On this day 25 years ago (3 Viewers)
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Cally Fedora
Well-Known Member
Remember it well. Scored on his debut and it was obvious he’d go on to huge things. Tried to replace him with Bellamy which was pretty much the beginning of the decline in the prem years.
Diogenes
Well-Known Member
The Keane season was the last time I truly felt like we were going somewhere, until the last 18 months of course.
Those days were exciting - we still had the dream of ARENA 2000 and were talking about a 45000 new stadium with retractable roof and pitch. A plethora of exciting attacking talent. As much as we were brilliant though that season without an away win still scars me.
Would I rewind time if I could to hope it plays out differently? Absolutely not - the clubs the healthiest it's ever been in and the years of pain have made the club what it is today.
Those days were exciting - we still had the dream of ARENA 2000 and were talking about a 45000 new stadium with retractable roof and pitch. A plethora of exciting attacking talent. As much as we were brilliant though that season without an away win still scars me.
Would I rewind time if I could to hope it plays out differently? Absolutely not - the clubs the healthiest it's ever been in and the years of pain have made the club what it is today.
Parallels with current model, not quite,we expect to get at least two years of service before they fly,or promotion and keep in-house !
Telfer85
Well-Known Member
Was a great season that! remember finding out about the transfer on teletext. The team talk advert that used to appear with the midlands clubs and next to wolves it said something like record sale for star man agreed and next to cov it said something like record fee for teenager agreed and then articles started to appear on it. Oh the days before the internet!
knowing villa had been after him all summer it really felt things were beginning to change. Remember calling the ticket hotline to buy tickets for his debut and you could see immediately he was gonna be quality.
How quickly all that unravelled the following season!
knowing villa had been after him all summer it really felt things were beginning to change. Remember calling the ticket hotline to buy tickets for his debut and you could see immediately he was gonna be quality.
How quickly all that unravelled the following season!
Sick Boy
Super Moderator
Bellamy was only 19 and coming back from a serious injury. If we’d signed Hartson earlier and got rid of GS, we’d have been ok.
Were close to it now I think?
Telfer85
Well-Known Member
It’s difficult to compare players from different eras and how good ones were then and now. Vik for me is prob the one that’s come closest and will go on the same career trajectory as Keane.
The one thing you’d say about Keane was how good he was a such a young age. Plus he hit the ground running didn’t have to adapt to prem football. When you think of the attacking talent in the prem that season Shearer, Henry, Cole, Yorke, Bergkamp, Owen etc i always felt he was the closest we would get to getting anyone near that level. That season it felt like we had a world class striker backed up by the likes of hadji, mcallister, chippo etc and we’d give any team a game.
It really was a failure of GS how we finished so low that season and not winning a game away all season. Utterly criminal.
The one thing you’d say about Keane was how good he was a such a young age. Plus he hit the ground running didn’t have to adapt to prem football. When you think of the attacking talent in the prem that season Shearer, Henry, Cole, Yorke, Bergkamp, Owen etc i always felt he was the closest we would get to getting anyone near that level. That season it felt like we had a world class striker backed up by the likes of hadji, mcallister, chippo etc and we’d give any team a game.
It really was a failure of GS how we finished so low that season and not winning a game away all season. Utterly criminal.
Sick Boy
Super Moderator
Yeah GS should have gone around Sept/Oct in the relegation season, at the latest. Keeping him on for the Div.1 campaign was an even bigger mistake as he’d completely lost the plot at that point.
Cally Fedora
Well-Known Member
Vik is nowhere near Keane!
Wright, O'Hare in his purple patch here, settled well at SU hasn't he, bugger!
Skyblue Bangkok
Well-Known Member
We even managed to lose our last game of the season away at Watford who had already been relegated.
SkyBlueSam01
Well-Known Member
My favourite ever
A really rare example of a player reaching the elite level without having exceptional pace, strength or even ball striking ability
Just sheer creative genius and if he'd had any of the three attributes above he would have been truly world class
A really rare example of a player reaching the elite level without having exceptional pace, strength or even ball striking ability
Just sheer creative genius and if he'd had any of the three attributes above he would have been truly world class
LastGarrison
Well-Known Member
Was a good day out though!!!
Also a sublime bit of skill from Hadji where he nearly scored from the corner flag with a volley (never been able to find this anywhere online so may have actually over exaggerated it in my head
).Skyblue Bangkok
Well-Known Member
Apart from the result yes it was a good day & a lot of beer consumed.Was a good day out though!!!
Also a sublime bit of skill from Hadji where he nearly scored from the corner flag with a volley (never been able to find this anywhere online so may have actually over exaggerated it in my head
shepardo01
Well-Known Member
That was the season where we had top 4 home form but failed to win a single away game....
Even with the talent we had.
Skyblue Bangkok
Well-Known Member
Amazing we won 12 home league games and none away.
ProfessorbyGrace
Well-Known Member
Think it was 14, but anyway, our home form was indeed outstanding that season.
Our best squad for years, and Strachan contrived to finish lower than mid table.
shepardo01
Well-Known Member
Not that season I don't think.
Think just the three away wins would have put us top six!
97/98, we won seven in a row - league and a couple of FA Cup I think. Think the end of that season we only lost one on something like the last sixteen games!... Too many draws saw us end up mid table. We were good that season!...And would have had a great chance of winning the FA Cup too....
Think just the three away wins would have put us top six!
97/98, we won seven in a row - league and a couple of FA Cup I think. Think the end of that season we only lost one on something like the last sixteen games!... Too many draws saw us end up mid table. We were good that season!...And would have had a great chance of winning the FA Cup too....
Skyblue Bangkok
Well-Known Member
Barnsley one I remember as Dublin scored a last min pen.
Mild-Mannered Janitor
Kindest Bloke on CCFC / Maker of CCFC Dreams
Most talented player to ever play for us, brilliant awareness, positioning, touch and then finish.
it was only brief but was amazing to watch
it was only brief but was amazing to watch
ProfessorbyGrace
Well-Known Member
My favourite Keane goal was the one against Arsenal at HR, the 3-2 win. The way he flicked/directed it past Seaman from such an angle (with his right foot) was just incredible.