Tag: Keegan

Weird transfer XI – Some shockers in here!

There have been some weird transfers over the years. Some that just didn’t make sense at the time and seem even worse when you look back. Here are some that stick in my mind: 

GK: Edwin Van Der Sar – Juve to Fulham.

The whole thing was just weird. Clearly too good for them. Eventually made his move to Man U and won it all. What’s unreal is he was at Fulham for FOUR years. What a total waste of time.

RB: Mat Debuchy – Newcastle to Arsenal.

May not seem that weird but as a Newcastle fan, we couldn’t believe Arsene Wenger paid us twice as much as we did for him, to take him off our hands. He’s done nothing at Arsenal and none of us are surprised. Weird.

(I also have to mention Julian Faubert from West Ham to Real Madrid on loan. Very strange one)

CB: Laurent Blanc – Inter to Man Utd. 

Seriously this one was weird for the entire time he was there. He was clearly too old and contributed to Fergie’s worst ever season in the Premier League. So ridiculous.

CB: David Luiz – PSG to Chelsea.

This one was weird right? No-one could understand it. He then helped them win the league. So weird. He’s now not in the team. Not so weird.

LB: Mikael Silvestre – Man Utd to Arsenal.

I found this one just very strange. I couldn’t get my head around it. Fergie never sells to a rival, so he must have been past it, but he wasn’t that bad, which made it all just weird.

CM: Thomas Gravesen – Everton to Real Madrid.

Has there ever been a weirder permanent transfer? He actually played as well. Twilight zone.

CM: Edgar Davids – rocks up at Barnet.

This wasn’t a transfer and he was player-manager (kind of) but come on. Edgar Davids playing for Barnet? Weirdo.

CM: Ivan Campo – Real Madrid to Bolton.

I could have put Fernando Hierro in this team or even Djorkaeff but Campo was still in his prime and had only recently stopped polishing his Champions League medal. He would spend six years at Bolton. Six.

FW: Nicolas Anelka – Fenerbahce to Bolton.

PSG, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Man City, Fenerbahce, Bolton, Chelsea, wait what? If Anelka were to go for a job interview, he would need to explain the gap in his CV for that 2-year spell at Bolton Wanderers. How? Why?

FW: George Weah – Milan to Chelsea.

This was just weird. It’s like it never happened but it did and I for one can’t forget it. George Weah was a mirage, a mysterious idol to be watched only on Football Italia, winning World player of the year. Not struggling to play up front with Chris Sutton. No. No. No.

FW: Ian Rush & John Barnes – Leeds & Liverpool to Newcastle.

First off, these are two players so technically makes my XI a 12 man team. However, they came at the same time and given their ability at their respective ages, they just about make up one players worth.

As a Toon fan, I watched Kevin Keegan sign Ferdinand & Ginola in 1995 and almost won us the league. I then saw Kenny Dalglish sell them both in 1997 & replace them with over the hill Ian Rush & John Barnes. What? I know they say ‘sign what you know’ but this destroyed our team and put the club back for years. Perhaps forever. Why Kenny? Why? Utter nonsense.

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The Unbelievable Story Of How Alex Ferguson Acting As Gillespie’s Agent Ripped Off Newcastle

Read an interesting story of the day when Keith Gillespie signed for Newcastle back in 1995. The Northern Irishman didn’t have an agent at the time so his mentor and manager Sir Alex Ferguson acted on his behalf to negotiate his contract to sign for us. Don’t miss out on your £20 Free Bet AND Free £5 Bet every week with ToonBano.com Exclusive Partner William Hill HERE!

Gillespie was on around £250 a week at Man Utd and when Newcastle agreed to sell them Andy Cole for £7million, Kevin Keegan insisted on having the flying winger as part of the deal. So when Keegan along with some Newcastle directors and Gillespie were set to meet to sort out his contract, Fergie went along too acting on behalf of his Class of ’92 graduate.

The Scottish cheat was on top form once negotiations began as he blagged that Gillespie was on £600 a week. Not only this he managed to get our genius directors to stump up £1,200 a week in order to seal the deal. Unbelievable. You would think we were absolutely desperate to sell Cole to be fooled into such nonsense so easily.

So we lost Andy Cole and got ripped off on Gillespie. Whether this transfer was actually a good thing in the end is up for much debate on Tyneside. After all, without the sale of Cole we would not have brought in Ferdinand. The 95-96 season would never have happened and we wouldn’t have such great memories of Big Les dominating the Premier League to an whisker of us being Champions.

Then there’s the other argument of well we didn’t win anything and Man Utd with Andy Cole in their side did end up Champions, he also went on score plenty of goals against us and who knows maybe Gillespie would have kept Beckham out of the team and he wouldn’t be what he is today. Now there’s a thought. Pros and cons on both sides but fact is facts and what happened, happened. Good or bad.

What wasn’t a fact was how much Fergie told us Gillespie was on and indeed ripped us off. Fergie telling porky pies and getting away with it…now that’s a fact. Rafa would agree.

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