0:00

Hi everybody, producer Al here, time for

0:02

another TSFP Presents re-release here on the

0:04

Monday podcast feed and it's the final

0:06

episode of our History of Transfers series.

0:08

This time we took a look at

0:10

the biggest flops in La

0:12

Liga history. Now is it unfair to

0:14

categorise people with complex feelings and stories

0:16

and so many factors as flops? Yes

0:19

it is. Did we do it anyway? Yes

0:21

we did. I hope you enjoyed the episode.

0:23

For more of this kind of thing you

0:25

can join us at patreon.com/TSFP. Hello

0:35

patrons, welcome to the latest edition

0:38

of TSFP Presents A History of

0:40

Transfers today. We're out and

0:42

about recording on a table in a cafe

0:44

in sunny Madrid. It's lovely. It is very

0:47

nice. It's sunny. We're going to be talking

0:49

about flops of which there

0:52

is much to discuss. We've been looking forward, I

0:54

feel we've been trailing ahead to this one, basically

0:56

the entire series and it is funny when we

0:58

were looking at potential transfer bargains for the last

1:00

episode. There are a few bargains out there. Oh

1:02

yeah. But when you look at La Liga flops,

1:05

there are so so many. I mean we're

1:07

going to leave a lot out and let's

1:09

just put that out there upfront because there are

1:11

so so many to include. Obviously the term flop

1:13

is quite a fluid concept. Relative. One man's flop

1:16

could be another man's failure. Well do

1:19

you know what the other interesting thing I was thinking looking

1:21

at some of these players that we're going to talk about is

1:23

that we say that they're flops but a lot of these aren't

1:25

bad players. In fact a lot

1:27

of them are really quite good players who were good before

1:29

and maybe they were good after. A lot of them should

1:32

have been in a good side. A lot of them should

1:34

have been in a good side. Wrong place, wrong time,

1:36

wrong club. Well I mean that is perhaps the

1:38

two different ways of approaching this. A flop can

1:40

be a player who wasn't very

1:42

good, with very little expectation

1:45

and he just turned out to be

1:47

crap like Chiyogitsuke or whatever. But someone

1:49

who was good and came with expectations

1:51

and because of those expectations weren't met

1:54

that is what added to his flop

1:56

floppiness. And obviously in some of these

1:58

cases he's a player. flocked through no

2:00

fault of their own. Yes. They weren't self floppers.

2:03

Maybe no one's fault. You know sometimes it's just

2:05

life isn't it? Yes. It's not me, it's not

2:07

you, it hasn't worked out. Yes. Well it certainly

2:09

didn't work out for these players that we're going

2:11

to mention. We're going to sort of break it

2:13

down if possible and try and structure it by

2:15

team. And we're focusing on the bigger clubs as

2:18

well because let's be honest they've always had more

2:20

money to spend and therefore the flop quotient has

2:22

maybe been higher at the big clubs. Yeah.

2:24

So we're starting with Barca and I mentioned

2:26

him Chirgidski. I've never

2:29

been able to pronounce his name. It's a

2:31

name that has not enough vowels in it.

2:33

Yeah. I mean if they're like one vowel

2:35

in it. There's one vowel. A lot of

2:37

consonants. In fairness the Y acts as a

2:39

vowel doesn't it? The Y is also the

2:41

big question. So

2:43

why because actually he was, here's why,

2:45

let's start with why shall we? Because

2:47

he was in theory the

2:49

player that Pep Guardiola needed,

2:52

the kind of defender that he needed. Reasonably strong with

2:54

the ball he looked very very good playing in

2:56

Champions League in Ukraine. He'd,

2:59

he steps out with the ball well he could pass the

3:01

ball well he was strong and

3:04

it didn't work and it didn't work. I mean

3:06

in the end there's a very interesting bit in

3:08

take the ball pass the ball where where basically

3:11

effectively it's a game

3:13

against wrapping Santander I think when he plays the

3:15

wrong pass. It's not necessarily a terrible pass. Oh

3:18

no Osasuna. It's not necessarily a terrible pass but

3:20

it's the wrong pass and Guardiola has driven in

3:22

Jildington. This is the pass. This is your outlet

3:24

ball. This is the ball you play and he

3:26

didn't do it partly because he believed he could

3:28

do something else partly because he saw an option

3:30

on and Guardiola basically decided okay that's it. But

3:32

it was that passing ability rather than necessarily the

3:34

defending that made Guardiola so keen on him.

