The last "stand out" striker we had?

[Spike]

Just a thought whilst reading the forums this morning, who was the last stand out striker that we had? 

When I say stand out I mean someone who other teams in the play off positions would want in their starting line up and wasn't a loan from another club? 

It's just a little bit of a scary thought, Tammy was a loan and before him I think I haven't seen a stand out striker for City in a very long time which is probably why we can't challenge in this league as almost every team that does has a least one very desirable and intimidating striker to play against. 

I know we have plenty of threads that seem negative but I'm just curious to see what names are mentioned, how long ago they played for us and how much they cost us.

[bearded_red]

Reid if you’re counting him as a striker, if not, then Kodjia.

[Phileas Fogg]

It's probably Diedhiou. He was a flawed player, but a pretty consistent goalscorer who lots of teams would've wanted in their squad. Also Reid, Abraham, Kodjia.. I don't think forwards have been a huge issue last few seasons really.

[TomThumb84]

A few from me that stand out:

Bob Taylor

Shaun Goater

Tony Thorpe

Andrew Cole

Kodjia potentially, and an honourable mention for Wilbraham who was the focal point in our finest side in the last decade.

To answer the question, its probably Kodjia who was the last one that opposition teams genuinely feared.

Edited November 3, 2021 by TomThumb84

[Red Army 75]

Akinbiyi was a beast

[GrahamC]

8 minutes ago, bearded_red said:

Reid if you’re counting him as a striker, if not, then Kodjia.

Yes, this.

[Spike]

4 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

It's probably Diedhiou. He was a flawed player, but a pretty consistent goalscorer who lots of teams would've wanted in their squad. Also Reid, Abraham, Kodjia.. I don't think forwards have been a huge issue last few seasons really.

So looking at these names Reid was a discovery of a player who couldn't play in the role where he was supposed to and took a very long time to actually bear fruit at the club, Abraham never was our player, Kodjia cost us £2.7m at a time where fees were far lower and was still considered a bargain and Diedhiou cost us £5m.

Looking at that I think it's fair to say we're very much going to struggle to get a stand out striker in the current climate

4 minutes ago, TomThumb84 said:

A few from me that stand out:

Bob Taylor

Shaun Goater

Tony Thorpe

Andrew Cole

Kodjia potentially, and an honourable mention for Wilbraham who was the focal point in our finest side in the last decade.

To answer the question, its probably Kodjia who was the last one that opposition teams genuinely feared.

This is essentially what I was thinking, looking at those names they were players who played when I was young and I'm no spring chicken. I think this is a truly concerning thought, I mean why would we be any better than we are when we have little to no creativity in the midfield and its hard to look back and actually identify a striker that looked threatening consistently. 

[Lrrr]

We owned 4 strikers in 5 seasons within the last 8 seasons who scored 19+ goals and you can't think of any stand outs? 

[archie andrews]

10 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

It's probably Diedhiou. He was a flawed player, but a pretty consistent goalscorer who lots of teams would've wanted in their squad. Also Reid, Abraham, Kodjia.. I don't think forwards have been a huge issue last few seasons really.

If you think forwards aint been an issue the last couple of years then god help us... 

[Phileas Fogg]

3 minutes ago, archie andrews said:

If you think forwards aint been an issue the last couple of years then god help us... 

Depends on the time scale you're looking at. Spike referenced Abraham - in the same sort of time period Reid, Diedhiou and Kodjia have performed really well at striker. 

If you're talking last couple of seasons then yes at present it's obviously an issue. Completely depends which question you're answering. 

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

Diedhiou was decent, he never scored lots but was fairly consistent 12-15 goals a season, for me though stand out is 20+ so you have to go for Bobby or Tammy which is a while ago now.

[pongo88]

Things have changed drastically regarding signing forwards since I started watching City. In those days it seemed to be easy to pick up a good forward for next to nothing- eg John Galley (£25k), Tom Richie (signed from Bridgend Thistle in Scotland), Paul Cheesley (£30k). Even allowing for inflation, these were cheap signings. There are still good players out their who wouldn’t cost a fortune, it’s just finding them. In other words it’s the scouting system, or lack of it, that’s the problem. Of our current forwards, Chris Martin was probably signed because he was free and seemed to be a safe bet; Nahki Wells was a panic, overpriced, buy and Weimann seems to be more of a midfield player than a forward.  

