Poise Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 I'm trying to name our worst signings ever and I do remember O'Leary signing a foreign (I think he was Croatian) center half and then literally never playing him. I can't for the life of me remember his name though??? Can anyone help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P3te Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 bosko balaban but he wasn't a dol signing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P3te Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 oh wait, centre half? hang on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synj Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 I'm trying to name our worst signings ever and I do remember O'Leary signing a foreign (I think he was Croatian) center half and then literally never playing him. I can't for the life of me remember his name though??? Can anyone help? Pretty sure it's Vaclav Drobny. Even his name suggests he's shite. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A1clav_Drobn%C3%BD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 If you're thinking of Ivo Stas he was Czech (I think) and wasn't signed by O'Dreary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P3te Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 players he signed and used **** all: berson djemba djemba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bannedfromHandV Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 It was a season long loan deal, he was Czech I think and we loaned him from Strasbourg was it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEgo Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Drobny is your man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willy_Evergo Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Drobny was the guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 was Drobny think he only ever made the bench once Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poise Posted August 1, 2012 Author Share Posted August 1, 2012 Yeah it was Vaclav Drobny. I thought we signed him but turns out it was only a loan... Cheers guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Poor Ivo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daholteend Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 After the last two managers hindsight makes DOL's tenure look a lot better. Despite listing the poor signings, how about listing the good ones he made. Martin Laursen and Fredi Bouma standout in my mind and despite what we may have thought of Meeeeelan Baros, he also was a very good striker when he put his mind on his game rather than his lifestyle. IIRC , DOL was also responsible in getting Gabby's and Steve Davis' careers started. There were a couple of times last season when I wished we also had Roy Aitken DOL's assistant coaching the team instead of the dire stuff that we suffered through. Time can do many things. I never thought my opinion of DOL would change so much for the better until I realised that things can be so much worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poise Posted August 1, 2012 Author Share Posted August 1, 2012 After the last two managers hindsight makes DOL's tenure look a lot better. Despite listing the poor signings, how about listing the good ones he made. Martin Laursen and Fredi Bouma standout in my mind and despite what we may have thought of Meeeeelan Baros, he also was a very good striker when he put his mind on his game rather than his lifestyle. IIRC , DOL was also responsible in getting Gabby's and Steve Davis' careers started. There were a couple of times last season when I wished we also had Roy Aitken DOL's assistant coaching the team instead of the dire stuff that we suffered through. Time can do many things. I never thought my opinion of DOL would change so much for the better until I realised that things can be so much worse. I liked O'Leary myself. His first season was a miracle season. Taking us straight from 16th to 6th. We even had a chance of Champions League football up to the last couple of games... Sorenson and Gavin McCann were also good signings. Could have done with investing in the team after that season but Ellis didn't give him any money and we just spent the whole Summer chasing Mathieu Berson.... Then we had a very average season finishing 11th and this was when Ellis decided to get his hands in his pockets. Think pretty much every signing O'Leary made that Summer was a panic buy and this led to us almost being pretty dreadful and almost being relegated.... Just bad timing really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 He also signed Nobby Solano of course who gave us one excellent season. It wasn't his fault the little rat took his trumpet and skedaddled back to Newcastle at the first opportunity. It perhaps goes to show that management is about a lot more than just signings. O'Dreary took us through 6th, 10th and 16th and would no doubt have had us down the next season if he had been allowed to stay as by then he had almost totally lost the plot. I think his overall management performance gets him into the same territory as Foolier and McDraw but he was maybe a little bit better. Still not enough in my book to rescue him from the rather crowded hall of shame for managers we've had since 2000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Nothing beats Gustavo Bartelt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 said it before DOL was good in the transfer market but just didnt have man management skills. He could be a good scout though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
commander Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 He also signed Nobby Solano of course who gave us one excellent season. It wasn't his fault the little rat took his trumpet and skedaddled back to Newcastle at the first opportunity. It perhaps goes to show that management is about a lot more than just signings. O'Dreary took us through 6th, 10th and 16th and would no doubt have had us down the next season if he had been allowed to stay as by then he had almost totally lost the plot. I think his overall management performance gets him into the same territory as Foolier and McDraw but he was maybe a little bit better. Still not enough in my book to rescue him from the rather crowded hall of shame for managers we've had since 2000. True that, DOL was a prick but better than most give him credit for, achieved the same as MON (but closer to 4th) with a quarter of the wage bill (whilst creating the nucleus of MONs best team, signing Laursen & Bouma, and bringing through Barry (into CM), bringing Gabby through and also let's not forget bringing through Davis, Whitts, Cahill, Gardner & Ridgewell & even Luke Moore was decent under him. All of those players bar Moore have had pretty decent careers... Don't get me wrong he had to go the way he ran us down but just imagine how the youngsters may have fared under him rather than MON who froze them all out bar Gabby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Ah, Solano. The last Villa player I saw score from a free-kick in person. That was December 2004. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philosopher Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Commander your memory is rather hazy! Barry was used as primarily a left mid / winger and occasionally as a left back under O'Dreary, it was MON that successfully converted Barry into a central midfielder. Barry was signed under Brian Little I thing and it was Gregory that gave him his chance as a centre back. Agbonlahor was going to be sold to SHA for 3 million when O'Dreary was sacked by Ellis for his act of insubordination. Gabby was very raw back then and quite frankly I believe MON worked wonders with him. He was also in charge of those dreadful results against SHA. Also what about Djemba Djemba? Selling Crouch for 1.5 million to Saints? Laursen, Bouma and Milner on loan and Solano were his only good signings and two of those were gone after a season and the other two were plagued with debilitating injuries. Why don't you ask Leeds fans about his record with signings? Seth Johnson? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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