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      Signings that worked better then you expected

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      UncleBob
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #23: Oct 08, 2020 10:15:29 pm
      Big Sami would be up there.
      I agree with the shouts for Robertson. He was always great on FM so I had hopes but he’s immense now...

      I remember us signing David Speedie many moons ago and thinking wtf (or whatever the equivalent was at that time). He did well. Scored against United in his debut and I think averaged one in two.
      With Hope In My Heart
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #24: Oct 08, 2020 11:12:59 pm
      Alan Hansen cost merely £100,000 and claimed that he was just part of the Liverpool 'tax spend' money that if not spent on players would end up being paid in tax. I don't remember hearing about the signing at the time and had no expectations, it certainly worked out well...



      Phil Neal is another bargain - £66,000 in '74, bought with a view to replacing Lawler at left back, ended up doing rather nicely on the right... Not a great fanfare about his signing at the time.


      Does Steve Heighway count? Signed as an amateur from Skelmersdale, not a name known to many at the time.
      HamannsTheMan
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #25: Oct 09, 2020 04:16:13 am
      Some surprising shouts here for different reasons.

      Surprised people saying Finnan and Gary Mac (despite his age), because both had performed well at their clubs previously and were solid pro’s in my opinion. Didn’t really have any doubts about either.

      Can’t honestly believe somebody has said krygiakos. Surely that’s a wind up. He’s one of the worst centre halves I’ve ever seen play for us.

      Agree with most that it’s Robertson in recent times. Mainly because left back had been a big issue for 10+ years and we signed an unknown kid from relegated Hull. What a signing though. What a player.

      Agree with the mane shout too. I also thought it was another case of over spending on mid table dross. I too think he’s the best player in the league and our most important player. I just love him.

      Is crouch worth a shout? Always thought he was a bit of a donkey before joining us but it was only until his time at Liverpool I appreciated what a good footballer he actually was. Very under rated.

      Heskey too perhaps? Wasn’t particularly overjoyed when we signed him either but he brought the best out of owen and was a big part of our success under houllier.
      adammac
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #26: Oct 09, 2020 04:25:39 am
      Recently I would say Mane who was a decent enough player but given how the other players we signed from Southampton (Lovren, Lallana, Lambert) never were impressive I figure from that trend plus what I seen from him he would be overpaid average attacker but after that first game vs Arsenal boy was I wrong.
      clint_call01
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #27: Oct 09, 2020 07:45:51 am
      Masherano, Alonso, Crouch and many more. Most recent, Robbo obviously and Alisson too because I knew he was a good keeper but not this good.
      TameImpala
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #28: Oct 09, 2020 10:29:21 am

      Can’t honestly believe somebody has said krygiakos. Surely that’s a wind up. He’s one of the worst centre halves I’ve ever seen play for us.

      Heskey too perhaps? Wasn’t particularly overjoyed when we signed him either but he brought the best out of owen and was a big part of our success under houllier.

      Kyrgiakos was decent for us and even became a bit of a cult hero at one point, mustn't have cost us any more than £1M. He exceeded my expectations anyway

      Heskey was great but he was our record signing for about 4 or 5 years until Cisse came in. Certainly didn't disappoint like, but there was a lot of hype around him at the time we signed him
      JD
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #29: Oct 09, 2020 01:08:00 pm
      I remember us signing David Speedie many moons ago and thinking wtf (or whatever the equivalent was at that time).

      Kenny's last LFC signing.  Scored against the Mancs and then Everton! Legend!
      Robby The Z
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #30: Oct 09, 2020 01:34:53 pm
      Some surprising shouts here for different reasons.

      Surprised people saying Finnan and Gary Mac (despite his age), because both had performed well at their clubs previously and were solid pro’s in my opinion. Didn’t really have any doubts about either.

      Can’t honestly believe somebody has said krygiakos. Surely that’s a wind up. He’s one of the worst centre halves I’ve ever seen play for us.

      Agree with most that it’s Robertson in recent times. Mainly because left back had been a big issue for 10+ years and we signed an unknown kid from relegated Hull. What a signing though. What a player.

      Agree with the mane shout too. I also thought it was another case of over spending on mid table dross. I too think he’s the best player in the league and our most important player. I just love him.

      Is crouch worth a shout? Always thought he was a bit of a donkey before joining us but it was only until his time at Liverpool I appreciated what a good footballer he actually was. Very under rated.

      Heskey too perhaps? Wasn’t particularly overjoyed when we signed him either but he brought the best out of owen and was a big part of our success under houllier.

      That is a fair shout on Finnan (who I "amen'd" before). I think it speaks more to the old Watergate question "What did (I) know about him and when did I know it?" Revisiting his online bio, I see he played for Keegan at Fulham and was sought after by many top clubs before he decided on us. I just wasn't up to speed on him at that point so had a big question mark when I heard his name announced. Late 90s and early oughties is when my fanaticism really kicked in and we were just starting to get regular doses of information over here (before that I was listening to short wave radio and scraping the agate section of The Times of London at libraries for news - I kid you not).
      rossyred
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #31: Oct 09, 2020 06:15:19 pm
      Some surprising shouts here for different reasons.

