Bananaman

[YeltzDoc]

Nicked from a retweet by Tim - https://twitter.com/FlagRaised/status/1 ... YJJd1PDiUg

I don't remember him as that loved at The Grove as a player, more so as a "character" and then he went on to play 300 odd league games.

Our stats have him at 24(11) / 10 goals, so pretty good but neither up there nor very long. Unlike the banana.

[piearce9]

I agree - it came as a bit of a shock when Bristol Rovers opened their chequebook to peel ( ) him away from us. He was solid, yet didn’t stand out massively amongst a very good squad at the time. His record in the football league was excellent though, so very much vindicated on their part.

On an aside, is he the last player for whom we received a fee? Also I can’t think of too many who were signed BY a league club either. Many have gone on to the football league, but via another non-league side first.

[YeltzDoc]

I think that Big Julie, and Jimmy Rodwell the season before, were the last time we got any money for anyone.
Although we’ve been pretty average for long periods since then, it is odd that the signings we became used to in the late ‘80s / early ‘90s - Deano, Cashy, Flynny, Andy Pearce, Tim Clarke - dried up.

I don’t think that professional sides’ recruitment has changed that much, I suspect that, if you’re good enough, you’ll still get snapped up. Perhaps we just haven’t had anyone who fitted the bill in terms of age and ability?

[YeltzDoc]

And a non-fruit related Alsop story.

He wore contact lenses while playing and at some home match 25+ years ago, he lost one after a tussle.
After deciding that he couldn’t play on without it, and that we needed him on the pitch, Gavin Blackwell ran on and applied a big comedy bandage around his head and over one eye.
So we had him lumbering around like a Terry Butcher cyclops for about 5 minutes before the resulting hilarity from the sidelines lead to him being subbed.

[Laurel Lane Lamper]

I think that Big Julie, and Jimmy Rodwell the season before, were the last time we got any money for anyone.
Although we’ve been pretty average for long periods since then, it is odd that the signings we became used to in the late ‘80s / early ‘90s - Deano, Cashy, Flynny, Andy Pearce, Tim Clarke - dried up.

I don’t think that professional sides’ recruitment has changed that much, I suspect that, if you’re good enough, you’ll still get snapped up. Perhaps we just haven’t had anyone who fitted the bill in terms of age and ability?

I think Mr Bosman and his rule changed that. Hereford were first to take advantage and took Piearce, Snapper, Elms etc

[old git]

I think that Big Julie, and Jimmy Rodwell the season before, were the last time we got any money for anyone.
Although we’ve been pretty average for long periods since then, it is odd that the signings we became used to in the late ‘80s / early ‘90s - Deano, Cashy, Flynny, Andy Pearce, Tim Clarke - dried up.

I don’t think that professional sides’ recruitment has changed that much, I suspect that, if you’re good enough, you’ll still get snapped up. Perhaps we just haven’t had anyone who fitted the bill in terms of age and ability?

If you recall it was the Bosman ruling killed that stone dead

[fairweatherfan]

I agree - it came as a bit of a shock when Bristol Rovers opened their chequebook to peel ( ) him away from us. He was solid, yet didn’t stand out massively amongst a very good squad at the time. His record in the football league was excellent though, so very much vindicated on their part.

On an aside, is he the last player for whom we received a fee? Also I can’t think of too many who were signed BY a league club either. Many have gone on to the football league, but via another non-league side first.

I may be completely wrong here, but I've a feeling that Kingstonian paid us £18k for Delton Francis...

[YeltzDoc]

I thought he went to Nuneaton?
Anyone?

[Dazzie76]

Pretty sure Kingstonian paid us around the 10k mark for francis.

[fairweatherfan]

I thought he went to Nuneaton?
Anyone?

A (very) cursory Google indicates he went to Kingstonian and *then* Nuneaton when they were in the Conference. Nothing about the fee, which I may well be talking gibberish about.