For me Bobby Hassell. After his first couple of games he'd been so bad that I expected him to be shipped back to Mansfield on loan and then never heard from again. I and another poster on here even had a nickname for him - Bobby Floyd Hasselw@nk. I also thought that Neil Shipperley was a very uninspiring signing. On the flipside of things, I was sure that Carl Barraclough and Sean McClare were going to be the next big thing, and that Nigel Spackman was an excellent choice of manager.
Very similar to you. Thought Hassell was atrocious for the first half of his first season, believed McClare was going to be an excellent player and was vocal in backing Spackman as the best option for manager, which is one of the reasons I now rarely give an opinion when hiring a new manager; I know from experience I know **** all. I also thought Andy Liddell was ****, pre leg break.
Players I've been wrong about, absolutely ******* loads. Off the top of my head Winnall when he first arrived. Vaz Te when we initially signed him. Hassell who looked not quite good enough for Mansfield initially. Derrick Parker further back and a million others that I forget. Stuart Rimmer I thought would be good. Wayne Biggins I thought was a reight signing. When we signed Andy Rammell and he went on his scoring spree I was convinced we had signed a goals scoring genius until he morphed into Randy Camel. Again the list is endless.
Mark Roberts. Remember watching him in pre season and the first few games and thinking that he looked so out of place and unsure on the ball - I was convinced he wasnt able to make the step up. No problem admitting I was completely wrong on that - to be fair I realised as soon as we played Everton in the league cup and he absolutely smashed it. Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
Mike Sharon George Hristov Kevin Gallen Kevin Donovan Don Goodman All the above never hit the heights of what I thought they would for us.
I was very excited when we signed Rimmer. Hmmm. A bit harsh on Biggins, he scored plenty of goals for us when well past his best, and then we somehow managed swap him for Andy Payton in his prime - an incredible bit of business!
I thought Tony Rees would be good. He scored for Brum at Oakwell in FA cup in 1988. He didn't get many goals for us if I recall
It's not that Biggins wasn't good I'd seen him play a lot and thought he was fantastic he just never hit those heights with us. The Payton deal was great for us and he looked like David Gedge of the Wedding Present which is always a bonus. Others Sean Dunphy - the next big thing Kane Hemmings I was excited when we signed him Marley Watkins but only because I expected a black winger with dreads given the name Ones I've been completely right about Barry Conlon, Mike Sheron, Don Goodman, Mark Stallard, Keith Brown, David Currie (2nd time round), John Pearson, Dave Regis again the list is lengthier than Phil Gridelets shopping list in Boots. Speaking of Phil I thought he was going to be brilliant.
In addition to Spackman, I also thought Peter Sand was going to be our saviour. How very wrong I was.
Kayode Odejayi. I even stated on 1575AM before his 2nd home game that he looked frighteningly quick, a great prospect/find, etc. Oops.
I was sure (quite wrongly) all the following would be good players for us, Kevin McMahon, Peter Burke, Graham Collier, Mick McGuire, Colin Marshall, Dean Connelly, Stuart Rimmer, Brian McCord, Kevin Richardson, Gareth Williams, Deniol Graham, Mark Stallard, plus many, many more.
Embarrassingly, after two home games last season, I wrote Marley Watkins off as 'another good reason we shouldn't sign players from the Scottish pub league'. ...I finished up voting him my player of the season based on the fact he never gives anything less than 100% effort.
It was a shame about Mccord. He was a talented player who hated being a footballer. I bumped into him once and we had a long chat. He hated crowds and couldn't cope with the pressure.
Even Ashley Fletcher looked lost at the start until he was told how to play for Barnsley FC. Pingpong ought to have walked the league. Moncur was the player we all wanted from Colchester but didn't cut it ..... not yet at least. Brek Shea, well he was just *****. Fact.
Was convinced Watkins lacked pace when I first saw him. He then preceded to run past every defender in league one like they were standing still.
Marley Watkins - thought he looked awkward and useless. Still think he looks awkward on the ball, but turns out he's far from useless! Can also remember thinking Lee Jones would be top scorer and player of the year after seeing his debut against Norwich. Carl Regan also made his infamous debut that day - don't think he fooled anyone... Sent from my Kestrel using Tapatalk