Which Player Did We Make The Biggest Mistake Of Letting Go?

[helenlovescity78]

As there are no games to discuss I just wondered what your thoughts were on players we have let go that perhaps we shouldn't have?

I always have to have a girly giggle at the gas with players such as Zamora being given away for peanuts only to turn up in the Premiership, along with selling Cureton for £250k when he continues to score goals at any level .

But what was our biggest mistake ? I think we've always been quite good with our sales (Lita for £1m too cheap perhaps? ), all of the players we've given away havn't gone on too much, Odejayi at Barnsley perhaps the exception. I'm sure I've missed plenty out so in your opinion, which player did we make a mistake of getting rid of or not get nearly enough for?

Also, a little laugh at Rovers! Name some of the players that they looked silly for giving away .......

[Gasheadm]

As there are no games to discuss I just wondered what your thoughts were on players we have let go that perhaps we shouldn't have?

I always have to have a girly giggle at the gas with players such as Zamora being given away for peanuts only to turn up in the Premiership, along with selling Cureton for £250k when he continues to score goals at any level .

But what was our biggest mistake ? I think we've always been quite good with our sales (Lita for £1m too cheap perhaps? ), all of the players we've given away havn't gone on too much, Odejayi at Barnsley perhaps the exception. I'm sure I've missed plenty out so in your opinion, which player did we make a mistake of getting rid of or not get nearly enough for?

Also, a little laugh at Rovers! Name some of the players that they looked silly for giving away .......

Did you let Jason Roberts go or did he walk out?.......serious question before you slate me, I cant remember what happenned.

[samo]

Did you let Jason Roberts go or did he walk out?.......serious question before you slate me, I cant remember what happenned.

He played twice, scored once, then decided to go on international duty without telling John Ward, so got sent back to Wolves. Shame, but I don't think he wanted to be here anyway.

Andrew Cole and case of the no sell-on clause always sticks in the craw. the guy could have netted us a tidy sum on his Man U move, shame.

don't think Lita is a bad sell. we'll get our fair share if he shows more promise and he was always going to move i think.

Matt Hill to Preston for nothing like his value was rubbish. Still hope to see him back in a City shirt one day and nice to see he thinks the same.

[Maltshoveller]

Bob Taylor for only £300k

Agostino on a bosman

[Guest Garfunkle]

liam rosenior

still would like to know if the person responsible for the c**k up regarding posting a letter off on time ha sbeen sacked

[Tunley Legend]

Liam Rosenior - I seem to recall that the Admin Department totally mucked up the renewing of his registration and we had to let him go for peanuts (although I think we got a sell-on percentage recently).

Best deal ever done - Dave Cotterill for £2 million. I'm sure Wigan bought him on the strength of that once-in-a-lifetime game he had up at Northampton.

[Gasheadm]

Liam Rosenior - I seem to recall that the Admin Department totally mucked up the renewing of his registration and we had to let him go for peanuts (although I think we got a sell-on percentage recently).

Best deal ever done - Dave Cotterill for £2 million. I'm sure Wigan bought him on the strength of that once-in-a-lifetime game he had up at Northampton.

Is Dave Cotterill in wigan's first team?, or indeed is he still at wigan?

[Redhyde]

It'd be nice to have Rosenior and Matt Hill as full backs in this league... But there's no one i can think of where i've been distraught that they've gone.

Heffernan being allowed to go was a major reason why Tinnion lost his job, so he'd regret that, i don't.

We definitely should have kept Mark Robins and Steve Robinson when we had them on loan.

[Tunley Legend]

Is Dave Cotterill in wigan's first team?, or indeed is he still at wigan?

I think he has been on the bench once this season. The lad clearly had talent but to me lacked a basic footballing brain which often manifested itself in mazy dribbles IN OUR OWN PENALTY AREA that gifted the ball to the opposition!!

[Big Red Rich]

Paul Heffernan was a dissapointment, I agree. I think Tins thought we would keep hold of Leroy though but Cotts for £2m was astonishing. Finally we sold someone at the right time. £400k for Fortune and £800k for Brown are two deals I wish had gone through.