[Red-Robbo]

10 minutes ago, Lucan said:

City have been pretty blessed in this area over the years

Ironically one of the weakest front lines I can think of was in the Championship playoff season - Adebola was solid and caused problems but never a top striker, same with Byfield and Trundle was... well Trundle

That line up would not be anywhere near anyone's "team of the last 15 years" I would imagine, but look at the success it had

Food for thought....

 

 

This echoes what I posted on another thread.  That side had no galacticos in there, but worked together well enough to give us our highest finish for more than a quarter of a century.

Sometimes success can be about finding the right players that can work together, cover all the roles a team needs and remain fit and healthy.

[dunsteral]

Aaron Wilbraham 30 goals in 111 appearances,

Sam Baldock 34 goals in 83 appearances.

Obviously at a lower level but they weren't too shabby.

[054123]

Andy Cole.

What blinkered leaders we must have had who couldn’t see how we literally had somebody who could single handed lead us to promotion.

Just invest in the team around him and reap the rewards of Div 1 later.

Prior to that super Bob. Again just lacking a board who truly wanted the club in division 1.

[Supersonic Robin]

One could argue that technically Wells was a player who "other teams in the play off positions would want in their starting line up" at the time we signed him.
(That's not me saying that I necessarily think he was a good signing, or that I think he's likely to replicate that form for us). 

Forwards are always going to look poor in a side that are poor going forward and create very few chances. Of course our forwards are partly responsible for this themselves, but the point still remains. Ivan Toney, for example, wouldn't have got anywhere near 30 goals playing for us last season.

I recall reading about Brentford replacing their strikers when sold. IIRC they put as much thought into 'continuing to create 25 good goal scoring opportunities for strikers' as they put into 'finding a striker who could score 25 goals'.

[Red-Robbo]

10 minutes ago, Lorenzos Only Goal said:

Diedhiou was decent, he never scored lots but was fairly consistent 12-15 goals a season, for me though stand out is 20+ so you have to go for Bobby or Tammy which is a while ago now.

 

And before that is Baldock the last 20+ goals a season man?

Any stattos confirm that?

[Phileas Fogg]

I think we really miss Diedhiou. He was great in both boxes and far more naturally athletic than Martin. 

There's no way anyone can genuinely say Diedhiou wouldn't do a better job than Martin in that strange almost wide-targetman role.

A shame how it worked out with him, especially from a financial point of view. Negligent once again really. 

Edited November 3, 2021 by Phileas Fogg

[Gol]

Been watching since the mid 90s so in my time watching I would say our stand out strikers have been Bobby, Tammy, Kodjia, (wilbraham, Baldock & JET in league 1) Maynard, Trundle, Thorpe, Akinbuyi, Goater, agostino

[Carey 6]

2 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

I think we really miss Diedhiou. He was great in both boxes and far more naturally athletic than Martin. 

There's no way anyone can genuinely say Diedhiou wouldn't do a better job than Martin in that strange almost wide-targetman role.

A shame how it worked out with him, especially from a financial point of view. Negligent once again really. 

Just the final 6 months he let us & himself down imo, and I'm one of his biggest fans. Obviously didn't want to get injured and stop himself from getting the big money contract he's probably on. 

Very underrated.

[Simon79]

Another loan player in the mix would be possibly Afobe before he got injured. He looked every part a very good forward. Don’t know if he would be a standout, but no less than some of the others mentioned I suppose. Standout would be Cole for me.COYR 

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

2 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

And before that is Baldock the last 20+ goals a season man?

Any stattos confirm that?

He did bang in 20+ in L1 before being pinched by Brighton.

[Red-Robbo]

Just now, Carey 6 said:

Just the final 6 months he let us & himself down imo, and I'm one of his biggest fans. Obviously didn't want to get injured and stop himself from getting the big money contract he's probably on. 

Very underrated.

 

He was a funny player.

Many games he'd just amble around and couldn't, as the saying goes, seem to be able to trap a bag of cement.