3:36

We should say he was suggested by the

3:38

way by patron Paul who described his appearance

3:41

in take the ball pass the ball isn't

3:43

he? Thoughtful and gentlemanly. Incredibly, yeah

3:46

thoughtful is a great word and

3:48

in introspective as well he's he

3:51

comes across as being genuinely quite

3:53

hurt by what happened but with a with a

3:56

maturity to deal with it and a

3:58

maturity to accept his own culpability. He ended

4:00

up being like a punchline effect. Yeah,

4:04

his name is a byword

4:07

for Barcelona's ineptitude

4:09

in terms of signing centrebacks, which perhaps

4:11

has been sort

4:13

of alleviated in the last couple of years. And

4:15

away, it's also maybe being played in that he

4:17

wasn't always awful to be good. It's just that

4:19

it's partly, again, and that's going to be the

4:22

case in all of these, it's partly expectation against

4:24

reality, not just reality itself. But he cost 25

4:26

million back in 2009. Which

4:30

for a bit of him was back in the 90s. He

4:32

was spunked 25 million on anyone. They

4:34

do, they do. He's been doing sterling

4:36

work at AK Athens, by the way, won the

4:38

Greek title. Huge in Greece. See, so that proves

4:40

he was a good player, because if he went

4:42

to the greatest league in Europe and has been

4:45

the best player, or done sterling work anyway. Staying

4:48

with Barcelona, I mean, there are lots

4:50

of names that have been banded

4:52

around here, but it's a bit of a surprise,

4:54

petty. Alex Song, the

4:56

greatest ever moment. Well,

4:59

this is mentioned by patron Alex. I'm not sure if

5:01

it's Alex Song. Is he

5:03

talking about what I think he is? He

5:05

says that when... When Bouillot was collecting the

5:07

La Liga trophy in 2013, and Song thinks

5:10

he's handing it to him. And

5:12

Song steps out of line, the line of Barcelona plays and he

5:14

steps forward as if to take the trophy. And

5:17

Bouillot basically pretty much shoulder charges him out of the way.

5:19

I mean, it's a general shoulder charge, but this is Bouillot.

5:21

I've got to say, I find that... I mean,

5:23

it's difficult to watch. I can't watch it. It's so cringe-worthy.

5:26

Of course, it was actually for Abidael. Did you

5:28

say that just then? I didn't say that, but

5:30

Abidael. Yeah, I can't watch it.

5:32

It's too painful. Imagine that. What?

5:35

I mean, genuinely, what was Song

5:37

thinking? Did he really think that Bouillot was

5:39

going to get the trophy and then bring it over and...

5:42

...habit to him? Well,

5:44

yes, clearly. That's why he stood out. We have already

5:46

discussed this, though. There is a brilliant statistic that proves

5:48

that actually Alex Song is not a flop. He's actually

5:51

the greatest player in Spanish football history. The greatest signing

5:53

in Spanish football history in fact. He went unbeaten longer

5:55

than any other player. From his debut to his first

5:57

defeat, 31 games, more than anyone else in Spanish football

5:59

history. football history therefore he is the best signing

6:01

ball Tommy not a block he's in the wrong

6:04

podcast sorry Alex and by the way again Alex

6:06

song I mean not a great player

6:08

but also not a terrible player there

6:10

was one season in which he was

6:13

Arsenal's best player although that probably says

6:15

more about Arsenal's season that he is.

6:17

I'll let you say that. But Kithro

6:19

you mentioned Arsenal and Barthorn have a

6:21

bigger finger. I mean you mentioned their

6:23

Petit, Overmars, Alex Lebs, I mentioned Vermalen.

