Players signed off the back of a good performance against us
The thread idea was 100% ripped off @ReadingMarginalista - who made the statement: "There isn't a great track record of WWFC signing players who perform well against us and then sign for us..." in the Weston signing thread.
Primarily because I'm bored, I wanted to see if history bears that out:
Stefan Oakes - meh (signed off the back of scoring a long range screamer for Notts County)
Jason Banton - flop (glamour playoff goal for Argyle)
Scott McGleish - left the club badly but certainly banged them in both for and against us. I wouldn't say he was signed on the basis of a particular game though
Fola Onibuje - played against us twice for Swindon before he signed for us. Didn't score but I guess looked frighteningly quick. Classic headless chicken...
Martin Bullock - never really cut it for us
there's probably more?
Comments
Andy Rammell excellent against us, a colossus for us.
The same could be said for Steve Thompson.
Tony Hemmings tore us to shreds in the Drinkwise Cup final playing for Northwich. By the end of that year he was playing for us.
Decent player for us and brilliant on his day (his performance against Crewe the game after Keith Scott left particularly sticks in the mind - was that his debut?)
Does Sergio Torres count? I think he was picked up after playing game for Basingstoke against us - although it was a friendly I believe.
Stefan Oakes was good wasn't he? He'd walk into the side now.
Brian Parkin had some stinkers against us, and even more for us.
Thank you Mr A.Smith
Stefan Oakes was a one-trick pony I would say (not uncommon at this level, but still) - he had the long diagonal pass in his armoury and little else. Rarely one to get stuck in on the tackling side. If he was that great I don't think he'd have gone to Lincoln after us, then dropped out of the league.
Definitely Sergio unless I am missing some subtlety of the selection criteria!
Steve McGavin was always a thorn in our side playing against us for Col U
And became a bit of a nearly man when he played for us. Loads of skill but so often failed to deliver in the final third. Sound familiar?!
A classic (and amusing) example going back a few years was hard man and great character Glyn Creaser. Sent off at Loakes Park for a bad foul on Mark West; signed for Wycombe a week later. At a social evening a few years later - The Wycombedales (?) - he took a shine to Mrs Micra. Shows how long ago that must have been. I can still see Dave Carroll in just a G-string. Not a pretty sight.
I admit it was entirely impressionistic on my part, and had no basis in fact or research! To be fair, I was thinking more about players in the more recent past than the likes of Creaser, McGavin, Thompson and Rammell. Tommy Mooney was a more obvious one I should have remembered. Stefan Oakes is definitely the example I had in mind of a player who had one moment of brilliance against us, who then didn't replicate it on a particularly regular basis when signed for us, Matt Spring and Jason Banton more recent examples.
@ChasHarps Parkin doesn't count, we knew he was shit before he joined!
I would say Mooney was (like McGleish) a consistent lower league goalscorer (which is the right reason to sign someone) rather than just signed on the basis of a fluke good day against us.
Obviously his game was about a lot more than just scoring goals, but for example he didn't score against us for either Swindon or Oxford.
Right @ReadingMarginalista! Now that you have set the parameters I will hold back from the dozen or so names that an even older supporter has come up with, dating back 40 years and more. There was inevitably much more signing of opposition players who impressed in those days because 95% of our opponents were within a couple of hours' travel.
Martin Bullock.....awesome against us, average for us...didn't Steve dell think thats his name play against us for Beaconsfield then sign for us...under lulu.
He certainly did @Will_i_ams
@micra Don't hold back: I like to hear the historical stuff. If too recent for this thread, start a new one for "Players signed off the back of a good performance against us more than 30 years ago".
Sean Devine. Darren Currie...Always played well against us.
They also played very well for us
Oh yes Devine and Garner are my fav strikers we have had at the club and Its an elite club.
Stuart Roberts?
Tony Hemmings was Wycombe's finest ever super sub.
Edit: Got curious to know what he's up to now. Apparently managing Nottinghamshire side Kimberley Miners Welfare F.C
@X_Ray_Scotty - He was a promising talent in his Swansea days, though I'll admit I'd forgotten he'd scored against us in our 2-1 win in 2000 and don't remember anyone after the games against Swansea clamouring to sign him. Him going to pot is one of the biggest wastes of talent I've seen at Wycombe in my time.
Craig Falconbridge. /Thread
Does Martin Rowlands count?
Only just saw your post. I'm afraid I've already forgotten most of the names but will sort a few out in the next few days. Did you mean if too ancient for this thread rather than too recent?
I am about to start a new thread regarding a TV comedy series about a non-league football club which I enjoyed recently but not sure if it qualifies for the Football category or Not Football.
@ReadingMarginalista I read an interview with him where he went into some detail describing how Sanchez completely destroyed him, taking away all his confidence and love for the game. Just his side of the story of course, but one I can well believe.
Richard Harris, signed from Palace after scoring a hattrick against us in a reserve game. Went on to be comically awful in the quarters. Had absolutely nothing save for a fairly big throw, prompting Joe Kinnear to suggest 'if you pulled his arms off he wouldn't be playing professional football' (or words to that effect).
I will always defend Richard Harris - the fact that he dropped down way the leagues after he left us is probably a fair indication of his quality, but he actually scored more than many strikers we've had, especially on a goals per pitch time basis.
http://chairboys.co.uk/players/harris_richard.htm
Those stats are far better than I would have expected given the turgid performances I have vague memories of him putting in. I suppose he was unfortunate to play in a rather underwhelming Wycombe side and was, as I recall, often paired with the woeful Gavin Holligan. They didn't exactly click as a partnership and just seemed to run around aimlessly, but perhaps I'm being harsh. We've certainly had worse though - at least those two got a few goals, unlike, say Richard Logan and Dennis Oli (not counting Logan's discounted strike in the 'lightning gate' game v Rovers)