The grass was not greener (1 Viewer)

[covboy1987]

I have picked three players (i am sure there are more) that if they had their time again maybe they would have re- thought there career paths as our fans loved them -The grass for them was not greener

Leon best – played 92 games for us scoring 19 goals – His big move to Newcastle never went quite as expected as he struggled for game time and goals – he then joined several clubs appearing about 12 to 15 times in each and scoring a grand total of 10 goals in 88 games and finished off with a 2 month contract at Charlton – he has not had a club since
Michael Mifsud – Hit the spot with us as darling of the terraces – he could have been a superstar for us but after almost leaving us for Bristol city negotiations broke down as Bristol city questioned his commitment so they never signed him – he came back to us but things were never the same
never got his dream move anywhere
Gael Bigirimana – A Ugandan refugee and the stuff dreams are made of - walked up to our training ground with his boots and said he could play football – Got a dream move to Newcastle (same as Leon best_ – but all came crashing down –in 2015 he returned to Coventry and impressed and could have built on some decent performances and had a longish career but was off again - is now out of the game at 26 years old

 

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[Sky Blue Harry H]

Not sue I'd agree re: Leon Best - financially he probably ended up better off. Agree with the other two.
Ben Stevenson - definitely
George Thomas - perhaps, but long term i think he'll do ok
Paul Dyson - never really did much after he left us
Tommy English - can't even remember what happened to him!

 

[fernandopartridge]

Franck Moussa in recent years - he moved to Charlton, seemed to be beset by injuries and has barely played in the 6 years since he left. Now trying to make it in the insurance industry at only 30.

We were the only club he played over 30 games for, undoubtedly the high spot of his career.

 

[skybluetony176]

Dion Dublin. You could argue that he achieved more at Villa in terms of placing in the league but the fact is Villa massively underachieved given their budget and squad so relatively speaking he achieved more with us as arguably we were overachieving. Don’t think he ever had an England call up again after leaving us and he scored more goals for us in less appearances too IIRC.

 

[Skybluefaz]

Dion Dublin. You could argue that he achieved more at Villa in terms of placing in the league but the fact is Villa massively underachieved given their budget and squad so relatively speaking he achieved more with us as arguably we were overachieving. Don’t think he ever had an England call up again after leaving us and he scored more goals for us in less appearances too IIRC.

As much as I'd like to agree with this, I can't.

 

[Alkhen]

Callum Davenport, played 75 times for us and you can't begrudge him a move to Spurs but he only made a few appearances for them and has never got over 15 games for any club since.

Latterly involved in an incident where he was stabbed in both legs.

 

[Razzle Dazzle Dean Gordon]

Julian Joachim's big move to Leeds didn't really work out for him, although he may well have earned a fair bit of money from it i suppose.

Minor point but i think Bigirimana is from Burundi as opposed to Uganda?

 

[hill83]

Dion Dublin. You could argue that he achieved more at Villa in terms of placing in the league but the fact is Villa massively underachieved given their budget and squad so relatively speaking he achieved more with us as arguably we were overachieving. Don’t think he ever had an England call up again after leaving us and he scored more goals for us in less appearances too IIRC.

Nah

Just trying to be clever.

 

[covboy1987]

Not sue I'd agree re: Leon Best - financially he probably ended up better off. Agree with the other two.
Ben Stevenson - definitely
George Thomas - perhaps, but long term i think he'll do ok
Paul Dyson - never really did much after he left us
Tommy English - can't even remember what happened to him!

Julian Joachim's big move to Leeds didn't really work out for him, although he may well have earned a fair bit of money from it i suppose.

Minor point but i think Bigirimana is from Burundi as opposed to Uganda?

Correct Burundi -but moved to uganda as a kid then became a refugee from there

 

[Mcbean]

Bright Enobakare
Marc McNulty
Burge

 

[fernandopartridge]

Nah

Just trying to be clever.

He got to a cup final with Villa in 2000, qualified for Europe more than once. Did score more for us in less games overall which surprised me.

 

[rob9872]

Why isn't this thread 'The grass was not greener XI' - until it is I refuse to participate.

 

[skyblueusername]

Dion Dublin. You could argue that he achieved more at Villa in terms of placing in the league but the fact is Villa massively underachieved given their budget and squad so relatively speaking he achieved more with us as arguably we were overachieving. Don’t think he ever had an England call up again after leaving us and he scored more goals for us in less appearances too IIRC.

Dion Dublin - he went to Aston Villa and he broke his neck.