Where is Aaron "I've made it" Brown these days? I bet he regretted leaving........

[Tunley Legend]

Paul Heffernan was a dissapointment, I agree. I think Tins thought we would keep hold of Leroy though but Cotts for £2m was astonishing. Finally we sold someone at the right time. £400k for Fortune and £800k for Brown are two deals I wish had gone through.

Where is Aaron "I've made it" Brown these days? I bet he regretted leaving........

To be fair, once he got his career back on track at Tamworth he did quite well for himself!!

[Nibor]

Bob Taylor was the player we should never have let go. £300k for a player who went on to play at a level above us for most of the next decade was completely crap, Lumsden was a total clown.

If we'd held onto God for another year or two and played him next to Andy Cole for a season we might just have reached the top flight.

Instead the following year we paid out the same money for Ian... ######... Baird.

[RedTop]

Heffernan is the one player I always thought it was a mistake to let go. Of course, Tins had no idea that Lita would go so soon afterwards and leave him short up front, but given Heff's excellent attitude and proven goal-scoring, it seemed strange at the time to sell up when it didn't seem necessary.

I don't regret Liam going, just the way it was handled and that the club got less than he was worth. GJ has shown the value of having people at the club with the right attitude, and LR would not have fit in.

I have to say that most of our transfer business in recent years has been pretty good. I think SteveL and KeithD have learned a lot in this department over the past few years, and we've generally sold players for good prices at the right times. Likewise, under GJ the buys (though not all the loans!) have been good value and good quality.

For the first time in years it doesn't feel like we're a soft touch in the transfer market. However, now we have to bring in players that can take us to the next level, and in that area both GJ and the board are untested. Peering through my happy-clappy rose-tinted glasses, though, I'm confident they can do it.

[cummins17]

in the playoff season when we were knocked out to brighton in the final (don't care metioning about it now seems as we are doing great in the championship and there at the wrong end of league one) i think we should of kept rougier for a season longer then we did !

[Nibor]

I have to say that most of our transfer business in recent years has been pretty good. I think SteveL and KeithD have learned a lot in this department over the past few years, and we've generally sold players for good prices at the right times. Likewise, under GJ the buys (though not all the loans!) have been good value and good quality.

For the first time in years it doesn't feel like we're a soft touch in the transfer market. However, now we have to bring in players that can take us to the next level, and in that area both GJ and the board are untested. Peering through my happy-clappy rose-tinted glasses, though, I'm confident they can do it.

Under SL's time on the board there have been some very dodgy signings indeed:

- allowing Pulis to spend £1.5m on retirement home headed crocks like Jones, Holland, Beadle, Mercer and Burns.

- allowing Wilson to spend £1.2m on Peacock, Miller and Wilkshire

- allowing Tinnion to sign Marcus Stewart on high wages but let the cheaper and more valuable Heffernan go for little knowing full well that he would accept a bid for Lita that was more likely to come than not

Some good deals too in fairness:

- Cotterill for £2m

- Akinbiyi sold on for what ended up being over £4m

- Noble, Fontaine, McCombe, Orr, Keogh, Johnson, McAllister and Basso all for free or nominal fees

- Brooker for £150k

- McIndoe, Sproule and Wilson are looking like they could end up being very good value to me too.

It's fair to say that things have improved markedly in the last two years but is that down to the chairman or the manager? I think the latter myself.

I agree that we're not a soft touch now, though I do wonder about what we paid for Trundle, but I think that's just down to our status. Our better players can be priced out of range of any club who doesn't have Premiership money but when they're proven in this division and interest those clubs I don't think we'll be much different to before. The numbers will be bigger but bigger clubs with more money will feed on us just like we've fed off Cheltenham, Lincoln, Port Vale etc.

[samo]

Under SL's time on the board there have been some very dodgy signings indeed:

- allowing Pulis to spend £1.5m on retirement home headed crocks like Jones, Holland, Beadle, Mercer and Burns.

