Just Back

I loved Cropper and like a fair few others will go down in folklore for their relatively short impact on our fortunes nearly 2 years ago.

But nigh on impossible to determine if he's a league footballer or not, or indeed better than what we've already got.  His only league appearances last season were 90 minutes against Barrow in late October and 12 minutes off the bench away at Orient on the opening day.  He didn't stand out but he didn't disgrace himself either. But it's literally a game and a bit.

I really wanted him to prove himself at that level and I genuinely felt that his throw was such an asset that providing he was no worse than just ok, it was worth shoehorning him into the side.  Certainly warranted a place on the bench just to come on and cause a bit of panic.

But it's his inability to stay fit that will always hold him back rather than any footballing ability.  The physical size of our squad would probably limit the impact of his throw anyway.  Who have we got who could take advantage?  I reckon Rose and maybe Green.  The beauty of his throw was that was going into an area that had Waterfall, Smith and Taylor plus a few others who weren't too shabby in the air.  It just created panic as sides didn't know who to pick up, classic example is the JMD winner in the play-off final, it just goes through everyone.

Quoted from Mappers

I still find it strange that we let Cropper go , he was at least the same level as Mullarkey but had that long throw weapon -- I found it puzzling that Hurst didn't use him more when he was fit that first season back as it would have been highly effective in league 2 I'm sure .

Didn’t rate Croppers Cruyff turn.More Roy the Johan.

Obviously much has been made of our defensive frailties and decision making , justifiably so. But if you listen to DA's post match interview he said he would be addressing the defensive situation in the next 2 to 3 weeks.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

I still find it strange we let Podge go and Clive Mendonca and Kev Drinkell before that 🤔. Cropper was not a League Two standard defender.

Let them go lol. All three was out of contract. Podge, we did mess up on, Mendonca, we’d just been relegated and wanted to play with a team pushing for promotion to the top flight and a bigger wage I’m guessing. Similar for Drinkell, without us being relegated, he joined a team that had just been relegated from the top flight.
We got money for Drinkell & Mendonca. I’d hardly say “let go”

Quoted from tashee69

Let them go lol. All three was out of contract. Podge, we did mess up on, Mendonca, we’d just been relegated and wanted to play with a team pushing for promotion to the top flight and a bigger wage I’m guessing. Similar for Drinkell, without us being relegated, he joined a team that had just been relegated from the top flight.
We got money for Drinkell & Mendonca. I’d hardly say “let go”

You don’t do irony then

Quoted from tashee69

Let them go lol. All three was out of contract. Podge, we did mess up on, Mendonca, we’d just been relegated and wanted to play with a team pushing for promotion to the top flight and a bigger wage I’m guessing. Similar for Drinkell, without us being relegated, he joined a team that had just been relegated from the top flight.
We got money for Drinkell & Mendonca. I’d hardly say “let go”

Yep, we got £700k for Mendonca and over a million for Oster, if memory serves, in the summer of 1997. Those transfers enabled us to sign Donovan (£300k), Groves (£250k), Nogan (£170k), Smith (£200k) and Burnett (£150k), plus sign the likes of Aidan Davison on a free.

We spent over a million quid in total that season, I presume the first and last time we’ve ever done that. Few clubs are apex predators; most have to sell their best players at some point. 97/98 is a great example of how to do it well.

Quoted from oochiad

Hang on, was it not Clifton who let Jody put in the cross for the forth goal………

Yes, it was.  He was too far forward.

Quoted from HerveJosse

You don’t do irony then

I still fume occasionally about letting Lew Chatterley go…all Ron Ashman’s fault.

On a serious point, PH may messed up a bit in the summer, but he may well have generated another big pay day. If Kamil Conteh continues to perform like he did on Saturday for the rest of the season I can’t see him being with us next season.

Quoted from Limerick Mariner

I still fume occasionally about letting Lew Chatterley go…all Ron Ashman’s fault.

On a serious point, PH may messed up a bit in the summer, but he may well have generated another big pay day. If Kamil Conteh continues to perform like he did on Saturday for the rest of the season I can’t see him being with us next season.

I couldn't agree more;  but to my eternal shame in my rush to get posting with what I thought was a clever play on words I spelt his name with only one t. I've tried to change it but I can't find a way to do it unless someone knows?

Edit. And of course there should be an apostrophe in the name. Bad day at the office there.

Quoted from Poojah

Yep, we got £700k for Mendonca and over a million for Oster, if memory serves, in the summer of 1997. Those transfers enabled us to sign Donovan (£300k), Groves (£250k), Nogan (£170k), Smith (£200k) and Burnett (£150k), plus sign the likes of Aidan Davison on a free.

We spent over a million quid in total that season, I presume the first and last time we’ve ever done that. Few clubs are apex predators; most have to sell their best players at some point. 97/98 is a great example of how to do it well.

Also a largely un-Buckley approach of bringing in players from a higher level and for a bit of money.  Most of signings previously were coming up or at least had a point to prove.  All of the 97/98 signings were established and with a pedigree.  In all honesty, signing Paul Groves in the third tier was the biggest cheat code going.  He was absolutely outstanding for four consecutive seasons in the second tier before his move to West Brom (which wasn't that much of failure, more wrong player at the wrong time).  You can't quite imagine that happening now, a player in the Championship who is incredible for nearly 200 games on the spin, has one season that drops off a little bit and then finds himself in League One.