Did you write someone off when we signed them and they turned out to be superb? Or did you think someone was going to tear up the league but the turned out to be babba? Mine was Miguel Mostto, I genuinely thought he was going to be spectacular and lost £50 to my mate I was that confident he'd hit 20 goals
I was excited at the prospect of Dale Jennings. He came with high expectations having been at Bayern but he was bitterly dissapointing.
Bobby Hassell. Didn't even look like a footballer when he first joined. At the opposite end of the spectrum, I expected a lot from Dean Gorre, but he flattered to deceive (though was hit by injuries). Mike Turner, Lee Jones, Kim Christensen, Gary O' Connor all got off to great starts but for various reasons didn't do much else. Chris Lumsdon and Brian McCord - brilliant on loan, but their clubs quite obviously sent different blokes to sign for us permanently.
Ronnie Glavin was well overweight and ponderous the first time I saw him play. The rest as they say is history…..
All these were a big disappointment to me:- Billy Brindle, Steve Deere, Larry McGettigan, Jimmy Mann, Brian McCord, Stuart Rimmer, Liam Lawrence, Emmanuel Frimpong, Ross Turnbull, Leroy Lita, Keith Treacy, Mallik Wilks.
Mounir El Haimour for me. I went to a pre-season game away at Rotherham when they played in Don Valley for a bit and he was really good that game, kept getting down the wing and whipping in mad crosses. Really looked the business. Told my dad and he went and got the name on back of his shirt for the season (probably the only person in history to do so) and he obviously turned out to be a major flop.
Rhys Oates. Looked a world beating centre forward when I saw him at youth and reserve level. Think he ended up in non league
He was decent tbf - just Ramadan played havoc with his fitness/energy levels iirc. If not for that, I think he would have featured more
I thought Eric Tinkler would have been far more influential than he was. Dale Jennings gets another vote. More recently, I never expected much from Woodrow, Styles or Carlton Morris.
Eric Tinkler Zeki Fryers Goran Lovre Dale Jennings Ronnie Wallwork Paul Warhurst Clayton Blackmore Stuart Ripley Stuart Rimmer All meh.
Scored a fairly okay amount in non-league, and last season got 18 for Hartlepool. Earned himself a move to Mansfield in L2 this summer and he's yet to score in seven appearances, so you could be right. Going back a lot of years, we had a Griff Jones who smashed a lot of goals in at youth level, and Ashley Scothern. The latter I saw a lot of, as I watched a fair bit of youth and reserve football at the time and he looked the real deal. Can't remember what happened.
Micheal Boulding, can remember tellin mi brother we'd just guaranteed a play off play with his signing
The list of disappointments is endless. Are there any players that turned out much better than expected?