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Question Which seemingly universally hated ex-Shrimper did you think was OK?

Joined
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Following on from the Gary Jones, Dave Regis and Barry Conlon discussion on another thread, it appeared that I wasn't the only Zoner who felt that Gary Jones was a decent player, even potentially a very good player. Gary wasn't well-liked or rated by most fans, but he wasn't in the hated category of Graeme Jones, Gary Poole, Steve Hatter or Jeroen Boere, to name a few examples.

Did you find it in your heart to rate any of these miscreants higher than total dross? Personally, I thought Boere did OK for us, and scored some important goals, most notably at Gillingham in that miracle win of December 1997. He was also the best Southend player I have ever seen at winning the high ball and flicking it on with a degree of accuracy. He was lazy and overpaid too, but I'm just saying he wasn't all bad.
 
Following on from the Gary Jones, Dave Regis and Barry Conlon discussion on another thread, it appeared that I wasn't the only Zoner who felt that Gary Jones was a decent player, even potentially a very good player. Gary wasn't well-liked or rated by most fans, but he wasn't in the hated category of Graeme Jones, Gary Poole, Steve Hatter or Jeroen Boere, to name a few examples.

Did you find it in your heart to rate any of these miscreants higher than total dross? Personally, I thought Boere did OK for us, and scored some important goals, most notably at Gillingham in that miracle win of December 1997. He was also the best Southend player I have ever seen at winning the high ball and flicking it on with a degree of accuracy. He was lazy and overpaid too, but I'm just saying he wasn't all bad.

Can't really comment on these guys (as I was out of Blues circulation at the time- got nosebleeds when we were in the higher division) but I used to stick up for Roy McDonough when all around me gave him stick, as I thought his skills were under-rated. Granted, like Alex R (get well soon), he hardly ever scored, but his hold-up play, chest flicks and- wonder of wonders- his ability to trap the ball on his thigh (witnessed in receipt of a throw-in at the home game v Wolves, April '87) were pretty good for 'our level' at that time.
 
Only been supporting the Blues for 10 years so not familiar with some of the names. I do however remember Graeme Jones, thought he was crap.
 
Only been supporting the Blues for 10 years so not familiar with some of the names. I do however remember Graeme Jones, thought he was crap.


have you ignored the title of the thread?
Which seemingly universally hated ex-Shrimper did you think was OK?

oh and for the record the only answer to this question is steven clark
 
Personally, I thought Boere did OK for us

*hot tears of anguish spring to his eyes*

Rusty, nothing you've ever said before has pained me as much as this.

Boere may have had talent, but he was the biggest good-for-nothing, devil-may-care, disgrace to the hallowed Blue shirt that has ever walked through the doors of Roots Hall. In terms of effort given versus money paid and talent possessed, there has never been a more scandalous Shrimper than Jeroen Boere. He embodied everything that was wrong about this club in the late 1990s.

I'd rather have a team of Tony Richardses than a team of Jeroen Boeres - at least the former wouldn't bankrupt us.

On that note, the first time I saw Tony Richards was when he bagged a brace against Halifax. OK, so Halifax are comfortably the worst league side I have ever seen at Roots Hall. And yes, Richards spurned a further half-a-dozen gilt-edged opportunities that day. But he still scored a brace the first time I saw him play, which made me think "hmm, he's not too bad".

:dizzy: :)

Matt
 
Phil Gridelet.

One of my all-time favourite players. Barnsley signed him for £175,000 but he barely played for them, leading their fans to christen him (excuse the pun) God as everybody knew he was there, but nobody ever saw him.

Grids was a terribly dirty hacker, but with a smile of innocence that conned many a referee. He was also that rare combination of a player who was willing to both foul but also to kick up a fuss when someone tackled him. Grids thought nothing of kicking a player, protesting his innocence as the referee duly took his name. Then next opportunity he'd go to attempt an outrageous piece of skill for a player of his ability but throw himself to the floor in an even more outrageous swallow dive and then get up and try and start a fight with the player who had the temerity to try and tackle him.

Admittedly I loved him for his comedy genius rather than his footballing ability, which was somewhat limited, but he formed an incredibly effective partnership with Ronnie Whelan, before he gave up tackling and decided he wanted to become Ronnie Whelan, a role he was ill-suited to.

Legend.


Stuart Thurgood - Thurgood was a player in the Gridelet role, but with a little more ability. I believe he'd have been a very good player for us, once he'd have learnt to cut down on the ambition of his passing and just given it to Maher. At the time I was living up North and so saw mainly away games in which we rarely had the ball. As the likes of Maher coasted along not really trying, it was bombhead who was working his socks off and displayed a prodigious work-rate in a team who predominantly didn't care.