- allowing Wilson to spend £1.2m on Peacock, Miller and Wilkshire

- allowing Tinnion to sign Marcus Stewart on high wages but let the cheaper and more valuable Heffernan go for little knowing full well that he would accept a bid for Lita that was more likely to come than not

Some good deals too in fairness:

- Cotterill for £2m

- Akinbiyi sold on for what ended up being over £4m

- Noble, Fontaine, McCombe, Orr, Keogh, Johnson, McAllister and Basso all for free or nominal fees

- Brooker for £150k

- McIndoe, Sproule and Wilson are looking like they could end up being very good value to me too.

It's fair to say that things have improved markedly in the last two years but is that down to the chairman or the manager? I think the latter myself.

I agree that we're not a soft touch now, though I do wonder about what we paid for Trundle, but I think that's just down to our status. Our better players can be priced out of range of any club who doesn't have Premiership money but when they're proven in this division and interest those clubs I don't think we'll be much different to before. The numbers will be bigger but bigger clubs with more money will feed on us just like we've fed off Cheltenham, Lincoln, Port Vale etc.

I personally think the two players in bols were decent for us, just unlucky with injury. Maybe we overpaid for them, but they were decent performers.

Trundle will need to show us more and £1mill seems a lot for a 30+ player, but he is someone I see being with us for several years (mid 30s without serious injury) and his cost might end up looking pretty reasonable.

[RedTop]

Under SL's time on the board there have been some very dodgy signings indeed:

- allowing Pulis to spend £1.5m on retirement home headed crocks like Jones, Holland, Beadle, Mercer and Burns.

- allowing Wilson to spend £1.2m on Peacock, Miller and Wilkshire

- allowing Tinnion to sign Marcus Stewart on high wages but let the cheaper and more valuable Heffernan go for little knowing full well that he would accept a bid for Lita that was more likely to come than not

Some good deals too in fairness:

- Cotterill for £2m

- Akinbiyi sold on for what ended up being over £4m

- Noble, Fontaine, McCombe, Orr, Keogh, Johnson, McAllister and Basso all for free or nominal fees

- Brooker for £150k

- McIndoe, Sproule and Wilson are looking like they could end up being very good value to me too.

It's fair to say that things have improved markedly in the last two years but is that down to the chairman or the manager? I think the latter myself.

I agree that we're not a soft touch now, though I do wonder about what we paid for Trundle, but I think that's just down to our status. Our better players can be priced out of range of any club who doesn't have Premiership money but when they're proven in this division and interest those clubs I don't think we'll be much different to before. The numbers will be bigger but bigger clubs with more money will feed on us just like we've fed off Cheltenham, Lincoln, Port Vale etc.

There has indeed been some appalling business done with SteveL on the board, culminating in the c**k-up over Rosenior but also including what with hindsight was vast over-paying for many players. But if you look at what has happened over time - crucially in the selling rather than the buying (because in my view that is where managers influence chairmen less) - I think you can see that we are doing increasingly better business in the market. I agree that much of the good buys come from good picks, but holding out for the right price and getting the sort of fees negotiated for Cotterill and Lita among others I think shows that the board has got progressively more savvy and learned from their mistakes. And while the board deserve criticism for past mistakes, I think they also deserve credit for when things go right.

Of course, there will always be the odd one that slips through the net (Chelsea must regret letting Lita walk away rather than taking him on and loaning him out to develop him, for example). But in general I think we've lost the aura of being soft touches. Being in this division will also help us hold on to players we want to hold on to, strengthening SteveL's hand. When buying, it helps having a manager who can spot a bargain. But when selling, it's surely far more down to the board. What manager is actually going to say, 'Yeah, sell Cotterill. We don't need him.' It's up to the board to judge how valuable a player is to us compared to the value of selling him. And in general in the past few years, there has rarely been a rush of fans ready to condemn the sales because they've all made pretty good sense (Lita, Cotts, Golbourne, for example - even Stewart once GJ had frozen him out).

[Big Red Rich]

And in general in the past few years, there has rarely been a rush of fans ready to condemn the sales because they've all made pretty good sense (Lita, Cotts, Golbourne, for example - even Stewart once GJ had frozen him out).

