Owls worst signing ?

[Michael_W 11]

The current situation at Hillsborough has been blamed on the Board, the Managers and the Players of recent years, I personally think a combination of all these has contributed to the downfall of the club but the bad signings helped burden the club with debt. Whilst Wednesday tried to attract 'so called' decent players, many of them arrived on decent contracts and failed to deliver only to be off loaded for little or no return, financially.

Fellow Owls fans pick your worst from a long list of failures.

[Hixxy 10]

At a time when money is so short, the very little we occaisionaly have should be spent wisely, that is why I'm naming Shefki Kuqi as my nomination for Owls worst signing. I don't remember exactly how much we paid for him, somewhere in the region of 750,000 - 1 million I believe, but he has failed to deliver the goods. You should be able to rely on a good striker when the chips are down, but Kuqi has only scored a hatfull of goals all season. He hasn't been able to produce goals when the pressure was on. What good is scoring 2 goals in the 5-1 hammering of Coventry when what we really needed from him was to score the match winner in those 0-0 draws. For all these reasons Shefki Kuqi has left me feeling dissapointed and let down. I hope we cash in on him during the close season and use the money a little more wisely.

[Hixxy 10]

I know I've already posted that I think Shefki Kuqi is our worst signing, but that was just the first reaction I had to seeing the question.

I don't even think our worst signing was a player, it was the signing of Danny Wilson as manager. Don't get me wrong, I think that Danny was a great player for the club during his time there, but great players seldom make great managers. Wednesday justified his signing as Manager based on the great work he did at Barnsley, but giving him the Wednesday job as only his second managerial position, especially given the position we were in at the time was suicide. I don't think he could have handled the Di Canio situation any worse than he did. You can't blame any one man for the current situation at Hillsborough but Wilson played as big a part in it as anyone.

[mikey 10]

Is it true they are £60 million in debt, that is big money, the only real asset they have to clear that debt is the training ground and the Hillsboro Ground itself.

 

I hear on the grapevine the planners will not allow a supermarket at the training ground, so not much value in that site. So it looks like sell the ground to be developed into a retail park

 

I am afraid merger is the only way out for weds or bankruptcy, its going to be an interesting couple of years for them

[RPG 10]

are you a unitedite by any chance?

[Michael_W 11]

Firstly mikey, I don't think Wednesday are 60 million in debt, about 20 million last I heard. Secondly Hixxy makes the point about Danny Wilson which I partly agree with, I think Wilson didn't back up Di Canio to keep in line with Chairman Richards who did not want to be seen backing up Di Canio because of his FA ties. Let's face it the Di Canio incident was a farce, he was stupid to do what he did but the ref made a meal of it and the club failed to back him up, unlike Man Utd with Cantona after the 'Kung Fu' incident.

[Hixxy 10]

What Alex Ferguson did with Eric Cantona was a master stroke. He knew that Cantona was an influentual member of the squad and that he had made a mistake. Cantona served his suspension and upon his return Ferguson made him Captain. Genius. What more could Sir Alex have done to show his backing than to give Cantona the captaincy. I'm not saying that the same would have definitely worked with Di Canio, but when he was made captain of the West Ham side, we saw some of the best football he has ever produced in the Premiership.

[Michael_W 11]

I agree Hixxy, and Atkinson apart, Wednesday managers of the last 10 years have failed miserably in the man management department - Francis, Pleat and Wilson in particular and Dave Richards dismissal of Atkinson after his brief second spell in charge was another major blunder !

[Paul Cocker 10]

Yeah the current crop of managers were pretty useless, though I would disagree with including Trevor Francis in there, he seemed to be steering the club in the right direction and his sacking only made way for a crop of nobodies, and that unfortunately includes Chris Turner, who I still don't believe could perform suitably at high level.

 

Oh - and the worst buy in terms of players has to be Simon Donnolly & that other useless git they bought that I can't remember his name!

[Hixxy 10]

Originally posted by "Paul Cocker"

 

Yeah the current crop of managers were pretty useless, though I would disagree with including Trevor Francis in there, he seemed to be steering the club in the right direction and his sacking only made way for a crop of nobodies, and that unfortunately includes Chris Turner, who I still don't believe could perform suitably at high level.

 

Oh - and the worst buy in terms of players has to be Simon Donnolly & that other useless git they bought that I can't remember his name!

As a Wednesdayite, it pains me to have to point this out, but Chris Turner isn't yet going to have to perform well at a high level since we have just been relegated to division 2. Whether or not he can get us back up to a high level remains to be seen.

I assume the other useless git you're referring to, as well as Donnelly, is O'Donnell. Both signed by, yours truly, Danny Wilson.

[Michael_W 11]

Paul Cocker wrote:

Yeah the current crop of managers were pretty useless, though I would disagree with including Trevor Francis in there, he seemed to be steering the club in the right direction and his sacking only made way for a crop of nobodies, and that unfortunately includes Chris Turner, who I still don't believe could perform suitably at high level.

 

I included Francis because his man management came into question as his managerial spell progressed, To be fair to Francis the club enjoyed a fantastic spell under his management but the handling of Warhust the season after the 93 cup finals was bewildering and the rot had started. I think certain players within the club lost respect for him and his dismissal in 95 came as no great shock, the decision in hindsight proved to be disasterous, in came Pleat and it was downhill all the way.

[Internetowl 10]

interesting points made can I add...just to keep the pot boiling

 

1. Simon Donnolly was signed on a free. Cost nowt except his wages.

2. Shefki was signed for 250k. This million pound payment was never made

3. Wilsons hands regarding DiCanio were tied by Richards (who was already posturing for a place at the FA even then)

4. Worst player we've signed was probably Hinchcliffe. Cost 3m for a crock (he already was injury prone when Everton wanted to get rid) - signed by Atkinson.

5. Supermarket on training ground will not be a local decision, it will be down to the government official. If the council say yes they will have to get the go ahead from them before a stone is turned.

 

M.