Signings which pleasantly surprised you

[KGC83]

Lorik Cana was bloody immense

He was bang average. Got replaced by Meyler and couldn’t get back in the side.

 

[Shields26]

Marco Gabbiadini when we were mid table in the then 3rd division. Think he had 2 goals in 60 games for York at the time. I know hes not everyones favourite now but back then he certainly was an important signing

 

[Dogbark]

Phillips. I remember listening to a game on the radio not long after we signed him -

Gatsey: "He had a shot, it didn't work out but he'll get another chance"
Me: "Why can't we ever f***ing sign someone half decent!"

 

[sadsack01]

Paul Butler
Kevin Phillips
Jody Craddock
Tommy Sorenson
Eric Roy
Jermaine Defoe

All of these surprised me, Defoe probably more than any. Thought he was done and just coming for a final pay day.

 

[Dogbark]

Kirchhoff.

The biggest SMB U-turn in the history of the board

 

[OnienRoll]

Joe Linton

 

[Lonz]

The biggest SMB U-turn in the history of the board

Tbf, it was the biggest performance U-turn as well.

 

[sir rowell cummins]

The biggest SMB U-turn in the history of the board

He was a talented player but was ultimately a bad signing who we paid and wasn’t fit most of the time.

 

[Dogbark]

He was a talented player but was ultimately a bad signing who we paid and wasn’t fit most of the time.

Aye

 

[prica's crown]

Phillips. I remember listening to a game on the radio not long after we signed him -

Gatsey: "He had a shot, it didn't work out but he'll get another chance"
Me: "Why can't we ever f***ing sign someone half decent!"

i dont know why, but i always remember an angry fan on local radio saying phillips was not the answer, the radio guy asked who was and ths caller paused before saying "devlin"

Paul Butler
Kevin Phillips
Jody Craddock
Tommy Sorenson
Eric Roy
Jermaine Defoe

tommy, mhyre and poom all great keepers


All of these surprised me, Defoe probably more than any. Thought he was done and just coming for a final pay day.

 

[Dick Fitzwell]

Don’t get this like..he had that great game against Arsenal..other than that I thought he was utter chod.

He was a level above on what we had then he got injured and replaced by Meyler and couldn't get his place back.

 

[MEEKLANGLEYFTM]

Darren ward Dean whitehead Liam Lawrence Steven elliott Danny Collins il always hold in high regards, in fact that mick mack promotion side I do yes they got relegated with 15 points but that was through no lack of effort

 

[The Red Telephone]

Quinn & Phillips
Bobby Moncur
Tony Towers
Benno.
Edit- and Bally!!

 

[Mickdundee]

Whitehead, Lawrence, elliot, Collins etc..

Going down and fire selling Phillip's and Sorenson to be replaced by frees from oxford and Shrewsbury. Turns out they were amazing signings given the finances available.

For all our other faults during that era we had a fairly decent spell with our lower league scouting during that time. We didn’t pick up any World beaters but managed to pick up a handful solid lower-mid-table PL players from League 1/2 for peanuts. Whitehead and Collins went on to be key players under Keane and Lawrence did well for Stoke after Keane bombed him out.

It was our scouting/signing of PL/Championship/overseas players that was horrendous in the Mick Mac era.

 

[phillips10]

M’vila, Kirchhoff, Bent (for a while)

Definitely Kirchhoff after that horror show on his debut.

 

[Scootsie]

Zenden and Defoe.

I thought they were both finished and were just typical Sunderland signings.

 

[chriswallace85]

Slow start then became very decent

Crap start. He was hideous until Sam got hold of him and PVA.

Definitely Kirchhoff after that horror show on his debut.

Kirch was absolutely tremendous.

 

[Ilios]

Chris Waddle. Made a big difference in a short time, which I didn't think he would given his age (36 I think) and that he was playing for Bradford and we were PL. Had we signed him a month or so earlier than we did, we'd almost certainly have stayed up that year.

 

[PallionPeasant]

Anthony Réveillère, was superb on his debut at Palace and proved to be a very solid signing.

 

[Alcoholic_Author]

Paul Butler
Kevin Phillips
Jody Craddock
Tommy Sorenson
Eric Roy
Jermaine Defoe

All of these surprised me, Defoe probably more than any. Thought he was done and just coming for a final pay day.

Paul Butler is a good shout, signed from Bury for £1M and his debut was OK at best, turned out to be a very decent centre back, definitely an important cog in the promotion team.