WHICH ALL TIME CITY MANAGER BOUGHT BEST?

[Bernard Futter 0]

I was musing the other day about who the most successful City manager there had been regarding incoming transfers.

Whilst, Ron Saunders, Dave Stringer, Mike Walker and more debatably John Bond will have their adherents, I think the accolade should go to Ron Ashman by the merest whisker from Archie Macaulay.

The Ashman Account:-

Ron Davies £35k: undoubtedly the Club''s most complete no 9. No further qualification necessary.

Kevin Keelan £6k: undoubtedly the Club''s most complete no 1. No further qualification necessary.

Hugh Curran £12k: scored regularly and at the highest level and became a fixture for Scotland.

Mal Lucas £25k: on form this guy was a collossus, the best ever City half back in my book.

Gordon Bolland £32k: a great strike partner with Davies but unfortunately only discovered real consistency later in his career

My reason for tipping Ron Ashman over Macaulay is that he brought in two ''best ever'' City players in Davies and Keelan.

Macaulay clearly contributed one with the incomparable Barry Butler and Jimmy Hill wasn''t far behind.

A tough call.

I look forward to the views of other posters!

[arrdee 2]

[quote user="Bernard Futter"]I was musing the other day about who the most successful City manager there had been regarding incoming transfers. Whilst, Ron Saunders, Dave Stringer, Mike Walker and more debatably John Bond will have their adherents, I think the accolade should go to Ron Ashman by the merest whisker from Archie Macaulay. The Ashman Account:- Ron Davies £35k: undoubtedly the Club''s most complete no 9. No further qualification necessary. Kevin Keelan £6k: undoubtedly the Club''s most complete no 1. No further qualification necessary. Hugh Curran £12k: scored regularly and at the highest level and became a fixture for Scotland. Mal Lucas £25k: on form this guy was a collossus, the best ever City half back in my book. Gordon Bolland £32k: a great strike partner with Davies but unfortunately only discovered real consistency later in his career My reason for tipping Ron Ashman over Macaulay is that he brought in two ''best ever'' City players in Davies and Keelan. Macaulay clearly contributed one with the incomparable Barry Butler and Jimmy Hill wasn''t far behind. A tough call. I look forward to the views of other posters![/quote]

"Bern" You lovely old boy , its too close to call Ashman or Macauley, Jimmy Hill was the best player i ever saw play for City , i can still hear the crowd roar when Jimmy was on the ball he would take a defense apart with one move and he would keep on doing it not just once but time and time again it must have been lovely for a forward to play along side Jimmy .Ron Davis was the best centre forward . K.K. was the best keeper ever .You all know how i felt about Barry Butler, we will never see the likes of him ever again. Let me just say all 4 players were wonderful "Bern" good post you sweet old thing [Y] .arrdee.

[Tetteys Jig 830]

well, tbh, not including the bad signings, it looks like worthy made a few good''uns in ashton, huckerby, drury, mckenzie and earnshaw

[Bernard Futter 0]

It really does devalue the currency to bring this man''s name into the equation.

Given the (for Norwich) large transfer budget he had to work with and the sheer number of signings made, his quality acquisitions to turkeys ratio was absolutely abysmal.

In the company of the names I listed, only Ashton and Huckerby from your selection could stand the remotest comparison.

On the law of averages, even buffoons will luck the right result sometimes.

[nutty nigel 7,639]

Well it looks like Bernard looked forward to the views of other posters apart from yours Jimmy Smith [;)] As it goes I think there''s no doubt that Huckerby has to be among the top six signings in the last 50 years. Getting him and Crouch here on loan was a tremendous feat as was Huckerby''s permanent signing that Worthington worked so hard to make happen. Bernard is right that overall Worthington couldn''t be the all time City manager that bought best though because of the signings he made later.

Although Ashman was before my time Bernard I think you are probably right about his ratio of quality acquisitions to turkeys. Although he did have a lot of money to spend for those days he spent it wisely.

