Peter Reid's programme notes

[Blueboy73]

Selling fan favourite Michael Hughes for peanuts and replacing him with that useless clown was one of our worst ever pieces of business

Didn't Hughes go for around £450k and 900k spent on Rick Holden as a replacement?
I'm sure Hughes / Holden was 1992 and Groenendijk signed in 1993?

 

[LongsightM13]

Didn't Hughes go for around £450k and 900k spent on Rick Holden as a replacement?
I'm sure Hughes / Holden was 1992 and Groenendijk signed in 1993?

Might be remembering wrong but iirc we sold Hughes, wasted the whole summer chasing Arthur Numan who had no intention whatsoever of joining us, then signed the shit Fonz as a consolation prize

 

[BLUEYESTU]

Yes he was played at right back, and was pilloried for his performance, funny thing was, their left winger, a relative unknown, went on to be one of the best performing players in that tournament.

I have a vague memory of this - wasn’t there an injury crisis and Tony Dorigo was in the squad but refused to play on the right so Keith Curle was thrown in?

 

[Blueboy73]

Might be remembering wrong but iirc we sold Hughes, wasted the whole summer chasing Arthur Numan who had no intention whatsoever of joining us, then signed the shit Fonz as a consolation prize

I remember Reid chasing Numan but Hughes / Holden was 92 and Fons arrived in 93.

Wasn't Numan a left back?
It would make sense as Phelan arrived for what was then an astronomical sum for a full back at the back end of summer 92.

 

[pride in battle]

Yes, both great players that were produced…by Notts County and Sunderland.

Apparently Notts County have shit on Dave Watson big time, used to go regularly with his wife and since the previous owner/ceo has gone he's not welcome anymore...???

 

[LongsightM13]

I remember Reid chasing Numan but Hughes / Holden was 92 and Fons arrived in 93.

Wasn't Numan a left back?
It would make sense as Phelan arrived for what was then an astronomical sum for a full back at the back end of summer 92.

Like I said the passage of time has probably confused my timeline
Numan was a left back later in his career, most notably at rangers, but we chased him all summer as an attacking left midfielder/winger
He was so determined not to sign for us that he got the Dutch PFA involved after his club accepted our bid
In retrospect, if we replaced Hughes with Holden (plus Redmond and Pointon going the other way) then it was an even more disastrous deal than I mistakenly remembered
Holden was utter shite, one of the very worst pound for pound signings in our history

 

[LongsightM13]

Are you sure? Im convinced he played against Denmark?

Definitely Norway

 

[Blueboy73]

Like I said the passage of time has probably confused my timeline
Numan was a left back later in his career, most notably at rangers, but we chased him all summer as an attacking left midfielder/winger
He was so determined not to sign for us that he got the Dutch PFA involved after his club accepted our bid
In retrospect, if we replaced Hughes with Holden (plus Redmond and Pointon going the other way) then it was an even more disastrous deal than I mistakenly remembered
Holden was utter shite, one of the very worst pound for pound signings in our history

You're right about Numan, like you said the passage of time muddles things, especially after 30 years.
Iirc Numan went to PSV in 92 and Rangers spent a lot of money on him a few years later, possibly Dick Advocaat?

Holden went back to Oldham 12 months later.
Hughes had a decent career at Strasbourg then West Ham and Palace whilst we lurched down the leagues.

With hindsight it's no wonder with some of the signings we made instead of some of the signings we could have made for similar or less money.

 

[Dirty Harry]

Definitely Norway

I keep reading it was Denmark mate :-

englandstats.com | 686 - England 0-0 Denmark, Thursday, 11th June 1992

englandstats.com | The England International Database. 686 - England 0-0 Denmark, Thursday, 11th June 1992

www.englandstats.com

 

[Sky Blue Thinking]

Didn't Hughes go for around £450k and 900k spent on Rick Holden as a replacement?
I'm sure Hughes / Holden was 1992 and Groenendijk signed in 1993?

Redmond and Pointon both went to Oldham in part ex for Holden. Both solid enough players but we spent big money replacing Pointon with Phelan from Wimbledon. IIRC Palace feigned interest in Phelan which pushed his price up. Wimbledon were ground sharing with Palace at the time. Thankfully our transfer strategy is much better now. Always thought Beardsley would have been a good signing for us when he left Liverpool in 1991 but we seemed to spend most summers being linked with Paul Stewart returning.