Where are they now?

[Snake]

How did we miss this one ...?

http://www.thanetgazette.co.uk/Margate- ... netgazette

J-Lo interview in the Daily Telegraph

We turned down a bid of £350k from Villa? How did I miss that one?!?!

Another failing that Uncle Firoz had was that when it came to selling our best players when the market was high he just wanted more, and the Louis deal is nothing compared to the seven figure bid from Newcastle offered for Paul Powell that was turned down. The guy is ultra smart in property deals but is as stupid as we are when it comes to football.

[GodalmingYellow]

How did we miss this one ...?

http://www.thanetgazette.co.uk/Margate- ... netgazette

J-Lo interview in the Daily Telegraph

We turned down a bid of £350k from Villa? How did I miss that one?!?!

Better than Dean Whitehead? Really?

[Kairdiff Exile]

Interesting article. This bit intrigued me:

Graham Rix came in, and he destroyed me. He said if I didn’t play centre-back, I wouldn’t play for the club again. I said no.

What a fine manager Rix was... Whatever J-Lo's failings, he's carved out a career as a centre forward - yet matey boy wanted him in central defence. Numpty.

The £350k offer from Villa came as a surprise though - was Louis really a player of Premiershi* quality? And I was intrigued by Snake's comments about a seven-figure offer for Paul Powell by Newcastle - any chance of a few more details about that one, old thing?

[Kernow Yellow]

Interesting article. This bit intrigued me:

Graham Rix came in, and he destroyed me. He said if I didn’t play centre-back, I wouldn’t play for the club again. I said no.

What a fine manager Rix was... Whatever J-Lo's failings, he's carved out a career as a centre forward - yet matey boy wanted him in central defence. Numpty.

I'm taking most of that article with a pinch of salt tbh. His career obviously hasn't gone the way he hoped and that's upset him, but some of the stories giving reasons for that seem rather fanciful. Weren't there some off-field brushes with the law during his time with us as well, or am I misremembering?

Besides, anyone who refers to themselves in the third person (repeatedly) shouldn't be taken too seriously imo.

[Snake]

Interesting article. This bit intrigued me:

Graham Rix came in, and he destroyed me. He said if I didn’t play centre-back, I wouldn’t play for the club again. I said no.

What a fine manager Rix was... Whatever J-Lo's failings, he's carved out a career as a centre forward - yet matey boy wanted him in central defence. Numpty.

The £350k offer from Villa came as a surprise though - was Louis really a player of Premiershi* quality? And I was intrigued by Snake's comments about a seven-figure offer for Paul Powell by Newcastle - any chance of a few more details about that one, old thing?

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 59,00.html

"Toon boss Bobby Robson could find a ready-made replacement in Oxford United`s young left-back Paul Powell. With The U`s one of the favourites for the drop into Division Three they may cash in on their hottest prospect in the summer. United watched Powell three times last week when Oxford were beaten 2-0 by Cambridge on Saturday. Denis Smith, the Oxford boss has put a £2 million price tag on the England U-21 international although the Second Division side are so desperate for cash that they will take half of that amount."

[andy james womble]

worked at thame around that time and seem to remember stories coming from Aylesbury about run ins with the local law concerning cars

[Radley Rambler]

This all reads as if it was everyone else's fault but you don't end up at 29 clubs without there being more to it than that.

There is no substantiation of the £350k bid in the article either so I wonder how much validity it has - I don't recall him being a quality striker.

[Kairdiff Exile]

Interesting article. This bit intrigued me:

Graham Rix came in, and he destroyed me. He said if I didn’t play centre-back, I wouldn’t play for the club again. I said no.

What a fine manager Rix was... Whatever J-Lo's failings, he's carved out a career as a centre forward - yet matey boy wanted him in central defence. Numpty.

The £350k offer from Villa came as a surprise though - was Louis really a player of Premiershi* quality? And I was intrigued by Snake's comments about a seven-figure offer for Paul Powell by Newcastle - any chance of a few more details about that one, old thing?

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 59,00.html

"Toon boss Bobby Robson could find a ready-made replacement in Oxford United`s young left-back Paul Powell. With The U`s one of the favourites for the drop into Division Three they may cash in on their hottest prospect in the summer. United watched Powell three times last week when Oxford were beaten 2-0 by Cambridge on Saturday. Denis Smith, the Oxford boss has put a £2 million price tag on the England U-21 international although the Second Division side are so desperate for cash that they will take half of that amount."

Good digging, cheers for that. I can't ever think of Paul Powell without a twinge of sadness. Such potential. I recall a game I think against Port Vale where he ran half the length of the pitch and hit a screamer into the goal at the Cuckoo Lane End. He was genuinely being talked of as a potential England player one day - but he pissed it all away and ended up turning out for Didcot. Wasted talent - I wonder if he thinks the same?

