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nutty nigel

Six years ago we coudn't even afford is left foot!

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Back in the summer of 2003 Worthy offered £300,000 to Rotherham for Alan Lee. Ronnie Moore knocked him back saying "that wouldn''t even pay for his left foot". Lee went on to sign for Cardiff in a reported million pound deal and Worthy asked the board to match the Cardiff offer but was knocked back. I think in the end all Worthy managed to get was Elvis Hammond on loan!

I remember Worthy chasing other strikers that summer and not getting them. There was talk of Hulse who Crewe sold to West Brom(and we probably offered enough for two of his toes) and Connolly who signed for West Ham. Now I have often wondered about this because we all know that later that autumn Huckerby, Crouch and Harper arrived on loan. But had the board given Worthy his million for Lee would those deals then have taken place? Thankfully those loans happened and they paid off handsomely. Huckerby and Crouch are players who have top six Premiership quality and they propelled us to the top of this league in no time. Meanwhile Alan Lee has only looked a decent mid-table Championship striker in the years since we couldn''t afford his left foot.

Even though we could certainly do with them now I doubt we will ever see two players of the quality of Huckerby and Crouch on loan in the Championship ever again. So I''m not too disappointed that we have finally got a decent mid-table Championship striker here for the remainder of the season. It worked out right in the end in 2003 so let''s hope it works out right nearly six years on.

 

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i remember that, we tried for Connolly then too, and Hulse was on our radar! Where the heck is Connolly these days? Hulse would have been good in retrospect, as much as Alan lee''s done in this division, i think our board got that right in putting £300k aside for him, but not £1m!

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alan lee what a impact he made with some clubs , 7 goals with four clubs , hardly prolific.

and a couple of theese teams are in in lower divisions , sorry guys , considering we now are a midfielder light with hoolihan im sure getiing a midfielder was more important , considering russell is banned for two games as well .

i dont think he will help at all , this will be another killen situation .

hopefully i will be proved wrong , but with a few games left and alot more work still to do , i think we should have got someone in with a better conversion rate than his.

 

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[quote user="nutty nigel"]

Back in the summer of 2003 Worthy offered £300,000 to Rotherham for Alan Lee. Ronnie Moore knocked him back saying "that wouldn''t even pay for his left foot". Lee went on to sign for Cardiff in a reported million pound deal and Worthy asked the board to match the Cardiff offer but was knocked back. I think in the end all Worthy managed to get was Elvis Hammond on loan!

I remember Worthy chasing other strikers that summer and not getting them. There was talk of Hulse who Crewe sold to West Brom(and we probably offered enough for two of his toes) and Connolly who signed for West Ham. Now I have often wondered about this because we all know that later that autumn Huckerby, Crouch and Harper arrived on loan. But had the board given Worthy his million for Lee would those deals then have taken place? Thankfully those loans happened and they paid off handsomely. Huckerby and Crouch are players who have top six Premiership quality and they propelled us to the top of this league in no time. Meanwhile Alan Lee has only looked a decent mid-table Championship striker in the years since we couldn''t afford his left foot.

Even though we could certainly do with them now I doubt we will ever see two players of the quality of Huckerby and Crouch on loan in the Championship ever again. So I''m not too disappointed that we have finally got a decent mid-table Championship striker here for the remainder of the season. It worked out right in the end in 2003 so let''s hope it works out right nearly six years on.

 

[/quote]

Are you saying,in hindsight,that the board was right and Worthy wrong?!

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We were also really close to signing Gareth Taylor from Burnley, but he turned us down and went to Forest instead.  How different history might have been if he had joined.

David Connolly is at Sunderland now and has barely played in two seasons.  Only 31 - what went wrong there?

 

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[quote user="The Butler"][quote user="nutty nigel"]

Back in the summer of 2003 Worthy offered £300,000 to Rotherham for Alan Lee. Ronnie Moore knocked him back saying "that wouldn''t even pay for his left foot". Lee went on to sign for Cardiff in a reported million pound deal and Worthy asked the board to match the Cardiff offer but was knocked back. I think in the end all Worthy managed to get was Elvis Hammond on loan!

