It’s hard to believe looking at the current nucleus of today’s
squad made up of youngsters, triallists and players we’re desperately trying to
offload from the wage bill that it wasn’t that many seasons ago we were
bringing some real big names to Fratton Park who came with good pedigree and on
paper should have been a real asset to the team. Yesterday we saw how John
Utaka failed to live up to his transfer fee of £7,000,000 so today we look at
another set of players who failed to produce during their time with the club.
Redknapp as we know was labelled a wheeler dealer and so many players came into
the club before exiting stage left. So who else failed to cut the mustard?
John Utaka’s transfer fee of £7 million gave me a lot of
options when it came to suggesting where the money would have been more wisely
spent so I’m going to have to combine the transfer fee’s of two players to help
me get through the previous summer transfer window of 2006. Two players who
literally couldn’t have come with a higher footballing pedigree and record if
you’d tried.
Lauren (Arsenal to Portsmouth) £500,000
On paper this was a deal that couldn’t go wrong and matched
the clubs ambition at the time to bring the best players to the club. No
offence to 90s midfielder Chris Burns who had signed from Cheltenham over a
decade earlier, but the signing of Lauren for me personally showed how the club
had moved so far forward. Lauren had been an integral part of the Arsenal back
like which had seen the club run out Double Winners in 2001-2002. He was part
of the 2003-2004 side dubbed ‘The Invincibles’ having gone the entire campaign undefeated.
He was a versatile player who could play in pretty much any role across the
back four which he proved when Glen Johnson’s performances saw the ex-Chelsea
player playing in his preferred role in the back four.
Arsene Wenger one of the most astute managers in the game
worldwide let alone in England when it comes to transfers had paid £7.2 million
and we’d managed to sign him for £6.7 million less than that? What could go
wrong?
Fast forward to 2009 and Lauren’s Pompey career saw him make
a grand total of just 30 appearances for the club in all competitions. I don’t
know if it’s true or not but he was rumoured to be on £40,000 a week which
would mean he managed to pocket a total of a staggering £4.16 million from his
time with the club. Even if the figure is half that amount that’s not a bad
amount to walk away with having only managed 25 appearances in all
competitions.
Laurens Pompey career amounted to the following;
20 league starts in 5 as substitute
2 FA Cup starts plus 1 as substitute
1 Carling Cup and 1 further appearance in the FA Community
Shield.
So if the rumoured salary is true each appearance and hold
in mind six of those were as a substitute it would have cost the club £138,667
for each of them. That’s not a bad days
work if you can get it is it not?
As I mentioned the sum of £500,000 didn’t give me a lot to
work with so I’ve coupled his transfer fee to another one of Redknapp’s summer
signings, a player who came with one of the best goal scoring records of any
striker in the history of the English Premier League, step forward Mr Andrew
Cole.
Andy Cole (Manchester City to Portsmouth) £500,000
Signed on the transfer deadline day of 2006 in a deal that
could have risen to £1 million depending on the amount of appearances the striker
played (He didn’t get there so the figure is included at £500,000) Andy Cole
had one of the most enviable strike rates in the English game. During his time
with Newcastle United he scored 55 goals in 70 games for the Magpies giving him
a strike rate of 1 goal in every 1.27 … yes 1.27 games. Having been snapped up
unsurprisingly by Manchester United he found the net a further 93 times in 195
games which gives him a goal scoring ratio of 1 in 2.09 games and although not
as prolific at his time during his spell at Newcastle, this time the team wasn’t
built to play specifically around him and his strike partners were world class
as well.
Despite a somewhat torrid time since he left United;
Blackburn Rovers 27 goals in 83 games, Fulham 12 in 31 and Manchester City 9 in
22, this was the Andy Cole and he was joining Pompey. I for one was excited.
And what did we get for our half million quid? 3 goals in a
total of 18 appearances having been sent out to Birmingham City on loan before
being recalled and finally moved onto Sunderland where his career nose dived
even more failing to score in seven appearances for the black cats.
A goal ratio of 1 in 6. Still the way I look at it, it still
outshines that of Kanu and David Kitson and when the Premiership years are on
we can lay claim to having had one of the greatest Premiership strikers of all
time having pulled on the Royal Blue Pompey shirt.
So sadly for Pompey two gigantic flops costing the club
£1million and if the figures are true probably a further £5 million in wages
between the both of them; that just made me shudder.
So in the summer of 2006 trying to find players of quality
of whom our money would have been better spent was quite hard. As I say I only
had a million to work with combined so I’ve gone for these two choices who went
to move on to Cardiff City and West Bromwich Albion instead of possibly coming to
Pompey.
Kevin Phillips (Aston Villa to West Bromwich Albion)
£700,000
Yes I know what you’re thinking he’s a … but he’s also a natural born goal scorer
and at the end of the day it’s goals that help win games and during his career
Phillips has done that for whichever club he has played for and despite being
37 he is still continuing to do it to this very day and keep proving any
doubters wrong. In all Phillips would go onto make a total of 71 appearances
for the Baggies scoring 38 times in the process giving him a goal ratio of 1 in
1.86.
In March 2008 he was named Championship player of the year
at the fourth annual Football League awards in London. Sponsored by Four Four
Two they named him as the best player in the entire football league as well. The
2007 – 2008 season saw him named as the West Bromwich Albion club and fans
Player of the Season and he was named in the PFA player of the season team for
good measure. Phillips goals helped West Bromwich Albion to secure promotion to
the English Premier League whilst Lauren and Cole helped plunge us ever closer
into what would become a full financial meltdown.
Let’s state the obvious as well Phillips would have been
£300,000 cheaper than Lauren and Cole to boot.
Choice two is another striker of which the chance or attempt
to sign went begging who ended up having quite the season and Cardiff City
where they nearly won promotion to the English Premier League before their form
tailed off at the end of the season.
Michael Chopra (Newcastle to Cardiff City) £500,000
My second choice would have seen me save half a million for
a rainy day which might have been bloody well handy given what eventually
happened finance wise for us. Chopra was known as a raw talent but hadn’t quite
made the grade during his time with Newcastle which is why he managed to sign
for Cardiff City for the somewhat knockdown fee of £500,000. It turned out to be
half a million pounds well spent as Chopra fired in 22 goals in 42 appearances
for the Welsh side giving him a goal ratio of 1 in 1.91.
Chopra was voted Championship player of the month for both
September and October and at the end of the season was named in the PFA
Championship team of the year.
Remember though Harry we all make mistakes and we’re all
human.
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