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Next Game

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Knut Anders Fosters Voles
November 1, 2022, 10:22am
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Quoted from diehardmariner
I thought Widdrington was decent, it's just he wasn't Paul Groves.

Groves was a one-off in many ways.  I never thought we would replace Shaun Cunnington and then it turned out the guy who replaced him was even better.  Widdrington wasn't in the same league as Groves, but that doesn't make him a bad player.  

I think he had a bit of stigma as Laws' boy too, which didn't help at the time.  We went from having a really good midfield to a quite average one very quickly.  Widdrington was the mainstay in the 96/97 season but his midfield partner was rarely a consistent one.  A past it Craig Shakespeare, an even more past it Neil Webb, a lightweight Kingsley Black, an out of position Nicky Southall, a poor Paul Trollope.....I think only Michael Appleton coming in gave him a consistent partner for a period.  The next season he was in the team when we started to really get motoring, but lost his place when Wayne Burnett came in on loan in January.    Burnett was different class and with the side that had found its feet, we could afford to go for a more creative player at the expense of Widdrington's style, especially once the defence had really settled.  But he was far from the worst player I've seen in a Town shirt.


Yep, I agree with that. Widdrington arrived from the Premier League on a relatively large salary and expectations were probably a little high. He was decent but wasn’t Paul Groves.

Heresy (not by you) to suggest he should be in a team ahead of Groves though.

I’m 40 and Paul Groves was the best non-loan player Town have had in my lifetime. Groves was a colossus in both boxes, a steadying presence in between, rarely giving the ball away and hardly ever missed a match.
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Maringer
November 1, 2022, 11:06am
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Quoted from Knut Anders Fosters Voles

Groves was a colossus in both boxes, a steadying presence in between, rarely giving the ball away and hardly ever missed a match.


I think I'm correct in saying that Groves never once missed a match through injury in all the years he was with us. A consummate professional with bones and ligaments of steel!
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WayneBurnettsJockstrap
November 1, 2022, 1:50pm

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Right, let's swap it around a bit after a few suggestions

Beasant (sticking with him?)

McDermott Bennett Futcher Gallimore

Donovan Cockerill Groves Bonetti

Mendonca Reddy

On the bench

Batch
Birtles Lever
Whymark Burnett Cunnington
Hearn

Any suggestions for swaps welcome
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Son of Cod
November 1, 2022, 2:02pm
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Quoted from diehardmariner

Summer of 1996 we sold Groves for £600k and Paul Crichton for £250k, both to West Brom.  Widdrington, Darren Wrack (£100k) and Kingsley Black (£25k) coming in.  A profit £425k

We'd sold Gary Croft during the season before that for over a mill too.
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diehardmariner
November 1, 2022, 2:45pm
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Yep, Gally coming in for about a quarter of what we got from Blackburn.

Going back a bit further.  Cunnington went to Sunderland for £650k, Groves was his replacement at £150k.  God knows how much Buckley convinced West Brom's board to part with to take half of his Town team to the Midlands.  Just realised I forgot the mid-season transfers of Dave Smith and Burnett from the 97/98 season.  Both extremely good bits of business.  I think Smith was by far the more expensive too.

GTFC were doing net transfer profit before it was a thing.

Thankfully the £50k spent on Tony Daws only made a small indent on the balance sheet...
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Abdul19
November 1, 2022, 2:56pm

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Yeah Burnett for 100k was an absolute steal.


JESUS AT THE CENTRE
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DB
November 1, 2022, 4:26pm
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Quoted from WayneBurnettsJockstrap
Right, let's swap it around a bit after a few suggestions

Beasant (sticking with him?)

McDermott Bennett Futcher Gallimore

Donovan Cockerill Groves Bonetti

Mendonca Reddy

On the bench

Batch
Birtles Lever
Whymark Burnett Cunnington
Hearn

Any suggestions for swaps welcome


Kevin Moore and Kevin Drinkell


You can please some of the forumites some of the time but not all the forumites all of the time
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Gaffer58
November 1, 2022, 5:33pm
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As the famous football quote goes, “Widdrington was not fit to lace Groves boots” in my humble opinion.
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