Then he'd do something wonderful and turn the game for us.

His obvious disinterest towards the end of last season was a capital offence as far as a manager like Pearson was concerned though. I think even if the Turkish move had collapsed and Fam had wanted to stay, Nige would've moved him on.  In those games, he wasn't on the bus, wasn't waiting at the stop, in fact he hadn't even mentally left his house! Unacceptable for a professional. 

[Spike]

8 minutes ago, Lrrr said:

We owned 4 strikers in 5 seasons within the last 8 seasons who scored 19+ goals and you can't think of any stand outs? 

Reid - 19 goals in his only season as a striker but sold. Also had talents like Brownhill, Eliasson and Bryan in the team. I also don't think teams saw him as a threat as he was new to the position and he hasn't been as effective since as he's been found out. He was very much a part of a much stronger attacking team, not really a stand out but more of a player in a well balanced team. 

Tammy Abraham - never our player, never was going to be. Amazing talent but a loan that didn't cost us and an almost impossible to replicate striker. 

Kodjia - As mentioned before, a bargain at £2.7m and another type of striker we just can't afford in our current situation. 

Wilbraham - great player, great bloke but certainly not a striker that teams feared or that anyone would say was stand out. Scored his big number in League one in a stand out team in a lower league, wouldn't even be considered a threat in the Championship. 

 

My point of this was that even looking at these players who may have scored a fair amount of goals they still weren't players that scared other teams with the exception of Abraham and they are still players of a quality that we couldn't afford now. We have so many people cussing out Wells, Martin and Weimann but realistically who could we have signed this summer that we could afford and would be seen as a genuine threat in the Championship? 

Last season our top goalscorer was Wells, he managed 10 goals. The season prior to that it was Fammy with 12, he was also the top goalscorer the season before that with 13 and it was only one more season prior to this that Bobby scored his 19.

We've not had a prolific goalscorer in 3 seasons and have less talent up front now than we've had in arguably the last 10 years but we also have no signs of getting a prolific scorer. We can't buy one, we don't have the money and we don't seem to have any youngsters of that quality that will become a prolific goalscorer anytime in the next few years. Add to that the fact our midfielders are toothless when coming forward and we've not had a genuine wide threat for a long time and our position makes a lot more sense. 

So my point was that we've not had a stand out striker for a long time, maybe we've had goalscorers but they've scored those goals largely down to a better quality of player around them creating the chances for them. Tammy is the only real talent we've had that Championship teams would have fought for in a very long time and he was a loan, he never was our player.

[Negan]

It would be Kodjia. Bobby I wouldn’t really class as a “Striker” and to be fair we got lucky he had such a great season. I’ve been saying it since we sold Kofjia to Villa that we’ve never replaced him. We’ve tried and failed, Wells on paper should have been that replacement but what a waste of 5 million that’s been. We definitely need to be bringing someone in with a bit of strength and pace in January. 

[LoyalRed]

45 minutes ago, Spike said:

Just a thought whilst reading the forums this morning, who was the last stand out striker that we had? 

When I say stand out I mean someone who other teams in the play off positions would want in their starting line up and wasn't a loan from another club? 

It's just a little bit of a scary thought, Tammy was a loan and before him I think I haven't seen a stand out striker for City in a very long time which is probably why we can't challenge in this league as almost every team that does has a least one very desirable and intimidating striker to play against. 

I know we have plenty of threads that seem negative but I'm just curious to see what names are mentioned, how long ago they played for us and how much they cost us.

Nicky Maynard was doing pretty well for us until West Ham bought him and got promoted.

[Phileas Fogg]

2 minutes ago, Spike said:

Reid - 19 goals in his only season as a striker but sold. Also had talents like Brownhill, Eliasson and Bryan in the team. I also don't think teams saw him as a threat as he was new to the position and he hasn't been as effective since as he's been found out. He was very much a part of a much stronger attacking team, not really a stand out but more of a player in a well balanced team. 

Tammy Abraham - never our player, never was going to be. Amazing talent but a loan that didn't cost us and an almost impossible to replicate striker. 

Kodjia - As mentioned before, a bargain at £2.7m and another type of striker we just can't afford in our current situation. 

