Doncaster v Leeds

[ralphie7]

And don't forget your success is based around two Leeds players,Cantona and Ferdinand so in effect Leeds have helped you no end.

Eric was a gift


HOWARD WILKINSON

[AJ]

On 6th November 1991 after Liverpool's 3-0 victory over Auxerre in a UEFA Cup 2nd round 2nd leg tie at Anfield, Graeme Souness, the manager of Liverpool at the time was met by Frenchman Michel Platini at the end of the game, and told him he had a player that would like to play for Liverpool, he said his name was Eric Cantona. Souness told him thank you but he did not want any trouble and declined his offer. In January 1992 Cantona came to England for a trial with Sheffield Wednesday, managed by Trevor Francis. When offered an extension to the trial, he found this insulting and subsequently joined Leeds United A.F.C., where he was an important part of the team that won the final old First Division championship in 1991-92. He was also inspirational in the Charity Shield 4-3 win over Liverpool in 1992, scoring a hat-trick.
He however left Leeds before the end of the 1992-93 season, which saw them finishing 17th out of 22 in the newly formed Premier League, moving to Manchester United in November 1992 for the relatively small fee of £1.2 million, much to the disgust of the Leeds fans, although Howard Wilkinson, the Leeds United manager, was eager for him to leave

Not sure what's funnier, Wilkinson or Souness. Cantona at Liverpool would have been a frightening prospect.

Anyway Rio came through the West Ham youth system anyway, alongside Michael Carrick.

If anyone has helped us it's the hammers, Eric was a Leeds player for what 11 months ?

Interesting to wonder where west ham would be if they'd kept their youth players, the above two, plus lampard and Joe Cole.

money talks I guess......

[Appy Ammer]

Originally Posted by AJ

Interesting to wonder where west ham would be if they'd kept their youth players, the above two, plus lampard and Joe Cole.

money talks I guess......

...always said that but we would never have been able to hold onto those players in todays market and with the chairman we have now - when one of the big 4 come in for your player (Like Barry at the moment) 99.99% of the time the player is going to leave...

I remember £18m for Rio was good cash, but badly spent by Arry.

[friskyfitz]

Originally Posted by AJ

Not sure what's funnier, Wilkinson or Souness. Cantona at Liverpool would have been a frightening prospect.

Anyway Rio came through the West Ham youth system anyway, alongside Michael Carrick.

If anyone has helped us it's the hammers, Eric was a Leeds player for what 11 months ?

Interesting to wonder where west ham would be if they'd kept their youth players, the above two, plus lampard and Joe Cole.

money talks I guess......

David James,
Glenn Johnson
Rio Ferdinand
Joe Cole
Frank Lampard
Michael Carrick
Jermaine Defoe

Manager - Harry Redknapp

ALL PLAYED IN FA CUP/CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINALS this season

plus lesser players who didnt make it here,

David Beckham - Played for Kids side (No cup final but still a big name)
Sol Campbell, - Played in youth team
John Terry - Played for Kids side

All released

plus watch out for former hammer - RICHARD GARCIA (An Aussie who we released a few years back) who won the play-off final with HULL - Not a bad player at all and may be pivitol for them next year

[PAULM03]

Originally Posted by friskyfitz

David James,
Glenn Johnson
Rio Ferdinand
Joe Cole
Frank Lampard
Michael Carrick
Jermaine Defoe

Manager - Harry Redknapp

ALL PLAYED IN FA CUP/CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINALS this season

plus lesser players who didnt make it here,

David Beckham - Played for Kids side (No cup final but still a big name)
Sol Campbell, - Played in youth team
John Terry - Played for Kids side

All released

plus watch out for former hammer - RICHARD GARCIA (An Aussie who we released a few years back) who won the play-off final with HULL - Not a bad player at all and may be pivitol for them next year

I bet that list makes you

Doesn't it?

It would me if it was my club.

[Appy Ammer]

Originally Posted by PAULM03

I bet that list makes you

Doesn't it?

It would me if it was my club.

Not really - expected it TBH.

[friskyfitz]

Originally Posted by PAULM03

I bet that list makes you

Doesn't it?

It would me if it was my club.

Dunno Paul - We will never be a huge club but we are in top flight.... We will most likely continue to be a selling club for now. Im sure that there are smaller teams in lower leagues who if they lost just one of these, it could make the difference between surviving and bunkruptcy. I kinda think its about prospective. Look at poor old CREWE as an example, survived the drop to the bottom tier by 2 points despite having unleashed a lot of talent over 15 years. All just to survive.....

If Bournemouth or Luton hadn't points docked, they were down !

[PAULM03]

Originally Posted by Appy Ammer

Not really - expected it TBH.

Yeah but that aside, it hurts doesn't it?

I've been a Wakefield Trinity fan man and boy (20 years since my first game, this year) so I know what it's like to love a selling club. The amount of players we've let go over the last 20 years is just astonishing. It's sad when you know that your best young players are only ever going to get a couple of seasons with you at most. And any decent players you unearth are going to get snapped up. I remember when we brought a little known youngster called Henry Paul over from New Zealand. We all knew after his first game for us he'd be gone at the end of the season.

Thankfully it looks like things might be changing for us for the better. Salary cap, 20/20 rule and hopefully being guaranteed top flight status for more than a season seems to be spreading the talent around a little more thanit used to

[Appy Ammer]

Originally Posted by PAULM03

Yeah but that aside, it hurts doesn't it

Of course it hurts, you do start wondering 'what if' and all that but all I was being told is 'These players will leave for better clubs' and you need to sell to buy (That is all I heard growing up as a WHU fan - need to sell to buy) - so I did not expect anything from them...well except cash, but we were robbed over Carrick / Cole...

[AJ]

I'd take Defoe off your list though, he's pants.

[Matt]

Not sure what's funnier, Wilkinson or Souness. Cantona at Liverpool would have been a frightening prospect.

Both are as comical as each other really.........

David James,
Glenn Johnson
Rio Ferdinand
Joe Cole
Frank Lampard
Michael Carrick
Jermaine Defoe

Manager - Harry Redknapp

ALL PLAYED IN FA CUP/CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINALS this season

plus lesser players who didnt make it here,

David Beckham - Played for Kids side (No cup final but still a big name)
Sol Campbell, - Played in youth team
John Terry - Played for Kids side

All released

ouch....something not right at your club from top to bottom.

[garyfinny]

But if you look at the list of players, you could not argue with anyone leaving.
Relegation meant that you could not expect to keep good players.

Ferdinand and Johnson went for big money at the time, can't blame the club for turning it down.

If I recall correctly, I remember West Ham fans giving terrible abuse to Frank Lampard, and Redknapp wasn't exactly popular towards the end.

Even if West Ham had avoided relegation I doubt whether they would have kept those kind of players anyway.