6:26

We could do a whole podcast

6:28

on failed signings for Barcelona from Arsenal

6:30

they've been very good to Arsenal. I remember Arsene

6:33

Wenger once laughing at Real Madrid and saying it

6:35

was a period when Snyder had gone and been

6:37

brilliant and Robin had gone and been brilliant and

6:39

Arsene Wenger laughing at Real Madrid and saying something

6:41

along the lines of if you want a great

6:44

player at a knockdown price just hang around Madrid's

6:46

back door and they chuck the players out. Obviously

6:48

he was laughing at Barcelona quite a lot more

6:50

though I think. Yeah I mean those signings that

6:52

we mentioned were very profitable indeed. Yes I mean

6:55

I wouldn't you know I think it's a bit

6:57

harsh perhaps to say that they were all complete

6:59

flops. Overmars and Petit went to Barcelona

7:02

at a very strange time. This is the post-Figo

7:04

thing, the collapsed institution, it's terrible. And Overmars had

7:06

a period where he actually played really well. Curiously

7:08

at Barcelona Radiantik did something that no manager has

7:11

ever done with Mark Overmars. Put him on the

7:13

wing on his right foot. Well his correct foot

7:15

Robin his right foot. And actually having as a

7:17

player who goes outside instead of Overmars doing what

7:19

Overmars always used to do which was run down

7:22

the wing in a straight line. Yeah. A bit

7:24

like this guy, Andros Townsend who basically has

7:26

one move which is run in a straight line cut across

7:28

in a straight line and then shoot and that's what

7:30

Overmars used to do. But then Barcel put him on

7:32

the other wing and for a little while it was

7:34

really quite good. You know who I think was he

7:36

was with did you hear about Petit? Petit tells all

7:39

sorts of strange stories about Barcelona. He's very bitter about

7:41

his time at Barcelona. Yeah. He tells stories about about

7:44

having sex in the dressing room and on the

7:46

pitch. Oh yeah he did meet him that way.

7:48

Barcelona as racist because of the Catalan question. And

7:51

I Spoke to someone in Barcelona about this

7:53

and his response was it's a lovely Spanish

7:55

phrase. What's he gonna say? After All he's

7:58

as odd as a. Right

8:00

as well as old as a green dog. Okay

8:02

outcomes that aware of this. I mean yes he

8:04

says he's not for new protect you from the

8:07

remembered in the in Barcelona Am so flop off

8:09

the pitch as well as potentially on a as

8:11

well. I was focus on them going to say

8:13

the biggest flop of all these that we got

8:15

in this list here. We could mention that Giovanni

8:18

Rochemback, Raquel may even slapped him but we gotta

8:20

move on to the what los to get to.

8:22

I think the biggest one set of souls of

8:24

is under the biggest on his auditors. Yes

8:27

given the given the expectations given how good

8:29

he was as the cel mai evening for

8:31

them the money to fear fear to produce

8:33

our produced this list been through then little

8:35

less about around was left of atoms and

8:37

publicly said yes us gray I want us

8:39

to run around so much given these times

8:41

are that's a rough estimate it was just

8:43

it was a family couldn't even we would

8:45

might help but to how much was a

8:47

affect the i mean nothing you tried to

8:49

by how much was effective that are having

8:51

one's require not playing for six months and.

8:54

Forty might. As a sincere Bobby, there's always

8:56

a really, really big so never, ever, ever

8:58

was. I'm struggling to think of anything he

9:01

didn't have. Also, When

9:03

to be so he says argument athletic of

9:05

us with that was very very funny Yes

9:07

and again you know we moving on. but

9:09

great examples their of what we were saying

9:12

some a lot. Riquelme a one of the

9:14

great number ten Barcelona was very much a

9:16

flood the guy lot of money I was

9:18

worried about violence on autumn holiday out and

9:20

stuff isn't isn't really was I mean that

9:22

that's out of here are different is it

9:25

is as physics suit on it so disappeared

9:27

as is nothing out of those be blue

9:29

really. Zero. People

9:31

are very annoyed about this as well because

9:33

they like to point out something which is

9:35

the auditor I'm with saw it bothers him

9:37

retired as a man who was that site

9:40

and this place disguise the outside and this

9:42

in his dog out for around the i

9:44

said getting any of this place is quite

9:46

tricky. guess you could mention to senior was

9:48

letters potentially one of the most expensive given

9:50

adult civil he was my expenses for of

9:53

what one would say team also for minimal

9:55

the auditor or it's about next on the

9:57

has gotten. douglas I

10:00

mean talk about punchlines. Douglas

10:02

became a punchline. Who

10:05

can't do kick-ups? Who's a professional footballer who seems

10:07

to be able to do kick-ups? I remember Michael

10:09

Oum on to the limit that he can't do

10:11

kick-ups either. No way! Yeah, I can't use that

10:13

on kick-ups. But he can score

10:15

goals. Yeah. See, I'm really good at kick-ups. I'm

10:17

sure you are normally, but if you were doing

10:19

kick-ups in front of how many thousand people on

10:21

the pitch at Camp Nou, it might not be

10:24

quite as straight forward. I mean there weren't that

10:26

many people. Not for Douglas' presentation. Not for Douglas'

10:28

presentation, but yeah. He

10:32

wasn't a good side- Oh,

11:00

right. Which one then? Nicholas Nelker. Oh, Nicholas Nelker

11:02

is not a flop. Okay. He's

11:04

a flop. He's angry. He wasn't happy.

