Our most expensive flops.

[BroadstairsR 2,138]

The international break gets to all football supporters it seems, from Newcastle to the depths of Suffolk. 

 

http://newcastlestats.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/newcastle-uniteds-five-financiall

 

I got this from my daily nose into our rival''s site, TWTD, and the poster must have got it from trawling Newcastle sites.

 

It is really quite a staggering run-down of financial inexpediency at it''s worst. No prudence there. It is a wonder the Toon have any supporters left, as most could well have had  nervous breakdowns by now.

 

The piece about Michael Owen is quite revealing and suggests we might have got out of prison there after all, assuming that there was any substance in our reported interest.

 

Applying the top five expensive flops to NCFC is, thankfully,  a more difficult task. The notorious one being John Bond''s £600, 000 signing of mega-flop Drazen Musinic, but this was a long time ago and although it was big money for us it was it not that bank-busting really. That apart, Bond''s overall record in the market was nothing short of excellent.

 

Neither were  our two biggest signings disasters. We got our money back for Earnie and profitted on Ashton.

 

There was a lot of waste on  Grant''s signings and Roeder''s loans, but, apart from these few examples, I can think of nothing disastrous. Even Townies still moan about Finidi George and that expensive goalkeeper (Cudicini?) brought in by George Burley. There are no such flops for City in my memory, perhaps others can dig up a few. 

 

Maybe a few will transpire as we gradually push the boundaries of our transfer dealings upwards.

 

 

 

[can u sit down please 0]

At the time, Darren Beckford cost about £900k and that was a lot of money.

That would still be a lot to us now.

[BroadstairsR 2,138]

[quote user="can u sit down please"]At the time, Darren Beckford cost about £900k and that was a lot of money. That would still be a lot to us now.[/quote]

 

Nice one, I had forgotten about him. Wasn''t he our first £1m player? He was a flop on a grand scale..

[BroadstairsR 2,138]

That 1p5hit ''keeper was Sereni, Cudicini is currently at Spurs of course.

 

In 2001, UEFA Cup competitor Ipswich Town signed him for £4.5 million,^[1] the highest transfer fee paid by the club. He failed to avoid relegation with Ipswich and was loaned to Brescia in 2002.^[2]

 

The binmen paid a lot for him. He was only there a short time and was never much good.

 

Nice reading really.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[crabbycanary 2]

Broadstairs - wasn''t the fee for Muzinic £300k? Although I wouldn''t call him an expensive flop a la Finidi George, he didn''t live up to the price tag, and like you say, I can''t think of an over the top waste of money.

[Pabs 0]

Most of our expensive flops have ''flopped'' due to injury.  Thinking back, didn''t Matthew Rush cost about £1m, played once and never again?  What about Neil Emblem?  Was signed with great fanfare and then spent alot of time with Tim Shepherd!Now, I am thinking about James Vaughan.  I know he hasn''t left yet, but 2.5 million for an injury prone striker was always a huge risk!  

[The Gingerking 5]

For me it was.......

 

http://shop.chipkos.com/products/david-palmer-chipkos-worlds-most-expensive-flip-flops

 

 

 

[The Gingerking 5]

I can only apologise, Broadstairs.

[zemas tendon 0]

Matthew Rush was about £450.000. Beckford was just under the 1 Million barrier,

[djc 0]

Paul Blades, was i believe, our most expensive signing at his time if arrival. Crap centrehalf with concrete filled boots.

[mrdi 373]

Mike Sheron.

[mrdi 373]

Mattias Jonson wasn''t too hot either, though for some strange reason I actually quite liked the guy.

[BroadstairsR 2,138]

Earnie was our most expensive flip-flop surely Gingerking?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZt6EruI_zI

[Mungo Bumpkin 0]

Don''t forget Dean Coney. Three hundred and fifty grand was quite a bit of dosh at the fag end of the eighties for a useless striker.

Mungo

[nutty nigel 7,509]

[quote user="crabbycanary"]Broadstairs - wasn''t the fee for Muzinic £300k? Although I wouldn''t call him an expensive flop a la Finidi George, he didn''t live up to the price tag, and like you say, I can''t think of an over the top waste of money.[/quote]

 

I thought that''s what he cost Crabby.

 

Two more recent ones would be Neil Emblen for £500,000 and David Marshall for 1m.

 

Now David Marshall wasn''t a flop in the sense that he was a bad ''keeper. But we still got relegated with him in the side and it could be argued we had an equally good ''keeper in Matty Gilks who never got a game. At that time surely 1m could have been better spent?

 

 

[Budapest Canary 152]

According to Wikipedia David Strihavka was signed for Norwich City for an undisclosed fee, thought to be around €1m, on a four year deal. He scored one single goal, and was released 6 months later. 

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,557]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]

[quote user="crabbycanary"]Broadstairs - wasn''t the fee for Muzinic £300k? Although I wouldn''t call him an expensive flop a la Finidi George, he didn''t live up to the price tag, and like you say, I can''t think of an over the top waste of money.[/quote]

 

I thought that''s what he cost Crabby.

 

Two more recent ones would be Neil Emblen for £500,000 and David Marshall for 1m.

 

Now David Marshall wasn''t a flop in the sense that he was a bad ''keeper. But we still got relegated with him in the side and it could be argued we had an equally good ''keeper in Matty Gilks who never got a game. At that time surely 1m could have been better spent?

[/quote]

Agreed! I never understood the need to go out and spend £1m on a goal keeper at the time. Certainly wasn''t a position that desperately needed filling and represented a large part of Norwich''s then transfer budget.

 

Wonder how much we got for him when he was sold.

