Niall Maher

Quoted from GollyGTFC

Have a day off. Liam Trotter was great for us in the first half of the 08/09 season.

He was so distinctly average that he joined Scunthorpe on loan in the second half of that season and played an important part in them winning promotion to the Championship via the League 1 play-offs.

A  more obscure one is  Dan Jones at Port Vale who I barely remember (actually not at all) here but has played a decent amount of games in league 1 .

Can anyone remember him ?

Quoted from Mappers

A  more obscure one is  Dan Jones at Port Vale who I barely remember (actually not at all) here but has played a decent amount of games in league 1 .

Can anyone remember him ?

i remember him playing left wing ( bignot put him there) when we lost 5-1 at home to donny

Quoted from Hagrid

i remember him playing left wing ( bignot put him there) when we lost 5-1 at home to donny

Was gonna say I just remembered him as the lad played out of position by bignot that day, but I thought it was CM, but I could well be wrong

Nah, don't remember him at all.

I remember Sam Jones from that era who looked pretty good for us at times and moved up a level, but he never did anything after he left us. Funny how things work out sometimes.

Quoted from GollyGTFC

Have a day off. Liam Trotter was great for us in the first half of the 08/09 season.

He was so distinctly average that he joined Scunthorpe on loan in the second half of that season and played an important part in them winning promotion to the Championship via the League 1 play-offs.

Great?  He was average.  Largely anonymous.  Unfortunately the archives on this site aren't picking up anything with his name but I can guarantee the reaction would be, and on Twitter if it were a thing back then, would have been 'meh'.  But as I said in the very next sentence, he proved in a different environment just how good he was.  

As for the Scunny loan, by that logic what a player we had in Mikey O'Neill last season, or a couple of years back Seb Revan who is 25 appearances and counting in the Championship this season.

Quoted from Maringer

Nah, don't remember him at all.

I remember Sam Jones from that era who looked pretty good for us at times and moved up a level, but he never did anything after he left us. Funny how things work out sometimes.

A classic example of someone who had everything, bar the right attitude.  By all accounts a lovely lad but just didn't have the heart or appetite for the game.  When he had his head in the game, he was unplayable.  Blackpool away (Bignot's last game) and then Chesterfield on the opening day of the following season are just a few times when he had the bit between his teeth and was unplayable.

That January recruitment drive under Bignot with the Bogle money felt really exciting at the time.  Chris Clements, Jones, Jamey Osborne, Akwasi Asante and Adi Yussuf plus Callum Dyson all coming in*.  Genuinely thought at the time that we had reinvested that transfer money so well and were going to kick on (six points off the play-off spots when Bogle left at the end of Jan) but also go onto make even more profit from the new lads.

Ended well didn't it...





*(and Gav Gunning but never mind that).

Osborne another one with loads of ability, but no interest in really pushing forward with his career. He just wanted to live and play near his hometown, which I suppose is fair enough.

I think the club leaving him high and dry in the Humber Royal whilst recovering from a PCL injury might have played a factor in him wanting to go home too.

Story at the time that all of those Bignot brought in had agreements that they could commute from their Midlands' bases with a day off in the week.  Once Bignot went that rule was scrapped and Slade/Fenty insisted that they either move to the area or stay over for the majority of the week.  

Now, at a push someone like Clements (who I presume lived around the Mansfield area after 5 years there) could commute, I wouldn't fancy the 3hr drive every day but each to their own.  Osborne, Solihull born, was looking at 6hr upwards on the road.  If only we had some experience with a player commuting from the Birmingham area that didn't go well...

Ludicrous to agree to those terms in the first place, but also a terrible reflection of the club that they reneged on such.

Quoted from diehardmariner

I think the club leaving him high and dry in the Humber Royal whilst recovering from a PCL injury might have played a factor in him wanting to go home too.

Story at the time that all of those Bignot brought in had agreements that they could commute from their Midlands' bases with a day off in the week.  Once Bignot went that rule was scrapped and Slade/Fenty insisted that they either move to the area or stay over for the majority of the week.  

Now, at a push someone like Clements (who I presume lived around the Mansfield area after 5 years there) could commute, I wouldn't fancy the 3hr drive every day but each to their own.  Osborne, Solihull born, was looking at 6hr upwards on the road.  If only we had some experience with a player commuting from the Birmingham area that didn't go well...

Ludicrous to agree to those terms in the first place, but also a terrible reflection of the club that they reneged on such.

Couldnt disagree more, you cant have players missing a day off in the week. Shocking from Bignot in the first place, and i dont hold any blame to the club for scrapping that as soon as they could

So you would be ok with joining an employer under certain terms (no doubt ones that were a factor in you joining) and then having them ripped up and changed?  

If so, I'll just give your boss a ring and let him know you're ok with a 25% paycut.  

Absolutely no disagreement that the terms were stupid in the first place, hence the Martin Butler reference.  That they were offered is not fault of the players though.