Another of the Ashman signings you didn''t mention was Terry Anderson for £15,000 from Arsenal that was a club record fee for a winger. When I first went to Carrow Road Anderson was not universally popular and was often in the reserves but Ron Saunders picked his careeer up a few years later playing him in midfield and he did an amazing job covering at centreback when Duncan Forbes was injured during our championship season of 71/72.

 

 

[ellis206 0]

Yes Bernard because Earnshaw did terrible whilst he was here, and Drury is a terrible player.Im being sarcastic by the way. Worthy made some cracking signings!

[ZLF 274]

Its such a tough one to call as the whole footballing context is so different -   how has inflation, increased wages, less player/club loyalty affected the ''value'' of these signings?  Are the legends of yore so because they played so many games at a time when that could happen or because they were truly legends - it so difficult to judge.  Legends are usually built over time,  but I agree that the recent likes of Iwan, Malky and Flem cant compare to the names you mention so agree that they appear super signings.

Not knowing directly most of the players you mention Bern as they predate my birth,  the players that stand out for me in terms of ability are Sutton, Eadie, Barham, Green, Ashton, Hux, Peters, MacDougall, Keelan, Woods, Bruce, Watson, Bowen, Culverhouse, Polston, Fleck, Gunn, Channon, Deehan, Drinkell, Crook, Bentley, Helveg, Francis & Holt.  

Some were clearly home bred but I cant even start to relate the purchase of Keelan to Crook to Hux because of the features I mention above.  The signings from the mid 80s appear of exceptional value,  even compared to Keelan - of the players I have seen and been inspired by so the Brown years have to be up there for me.   

 

 

 

[BlyBlyBabes 0]

In terms of building teams that fundamentally transformed the fortunes of our club, I think one would be hard-pressed to argue against the claims of Archie Macaulay and Ron Saunders. They bought wisely with limited resources and built teams that did the business.

Of course John Bond, Ken Brown, Dave Stringer and Mike Walker were also inspired operators in the transfer market.

One would also have to give credit to Worthington for his inspired triple loan in of Huckerby, Crouch and Harper, whilst doggedly tracking Ashton - it''s a real crying shame that the NCFC board didn''t trust his judgement on the latter until too late. I think that that was the beginning of the end of his bubble which, in fairness, could have turned out oh so differently. The NCFC board really b*ggered up here through lack of savvy and backbone, and  - in truth - have done very little right after this limp fiasco.

OTBC

 

 

[Bernard Futter 0]

OK Ardee I''ll concede the point - a dead heat Ashman and Macaulay it is!

I felt a bit uneasy saying Jimmy Hill ''wasn''t far behind'' as he really deserves to be in the pantheon of ''best ever'' City players too.

And remember how Macaulay demonstated another side of his greatness by converting him from an average right winger to a consummate ball playing inside forward? To prove it was no fluke, he also did the same job on Matt Crowe turnng him from a workaday inside forward to a classy left half.

And of course a lot of Macaulay''s signings were rejects from other clubs picked up for chicken feed.

I''m not sure whether any fees were indeed paid for Jimmy Hill and Matt Crowe but I seem to remember £8k was Barry Butler''s fee from Sheffield Wednesday!

[Bernard Futter 0]

Abject embarrassment this end ZLF for missing out Ken Brown altogether...

From memory I think Townsend, Fleck, Culverhouse, Bowen, Drinkell and the amazing Crook all came in during his era.

Many of them sold on at a tidy profit. (Thankfully Crook''s proposed move to Coventry collapsed which would have made his dealings look even more impressive.)

[Old Shuck 188]

Can only comment from the Saunders era onwards, although those achievements and signings cited by earlier Norwich Managers look ever impressive.

John Bond is way up there for me, both as a Manager and how he changed our way of play from the efficient but somewhat dour Saunders time to a more pass and move game, utilising wingers, in particular, Jimmy Neighbour. Dave Jones (from Forest) was another Bond signing, a much under rated City centre back who had some injury worries whilst he was with us, else I think his flag would be flying a lot higher now. Boyer and McDougall, plus Martin Peters were also his signings. Kevin Reeves another-our first £1 Million sale! He also had a knack of plucking out unknowns who did well for us, short term, Roger Gibbins is one I remember getting a good few goals for us.