11:06

He wanted to go. No one liked him.

11:08

But he scored the two goals that

11:11

put them into the Champions League final as

11:13

a player. Yes, he was a flop. I

11:15

mean, he was a flop for reasons other

11:17

than that. But he was

11:19

unpopular from the very start. I mean, how much did he cost? He

11:22

cost 20 million, I think, at

11:24

the time. In fact, he single-handedly paid

11:26

for Arsenal's training ground. London

11:29

Colney was entirely paid for by the

11:31

transfer for the Nicholas Nelker. He

11:33

got a lot of money. I mean, you say- A beautiful madness,

11:35

Laurentiou St. called it when they signed him. 20 years, 29 million

11:38

euros, I think it was. Something

11:40

like that at the time. And again, not a bad

11:43

timing because he was absolutely brilliant. But that season, you

11:45

say he scored two really important goals. I mean, he

11:47

scored a total of about five goals for him. No,

11:49

no, absolutely not. But I still

11:51

think that it's forgotten that the contribution to them

11:53

winning the European Cup that year was gigantic against

11:55

Bayern Munich in the semi-finals. Okay,

11:58

but that doesn't stop him being a flop. He

12:00

had an important moment and that was it. Okay, yeah. When

12:03

he was brought in to be... How much money did they

12:05

get back? That's the guy, that's the question. He went to

12:07

PSG after Madrid, didn't he? I think that was quite a

12:09

financial fear as well. But PSG weren't PSG, they weren't this

12:11

PSG. No. I

12:13

mentioned him, Jonathan Woodgate. Are you going to try

12:15

and defend him? Yeah. Okay. But why?

12:19

Jonathan Woodgate had a lot of injuries, as

12:21

everyone knows. His debut is the greatest footballing

12:23

moment in history, possibly. 561 days

12:25

he waited for his debut. 561

12:28

days. He signed.

12:30

Wait, it's 561 days for his debut. I mean, that's

12:32

nearly two years with a year and a half. On

12:34

his debut, he scores an own goal and gets sent

12:37

off. The post-match mix

12:39

zone with him was absolutely brilliant because he comes out

12:42

and he's like, I'm going

12:44

to use lots of swear words now, so apologies for this. This might

12:46

get an x-ray, it's been midget. Fuck

12:48

me. Fuck him. Fuck him. Fuck,

12:51

I'm fucking believable. Fuck

12:54

him. When I got the first yellow colour, Fuck, they

12:56

just don't fucking get another one. Fuck him. We're

12:58

like standing in front of him, Jonathan. Could you say all

13:00

that again without the f-words that we can publish to? He's

13:03

like, oh yeah, sorry about that. That's yeah. He

13:05

was great company, actually, Jonathan Woodgate. Oh, well, that's all

13:08

right. He spoke really, really good Spanish, partly because he

13:10

was injured. He used to do this thing with

13:12

Gate where he would get in his car and

13:15

drive and get lost and

13:17

just go and see things in Spain. And

13:19

then when he's decided, okay, that's enough, he

13:21

put the sat-nav oven on and sat-nav himself home.

13:23

That's great. He'd just drive and get lost, go to the

13:25

airport, pick up the papers, you know, that sort of thing.

13:28

He spoke better Spanish than the others, partly because he's

13:30

on the treatment table, because he's talking to physios and

13:32

so on. I'm also going to defend him because he

13:34

arrives injured. Right. And

13:37

he arrives injured from Newcastle, and

13:39

Newcastle know that he's a little bit injured and Madrid know

13:41

he's injured, but they force it through. At

13:43

his presentation, Florentino Pérez de Realmaje, the president says,

13:46

he'll be playing in, I can't remember the exact

13:48

figure, I think he said in 15 days, the

13:50

normal word for Fortnite in Spain. For

13:52

some reason, they think of Fortnite as 15 days, not 14,

13:54

it's very curious. Anyway, so he's going to be playing, he

13:56

wasn't. It goes on to

13:58

about three, four weeks. He's not playing, he's training,

14:01

they sort of get in there but he's not

14:03

quite ready. Florentino is under pressure because of course

14:05

he's presented him as his big star and

14:08

he's right, I've got him playing. If

14:10

only the Doctor says I want him

14:12

playing now. Doctor Taylor is not ready.

