Rubbish players that you loved?

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Very few shit players listed here.

Increasingly, people refer to any time before 2010 as ‘when we were shit’ but it’s bollocks. There were some poor sides and dark days but we also had some great teams and excellent players as well.

It’s a weird re-writing of history amongst our own supporters and just reinforces the media narrative that City weren’t anything before 2008.

Surely it’s got to be comparative to how good the team was at the time.

 

[Jogon 127]

Kenny Clements

Haha…..he was my neighbour a few years ago.

Lovely feller, hard Bastard turned driving instructor.

Apparently his road rage was next level.

He was scouted for City when playing for his local team in Middleton.

‘We knocked fuck out of them’ he mused.

 

[Pubteam Lomas]

Geoff Lomax.
You were always called 'Geoff' if you had a shocker when we played at 6th Form!

His lad played cricket (proper quick bowler) and I got to know Geoff over the few years he was at our club!

Funny, but I never mentioned the college story!!!!!!!!

 

[Plays By Sense Of Smell]

It’s got to be Shaun Goater… club legend, loved and adored by the fans, loved/loves the club, banged in the goals…. The only question is, watching him play, how exactly DID he bang in the goals?!

Arms and legs all over the show, half the time goals going in off body parts that nobody else would ever score off - it would not be unfair to describe some of his all-round play as “shit”, particularly by the standards to which we are now accustomed. But he bled blue blood for the cause and the goal stats speak for themselves. An absolute hero for the club. Loved him.

Hs's always the example I think of when pondering whether it's possible to have a top-flight career based entirely on luck.

(Of course, I know there are far more precursor variables involved and love him to bits)

 

[eastmanc]

Big Earl.

 

[solley attwell]

Bertie Glauber

 

[mancboy]

david brightwell was hilariously bad but you couldnt hate him for it

 

[mattcity5]

He was a very limited footballer that allowed Yaya to move further up the pitch.

He was our hard man, which the fans love.

Gareth Barry did far more as our DM, but never got the cult hero status that NDJ did as he didn’t slide into tackles.

Still, 81 caps for Netherlands doesn't quite scream "shit footballer" to me. Mind you, neither does the 53 caps for England that Gareth Barry got.

 

[ooh vonky vonky]

Gary Neville … they way he fought to keep the ball in play that day before teeing it up for Goater.
That alone made up for years of being an arsehole.

 

[Keeper!]

Goater, not sure how he got away with it but it was great fun to watch and the man was a complete legend and gentleman.

Also loved Alex Williams, always thought he was a lucky keeper who got away with a lot and would have been found out if his career had not sadly been curtailed with injury and like Goater a complete gentleman who had to take some of the most racist abuse possible.

 

[CΛL]

Nigel de Jong

Not sure this thread was meant for players who have played in World Cup finals and won titles?

He was a tidy player as well as a demon off the ball.

 

[Harvster]

Can’t expect me to trawl through 10 whole pages, but has anybody proposed Dragoslav Stepanovic yet? Steppy once clapped the crowd for a v handy man-on shout

 

[David White]

We’ve certainly watched our fair share of dross over the years but they’ve all achieved something we all dream of. Playing for City.

Special mentions for Alan Karnaghan, Jo and Tal Ben Haim. How the latter ever made it as a professional footballer astounds me even more every time I think of it. Derailing the thread there because I didn’t like any of them particularly.

I’d go for the Goat too. He was a very poor footballer but an absolute legend. Right place at the right time.

 

[Shaelumstash]

Fowler.

Turned a blind eye to how shit he was for us because of how good he used to be, and how much he hated United.

 

[BrianW]

Who can forget the legend that was Gordon Dalziel?
We had to learn how to pronounce his name!

 

[Tarzan Pancake]

Mark Lillis. He used to almost jump into the Kippax when he scored.

 

[Stoned Rose]

Michael Hughes.

 

[KS55]

Mark Lillis. He used to almost jump into the Kippax when he scored.

That’s twice then.

 

[Stoned Rose]

Mark Lillis. He used to almost jump into the Kippax when he scored.

Big blue from a big family of blues tbf.

 

[Tevez32mcfc]

I used to think Lucien Mettomo was a decent player but the guy who sat next to me despised him to the point I used to think he had been banging his missus or something.