He says now that he regrets leaving us for Man City. He isn''t the only one who has left Norwich to go onto -they hope- bigger and better things, many have tried, many of those may have felt that they were better off staying with us. That subject is almost worth a post on its own.

Oh yes, I think John Bond bought in Viv Busby as well, also John Ryan-the latter, I think, one of our most under rated players ever.

[arrdee 2]

[quote user="arrdee"]

[quote user="Bernard Futter"]I was musing the other day about who the most successful City manager there had been regarding incoming transfers. Whilst, Ron Saunders, Dave Stringer, Mike Walker and more debatably John Bond will have their adherents, I think the accolade should go to Ron Ashman by the merest whisker from Archie Macaulay. The Ashman Account:- Ron Davies £35k: undoubtedly the Club''s most complete no 9. No further qualification necessary. Kevin Keelan £6k: undoubtedly the Club''s most complete no 1. No further qualification necessary. Hugh Curran £12k: scored regularly and at the highest level and became a fixture for Scotland. Mal Lucas £25k: on form this guy was a collossus, the best ever City half back in my book. Gordon Bolland £32k: a great strike partner with Davies but unfortunately only discovered real consistency later in his career My reason for tipping Ron Ashman over Macaulay is that he brought in two ''best ever'' City players in Davies and Keelan. Macaulay clearly contributed one with the incomparable Barry Butler and Jimmy Hill wasn''t far behind. A tough call. I look forward to the views of other posters![/quote]

"Bern" You lovely old boy , its too close to call Ashman or Macauley, Jimmy Hill was the best player i ever saw play for City , i can still hear the crowd roar when Jimmy was on the ball he would take a defense apart with one move and he would keep on doing it not just once but time and time again it must have been lovely for a forward to play along side Jimmy .Ron Davis was the best centre forward . K.K. was the best keeper ever .You all know how i felt about Barry Butler, we will never see the likes of him ever again. Let me just say all 4 players were wonderful "Bern" good post you sweet old thing [Y] .arrdee.

[/quote]

"Bern" I have thought about this most of last night and most of the day , Ashman or Macaulay.I am going to say Macauley because as you say he converted Jimmy Hill from a poor right winger to a wonder midfielder (you stole my thunder there) .I think we signed Jimmy from Newcastle .I don''t remember how much we gave for him but 3k keeps going around my head.Macauley also picked up Barry when he wasn''t even a first teamer , so i am coming down on the side of Macauley just .[Y] .arrdee. "Bern" a wonderful post or am i being selfish?.arrdee.

[Tim Dawson 0]

Thats easy, i go back to watching City from 1972, it has to be Ken Brown, Chris Woods, Dave Watson, Steve Bruce, John Deehan, Kevin Drinkell, David Williams, Bryan Gunn, Mark Bowen, Ian Crook, Ian Culverhouse, Wayne Biggins, All great buys at bargain prices tho i have probably left a few out.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

This post is a classic example of how to pose a question then answer it so comprehensively no one else has much to say.

[Canary Ben 0]

Lol

errmm although it pains me to say it, i would have to say worthy is up there with the best, im sorry, i no i will get slated for it but it is true, Look at our promotion side and the quality he added. He diddnt spend major money, and he didnt add major major quality, but he managed to put a ''TEAM'' together that stormed the championship, He also bought in Mckenzie Acdex 2nd best player, ashton now worth 8 Million, Huckerby- just a god really, crouch in on loan, Earnshaw apparantly worth 3.5 although i think its fair to say a minimum of 5 without the clause, and thats where his proble was, stupid contracts which even now make him and the board look like a bunch of babbons, only baboons i think probaly have more scence! The bloke did good for us though, However glad i am he has now gone. (THIS STATEMENT DOES NOT APPLY TO HIS LAST YEAR WITH US)

 

No im going to get slated and laughed at, just as i did at the bookies when i put a fiver in norwich to win the championship this year. See you all on saturday! ohh and well done england!