14:14

They arrange a special training ground game

14:16

against the beating. David Barral, he's up

14:19

against. David Barral of

14:21

all people. And Florentino basically tells

14:23

the doctors he's playing. And

14:25

one of the doctors says he can't, he's not ready,

14:27

he shouldn't play, he's playing. Chasing

14:30

David Barral, boom, it goes, tears the

14:32

tendon that goes through the middle of

14:35

his thigh, snaps. He

14:38

goes to Finland for treatment and really goes through the

14:40

mill. Johnathan, they had a really, really terrible time of

14:42

it. I don't think that's entirely possible. And you know

14:44

what, when he did get a little run in the

14:46

side, he was brilliant. The problem was the run was

14:48

too short. He was genuinely really, really good. Honestly,

14:51

at that stage, because we know this about Sartre Ramos

14:53

now, Ramos was young and was even more chaotic perhaps

14:56

than he is now. Woodgate was a better defender of

14:58

the suit and they were a really good partnership. Okay,

15:00

so in terms of flop, obviously he barely played

15:02

and it was not what they were expecting. But

15:04

when he did manage to get out... I thought

15:07

he was very good indeed. Alright, okay. What

15:09

about Julien Faubert? I

15:12

mean, that's the question in so many ways. The

15:14

amazing thing about this is, I mean, this isn't

15:16

even a flop. If we're going to do this

15:18

reality against expectations, there were no expectations. There were

15:20

no expectations and he achieved nothing. I

15:24

mean, it was the weirdest signing

15:26

ever. Which is a guy, correct me

15:28

if I'm wrong, wasn't getting in the West Hamzoon. I

15:31

mean, I would love to know, who was the agent

15:33

who put that deal together? Because he earned his commission

15:35

that day. A genius, yeah. Yeah.

15:38

Yeah. Incredible. Yes.

15:41

I mean, Julien Faubert. That was the name, I

15:43

Think that came up perhaps more than any other

15:46

from people when we mentioned this episode. It certainly

15:48

was. We had that from a few patrons. Another

15:50

one on a similar theme. It was Tony Matling,

15:52

yeah. Nikolai says, as a Dane living in Spain...

15:54

Oh, Tommy, I love Tommy. I must bring up

15:56

the grabbers and transfer such an unlikely romance. Enlighten

15:58

Us. What did Madrid say? When I

16:00

find him well according from scrubs and

16:02

they fought usually calvin specific are afraid

16:04

of a bald guy ever since. I

16:06

mean they they send us some scrubs.

16:09

he's a really good player and murdered

16:11

signed him I think. Some hum

16:13

appearance played more department should indeed in analyses

16:15

of players decided to can you could be

16:17

tough aggressive over like defense because that's what

16:19

he looks like but it wasn't actually he's

16:21

even when you he wasn't a defensive me

16:23

sooner documents your and he used as a

16:26

say he's a job doesn't get Roman they

16:28

will say they want to legalize it and

16:30

he was not a terrible player but he

16:32

was kind of. he was Connors you like

16:34

symbolic of an era when him public althea

16:36

lots of places please hurry Probably shouldn't have

16:38

been around his worth and as as I

16:41

I think he became a running joke. More

16:43

than he deserves at a lot to

16:45

say next about cards from Scrubs Muscles

16:47

I forgot about those shows he has

16:49

and magnificent. I

16:53

mean there's a few of these names

16:55

Africom running jokes and other one being

16:57

Royston Drenthe Her: yeah, I mean there's

17:00

a better source engine that he had

17:02

been The outstanding Thought: European under twenty

17:04

one submissive see was young. He was

17:06

exciting and. You know

17:08

you could do a hope will cost about him.

17:10

We will as a larger is there is how

17:12

many stories from seats are. If reading Francis Collins

17:14

back in the day of our own kinds of

17:16

antique Vs rented that lovely isn't enough problem. I

17:19

love easily as a Lovely, any other set up

17:21

from his Epson printers has gone down the road

17:23

he crosses into. Please Call and his ass. Why

17:25

did you crescents? This guy said that if the

17:27

son of those tests researchers at the same left

17:30

or right common with Wild ride with I bet

17:32

you a little just thirty two, please go Spiller

17:34

Kilometer it's resident or really had a hot have

17:36

a healthy, has a bar. In v of is

17:38

the Asa they'll don't which I went to the

17:40

other day buffalo sauce I was looking for the

17:43

and look at a rate of interest in fact

17:45

is perhaps. memoirs title that regard as

17:47

or may not work and began the freshman

17:49

a motorcycle he also had an attempted people's

17:51

career as well mean that it and destroy

17:53

money that me a copy of his album

17:56

we're on our show more hip hop fantasy

17:58

know yeah but it's Quite entertaining,

18:00

you know. Dutch is obviously a

18:02

strange language. I'm gonna be surprised if you like entertaining. Maybe

18:04

we'll come back to him. Maybe we'll do a whole series

18:07

on sort of unlikely La Liga stories and he's a candidate

18:09

for entire episode because there's more there that we can do

18:11

just to get him. He tended to slip over a lot.