      Surprised people saying Finnan and Gary Mac (despite his age), because both had performed well at their clubs previously and were solid pro’s in my opinion. Didn’t really have any doubts about either.

      Can’t honestly believe somebody has said krygiakos. Surely that’s a wind up. He’s one of the worst centre halves I’ve ever seen play for us.

      Agree with most that it’s Robertson in recent times. Mainly because left back had been a big issue for 10+ years and we signed an unknown kid from relegated Hull. What a signing though. What a player.

      Agree with the mane shout too. I also thought it was another case of over spending on mid table dross. I too think he’s the best player in the league and our most important player. I just love him.

      Is crouch worth a shout? Always thought he was a bit of a donkey before joining us but it was only until his time at Liverpool I appreciated what a good footballer he actually was. Very under rated.

      Heskey too perhaps? Wasn’t particularly overjoyed when we signed him either but he brought the best out of owen and was a big part of our success under houllier.

      Had no doubts about Mane watched hime tear us one and others Mcallister was 35 Yr old playing for Coventry pretty sure more than a few raised their eyebrows
      HUYTON RED
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #32: Oct 09, 2020 07:17:17 pm
      Big Sami would be up there.
      I agree with the shouts for Robertson. He was always great on FM so I had hopes but he’s immense now...

      I remember us signing David Speedie many moons ago and thinking wtf (or whatever the equivalent was at that time). He did well. Scored against United in his debut and I think averaged one in two.

      His two in the derby were better, even celebrating in front of the blueshit in the anny rd, then claiming he didn't know which was the home end bit :laugh:
      HUYTON RED
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #33: Oct 09, 2020 07:19:46 pm
      Can’t honestly believe somebody has said krygiakos. Surely that’s a wind up. He’s one of the worst centre halves I’ve ever seen play for us.




      He was still better than Bjorn Tore Kvarme and Frode Kippe!!
      HUYTON RED
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #34: Oct 09, 2020 07:21:20 pm
      Titi Camara, absolutely brilliant and was criminally cast aside for Heskey imo.
      HamannsTheMan
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #35: Oct 10, 2020 03:26:08 am
      Kyrgiakos was decent for us and even became a bit of a cult hero at one point, mustn't have cost us any more than £1M. He exceeded my expectations anyway

      Heskey was great but he was our record signing for about 4 or 5 years until Cisse came in. Certainly didn't disappoint like, but there was a lot of hype around him at the time we signed him

      Kyrgiakos and decent should never be in the same sentence unless it’s ‘kyrgiakos is far from decent’. An absolute donkey who was terrible. One of the worst footballers I’ve ever seen play for us. As a season ticket holder, I can say with huge confidence he was never any sort of cult hero for us and I remember very well with the crowd, fans in the boozer, phone ins and so on always talking about how sh*te he was constantly.

      I do remember, however, a nasty challenge he made in a derby game (was it on Fellaini?) and that got a good few cheers. So maybe that’s what you’re referring to. Also, because he was so sh*t, it brought a bit of a comedy value where some may have had a soft spot for him, like with biscan for example. Doesn’t change the fact he was absolutely turd though.

      As for heskey, yes we spent money on him, but that’s not what the subject topic is about (suarez and torres were big money signings and still surpassed expectation). He was a 1 goal in 4 game striker at Leicester so for a club like ours who have been spoilt with amazing forwards over the years with fantastic goal records, I can’t say I was jumping with joy over signing him. Perhaps you were but I don’t recall many reds buzzing over him at all and I don’t remember any hype about it Emile Heskey. We also smashed our transfer record on Andy Carroll and there was no hype around him either.
      HamannsTheMan
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #36: Oct 10, 2020 03:38:26 am
      Had no doubts about Mane watched hime tear us one and others Mcallister was 35 Yr old playing for Coventry pretty sure more than a few raised their eyebrows

      Ive seen loads of players have a good game against us or against other clubs in the top 6. Doesn’t really mean much though. We signed Stewart Downing for 20m or so after he was Villas player of the season and I think he might have got most assists in the league that year. And he turned out to be sh*te which many predicted.

      What separates a good player to a great one is consistency. Even the biggest Sadio Mane fan wouldn’t have predicted he would be performing at the levels he is now week in, week out. He has gone up several levels since his Southampton days. He hasn’t just come here and done well, he’s gone on to be the best LW in the world and if anybody says they could see that potential in him while he was at Southampton then I’d say they were telling porkies. 

      rossyred
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #37: Oct 10, 2020 09:51:24 am
      Ive seen loads of players have a good game against us or against other clubs in the top 6. Doesn’t really mean much though. We signed Stewart Downing for 20m or so after he was Villas player of the season and I think he might have got most assists in the league that year. And he turned out to be sh*te which many predicted.

