Jump to content

Top 5 signings during and post Nigel Clough years


Bris Vegas

Recommended Posts

2 minutes ago, ronnieronalde said:

Barker, Bryson, Buxton, Martin, Brayford.

In that order.

Why Barker in first spot out of curiosity?

I mean, he was a solid enough player, but we spent at the time a fair whack on him (compared to other signings at the time) and I didn't think he stood out as a particularly key or top player.

We only ever had him for two full seasons, due to his unfortunate injury which of course wasn't his fault, but that also must be taken into consideration when comparing with say Jamie Ward who we had for four and a half seasons and at a cheaper price in terms of fees/wages.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 54
  • Created
  • Last Reply
3 minutes ago, Warren Hobhead said:

Butterfield was signed to step in for the injured Hughes and last season was the top scoring centre mid in the division. He's been average at best this year playing much deeper but in terms of this thread I think he gets in that post-Clough five.

Fair do's. He's my designated scapegoat though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, ronnieronalde said:

Barker, Bryson, Buxton, Martin, Brayford.

In that order.

 

7 minutes ago, TheDeadlySaul said:

Surprised you put Bucko over Keogh. Love the man, but Keogh has been consistently great for the side. 

And Barker, although I suspect that's more sentimental? (Not knocking you!)

We didn't get 100 games out of Barker yet 200+ Keogh and counting, captain, play offs twice similar transfer fees. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Bris Vegas said:

Why Barker in first spot out of curiosity?

I mean, he was a solid enough player, but we spent at the time a fair whack on him (compared to other signings at the time) and I didn't think he stood out as a particularly key or top player.

We only ever had him for two full seasons, due to his unfortunate injury which of course wasn't his fault, but that also must be taken into consideration when comparing with say Jamie Ward who we had for four and a half seasons and at a cheaper price in terms of fees/wages.

 

I just think his character more than any other helped to lift and stabilise things, at a time where it looked pretty ropey most of the way. him coming and playing the way he did gave us someone to build around, it gave us a leader who gave his all week in week out.

The blokes probably my modern day hero football wise.

I'm aware there may be some who don't quite agree ;-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, ronnieronalde said:

I just think his character more than any other helped to lift and stabilise things, at a time where it looked pretty ropey most of the way. him coming and playing the way he did gave us someone to build around, it gave us a leader who gave his all week in week out.

The blokes probably my modern day hero football wise.

I'm aware there may be some who don't quite agree ;-)

Fair enough. Sometimes it's overlooked what players do for the club off the pitch in terms of squad morale. I actually really like Barks, always thought he was a top bloke i just never really rated him that highly on the pitch.

All opinions of course. I feel guilty leaving Brayford and Bryson off my list. Two others who have proven really good signings by Clough and both for very moderate transfer fees.

I really rated James Bailey in his first 18 months for us too. Thought he was tailor-made for that linking midfield role but the development of Hendrick and later Hughes meant he sadly fell out of favour.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, David said:

 

And Barker, although I suspect that's more sentimental? (Not knocking you!)

We didn't get 100 games out of Barker yet 200+ Keogh and counting, captain, play offs twice similar transfer fees. 

 

Sentimental a little bit but actually more disappointed that we didn't get to see him in his absolute prime for long enough,

He'd have been a rock, maybe even alongside Keogh.

I've had this nagging doubt about Richard Keogh for a while and I know it's ridiculous cos he's twice been in team of the season as voted by his peers, they see things I must occasionally miss.

He's full of contradictions, I love his passion but it annoys me how demonstrative he gets during games, towards the officials and his team mates, I loved his bursting runs forward but they worried me a lot. I love the fact he's a threat in the air but he never gets a goal and I love the fact he's as cultured as Beckenbauer one minute then he's like Titus Bramble the next.

Somethings not quite right but I'm more than willing to admit it might be me being a bit irrational.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nigel Clough would be an ideal Director of Football, not just for us but for a lot of clubs. He had a tremendous ability to sign players who were much better than their values suggest. He must've spent a lot of time around Peter Taylor as a kid because his qualities as a manager are more like Taylor's than his dad's.

It's unlikely to ever happen because you never see managers becoming DoFs. I would trust Clough with the signings 100%, I just wouldn't trust him to get the most out of those signings. He put the squad in place for our play-off campaign in 2013/14 but I don't think we'd have got anywhere near that position had he had control for the entire season. I definitely wouldn't say no to Nigel coming back as DoF one day, although that's extremely unlikely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Bris Vegas said:

Fair enough. Sometimes it's overlooked what players do for the club off the pitch in terms of squad morale. I actually really like Barks, always thought he was a top bloke i just never really rated him that highly on the pitch.

