best record signing ever I'd probably go for Ron Davies from what I know of him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HKsaint Posted 19 October, 2015 Share Posted 19 October, 2015 Olivier Bernard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shropshire Saint Posted 19 October, 2015 Share Posted 19 October, 2015 To be fair to Alan McCloughlin, he was played out of position on the left wing by Chris Nicol (he made his name as an attacking central midfielder with swindon) and was never given a chance by Branfoot. I believe that he went on to have a successful career somewhere else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelman Posted 19 October, 2015 Share Posted 19 October, 2015 Seems a distinct downward trend (with time) to me? Best - Big Ron; worst - The Italian (nut) job. Also, pretty clear that most of these were not as good as our best free signing. See that he is being a roaring success in Portugal. 1 goal so far just before the intl break, the 3rd in a 4-0 victory against a lowly Belenenses side. Been used mostly as a sub, although he did get the full 90 minutes in a cup game against 16th placed 2nd division side Varzim, failing to score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norwaysaint Posted 19 October, 2015 Share Posted 19 October, 2015 Was Keegan a record signing? I don't remember ever seeing details of what he cost. Was he at the end of his Hamburg contract? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelman Posted 19 October, 2015 Share Posted 19 October, 2015 £400k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 19 October, 2015 Share Posted 19 October, 2015 (edited) Interesting reflection on modern football that 9 of the 10 highest transfer fees Saints have ever paid are for players currently at the club (and all of them would still be under contract if one of them wasn't a nutter): 1 Pablo Osvaldo Roma £12.8M 2013 2 Victor Wanyama Celtic £12.5M 2013 3 Shane Long Hull City £12M 2014 4 Gastón Ramírez Bologna £12M 2012 5 Virgil van Dijk Celtic £11.5M 2015 6 Dušan Tadić FC Twente £10.9M 2014 7 Ryan Bertrand Chelsea £10M 2015 8 Sadio Mané Red Bull Salzburg £10M 2014 9 Fraser Forster Celtic £10M 2014 10 Graziano Pellè Feyenoord £9M 2014 Also a reflection that we've bought and sold a lot of players recently (though weirdly our 10th highest purchase is for more than our 10th highest sale). Edited 19 October, 2015 by The9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 19 October, 2015 Share Posted 19 October, 2015 Was Keegan a record signing? I don't remember ever seeing details of what he cost. Was he at the end of his Hamburg contract? As angelman said, £400k. Even if he was at the end of his contract (and I'm not sure he was), before Bosman clubs were about to retain player registrations even if their contract was up, and didn't have to sell players if they didn't want to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectisSaint Posted 19 October, 2015 Share Posted 19 October, 2015 Interesting reflection on modern football that 9 of the 10 highest transfer fees Saints have ever paid are for players currently at the club (and all of them would still be under contract if one of them wasn't a nutter): ... and our record signing before Gaston, i.e. Jay Rodriguez, is not only still at the club but doesn't even make the Top 10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rpb Posted 19 October, 2015 Share Posted 19 October, 2015 People were shocked that we spent £20 000 on Tony Knapp (a record buy at the time) claiming that 'No player is worth that much'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david in sweden Posted 19 October, 2015 Share Posted 19 October, 2015 Quite a selection to choose from - from (hazy) memory Osvaldo..............Pretty obvious I guess..... Gaston ..............as for money's worth.....second worst Delap .............really was a versatile and would play anywhere he was asked, but never had a nailed-on position of his own. Unfairly criticised by many IMO um, David Hurst?......really wasn't bad. Had freak accident with a rabbit hole that ended his career. No-one's fault - except that rabbit. Alan Mclocklan .......(McLaughlin?)