18:13

He got crucified for missing that really good chance one on

18:15

one in the Clasico and I think that was sort of

18:17

the end. And Marino kind of screwed him over as well

18:20

and didn't treat him particularly well. Let's

18:22

move on to Athletic Home Atreides who have not...

18:24

Oh, you didn't put Cassano in there. Sorry, just

18:26

while we're talking about that era of Ramadu. One

18:28

thing about, we know the Cassano story, but one

18:30

thing I used to like... You were brilliant. He

18:32

scored more than anyone else at Ramadu. Apart from Royce and

18:35

Trento, an interview once was asked, how many times did you

18:37

have sex last year? And he said, what, do you mean

18:39

with my wife? You know what an answer. Anyway,

18:43

so one very quick thing on Cassano. We know

18:45

everyone knows the second pastry story. No,

18:47

it was Ramon Calderon having a

18:49

go at Florentino Pérez for signing

18:52

him and saying something. But

18:54

focusing this on the presentation, saying

18:56

something like, you know, you were the man standing there giving him

18:58

his shirt, presenting this guy who was just a total joke.

19:01

Actually, if you find the photograph

19:03

from his presentation, is Ramon Calderon

19:05

handing him his shirt? Which is

19:07

brilliant. Cassano, yeah, okay, yeah. We

19:10

can put him in there. Moving

19:12

on and talking about Athletic Home Atreides who

19:14

have not had a lot of success when

19:17

it comes to transfers recently. They've had ups

19:19

and downs, haven't they? Yeah, I mean, we've

19:21

mentioned about their problems about trying to sign

19:23

strikers after being brilliant in terms of having

19:26

central forwards for a number of years. Subsequently,

19:29

they've had a few nightmares in terms of

19:31

signing strikers, not least Jackson Martinez.

19:33

Yeah, I think

19:35

I've said this before, but I still love that photograph of him

19:37

leaving. Yeah, I mean, the fact is, they did make

19:40

quite a lot of money. Well, they made a profit on

19:42

him. They made quite a big profit. That's the most incredible

19:44

thing. That was actually a brilliant piece of business for me.

19:46

Yeah, just not on the pitch. Not

19:49

a brilliant piece of business was Alessio Ciorci.

19:51

Alessio Ciorci, I'm so glad he's in this

19:53

list. Because he is an extraordinary flop. I

19:55

mean, he barely played. And he published a

19:57

photograph. He got in trouble for... Instagram

20:00

when you're on something all around Madrid. Yeah, he's

20:02

family She's not doing anything terrible except that I

20:04

was who were playing at the time. Yeah, I

20:07

mean he was literally I think he was in Grand Vier shopping

20:10

for clothes. Yeah Don't do

20:12

that. That's not a good idea. But yeah, we've got other

20:14

mentions here Nico guy tan He was brought

20:16

in he didn't do well particularly a

20:18

luchan of yeto But basically

20:21

pick a striker from the last four years It's

20:23

just all kind of wingers attack any kind of

20:25

attacking player they come and go go happen to

20:27

Krannavita Cuz he was gonna be the great you

20:30

yeah, there's another one under red on the we

20:32

kind of ball playing but also tough central midfielder

20:34

who would It's just totally I

20:36

don't I genuinely don't know where he is. Does anyone know

20:38

that? I mean, I'm sure it's not hard to look up

20:40

But no genuine then aware he went going back a bit

20:42

further my tires keseman. Yeah, you know what?

20:44

I am I translated for kids

20:46

presentation out of that come just so maybe it

20:49

was my Kevin a player who flops in the

20:51

Premier League who flops in La Liga? Pezman's in

20:53

the offices before his presentation and we're in there

20:55

and the obviously under the translation because although he's

20:57

not English He spoke English and

21:00

and they they bring in the clubs chaplain And

21:03

I think this is where it starts to go wrong very

21:05

very first day clubs chaplain shakes his hands. Hello How are

21:07

you doing? Hello, very nice to meet you Something

21:09

about the Catholic faith very important is I'm awful

21:12

dogs Well,

21:16

yeah, so yeah I

21:18

mean if you're getting off on the wrong wrong

21:20

religious book Crannavita who is at then it's St.