Wilbraham - great player, great bloke but certainly not a striker that teams feared or that anyone would say was stand out. Scored his big number in League one in a stand out team in a lower league, wouldn't even be considered a threat in the Championship. 

 

My point of this was that even looking at these players who may have scored a fair amount of goals they still weren't players that scared other teams with the exception of Abraham and they are still players of a quality that we couldn't afford now. We have so many people cussing out Wells, Martin and Weimann but realistically who could we have signed this summer that we could afford and would be seen as a genuine threat in the Championship? 

Last season our top goalscorer was Wells, he managed 10 goals. The season prior to that it was Fammy with 12, he was also the top goalscorer the season before that with 13 and it was only one more season prior to this that Bobby scored his 19.

We've not had a prolific goalscorer in 3 seasons and have less talent up front now than we've had in arguably the last 10 years but we also have no signs of getting a prolific scorer. We can't buy one, we don't have the money and we don't seem to have any youngsters of that quality that will become a prolific goalscorer anytime in the next few years. Add to that the fact our midfielders are toothless when coming forward and we've not had a genuine wide threat for a long time and our position makes a lot more sense. 

So my point was that we've not had a stand out striker for a long time, maybe we've had goalscorers but they've scored those goals largely down to a better quality of player around them creating the chances for them. Tammy is the only real talent we've had that Championship teams would have fought for in a very long time and he was a loan, he never was our player.

You seem to be moving the goalposts after people have pointed out that we have had stand out forwards and disproved your initial point. I think you've expected people to say that apart from Abraham we haven't had one which isn't really the case. 

I'd argue that a Kodjia type signing is exactly what we need to be looking for. He was signed during a time when football finances were about to boom - post-covid, a player like him may be available for less than in 2015. 

 

[JoeAman08]

15 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

I think we really miss Diedhiou. He was great in both boxes and far more naturally athletic than Martin. 

There's no way anyone can genuinely say Diedhiou wouldn't do a better job than Martin in that strange almost wide-targetman role.

A shame how it worked out with him, especially from a financial point of view. Negligent once again really. 

While I agree, if Fam was really wanting 25-30k a week or more then still think it was the right move letting him go. Should have sold him once we knew his demands to help us recruit a proper replacement. 
 

So yes, an upgrade on Martin but not enough for what he wanted to stay. 

[Spike]

1 minute ago, Phileas Fogg said:

You seem to be moving the goalposts after people have pointed out that we have had stand out forwards and disproved your initial point. I think you've expected people to say that apart from Abraham we haven't had one which isn't really the case. 

I'd argue that a Kodjia type signing is exactly what we need to be looking for. He was signed during a time when football finances were about to boom - post-covid, a player like him may be available for less than in 2015. 

 

I think I just didn't explain myself very clearly, I was talking about a striker that stood out based on their own ability. Reid is a fair shout in general, I did say in my opening post that Tammy wasn't ours so I thought the implication that I was talking about players who were ours was clear enough but I do admit I wasn't clear enough. 

I'm still interested to see who our stand out strikers in terms of their own ability and resolve are. I think when it comes to play off, own ability strikers we've not had a genuine star striker of our own since I was young. We've had stand out strikers but they've been more down to the league we were in or the quality around them. Since selling our best midfielders I don't think any striker has a chance of being prolific for us unless we can find that true stand out striker based on his own ability. 

[Supersonic Robin]

18 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

I think we really miss Diedhiou. He was great in both boxes and far more naturally athletic than Martin. 

There's no way anyone can genuinely say Diedhiou wouldn't do a better job than Martin in that strange almost wide-targetman role.

A shame how it worked out with him, especially from a financial point of view. Negligent once again really. 

IMO the biggest difference is possibly fitness. Diedhiou could play 90 mins Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday Saturday. Martin can't do that (at least not without very diminished performance levels).

The financial point is a big one for me. I completely get why we didn't offer him a new contract with the wages he was requesting, but the decision not to sell him in January was crazy IMO. Obviously we don't know how much interest there was, but I recall strong rumours about interest from other clubs. Imagine how much difference just £1m (plus 6 months less paying FD's wage) would have made in summer?