Danny Webb - as good (or rather, as bad) as any Southend targetman in a decade, he was a kid attempting to do a man's job. But he wasn't just any kid, he was the son of the messiah. Southend fans' treatment of him was nothing short of a disgrace. After what Webby has done for this club, he should have been allowed to pick his daughter up front if he wanted to, let alone his son who showed more passion and commitment than many of the want away wasters we had on the field at that time. He remains one of the most effective 17 year olds I have ever seen play for Southend,which doesn't really say much.
 
I liked Gary Jones, I also felt Boere didn't warrant the stick he got. Same applies to Matt Harrold IMHO

Willie Coulson was largely derided too , but I thought he was ok
 
I don't see why Boere gets so much stick, or indeed why so many ex players seem to come in for such harsh criticism on here.

We paid £150k to buy Boere and offered him wages which he accepted. At no time did he put a gun to anyone's head and demand to be signed and paid. Any criticism should be leveled squarely at the manager and chairman at the time who identified the target and sanctioned the move. If they didn't do enough homework re his attitude, or their ability to get the best out of him, then again that's their fault not his, IMO.

Was Gary 'offside' Jones ever a figure of hate? A fustrating player yes, but his goals help save us from relegation under Thompson.

I was disappointed by the behavior of the likes of Rawle, Constatine and Nicky Nicolou when they left the club, but they all played their part in some way or other.
 
I always thought Gary Poole linked up well with Johnathon Hunt and always pushed forward when he could? Maybe my age is playing tricks on my mind. Someone want to enlighten me with regards to Mr Poole?
 
I always thought Gary Poole linked up well with Johnathon Hunt and always pushed forward when he could? Maybe my age is playing tricks on my mind. Someone want to enlighten me with regards to Mr Poole?

My abiding memory of Poole was him vainly appealing for off-side instead of trying to stop the cross from which Luton scored the only goal in a 1-0 nil defeat in the FA Cup.

IIRC it was either a replay or a re-arranged game, and the winner had already drawn Newcastle at home in the 4th round.
 
I liked Gary Jones, I also felt Boere didn't warrant the stick he got. Same applies to Matt Harrold IMHO

Willie Coulson was largely derided too , but I thought he was ok

Gary Jones was a good player, virtually sinlge handedly kept us up with his goals , about 10 in 12 at the end of the season or something like that!
 
I think we can safely say that Jamal Campbell-Ryce was hated for some strangely known reason but I thought he was brilliant for us and is obviously doing something right as the rumours linking him with Reading.
 
I always tend to have a soft spot for the universally hated on here and have found myself defending the likes of Matt Harrold, Drewe Broughton and Ian Selley on here.
 
I always tend to have a soft spot for the universally hated on here and have found myself defending the likes of Matt Harrold, Drewe Broughton and Ian Selley on here.

I liked Selley, he was a good player didn't we get him in on loan with Preston's Brian Barry-Murphy? Correct me if I am wrong but we got Selley from Wimbeldon!
 
I always thought Gary Poole linked up well with Johnathon Hunt and always pushed forward when he could? Maybe my age is playing tricks on my mind. Someone want to enlighten me with regards to Mr Poole?

Gary Poole was a poor man's Mark Hone.

Ps I agree with YB above, except we differ wildly regards the legend that is Drewe.
 
Gary Poole was a poor man's Mark Hone.

Ps I agree with YB above, except we differ wildly regards the legend that is Drewe.

No I didn't see Gary Poole but being of the opinion that Mark Hone is one of the worst players I have ever seen, and that he always gave me hope that I could make it as a pro footballer, Gary Poole must have been awful.

I thought Gary Jones was pretty bad but he was around when I first started supporting when we had players like Chris Powell and Ronnie Whelan to compare him against. I am sure we have had a lot worse strikers since but because he was the first really bad player that I saw he sticks out.

Andy Rammell, someone I was very excited about, because in my sticker album I saw that he had been on Man Utds books. In those days I didn't understand that this really meant nothing. Never saw him do anything.

There are so many more I could list but those are for starters.

P.S I always loved Maher in the days when we were in old Div 1 and he was possibly one of the weakest players in the team.
 
For me it's got to be Keith Dublin.

He had limited ability, but was forever being played out of position without complaint. He played left back a lot. I even heard someone in the crowd once say something along the lines of, "Why did we buy Dublin, he's no left back."

He even had a stint up front when we really were in trouble. He wasn't any good there, but at least he tried. When he actually played in central defence he wasn't all that bad...
 
For me it's got to be Keith Dublin.

He had limited ability, but was forever being played out of position without complaint. He played left back a lot. I even heard someone in the crowd once say something along the lines of, "Why did we buy Dublin, he's no left back."

He even had a stint up front when we really were in trouble. He wasn't any good there, but at least he tried. When he actually played in central defence he wasn't all that bad...

Take that man's pilot's licence away from him, pending an eye test!

I've got the highlights of the 95-96(?) season for some reason, and it was one of those seasons where we conceded the usual 85 or so goals and I reckon Dublin was at least partially at fault for about 83 of them. He was awful.
 
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