[YF Dan]

What is it about our club? Why can our shining talents never truly fulfill their potential?

Powell, for a season and a half, was spectacular. Orgasmic. A joy to watch. Until that injury, when he clearly decided the best way to recover was to drink himself back to fitness. Alas, it never works.

[YF Dan]

All this talk of Powell and Brooks has made me think of an XI of my favourite players, ie players who I've liked most, despite whatever catastrophic season we've been having at the time. So there are players in here who wouldn't make an all-time team, but at least provided a bit of joy amongst the otherwise almost unrelenting woe. So for instance, Yemi makes it in, because around this time http://www.rageonline.co.uk/mainpage/fi ... 007-10-06/ he was the only player I remotely enjoyed watching.

Anyway, here goes:

Reece (just for Derby and Watford away, arguably the greatest two goalkeeping displays ever)

Bardsley - class, replaced the irreplacable.
Elliott - God
Melville - Immense
Powell - why Lord do you tease us with these flawed geniuses.

Beauchamp - real man love.
B Ford - should have played in La Liga. Totally wasted in English football.
Magilton - head nodding quality.
Simpson - genius. great bloke. goals.

Brooks - if only.
Moody (Mark 1) - see notes.

Subs:
Hebberd
Foyle
Windass
Hackett
Green
Constable
Yemi

Notes:
* Sadly most of my memories of Langan, Hamilton and Aldridge were from Sportsnight so they don't really count.
** While I love a home-grown winger, I doubt I will feel love again like I felt for Paul Moody during 1994.
*** I appreciate the lack of defensive options among the subs but attack is definitely the best form of defence. If pushed I'd find room to squeeze Crosby and Dr Ceri a spot on the bench.

[Myles Francis]

Interesting article. This bit intrigued me:

Graham Rix came in, and he destroyed me. He said if I didn’t play centre-back, I wouldn’t play for the club again. I said no.

What a fine manager Rix was... Whatever J-Lo's failings, he's carved out a career as a centre forward - yet matey boy wanted him in central defence. Numpty.

Hmmmm. I remember this from the time. As I recall, J-Lo was indeed asked to play in central defence for one reserve game, but this was to help him learn his trade as a striker, not as an attempt to turn him into a centre half. The theory being that if you try and stop someone playing in your position, you quickly learn what does and does not work.

[Mooro]

Interesting article. This bit intrigued me:

Graham Rix came in, and he destroyed me. He said if I didn’t play centre-back, I wouldn’t play for the club again. I said no.

What a fine manager Rix was... Whatever J-Lo's failings, he's carved out a career as a centre forward - yet matey boy wanted him in central defence. Numpty.

Hmmmm. I remember this from the time. As I recall, J-Lo was indeed asked to play in central defence for one reserve game, but this was to help him learn his trade as a striker, not as an attempt to turn him into a centre half. The theory being that if you try and stop someone playing in your position, you quickly learn what does and does not work.

I know Atkins did this with Blackstock once or twice too, seem to remember he had him up against Iwan Roberts for that very reason. Interestingly the latter did so with no complaint and has forged a career in the top two divisions, the former...er....didn't!

I'm still gutted Atkins went for Louis over Norman Sylla, who had been banging them in for fun in the youths and reserves. Whether he'd have made it we'll never know, but apart from one day in the cup we'll never forget, chances are he'd have given us more memories than JL

[Snake]

Still don’t fully understand why we lost Dexter Blackstock for only about a quarter of a million quid. I only saw him play a few times while on loan to Oxford City (playing mainly at centre half) but it was obvious then he was class.

[Mooro]

Still don’t fully understand why we lost Dexter Blackstock for only about a quarter of a million quid. I only saw him play a few times while on loan to Oxford City (playing mainly at centre half) but it was obvious then he was class.

A combination of some or all of the following:

1) We were not allowed to sign him on a professional deal until his 17th birthday. By the time that came around Malcolm Elias had sniffed him out and Southampton offered him a contract the same day we did.
2) The money/prospects attached to a Premiership side rather than a 4th tier one, particularly one with a renowned youth setup which then, as now, was amongst the most productive in the country, compared to ours which was under threat of closure.
3) Atkins reluctance to push him into the first team.
4) FKs eyes lighting up at the prospect of money from nowhere.

Such a shame his career has been so blighted by lengthy injury absences

[Snake]

Garry Monk, who played five times on loan for Us during the 2000-2001campaign and is just three more games away from the time the bookies have to pay out on him being the ‘next permanent manager’ of Swansea according to their rules.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Monk ... statistics