 

[Razzle Dazzle Dean Gordon]

Correct Burundi -but moved to uganda as a kid then became a refugee from there

Ah, fair enough id not read his backstory really so has missed that.

 

[SkyBlueCRJ]

Gary McSheffrey surely

 

[Sky Blue Harry H]

Jordan Henderson

 

[SlowerThanPlatt]

With players like Best and McSheffrey you have to compare with where we’ve finished since they left. I think the highest we’ve finished is 17th in the Championship

Both of these players have been promoted out of the Championship and played in the Premier League - which if they stayed with us would never have happened

 

[SlowerThanPlatt]

Best’s career is odd - he played 17 games in the Championship for Newcastle and didn’t score a single goal, even with us he never prolific in the Championship but scored 10 in 32 in the Premier League

 

[Magwitch]

Dion Dublin. You could argue that he achieved more at Villa in terms of placing in the league but the fact is Villa massively underachieved given their budget and squad so relatively speaking he achieved more with us as arguably we were overachieving. Don’t think he ever had an England call up again after leaving us and he scored more goals for us in less appearances too IIRC.

Got to the FA cup final though, Villa played shocking but at least he played in a Final, many top players haven’t.

 

[lordy_87]

Cian Harries

 

[Wyken Sky Blue]

George Thomas
Ben Stevenson

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[stevefloyd]

Paul Dyson - never really did much after he left us
Tommy English - can't even remember what happened to him!

He has a good career making hoovers

 

[Speedies_Chips]

Conor Thomas

 

[Johhny Blue]

Sam McCallum

 

[fellatio_Martinez]

Gary McSheffrey surely

Wasn't his Birmingham move very lucrative to him? He might not have set the world alight but he made a fair amount which is what most footballers gauge success by.

 

[wingy]

Wasn't his Birmingham move very lucrative to him? He might not have set the world alight but he made a fair amount which is what most footballers gauge success by.

He became a bit of a free kick specialist I think and was pretty successful but I think they had a young Danish lad who was more senior on that duty so bagged more .

 

[TTG]

Why isn't this thread 'The grass was not greener XI' - until it is I refuse to participate.

- Take no greener grass

 

[HuckerbyDublinWhelan]

Gary McSheffrey surely

I thought he was overrated, but he got the best out of the move. left us, was top scorer as Birmingham got promoted to the prem.

 

[skyblue025]

Gary McSheffrey surely

Didn't Mcginty force him to move telling him the club would go into admin if he didn't they needed the money that badly or something like that?

 

[DannyThomas_1981]

Ian Wallace. City superstar and all time legend.

Never hit the same heights at Forest.

No evidence from memory that Ian wanted to move; I guess we needed the cash. I remember he came back to watch a game at HR a few months after he left, hero's welcome in the Main Stand.

 

[DannyThomas_1981]

Bright Enobakare
Marc McNulty
Burge

I hear what you are saying McBean but not entirely sure on these three.

Bright - he's a real talent, young and has plenty of time left to have a very decent career (10 Bags Bayliss called him the best player he'd ever been on a pitch with)

McNulty - financially I bet he's done well by leaving us and most likely will have a decent top flight career in the Scottish top flight.

Burge - never asked for a move and was clearly told to look elsewhere. In that situation being on the bench for one of the biggest clubs (like it or not) in the same League is not the worst outcome.

 

[DannyThomas_1981]

Didn't Mcginty force him to move telling him the club would go into admin if he didn't they needed the money that badly or something like that?

Just a good job that Adams had planned ahead, scouted properly for replacements and spent the cash available from McSheffrey's sale very wisely :emoji_smirk:

 

[SlowerThanPlatt]

Just a good job that Adams had planned ahead, scouted properly for replacements and spent the cash available from McSheffrey's sale very wisely :emoji_smirk:

In hindsight that was a terrible deal for the club. We had just finished the previous season well in 8th and announced operation Premiership in the summer. McSheffrey was sold got Blues promoted finishing top scorer and we finished 17th with our replacements Kyle and McKenzie

 

[DannyThomas_1981]

In hindsight that was a terrible deal for the club. We had just finished the previous season well in 8th and announced operation Premiership in the summer. McSheffrey was sold got Blues promoted finishing top scorer and we finished 17th with our replacements Kyle and McKenzie

Exactly. And this is something in contrast that I really admire about Robins and his team. Totally professional in planning ahead and consistently improving the team through well-judged recruitment. Like every team they don't get all new recruits 100% right but the success rate is very high.

 

[Wyken Sky Blue]

Kevin Thornton.

Waste of a telent, fucked up by the demon drink

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