21:22

Petersburg There we go.

21:25

Probably making a lot of money and living in a

21:27

lovely city. Hmm Valencia have

21:29

had a few flops have they yeah,

21:31

they've had a few what about held up

21:33

a steeger Got

21:35

on there. He was there. There you go. It wasn't

21:37

a normal spurt legend held up a

21:40

steeger. He comes from Portugal He hates

21:42

the arsenal That

21:45

was the best thing he did I mean he was probably indifferent

21:47

to the arsenal Moving

21:58

on Shavia they They signed Babeto. They

22:02

signed Babeto. And they signed him at a time

22:04

when he'd just been growing gold

22:06

left, right and center for death. Genuinely, I'd completely

22:08

forgotten that they had... How many games was he

22:10

there for? He can't have been there more than

22:13

a handful. Yeah, I mean, he can't have been

22:15

there for more than a few months, right? Because, wow,

22:17

Savia had Babeto. They also had Maradona,

22:19

by the way. Do we

22:22

call him a flop? Look out, Maradona is a flop. I

22:25

mean, I suppose a lot was expected of him. And

22:27

then she tells a nice watch story about Maradona

22:29

at Savia. But Maradona comes

22:31

into training one day and Monchie's wearing this

22:34

Rolex. And Maradona says, I like

22:36

your watch. And Monchie says, ah, it's fake. I can't afford a

22:38

real Maradona because that'd be silly because, yeah. So I got a

22:40

fake one at the Maradona. Oh, right. Two

22:42

days later, Monchie turns up at training, sitting

22:45

on the bench waiting for him. His Maradona hands over a watch.

22:47

He says, no friend of mine's wearing a fake. Oh,

22:50

wow. Yeah, how about that? We need to

22:52

make friends at Maradona. Yeah, we do, don't we? Very

22:54

fast. Who is Roberto Rios

22:56

and why is athletic club biggest flop?

22:59

So Roberto Rios was absolutely brilliant at

23:01

Betis. A big, tall, powerful, bald-headed center

23:03

back who played for Betis in 96,

23:05

97. The outstanding

23:07

player. I think that season he got Spain

23:10

called up. And obviously it's tended to happen

23:12

with players who are Basque. Athletic

23:14

were like, OK, fantastic. He went there with

23:16

a lot of fanfare, a lot of sense

23:18

of excitement, this idea that, right, this is

23:20

the center back for, I'm not

23:23

sure how old he was at that stage. I don't think

23:25

he was very old. I think there was a sense that he was

23:27

going to be, you know, their key center back for the best part

23:29

of six, seven years. Basically, it was awful.

23:31

And no one could properly understand why. And for an athletic

23:33

who don't have a great deal of choice when it comes

23:35

to transfer targets and therefore have to choose wisely. And they

23:37

can't afford to. And I paid a lot of money for

23:39

him. I mean, I think I remember 15 million. It was

23:42

their record, wasn't it? Yeah, it was their record signing at

23:44

the time. Finally then, let's talk

23:46

about a gentleman who came over

23:48

from the UK to northern Spain.

23:50

With a big name, big reputation.

23:52

Big name. Big belly. Big

23:54

reputation. Big problems as well in fairness.

23:56

Didn't go well for Stan Cawley-Moore at

23:58

Ray L'Ovieille. On

24:01

Stan Collimore's debut, Real Oviedo

24:03

played against Las Palmas. In

24:06

the Las Palmas team was a guy called Nacho Gonzalez.