I disagree a little with this but nothing else with what you've said which as always makes great reading. I can remember the Cotts transfer with this forum being jammed with people complaining about how short sighted we were with selling him and how the £2m was gonna buy SL a new boat or ferrari or something....

I don't think I have ever disagreed with any genuine transfer upto now. Of course the Liam Rosenior deal was gutting but thats not really what I mean. A transfer is usually made up of a number of factors, 1) is the fee/deal good enough, 2) does the player want to leave, 3) can he be replaced with a cheaper signing or youth player. If the fee is too good to turn down the deal is done. If the player wants to leave then his performances/value will drop and if we can replace the player easily enough then the transfer is good business. I think most of the deals we have done over the past few years have ticked two out of the three criteria and thats good enough for me.

[Andy Horsman]

Mark McGhee! had him on our books as a youngster but he was allowed to leave for nowt.

[myol'man]

going back a bit;

Mick Harford, 1982, during the great slide from top div to bottom div,

he could have kept us up

http://www.citystats.org.uk/playerdetail.a...19&filter=H

[citynut54]

going back a bit;

Mick Harford, 1982, during the great slide from top div to bottom div,

he could have kept us up

http://www.citystats.org.uk/playerdetail.a...19&filter=H

Harford was actually repossessed by Newcastle cos we couldn't keep up the payments ! but yes a big disappointment that we couldn't keep him just the same !!

[brady bunch]

Cotts going was the best business deal we have ever done in my book AND I thought this at the time, for me dispite the odd flash of skill he was a liability and has been worse then average at Wigan... does not feature now for them unless they have lots and lots of players out.

No one here has mentioned Osman getting rid of Jacki???? not one for the youngsters, but after this and OSmans defencive style set in we lost half the gate for a long time.

The other one was losing Goater to Man C, if we had kept him we would not have gone down last time.

[Bristol Boy]

Andy Cole without a sell on clause.Another deal done by astute businessmen who couldn't be questioned..........according to some

[old_man_terry]

Cotts going was the best business deal we have ever done in my book AND I thought this at the time, for me dispite the odd flash of skill he was a liability and has been worse then average at Wigan... does not feature now for them unless they have lots and lots of players out.

No one here has mentioned Osman getting rid of Jacki???? not one for the youngsters, but after this and OSmans defencive style set in we lost half the gate for a long time.

The other one was losing Goater to Man C, if we had kept him we would not have gone down last time.

Jacki had to go unfortunately........on the field GENUIS - off the field - nightmare, no shock he ended up in Rehab.

Losing the goat was unfortunately out of our hands, couldn't blame for wanting to join Man City, and in hindsight I bet he has no regrets.

plenty of players we shouldn't have let go, but I'll go with an unmentioned one, personally the one of the biggest mistakes for me in recent years was selling Soren Anderson when we had gone down, that bloke was class and could have got the goals to get us straight back up, unfortunatly Pulis didn't even give him a chance at the club.

others mentioned that bug me though are losing Matt Hill for peanuts, but by not going up it was inevitable he would leave and obviously the Cole transfer to Newcastle, when he moved to Man U it only rubbed it in even more as at the time we were seriously skint just 10% of the transfer would have made a serious impact on trying to keep us up, Damn David Russe - now that was a waste of space chairman!

[cityfan]

Tony Rougier

Definitely should have kept him another year. We let him go because he was considered expensive and then we went on to spend alot of money?!

Christian Roberts

Just needed better management and understanding through his problems. Had all the attributes and needed to be played up front and central even though he now plays on the wing for Swindon

[dragonreds]

what about not sighning robert fleck. would have cost loads in wages but we might not have gone down

[Alex_BCFC]

I've always really rated Matt Hill so it was disapointing to see him go.

[robins72]

Matt Hill and Bob Taylor. Both were good servants to the club and miss them.

[garlicbread]

Ralph Milne

[jimmy ateyo]

biggest mistake God Taylor

Best sale for money was cotterill