Shock of the season - Benjani

[Grob]

It's quite tough to decide on the "pick" of the bunch

But I'd say that Benjani was Sven's most wasteful use of financial resources

Terrible terrible signing

Sven didnt shower himself in glory with many of his signings. IMHO.

Who else was genuinely bad though? I hated the idea of Benjani signing from the off as many people will remember but I don't think Sven made that many really poor signings all things considered. Bianchi was a decent player but couldn't adjust to life in England. Who else?

I agree, considering Sven started off with a truely awful squad which would have been relegated without the investment, the fact that he got a squad together which put plenty of points on the board pre xmas to keep us in the hunt for europe was nothing short of a miricle.

Its just the way they fell away after xmas that was frightening.

[Buffalo Soldier]

It's quite tough to decide on the "pick" of the bunch

But I'd say that Benjani was Sven's most wasteful use of financial resources

Terrible terrible signing

Sven didnt shower himself in glory with many of his signings. IMHO.

Who else was genuinely bad though? I hated the idea of Benjani signing from the off as many people will remember but I don't think Sven made that many really poor signings all things considered. Bianchi was a decent player but couldn't adjust to life in England. Who else?

Gelson Fernandes was a bag of shit.

[Goataldo]

It's quite tough to decide on the "pick" of the bunch

But I'd say that Benjani was Sven's most wasteful use of financial resources

Terrible terrible signing

Sven didnt shower himself in glory with many of his signings. IMHO.

Who else was genuinely bad though? I hated the idea of Benjani signing from the off as many people will remember but I don't think Sven made that many really poor signings all things considered. Bianchi was a decent player but couldn't adjust to life in England. Who else?

Bianchi is shit. He had one lucky season in Italy. He found his level in Serie B last season.
Bojinov was unlucky.
Garrido was a decent signing, especially cos he was so cheap.
Caicedo wasn't bad but not great either. Never worth the price tag anyway, never trusted that transfer.
Corluka was a good signing.
Elano great at first but sadly turned into a shit twat.
Geovanni was free I think so can't criticise that really.
Gelson looked promising but ultimately was a bit pooh.
Petrov good signing.
Benjani shit.
Castillo shit.

Overall, Sven's record isn't bad but not great either. Think it would've gone pear-shaped had he stayed longer though. That is in hindsight, cos at the time didn't want him to leave.

Hahaha, I agree with all of that (but have reservations about Bianchi being shit) and it made me laugh, whcih is a bonus. And Benjani is useless, but still a legend.

I thought Bianchi looked excellent at first, but got the monk on massively, and ended up being a top ponce - his own fault and he's underachieving if he's in Serie B. Bad attitude, and pathetic to blame the food. Learn to cook for God's sake, you're rich and Italian with shitloads of spare time. He deserves to starve to death if he can't muster up a quality scran.
And don't start on about eating out either. His main problem with the restaurants in Manchester was that they weren't in Italy. Change sides and/or retreat. Textbook manouvre. Standard.

[Ted Hughes]

Think Benjani's been mostly crocked since the day we got him. I was surprised he didn't retire last season. Looked like his legs had gone. Turned in some decent performances when fit but on the whole his performances have been well down compared to his Portsmouth days, when he was a lot better than people gave him credit for.

[BlueMoonAwoken]

Nery Fucking Castillo....what a bag of wank

Goes in the Albert Riera, Kiki Musampa loan shit box

Daniel Van Buyten and Arnie Arason are the only loanees I remember fondly

I liked musampa and i remember van buyten too.

[BlueMoonAwoken]

Nery Fucking Castillo....what a bag of wank

Goes in the Albert Riera, Kiki Musampa loan shit box

Daniel Van Buyten and Arnie Arason are the only loanees I remember fondly

I liked musampa and i remember van buyten too always wonder why we never tried to get him permanent..

[ross.mcfc]

I liked musampa and i remember van buyten too always wonder why we never tried to get him permanent..

[/quote]

We'd already jizzed our money away on class players like Fowler, McManaman, Sinclair, Seaman and the money had all dried up when a geniune quality centre half landed on our laps.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

I think we can count Jo as another black mark against Svenny boy

absolutely not. It was made clear that Hughes had final say over that transfer.

