Just read Chris Hargreaves talking about tomorrow's game on the Torquay website about his time at Town. He says: “There was talk about moving for a million pounds but it didn’t materialise." Now, nothing against him, I thought he was an OK striker who was unlucky to be with us at a time when we had some much better ones, but did this really happen? In those days a million pound striker was still pretty special....

I've read his first book (very good read, would highly recommend) and I don't recall him mentioning that.

That'd be around the same time Eric Cantona went to Man U for £1.2m. Sounds plausible.

It was probably a tongue-in-cheek article in the Sing When We're Fishing fanzine.  He must've thought it was a mini-edition of the Evening Telegraph.

Million pound transfer? Bonkers. He was a young striker/winger who fundamentally wasn't very good at scoring or attacking but he did end up as a capable lower-division central midfielder.

Quoted from diehardmariner

I've read his first book (very good read, would highly recommend) and I don't recall him mentioning that.

If you mean his book "Where's Your Caravan" he mentions it in the first line of the 2nd chapter entitled "Early Days"

"You can be Grimsby's first million pound player, if you would just realise it" and "I'm going to be letting you go Chris.

Those two comments came from two different managers within the space of four seasons: from a hot-tempered Alan Buckley at Grimsby Town, and a meek and mild Terry Dolan at Hull City.

Quoted from Les Brechin

If you mean his book "Where's Your Caravan" he mentions it in the first line of the 2nd chapter entitled "Early Days"

"You can be Grimsby's first million pound player if you would just realise it" and "I'm going to be letting you go Chris.

Those two comments came from two different managers within the space of four seasons: from a hot-tempered Alan Buckley at Grimsby Town, and a meek and mild Terry Dolan at Hull City.

BUSTED !!

I watched his time at Grimsby, mainly as a youth and a reserve always as a striker,

Buckley kept giving him a  game or two then dropping him ,

I think he was with the club as a pro for 5 years but never really had a long run in the 1st team,

When he was released he turned into a good midfield player,

Buckley never thought of that.

Quoted from grimsby pete

I watched his time at Grimsby, mainly as a youth and a reserve always as a striker,

Buckley kept giving him a  game or two then dropping him ,

I think he was with the club as a pro for 5 years but never really had a long run in the 1st team,

When he was released he turned into a good midfield player,

Buckley never thought of that.

He makes his dislike of Alan Buckley pretty clear in his book and almost goes as far to accuse him of ruining any chance of a career at the top.

Who would u put money on being correct though? Him or Buckley, AB knew a decent player when he spotted one.  Such as ageing centre backs languishing in Halifax reserve teams....

Quoted from grimsby pete

I watched his time at Grimsby, mainly as a youth and a reserve always as a striker,

Buckley kept giving him a  game or two then dropping him ,

I think he was with the club as a pro for 5 years but never really had a long run in the 1st team,

When he was released he turned into a good midfield player,

Buckley never thought of that.

He was the next generation on from Wilkinson & Lund and never really looked the part, although to be fair the youth teams he played in were not as brilliant as the earlier ones either. His attitude as a youngster was a bit suspect. Perhaps he felt GTFC was too much of a step down from Everton. I seem to remember he was tried in midfield but it was attitude that let him down because the coaches thought he just wasn't working hard enough.

Maybe the penny dropped after his loan at Scarborough.

Jack Lester, Gary Croft, Ryan Bennett and John Oster where the best younsters to emerge from the youths the rest were average I.e. Daryl Clare, Mansaram and Hargreaves.

I played as a teenager with Chris Hargreaves, and the idea that he could ever have been a million pound player makes me chuckle. I think he was very lucky to be a pro Chris, and to play so many league games is even more astonishing.

He was a year above me at school and I remember playing against him in an our year versus their year match. Would have been not too long before he became an apprentice, I expect. Never got past me in that game and I wasn't exactly Bobby Moore! Nobby Stiles, perhaps...

Just goes to show that a bit of ability and plenty of application can work out well for some players.

I was in the same year as him at school, although  we were in different schools. I played against him for our schools a lot, and I played with him a lot at Clee Borough, District etc. Set up a lot of goals for him. He was good. But not that good.