24:09

Nacho Gonzalez scored more goals than Stan Collimore that

24:11

season. Nacho Gonzalez is a

24:13

goalkeeper. How

24:17

many goals did Stan Collimore score? Zero. He

24:19

only played about 40 odd minutes. When

24:21

Stan Collimore was signed, Radi Antich, Oviedo were in desperate

24:23

relegation trouble and they did indeed go down at the

24:25

start of the season, at the end of the season

24:27

and of course haven't been back since. When

24:30

Stan Collimore was signed, Radi Antich came out and said,

24:32

you know, we could be talking about one of the

24:34

great signings in this club's history. When

24:36

Stan Collimore walked away, and he really did walk away, more

24:38

of which in a minute, Radi Antich came out and said,

24:40

signing Collimore had nothing to do with me. Lightly

24:44

getting himself out of trouble. Collimore in theory

24:46

should have been a great signing for Oviedo, you know, a really

24:48

talented player. Obviously what we didn't really know

24:50

at the time and what Oviedo didn't know was that this

24:52

was possibly at Stan Collimore's

24:54

worst period in terms of the depressions that

24:57

he was going through and if you notice,

24:59

for example, Collimore, I don't know if this is

25:01

still the case, but his Twitter biography used to list

25:03

all the clubs he played for, except Oviedo. And I

25:05

think he just, in his own mind,

25:07

just wants to kind of get that period, you know,

25:09

forget that period even happened. I

25:11

think he played something like 53 minutes in

25:13

total across three games maybe. He

25:16

was a player that one of his team mates

25:18

said, you know, they were on the way home from training,

25:20

I think they stopped outside this, like,

25:22

you know, the classic kind of Alimentation, sort of

25:24

little corner shop style thing that you get in

25:26

Spain, and Collimore got out, comes back, gets in

25:28

the car, and he goes, what's in the bags,

25:31

Dan? A bottle of Coke, five Twixes, and literally

25:33

just boom, boom, boom. He was out of shape,

25:35

he wasn't happy, and he left

25:37

without anyone knowing. Now, genuinely,

25:39

there's a phone call to

25:42

the offices at Real Oviedo, and

25:44

I don't know who answers the phone, the secretary or receptionist or

25:46

whoever it is, bear in mind they're quite a small club, it

25:48

could literally have been the president, I don't know. They

25:51

answer the phone and say, hello, and someone says, Stan

25:53

Collimore is at the airport. Astorias

25:56

Airport at that time basically had two

25:58

runways, you know, he was like, please passenger. Received a

26:00

number one as if there were more than

26:02

one Guy said is it's the south Central

26:04

most of the apples yes I will vote

26:06

is hop five suitcases with no new and

26:08

he just left. just walked out. He left

26:10

at the hotel. He

26:12

left. the guys have elevated trucks and lay

26:14

down the bed as if there was a

26:16

ghost that gone for laid out of it

26:18

as if there was something lying on the

26:20

bed, trucks you on the bed and the

26:22

stuff. Like since I just went no one

26:24

knew that was going. A

26:27

less absolutely no impact the to with except

26:29

to be if you locker of a byword

26:31

for wow that was a disaster and obviated

26:34

sued in denial of it's not. What happened

26:36

was that that was it. There was a

26:38

cool place between the two of them about

26:40

money because he bought his contract about the

26:42

outstanding. Money that he owed on. Now I'm not

26:44

sure the exact details of this but that this

26:46

court case was kind of left and I think

26:48

a month or a mud room and this in

26:50

the properly the my person even sides of the

26:52

one hundred and sure about that exists but bicycle

26:54

happen when albeit went through the the trouble they

26:57

had in two thousand and twelve in there with

26:59

the speech on upon money from anywhere the president's

27:01

at the time came out of. we're trying to

27:03

were trying to look back and find it has

27:05

any way we can generate money and that includes

27:07

looking back it would have. he blew out his

27:09

money and he actually explicitly said and that includes

27:11

and Collymore now. Stand denied this but but

27:13

their mother says two thousand and twelve any

27:15

less than two thousand and one in was

27:18

his thoughts. hang on a minute the might

27:20

still be some money. That's besides the was

27:22

a court case it the I think it's

27:24

a get my scene and I'd get resolved

27:26

nothing ultimately as well. I'm not to definitely

27:28

not wanting on Sunday cause I legally definitely

27:30

not relevant to satisfaction. I'm as you alluded

27:32

to it is worth pops reiterating that you

27:34

didn't offer well I too was no in

27:37

a good non add another this is anil

27:39

generally I say this is it's is one

27:41

of things that with for. Through the problems

27:43

that the the the Collymore kind of type

27:45

of the aid of who the father wasn't

27:47

helpful to them on the pitch I'm quite.

27:51

are dancing indulgence robert of i'm alright what

27:53

his uncle understanding all quite tolerance of what

27:55

happened because i think he was genuinely in

27:57

a in in in in a very bad

27:59

place the time, the bad place not being obviated,

28:01

mentally in a very bad place and and actually

28:04

I think in a way it was

28:06

a move that he presumably felt could

28:08

help him but very clearly didn't. Alright

28:10

listen we're going to leave it there

28:12

thank you for listening to TSFP Presents,

28:14

a history of transfers, flops, there

28:16

were more we could mention. Yes send us

28:19

your suggestions you know. Yes and we'll be

28:21

back soon with the more TSFP Presents. Adios.

28:23

Bye.