[Ted Hughes]

I think we can count Jo as another black mark against Svenny boy

absolutely not. It was made clear that Hughes had final say over that transfer.

If he hadn't I don't think he'd have got the job. Frank needed to move some money around..

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

It's quite tough to decide on the "pick" of the bunch

But I'd say that Benjani was Sven's most wasteful use of financial resources

Terrible terrible signing

Sven didnt shower himself in glory with many of his signings. IMHO.

Who else was genuinely bad though? I hated the idea of Benjani signing from the off as many people will remember but I don't think Sven made that many really poor signings all things considered. Bianchi was a decent player but couldn't adjust to life in England. Who else?

I agree, considering Sven started off with a truely awful squad which would have been relegated without the investment, the fact that he got a squad together which put plenty of points on the board pre xmas to keep us in the hunt for europe was nothing short of a miricle.

Its just the way they fell away after xmas that was frightening.

exactly.
The squad he started out with was proper bag of wank destined for relegation. Sven had couple of weeks to operate the markets and did exceptionally well all things considered.
Of course if you compare players we had then to one's we have now, it looks like they were all bag of wank but that was really not the reality at the time.

9th place finish with those players was really good result as well imo although overall I agree that the second part of the season was little worrying

[Wooders]

I think we can count Jo as another black mark against Svenny boy

absolutely not. It was made clear that Hughes had final say over that transfer.

Hughes publically stated that the deal had gone to far to back out! This was a target that was identified by svennis

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

I think we can count Jo as another black mark against Svenny boy

absolutely not. It was made clear that Hughes had final say over that transfer.

Hughes publically stated that the deal had gone to far to back out! This was a target that was identified by svennis

It was made perfectly clear that Hughes could've said no to Jo. He didn't. I'm sure Taffia Media Agency would have people believe otherwise now that it turns out he was bag of wank but that is how it happened at the time.

[Wooders]

Svens target, Svens purchase. It can't be denied.

[avoidconfusion]

It was made perfectly clear that Hughes could've said no to Jo. He didn't. I'm sure Taffia Media Agency would have people believe otherwise now that it turns out he was bag of wank but that is how it happened at the time.

Where was that made perfectly clear?

As far as I remember Jo was pretty much a done deal before Hughes arrived.

[Grob]

Jo was a Thaksin signing in my opinion. The transfer was done more for the benefit of our previous owner and agents involved rather than the player or the club

[Ted Hughes]

Jo was a Thaksin signing in my opinion. The transfer was done more for the benefit of our previous owner and agents involved rather than the player or the club

100% true. Doubt if Sven had a choice either. Definitely nothing to do with Les. Someone else was running tranfers even after he arrived & he did a fantastic job to put a stop to it.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

It was made perfectly clear that Hughes could've said no to Jo. He didn't. I'm sure Taffia Media Agency would have people believe otherwise now that it turns out he was bag of wank but that is how it happened at the time.

Where was that made perfectly clear?

As far as I remember Jo was pretty much a done deal before Hughes arrived.

We were after Jo when Hughes was appointed and Cook said very clearly that Hughes has "veto on any ongoing transfers".

I think Grobs theory might actually be closest to truth though. I reckon there was something proper dodgy in that deal. Jo looked very very promising in Russia but the price we paid for him was so OTT that someone was skimming money for sure.

[Esky]

I'll say it again, Van Buyten didn't want to stay in Manchester. You can't question the career he's since made for himself but he would never have signed with us permanently (whether we could afford him or not).

I quite liked Musampa. He was rubbish for the most part (especially in the centre of the park) but the last minute winner against Liverpool was nice.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

I'll say it again, Van Buyten didn't want to stay in Manchester. You can't question the career he's since made for himself but he would never have signed with us permanently (whether we could afford him or not).
I quite liked Musampa. He was rubbish for the most part (especially in the centre of the park) but the last minute winner against Liverpool was nice.

I'm fucking sick and fucking tired of repeating that year after year mate.

He said it very clearly when we signed him on loan that he was with us to gain his fitness back and get some games. Signing van Buyten was NEVER an option for us no matter what. He didn't want to stay and his club didn't want to sell for us.

[walmai]

Jo! One of the unmentionables on your passage to, err, 5th place.

What a hilariously bad transfer. Was it £19M plus add-ons?