Players who started off good but became terrible

[Brogue]

Alex Pearce

[KC Royal]

There used to be a fans network site (forget its name now), knew someone who used to update the Gillingham site. By contrast the Reading site was dead (guessing everyone was on here instead) but I remember posting on it once and Brebner actually replied

When we signed Gorkss I told a QPR fan I worked with and he was gutted, he hoped he would be given a chance in the PL, so I knew he would do well for us. Still can't believe he wasn't in the top 3 for POTS in the promotion year. Coming in late probably didn't help but don't think he missed a single league game that season after joining, and we conceded plenty at the start of the season without him.

[Clyde1998]

There used to be a fans network site (forget its name now), knew someone who used to update the Gillingham site. By contrast the Reading site was dead (guessing everyone was on here instead) but I remember posting on it once and Brebner actually replied

When we signed Gorkss I told a QPR fan I worked with and he was gutted, he hoped he would be given a chance in the PL, so I knew he would do well for us. Still can't believe he wasn't in the top 3 for POTS in the promotion year. Coming in late probably didn't help but don't think he missed a single league game that season after joining, and we conceded plenty at the start of the season without him.

Gorkss was great that season, but it became obvious why QPR didn't want him in the Premier League.

I can't remember who the top three for player of the season ended up being (although the thread on here at the time seems to suggest it was 1st Pearce; 2nd Karacan; 3rd Federici), but there was certainly plenty of good competition that year.

[Sutekh]

Was going to say Sean Evers but then I remembered he falls under the started off terrible and got worse category. He’s now 47 and retired, he disappeared from football entirely aged 26, after 6 apps for Woking in 2003.

File under David Meyler.

[SCIAG]

Controversial one: Danny Drinkwater.

Thought he looked like the player he was in the Championship for Leicester when we signed him, saw good passes including some that were a bit more direct than the likes of Norwood or Baker or Evans would normally play.

Then as the weeks went by the game just started to bypass him more and more. Think we were chopping and changing a lot, but we definitely didn't get him anywhere near his best.

[RATM]

I got to know Grant Brebner well whilst he played for us as he lived close to me.

Due to work commitments I didn’t have a season ticket for a year but when I could go would just call him and he would put tickets aside for us.

I thought he had the potential to become a top player.

[Vision]

John salako

my recollection of the John Salako story was that while on loan he was amazing - so much so that Pardew did a data-driven PowerPoint presentation for the Board (before such things became mainstream) to convince them to sign him permanently - with all sorts of Opta style data points (before it was a thing - just to emphasize it).

he signed permanently and immediately got the deck chair out and stopped performing...

Spot on analysis. He did the same at every club he was initially on loan to.

Gonna go against the grain a bit here .

He had a very well publicised bonus after a certain number of games and we refused to play him for a bit so as not to trigger it. Before that he was perfectly fine.

Personally I also think you have to make a distinction between players who were good at one level but not quite good enough at a higher level. So criticising Lita is a little harsh .

Did Doyle play more than one season for us? My memory fails me.

[stealthpapes]

my recollection of the John Salako story was that while on loan he was amazing - so much so that Pardew did a data-driven PowerPoint presentation for the Board (before such things became mainstream) to convince them to sign him permanently - with all sorts of Opta style data points (before it was a thing - just to emphasize it).

he signed permanently and immediately got the deck chair out and stopped performing...

Spot on analysis. He did the same at every club he was initially on loan to.

Gonna go against the grain a bit here .

He had a very well publicised bonus after a certain number of games and we refused to play him for a bit so as not to trigger it. Before that he was perfectly fine.

Personally I also think you have to make a distinction between players who were good at one level but not quite good enough at a higher level. So criticising Lita is a little harsh .

Did Doyle play more than one season for us? My memory fails me.

05-06, scored the goal at Leicester, 18 in the league, second top scorer
06-07, top scorer in league
07-08, difficult second season, only 6 goals but still second top scorer
08-09, stayed for one post-Prem season, top scorer

He edges towards legend status.

[Linden Jones' Tash]

Hal Robson Kanu.

saw him in a pre-season friendly at Didcot Town as a teenager and he was head & shoulders better than everyone and I predicted a bright future.

on his day could shine - e.g. Cruyff turn and goal for Wales in EUROs

but more often than not didn't..

I appreciate there may be mitigating circumstances - but this is about our personal experiences and recollections and this was a big disappointment given the raw talent - not 'terrible' per se - but not the standard he sometimes set....

and we supposedly let Michael Antonio go because we didn't rate him as highly...