[shefcanary 2,385]

[quote user="Budapest Canary"]According to Wikipedia David Strihavka was signed for Norwich City for an undisclosed fee, thought to be around €1m, on a four year deal. He scored one single goal, and was released 6 months later. 
[/quote]

 

This was what was reported on his arrival, but I thought when he was released it was revealed that he wasn''t in effect a full signing, but on a season long loan with an option for us to buy him at the end of the season.  Thus we didn''t pay for him and received no onward fee when we let him go.  BUT I stand to be corrected.

[GJP 79]

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"][quote user="nutty nigel"]

[quote user="crabbycanary"]Broadstairs - wasn''t the fee for Muzinic £300k? Although I wouldn''t call him an expensive flop a la Finidi George, he didn''t live up to the price tag, and like you say, I can''t think of an over the top waste of money.[/quote]

 

I thought that''s what he cost Crabby.

 

Two more recent ones would be Neil Emblen for £500,000 and David Marshall for 1m.

 

Now David Marshall wasn''t a flop in the sense that he was a bad ''keeper. But we still got relegated with him in the side and it could be argued we had an equally good ''keeper in Matty Gilks who never got a game. At that time surely 1m could have been better spent?

[/quote]

Agreed! I never understood the need to go out and spend £1m on a goal keeper at the time. Certainly wasn''t a position that desperately needed filling and represented a large part of Norwich''s then transfer budget.

 

Wonder how much we got for him when he was sold.

[/quote]

Would Peter Grant have been so keen to buy David Marshall if he had been at another club and not Celtic?

 

Said at the time that I''d rather we went for Lee Camp - who probably would have been a fair bit cheaper.

[Budapest Canary 152]

[quote user="shefcanary"]

[quote user="Budapest Canary"]According to Wikipedia David Strihavka was signed for Norwich City for an undisclosed fee, thought to be around €1m, on a four year deal. He scored one single goal, and was released 6 months later.  [/quote]

 

This was what was reported on his arrival, but I thought when he was released it was revealed that he wasn''t in effect a full signing, but on a season long loan with an option for us to buy him at the end of the season.  Thus we didn''t pay for him and received no onward fee when we let him go.  BUT I stand to be corrected.

[/quote]You are actually right, and I stand corrected. As Flown From the Nest says:  "(...) Upon his departure, details of his contract were revealed. The 24-year-old Czech joined on an initial one-year contract with the option for a further three years if City wished to retain his services. That option applied to both fee and contract, with City paying £240,000 for the first year of the deal. A further sum in the region of £1.1m would have been payable this summer if City had chosen to exercise their option for a further three years.“It''s disappointing that it hasn''t worked out, but it''s always a gamble when signing players from abroad - sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn''t,” said Glenn Roeder.

[Yobocop 1,095]

Did we spend any money on Jason Jarrett?

What about cureton 2nd time around

[Michael Starr 519]

I''d have to add Thomas Helveg who, although joined on a free, was reported to have been on 20k a week on a 2 year contract. Luckily his 2nd year was bought out by his new club but that''s still 1m for a player that played 20 games.

[Aggy 752]

I expect - haven''t done much research so not sure for certain - that a lot of the players we have signed, we have sold off for a substantial amount of money as well, thus limiting our losses. With wages taken into account, that may be slightly more, but even so I bet a lot of them will have almost evened out, or not been big, big disasters.

Helveg is a good call. Louis-Jean as well - we only got 2 games out of him according to Wiki, at the cost of Gary Holt (whom we swapped him for) and wages for two seasons. So probably didn''t break the bank as such, but when you think of the money we could have got for Holt in a straight transfer, plus the wages, I bet he wasn''t cheap in a cost-per-game ratio!

[Bing Bang 0]

[quote user="Pabs"]Most of our expensive flops have ''flopped'' due to injury.  Thinking back, didn''t Matthew Rush cost about £1m, played once and never again?  What about Neil Emblem?  Was signed with great fanfare and then spent alot of time with Tim Shepherd!Now, I am thinking about James Vaughan.  I know he hasn''t left yet, but 2.5 million for an injury prone striker was always a huge risk!  

[/quote]

Not sure it was 2.5 million. think it was more 1mill with add-ons based on appearances etc. Could still come good that one.

[ZLF 271]

Completely agree with you about Marshall Nutty.

 

Another that rings a bell was O''Neill - horrendous injury after 34 mins of his debut?   Not a flop but hardly good value for money and highlights the risk of spending big.

 

I will take issue with anyone on Helveg;   I know I am and remain a tiny minority on this board but the bloke was as good as defender as I have ever seen at carrow road, significantly better than poor outclassed Eddie although Eddie did go forward better.   

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 1,735]

Not al lot of money in today''s market or in our present financial standing but given the state of the club at the time £500k for Andy Hughes was an awful lot and an amount that I recall Reading fans laughing up their sleeves that we had paid.  Not a great deal in return execpt one of the worst technical footballers I''ve seen in a yellow shirt in over three decades.

[cityislife 0]

[quote user="BroadstairsR"]

Earnie was our most expensive flip-flop surely Gingerking?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZt6EruI_zI

[/quote]Not in the slightest..... 45 Appearances and 27 goals. Say no more...

[ZLF 271]

[quote user="cityislife"][quote user="BroadstairsR"]

Earnie was our most expensive flip-flop surely Gingerking?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZt6EruI_zI

[/quote]

Not in the slightest..... 45 Appearances and 27 goals. Say no more...
[/quote]

 

Sometimes humour is completley missed - the flipflopping nothing to do with the somersaults earnie did when he scored his 27 goals then cityislife? 

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

Not the most expensive but I''ll throw Henrik Mortensen into the debate.

[TIL 1010 4,722]

Anybody think Simon Whalley was good value at 250k ?