...now you're getting serious. Our first million pound signing, I think ? Should never have signed a player from Pompey ! Barry Horne? .........not bad , but played better at other clubs. David Armstrong..... Good goalscoring midfielder by a mile....until MLT arrived. Kevin Keegan.......Shame the honeymoon was so short, he should have stayed 5 years. Peter Osgood ....A little bit past his best when he came to us, but was a legend before hand, and a fan favourite with us to the end. Ron Davies ......best centre forward I ever watched...... Seems a distinct downward trend (with time) to me? Best - Big Ron; worst - The Italian (nut) job. Also, pretty clear that most of these were not as good as our best free signing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulwantsapint Posted 20 October, 2015 Share Posted 20 October, 2015 Was Kevin Davies a record signing when we swapped him for Egil Ostenstad ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richie Posted 21 October, 2015 Share Posted 21 October, 2015 Quite a selection to choose from - from (hazy) memory Osvaldo..............Pretty obvious I guess..... Gaston ..............as for money's worth.....second worst Delap .............really was a versatile and would play anywhere he was asked, but never had a nailed-on position of his own. Unfairly criticised by many IMO um, David Hurst?......really wasn't bad. Had freak accident with a rabbit hole that ended his career. No-one's fault - except that rabbit. Alan Mclocklan .......(McLaughlin?)...now you're getting serious. Our first million pound signing, I think ? Should never have signed a player from Pompey ! Barry Horne? .........not bad , but played better at other clubs. David Armstrong..... Good goalscoring midfielder by a mile....until MLT arrived. Kevin Keegan.......Shame the honeymoon was so short, he should have stayed 5 years. Peter Osgood ....A little bit past his best when he came to us, but was a legend before hand, and a fan favourite with us to the end. Ron Davies ......best centre forward I ever watched...... Seems a distinct downward trend (with time) to me? Best - Big Ron; worst - The Italian (nut) job. Also, pretty clear that most of these were not as good as our best free signing. We didn't we signed Mcloughlin from Swindon then he went onto Pompey. Had a decent spell there through the 90's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stud mark of doom Posted 21 October, 2015 Author Share Posted 21 October, 2015 We didn't we signed Mcloughlin from Swindon then he went onto Pompey. Had a decent spell there through the 90's Agreed - but oddly the preceding record signing, Barry Horne, was signed from Pompey. No doubt that Keegan had the most impact in terms of the signing itself (rather than what he actually did for the club. Current double european footballer of the year and English. I was at school then. I remember the headmaster went round all the classrooms to break the news. We didn't learn much that day! All over the front pages of all the newspapers the next day. What would be the closest comparison now - perhaps signing Bale? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dublin Saint Posted 23 October, 2015 Share Posted 23 October, 2015 I was delivering the Echo as a paperboy when Keegan signed and was so excited. This was the days when the Echo had one edition and there was no sports news on the radio. I ran home and got my mum to phone my dad to tell him. Season tickets jumped from 60 quid to 95 quid which was huge at the time. Remember beating Man City 2-0 in Keegan's first home game with Channing grabbing both. Season ticket price seemed cheap with what we ended up watching. Anyone remember that volley against Man U that was disallowed for offside. Great days!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dublin Saint Posted 23 October, 2015 Share Posted 23 October, 2015 Channon obviously sorry predictive text Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david in sweden Posted 23 October, 2015 Share Posted 23 October, 2015 We didn't we signed Mcloughlin from Swindon then he went onto Pompey. Had a decent spell there through the 90's Thank you I stand corrected.. but he was a bit disappointing nevertheless, and a million pounds was a LOT of money in those days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david in sweden Posted 23 October, 2015 Share Posted 23 October, 2015 Was Kevin Davies a record signing when we swapped him for Egil Ostenstad ? I think he was sold for £7 million ....(to Blackburn) when he left the first time, but Ostenstad was part of the swap deal when he returned a year or so later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david in sweden Posted 23 October, 2015 Share Posted 23 October, 2015 People were shocked that we spent £20 000 on Tony Knapp (a record buy at the time) claiming that 'No player is worth that much'. .....and what they didn't say ....when we paid £50,000 for Ron Davies .....in 1966. History proved everyone wrong. Knapp was a great signing. (Non-playing) member of the England 1962 World Cup squad, he was an archetypal captain for Saints, excellent CB who hardly missed a game in 6 seasons. A bit of a shock when he did move in 1968, but his replacement (Jimmy Gabriel) was more than capable of replacing him. After eventually retiring from English football, Knapp managed a good, fledgling Iceland national side, and then a whole string of League clubs in Norway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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