All opinions of course. I feel guilty leaving Brayford and Bryson off my list. Two others who have proven really good signings by Clough and both for very moderate transfer fees.

I really rated James Bailey in his first 18 months for us too. Thought he was tailor-made for that linking midfield role but the development of Hendrick and later Hughes meant he sadly fell out of favour.

 

Pretty sure I saw Bails playing L2 or something the other week on TV. I knew he was at Barnsley a year or so ago. Surprised to find him so far down the pyramid. Great technician. Lacked heart though for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Clough: Brayford, Bryson, Ward, Keogh, Martin - close to making the 5 - Barker, Fozzy. All great signings. Ward was critical in the early years, I remember when he was our only creative player. Brayford remains Clough's best signing for me, and think we could do worst than sign him this summer.

Post Clough - Carson, Ince, Christie, Thorne, Pearce. Baird just misses out. No one else deserves a mention. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Kernow said:

Nigel Clough would be an ideal Director of Football, not just for us but for a lot of clubs. He had a tremendous ability to sign players who were much better than their values suggest. He must've spent a lot of time around Peter Taylor as a kid because his qualities as a manager are more like Taylor's than his dad's.

It's unlikely to ever happen because you never see managers becoming DoFs. I would trust Clough with the signings 100%, I just wouldn't trust him to get the most out of those signings. He put the squad in place for our play-off campaign in 2013/14 but I don't think we'd have got anywhere near that position had he had control for the entire season. I definitely wouldn't say no to Nigel coming back as DoF one day, although that's extremely unlikely.

He can certainly spot a potentially good player , that's for sure

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Gritters said:

Clough - Mackay, McFarland,  Gemmill, Todd, Nish.

Post Clough Mehhhh!!!

If you really think that the likes of Charlie George, Dean Saunders, Peter Shilton, Mark Wright, Stefanio Eranio, Cico Biano, Wanchope, Stimac and many others are Mehhh!!!, then I pity you Gritters

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, ilkleyram said:

If you really think that the likes of Charlie George, Dean Saunders, Peter Shilton, Mark Wright, Stefanio Eranio, Cico Biano, Wanchope, Stimac and many others are Mehhh!!!, then I pity you Gritters

They aren't fit to lace their boots like my mates Granddad used to tell me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think part of the reason that most of the players post Clough that have been bought aren't players that were brought in to be part of the spine. You can only really say Thorne, Ince, Carson and Shackell then Vydra were brought in with that in mind. Johnson and Butterfield can be argued either way.

Clough had a few years/attempts at bringing in those players to be his spine. He brought in more players so had a better chance of getting more hits.

It is a very good question, @Bris Vegas this is an interesting topic.

To answer the question;

Clough

Martin - top striker, top goal scorer in 20 years.

Ward- saved us whilst on loan, had that little streak that would rile up the opponents, became the go to guy, his goals against forest. Never really replaced.

Bryson - 2 POTS, 13/14 season was brilliant, the hat tricks.

Keogh - 2 POTS, other numerous awards, captained the team to the play off final, and other play off attempts.

This last 1 is hard to choose, it has fot be between Barker, Buxton, Forsyth Grant and Brayford.

Other noteworthy mentions for Russell, Gareth Roberts, Theo Robinson (for goals alone) Paul Coutts, Ben Davies.

Post Clough signings

Ince - his goals and play have at times been superb, I was sceptical when we first signed him on loan but within 20 mins against Bolton I could see we had a player on our hands.

Thorne - when this guy is fit he is just fabulous to watch.

Dawkins - was critical of him at first but realised what he brought to the team. Great link up player, seemed to have glie on his boots at times.

Warnock - good solid pro, got a bit of unfair stick as he wasn't as good as Forsyth or what he was once.

Again the last spot can go to a few players, Butterfield last season would be a definite. Johnson has been up and down. Baird this season. Pearce had a good spell up to Christmas this season, Carson is solid but has too many flaws to be the top goalkeeper that some make him out to be. Bent scores goals but is basically as good as Theo Robinson for everything else except work rate and ball control.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, David said:

If you wanted a nice meal you'd send Nigel to Tesco to source the ingredients but you wouldn't want him in the kitchen cooking

Also good at clearing out all the overpriced rubbish in the fridge no one wants anymore. We have different views on his cooking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...