Bernstein/Keegan Split

BJL_City said:
True that, our spending across 02/03 and 03/04:

Bischoff - £700k.
Distin - £4m.
Loran - Undisclosed.
Vuoso - £3.5m.
Anelka - £13m.
Schmeichel - Free.
Kerkar - Free.
Belmadi - Loan.
Sommeil - £3.5m.
Fowler - £6m.
Seaman - Free.
Tarnat - Free.
Sinclair - £2.5m.
Sibierski - £700k.
Reyna - £2.5m.
McManaman - Free.

Total - £36.4m. So honestly, take the £19.5m spent on Anelka, Distin and Sinclair and do the same, you then had £17m to spend, which in those days given who other people were signing couldn't compete with the top 3 but we would have been fair game for anyone else. Missed opportunity, considering the likes of Okocha went for free.
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Vuoso is the fourth highest fee on that list yet never played. Does anybody know why he never got on the field? His record elsewhere, albeit in totally different leagues, suggests he was a capable player.

As for Anelka - I'm amazed we ever got him? His previous clubs at this point were PSG, Arsenal, Real Madrid and Liverpool, and now here he was, at the age of 23, signing for a team that had just been promoted. How on earth did we pull that one off?

And it does seem as if we got the best out of him - his 37 league goals was only bettered by the 38 he scored for Chelsea (but played 39 more games). He scored 24 goals in all comps in 2003/04 at a ratio better than a goal every other game. He only scored more goals once (08/09 - 25) with Chelsea, but at a higher games per goal ratio.

I know Sibierski wasn't great but when you look at his fee compared to some of those others, you could say we got a real bargain there.
 
The season we went up under Keegan is still my best time as a City fan of 40 odd years and will never be matched again because it still felt like our club and there was so much to look forward to. I’ve met both men and you can’t fault either of them as people but ego is a terrible thing and had almost destroyed the club when Swales got his dirty mits on it.

Bernstein was showing some prospective sponsors around when I was milling around picking my new seat and even then he took the time out to ask how I was etc. Keegan would always welcome you at Carrington and didn’t mind you watching training from the side of the pitch. Unfortunately he was a slapped arse and this lead to the demise of their relationship and ultimately the club when everything was in place to bring it back.

I know we can all say look where we are now and it wouldn’t have happened if Frank didn’t arrive but his best contribution was Garry Cook and a few borrowed quid leaving us on shit street. The good news is we can now appreciate what’s happened since HRH came in and what we’ve got to look forward to once again thanks to the work that Bernstein and the money that Wardle and Makin put in for us.
 
Shirley said:
I seem to recall Bernstein openly accuse Fowler of being overweight and unfit.
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Don’t get me started on Fowler.....scouse bin dipping Shitehawk.....

When he went back to the dippers from us he lost about another couple of stone within a month....I get it that they were his true love but always felt he completely took the piss out of us.

Keegan walks away from almost every tricky situation....no fucking stomach for a fight, some great memories for us and brilliant football but wafer thin courage and a big head to boot (from an ex player at the time).
 
Thanks for some of the insights chaps! Knew @Prestwich_Blue would have a few pearls to contribute!

I think this era has a lot of parables with the Swales/Allison era of 1978-‘80, luckily we (just) got away with it this time.
 
Jogon 127 said:
Don’t get me started on Fowler.....scouse bin dipping Shitehawk.....

When he went back to the dippers from us he lost about another couple of stone within a month....I get it that they were his true love but always felt he completely took the piss out of us.

Keegan walks away from almost every tricky situation....no fucking stomach for a fight, some great memories for us and brilliant football but wafer thin courage and a big head to boot (from an ex player at the time).
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Totally agree, I remember Keegan sending him on a fitness boot camp in the autumn of 2004, when he came back he scored a few goals in that 4-3 defeat at St. James’ then had a pretty good season as we just missed out on a UEFA Cup spot. He came back from the following season back to his tubby self and as you say, wouldn’t be back in shape until he resigned for Liverpool.
 
Motty25 said:
Vuoso is the fourth highest fee on that list yet never played. Does anybody know why he never got on the field? His record elsewhere, albeit in totally different leagues, suggests he was a capable player.

As for Anelka - I'm amazed we ever got him? His previous clubs at this point were PSG, Arsenal, Real Madrid and Liverpool, and now here he was, at the age of 23, signing for a team that had just been promoted. How on earth did we pull that one off?

And it does seem as if we got the best out of him - his 37 league goals was only bettered by the 38 he scored for Chelsea (but played 39 more games). He scored 24 goals in all comps in 2003/04 at a ratio better than a goal every other game. He only scored more goals once (08/09 - 25) with Chelsea, but at a higher games per goal ratio.

I know Sibierski wasn't great but when you look at his fee compared to some of those others, you could say we got a real bargain there.
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Well I remember Sven's signings being linked to Jerome Anderson, so I wonder if the likes of Keegan were pally with certain agents hence why we bought some random players, but equally got access to the likes of Anelka. I can certainly see wages being a motivation and cushy sign-on fees. The way Anelka moved to Fenerbahce and Bolton afterwards screams to me agent moves.

Sibs was good for what he was, but if we'd bought better he may not have been more than a back-up. Imagine we'd not bought Fowler, McManaman and Vuoso and added Okocha, Keane and someone like Finnan for the same money, we'd have cemented ourselves in the position Boro ended up in the mid noughties when they spent some money and got into Europe a few times.

Though of course, I don't know how we'd have driven the extra revenue to fill the gaping hole that seemed to present in our books.
 
BJL_City said:
Well I remember Sven's signings being linked to Jerome Anderson, so I wonder if the likes of Keegan were pally with certain agents hence why we bought some random players, but equally got access to the likes of Anelka. I can certainly see wages being a motivation and cushy sign-on fees. The way Anelka moved to Fenerbahce and Bolton afterwards screams to me agent moves.

Sibs was good for what he was, but if we'd bought better he may not have been more than a back-up. Imagine we'd not bought Fowler, McManaman and Vuoso and added Okocha, Keane and someone like Finnan for the same money, we'd have cemented ourselves in the position Boro ended up in the mid noughties when they spent some money and got into Europe a few times.

Though of course, I don't know how we'd have driven the extra revenue to fill the gaping hole that seemed to present in our books.
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If we'd have bought Robbie Keane it would have also stopped him always scoring against us.
 
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