I remember Worthy chasing other strikers that summer and not getting them. There was talk of Hulse who Crewe sold to West Brom(and we probably offered enough for two of his toes) and Connolly who signed for West Ham. Now I have often wondered about this because we all know that later that autumn Huckerby, Crouch and Harper arrived on loan. But had the board given Worthy his million for Lee would those deals then have taken place? Thankfully those loans happened and they paid off handsomely. Huckerby and Crouch are players who have top six Premiership quality and they propelled us to the top of this league in no time. Meanwhile Alan Lee has only looked a decent mid-table Championship striker in the years since we couldn''t afford his left foot.

Even though we could certainly do with them now I doubt we will ever see two players of the quality of Huckerby and Crouch on loan in the Championship ever again. So I''m not too disappointed that we have finally got a decent mid-table Championship striker here for the remainder of the season. It worked out right in the end in 2003 so let''s hope it works out right nearly six years on.

 

[/quote]

Are you saying,in hindsight,that the board was right and Worthy wrong?!

[/quote]

I don''t know Butler my friend. I guess the sticking point on the valuation was the fact that Lee only had a year left on his contract at Rotherham so would have been free the next season. But Cardiff were prepared to pay it and we weren''t. The same thing happened a few years later with Steve Howard.

Who was right? Worthy was trying to get a squad capable of competing in the Championship and Lee would have improved that squad. As things turned out we got those amazing loan signings out of nowhere and we all know what happened next. Lee would certainly not have taken us to the level Hucks did that''s for sure. And I have always wondered if the money had been spent on Hulse, Connolly or Lee would we ever have had Huckerby and Crouch? It''s strange looking back at how so many things seal the fate of the future and maybe if we had "paid the going rate" we would never have got back to the Premiership that year.

Greavesie was right - football is a funny old game!

 

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[quote user="nutty nigel"][quote user="The Butler"][quote user="nutty nigel"]

Back in the summer of 2003 Worthy offered £300,000 to Rotherham for Alan Lee. Ronnie Moore knocked him back saying "that wouldn''t even pay for his left foot". Lee went on to sign for Cardiff in a reported million pound deal and Worthy asked the board to match the Cardiff offer but was knocked back. I think in the end all Worthy managed to get was Elvis Hammond on loan!

I remember Worthy chasing other strikers that summer and not getting them. There was talk of Hulse who Crewe sold to West Brom(and we probably offered enough for two of his toes) and Connolly who signed for West Ham. Now I have often wondered about this because we all know that later that autumn Huckerby, Crouch and Harper arrived on loan. But had the board given Worthy his million for Lee would those deals then have taken place? Thankfully those loans happened and they paid off handsomely. Huckerby and Crouch are players who have top six Premiership quality and they propelled us to the top of this league in no time. Meanwhile Alan Lee has only looked a decent mid-table Championship striker in the years since we couldn''t afford his left foot.

Even though we could certainly do with them now I doubt we will ever see two players of the quality of Huckerby and Crouch on loan in the Championship ever again. So I''m not too disappointed that we have finally got a decent mid-table Championship striker here for the remainder of the season. It worked out right in the end in 2003 so let''s hope it works out right nearly six years on.

 

[/quote]

Are you saying,in hindsight,that the board was right and Worthy wrong?!

[/quote]

I don''t know Butler my friend. I guess the sticking point on the valuation was the fact that Lee only had a year left on his contract at Rotherham so would have been free the next season. But Cardiff were prepared to pay it and we weren''t. The same thing happened a few years later with Steve Howard.

Who was right? Worthy was trying to get a squad capable of competing in the Championship and Lee would have improved that squad. As things turned out we got those amazing loan signings out of nowhere and we all know what happened next. Lee would certainly not have taken us to the level Hucks did that''s for sure. And I have always wondered if the money had been spent on Hulse, Connolly or Lee would we ever have had Huckerby and Crouch? It''s strange looking back at how so many things seal the fate of the future and maybe if we had "paid the going rate" we would never have got back to the Premiership that year.

Greavesie was right - football is a funny old game!

 

[/quote]

Football mirrors life and is a lottery.  As MWJ and I would say "Why is it always my balls that are squashed at the bottom and never get blown on"!!

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