      What separates a good player to a great one is consistency. Even the biggest Sadio Mane fan wouldn’t have predicted he would be performing at the levels he is now week in, week out. He has gone up several levels since his Southampton days. He hasn’t just come here and done well, he’s gone on to be the best LW in the world and if anybody says they could see that potential in him while he was at Southampton then I’d say they were telling porkies.

      Yes they would but no one has said that have they
      HamannsTheMan
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #38: Oct 10, 2020 11:10:40 am
      Yes they would but no one has said that have they

      You said you had no doubts about mane which seems a little strange considering he wasn’t playing anywhere near the level he is now.

      As for Gary Mac, the only thing that raised an eyebrow at the time was his age. He was a great player for both Leeds and Coventry.
      rossyred
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #39: Oct 10, 2020 11:32:27 am
      You said you had no doubts about mane which seems a little strange considering he wasn’t playing anywhere near the level he is now.

      As for Gary Mac, the only thing that raised an eyebrow at the time was his age. He was a great player for both Leeds and Coventry.

      Correct I had no doubts where we were at that time and his previous performances against us and others that he didn't raise my eyebrows like the original post stated . As for Gary Mac yes there were plenty of eyebrows raised due to his age and nothing to prove
      HamannsTheMan
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #40: Oct 10, 2020 11:45:16 am
      Correct I had no doubts where we were at that time and his previous performances against us and others that he didn't raise my eyebrows like the original post stated . As for Gary Mac yes there were plenty of eyebrows raised due to his age and nothing to prove

      Fair enough mate. My memories of signing Mane were that a lot of reds, myself included, thought we had over spent massively on him. Regarding the topic name, I think he’s more than a fair shout to include because I don’t think anybody could have imagined him being the player he has turned out to be.

      Gary Mac didn’t surprise me as being a good signing at the time. He was always going to come in and play a squad player type role and offer us some experience. He was a top pro and a very good player for his previous clubs so it didn’t raise any eyebrows from me particularly.
      rossyred
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #41: Oct 10, 2020 11:49:59 am
      Fair enough mate. My memories of signing Mane were that a lot of reds, myself included, thought we had over spent massively on him. Regarding the topic name, I think he’s more than a fair shout to include because I don’t think anybody could have imagined him being the player he has turned out to be.

      Gary Mac didn’t surprise me as being a good signing at the time. He was always going to come in and play a squad player type role and offer us some experience. He was a top pro and a very good player for his previous clubs so it didn’t raise any eyebrows from me particularly.

      Fair enough obviously all about opinion but your are right even though I had no doubts about Mane you are right I never imagined he would become the player he has would walk into any team in the world.
      Harrisimo
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #42: Oct 10, 2020 11:56:05 am
      Rush and Keegan were both signed as having the potential to do well but I bet even Sir Bill & Sir Bob were surprised about how great they actually turned out to be. Rush didn't score in his first 8/9 games and he very nearly got cast aside.Keegan got off to a great start and went on to even greater heights.

      Recent times maybe Mo, didn't work out at Chelsea but he has done better than anyone really expected. Mane as well. But Klopp's signing of Robbo is the best in terms of rapid improvement and doing better than anyone expected.
      HamannsTheMan
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #43: Oct 10, 2020 01:00:45 pm
      Coutinho worth a shout? Came here as an unknown kid from inter for less than 9m and a few years later we sell him for 140m which allowed us to transform our team into world champions. I was a bit pissed off the way coutinho went about things but it all worked out pretty well in the end so cheers Phil.

      In the same window we got sturridge for 12m too. He had struggled at city and Chelsea and had little to show for himself other than a decent loan spell with Bolton. But that season we nearly won the league with Brendan he was as good as anybody in Europe. Shame injury ruined Sturridge because he’s one of the best finishers I’ve seen.
      rossyred
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #44: Oct 10, 2020 01:05:00 pm
      Coutinho worth a shout? Came here as an unknown kid from inter for less than 9m and a few years later we sell him for 140m which allowed us to transform our team into world champions. I was a bit pissed off the way coutinho went about things but it all worked out pretty well in the end so cheers Phil.

      In the same window we got sturridge for 12m too. He had struggled at city and Chelsea and had little to show for himself other than a decent loan spell with Bolton. But that season we nearly won the league with Brendan he was as good as anybody in Europe. Shame injury ruined Sturridge because he’s one of the best finishers I’ve seen.

      Yep good shout on Phil . Sturridge funny one I never have much recollection  of him other than that at Bolton where he was brilliant no doubt both signings quality in terms of what we got back
      UncleBob
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      Re: Signings that worked better then you expected
      Reply #45: Oct 11, 2020 12:47:53 am
      Kenny's last LFC signing.  Scored against the Mancs and then Everton! Legend!

      I was at anfield when he scored a couple against Everton. I think molby scores the other but recently I read that with VaR the molby goal would have been credited to speedie so he was denied a hat-rick
      ....

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