Are there any so called 'flops' at NUFC who you wished had gone on and really made a name for themselves? I always liked Jon Dahl Tomasson and wasn't surprised that he went on to play well for AC Milan.
I liked Mike Merino's start for us. Seemed to tail off and leave. Also Kenedy. What the hell happened to his game?
You can't really call Jon Dahl Tomasson a flop, he ended up being one of Denmark's best ever players! We just dealt with him stupidly and got him to lead the line on his own when he was a kid. And no more mentioning of our legendary Shola in this thread! OTTOH: Haris Vuckic - one of the best kids in Europe when we signed him, ended up on the Wigan and Rotherham bench. Michael Chopra - Seemed to have real talent as a kid, never amount to anything other than a just about ok championship striker Mark Robinson - think back to the 92/93 season! We signed this lad from Barnsley and he had pace and talent and could have gone on to be a great defender for us, but his career with us was over after a horrible tackle in a pre season friendly at Hartlepool. Matty Pattinson - seemed decent when he started then went massivly downhill Matty Appleby - the one of our early 90s "golden generation" who never made it, did ok for Barnsley Wayne Fereday - HAHAHAHA. Remember this? We thought we'd signed one of the best wingers in the country, he turned out to be literally the worst player I've ever seen.
??????????????????????????????? How was he a flop???? He was a key player when we got promoted and when we finished 5th, and when he left us he won the Premiership!
JDT is widely viewed as a flop at NUFC mate. That's why he didn't last long. Good shout on Chopra. He couldn't stop scoring as a lad. I used to know his dad quite well.
Shola should have been an England first team player based on how he was as a teenager. He ended up being ****. Flop with a capital F
Yeah but but like......I still think that a massive amount of that is down to our mismanagement of him, and throwing him in at the deep end by himself when he was clearly way too young and inexperienced. Luuk De Jong was ****e was us then scored for fun as soon as he left, but that's cos he went to an easy Mickey Mouse league, JDT clearly had the ability and potential, we just expected far too much at such an early age.
How can you call someone who played 400 games for us and was a regular for 14 years a flop? He might not have lived up to his full potential, but he clearly wasn't a flop as he more than made the grade.
More like it! Viana looked great to start with then then went ridiculously downhill.....Luque, ummmmm, I dunno which nutjob assumed he was any good, but I hope whoever it was got their balls hacked off with a rusty spoon! On that note: Diego Gavilan Alessandro Pistone Silvo Maric Marcelino Didier Domi Alain Goma David Rozenhal Claudio Cacapa Alan Smith
Some of those didn't make a name for themselves after they left us,Pistone not really and Smith was winding down when he left us.
Smith was 26 when he joined us, hardly winding down, after how he'd been at Leeds and Man U, we had high expectations, but he was a huge flop. Pistone we signed from Inter Milan as an exciting 22 year old youth prospect, he was a huge let down, and complete dross at Everton as well.
Viana I remember watching him in the Euro U21 championship 2002, stood out a mile as the best player against England. Cech was unbelievable in that tourney. Was he not young European Footballer of the Year? Fantastic pedigree with Sporting. Just never realised his potential.
I'd say Alan Smith was ok for us. Striker/holding midfielder strange transition but still. Viana was the one that I had the highest hopes for. Utd signed Ronaldo, Spurs signed Postiga and Viana was the highest rated of the 3. Pistone, was a strange one signed as U21 captain on the brink of a full call up, then just didn't kick on at all. Franck Dumas was one that always puzzled me, decent player in champion league with Monaco but just didn't work out. Cabella & Thauvin disappointed, promising but just the wrong players. There appears to be a pattern, we don't buy well from French clubs and we don't appear to be able to develop players.