Our most impactful signing ever?

[Chrisb]

Ron Martin - whatever we think of him at least we are still SUFC, things may have been different without him.

 

[number11]

Collymore by a country mile. We were going out of the first div, a terrible team, awful Football. He came in - a left winger and played up front. I think it was notts county we played in his first game - scored 2 - the second running the length of the pitch and hitting the TOP corner - even Steve smith? Scored. Biggest return in cash, progress, putting sufc on a map and all round excitement

I would never want to attempt to diminish how amazing Stan was- but was the team that bad or did we just have a clueless manager ? Plenty of club legends in that team........

I guess Hank is also looking for the likes of Boere, Rammell etc that brought the club to its knees first time around, Mcormack, Clarke, Paterson etc second time around. Guess the difficulty is not knowing how much they were costing us.

Regarding Eastwood - maybe the fortuitous appointment of Tilly precedes that....

 

[TheGoat]

Probably some recency bias involved but the over-investment of wages for Michael Kightly surely impacted our other midfield choices but didn’t ultimately cost as much us as we it might have due to our final day heroics.

Then there’s the famous overall cost of Peter Clarke - supposedly one of our biggest ever investments.

Was a super defender though. Him and Barrett were as good a pairing as I can remember us having in recent times. Shame they never got a chance to lead us back to the champ due to the financial mismanagement that saw us drop back into league 2.

 

[Shrimper Brownie]

Richard Cadette

 

[Special Blue]

Collymore and Eastwood were certainly names other clubs supporters would have mentioned when refering to us! This must have put us on the map and generated money while costing little.
As for the opposite the one I've never understood is Gary Poole, Our second biggest transfer fee for a player who was no better than we've had since.

 

[Bobby dazzler]

Billy Best was just before my time so I cannot comment on him. I go back to the days of Derek Spence and Phil Mercer as well as Colin Morris. Over the years we have been blessed with tremendous servants such as David Crown, Ron Pountney, Anton Otulakowski, Paul Clark, Spencer Prior, Sammy, Ricky Otto, Richard Cadette, Brett 'Angel" etc. The list is too long to go through but Freddy Eastwood would be well up there with what we achieved during his time.
I can only pick one though and it has to be Sir Stanley of the Collymore. I saw every precious game he played for us and he was almost unstoppable. I remember one particular away game at Chesterfield where he tore them apart on his own. His stay was not long but I savour every minute of it.

 

[Tokyo Blue]

Stan Collymore .....he was a different level......I was there for his first game...I couldn't quite believe what I was watching

 

[Stuart W]

Billy Best was just before my time so I cannot comment on him. I go back to the days of Derek Spence and Phil Mercer as well as Colin Morris. Over the years we have been blessed with tremendous servants such as David Crown, Ron Pountney, Anton Otulakowski, Paul Clark, Spencer Prior, Sammy, Ricky Otto, Richard Cadette, Brett 'Angel" etc. The list is too long to go through but Freddy Eastwood would be well up there with what we achieved during his time.
I can only pick one though and it has to be Sir Stanley of the Collymore. I saw every precious game he played for us and he was almost unstoppable. I remember one particular away game at Chesterfield where he tore them apart on his own. His stay was not long but I savour every minute of it.

I think you might be mixing your players and matches here, Bobby.
Collymore never played against Chesterfield whilst with us.
I am guessing you either mean the FA Cup game at Huddersfield Town, where be indeed terrorised their defence, or you are thinking of Fredy Eastwood at Chesterfield, where he plundered a hat-trick in a 4-3 win.

 

[cerbera45]

Stan Collymore reminded me of a certain Hotshot Hamish who appeared in the Roy of The Rovers comic

 

[KiwiRob]

Richard Cadette

Good shout

 

[ian_the_girth]

Albeit he originally joined through the youth set up, but his second spell was just as successful with another back to back promotion. Spencer Prior.

 

[Napster]

Bob Jack. Already well-known, getting him as manager was a real coup. He discovered Halse and, when scouting for his son, recommended George MacKenzie.

Maybe Ray Ternant or Brian Albeson deserves a mention, signings made for our successful 71/2 season.

Or Peter Johnson, Dave Webb Mk I's first signing, the first of many astute signings.

Or Sid Broomfield who built the stadium

It's all subjective isn't it.

 

[Angell Delight]

Collymore kept what was a truly appalling team up single-handedly - for me it's him by a country mile. And we're unlikely to see another like Sir Stanley in a Southend shirt so I'm thankful I was around to witness his short but legendary stint at Roots Hall.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Ah right.... was it Webb who had us top on new years day... I thought that was Fry.

Yeah it was Webb who had us top at New Year's Day 1992 after thrashing Newcastle 4-0.

Judas joined 1st April 1993. By 1st January 1994 he was in the opposing dug out

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...nd-saga-birmingham-get-the-blues-1397701.html

But at the time he quit were 3rd or 4th and looking like promotion contenders playing some great football.

Was a super defender though. Him and Barrett were as good a pairing as I can remember us having in recent times. Shame they never got a chance to lead us back to the champ due to the financial mismanagement that saw us drop back into league 2.

It was very much the defence that let us down. When we got to the play-offs in 2007-08 we were the 3rd highest scorers in the division but only 12th best defence. Forest, who finished second scored 8 fewer than us but conceded 23 fewer and at the other end of the table Luton, who would have finished second bottom but for a points deduction only conceded 8 more than us.

If you compare that 2007-08 team to our the 2005-06 team that won the title in 2007-08 we scored 2 fewer than our title winning team but with Clarke and Barrett at the back instead of Prior (and then Sodje) and Barrett at the back we conceded 12 more.

 

[overseas shrimper]

Biggest post WWII is Stan.

Scored the goals to keep us in the Championship then his transfer fee paid for Ricky Otto, Jason Lee, Tommy Mooney and ground redevelopment.

But someone like Harold Halse from the early days is probably the overall answer. In the early days we could have disappeared into obscurity but Halse’s goals and subsequent transfer fee helped establish a fledgling club.

I don't think you can suggest Harry Halse unless seeing him play in the flesh.

In which case, can we please defer to Cricko?

 

[RHB]

Got to be Sid Broomfield init?

 

[dshrimp]

Steve Thompson as manager back in the nineties

 

[Medway Blue]

Collymore kept what was a truly appalling team up single-handedly - for me it's him by a country mile. And we're unlikely to see another like Sir Stanley in a Southend shirt so I'm thankful I was around to witness his short but legendary stint at Roots Hall.

People keep saying this but I’m sure it was pretty much the same team that Webb took the top of Div 2 on NYD 1992, no?

 

[Bobby dazzler]

I think you might be mixing your players and matches here, Bobby.
Collymore never played against Chesterfield whilst with us.
I am guessing you either mean the FA Cup game at Huddersfield Town, where be indeed terrorised their defence, or you are thinking of Fredy Eastwood at Chesterfield, where he plundered a hat-trick in a 4-3 win.

I have just watched the you tube clip and that was the terrace indeed and the game. Huddersfield it was. Next you will tell me that Alison Moyet wasn't in Florence when we played in the Anglo Italian cup ! Or indeed we weren't there. Alzheimers anyone ?

 

[Angell Delight]

People keep saying this but I’m sure it was pretty much the same team that Webb took the top of Div 2 on NYD 1992, no?

Dean Austin had gone but far more importantly Ian Benjamin had also departed for Luton who was such a big loss to us. We had injuries to key players and at the time Collymore arrived it was a very poor side - if you remember Collymore actually played up front with Steve Brown on debut. Collymore played such a huge part in our survival, along with that fat git Fry....