Worst signings - The Times 08:31 - Aug 12 with 7233 views | PhilmyRs | Noticed we get a few mentions in the Times for worst signings in the premier league. The headline referenced Hateley, so thought yep, 100%, but no, they were actually talking about when we sold him back to Rangers in 96/97 - didn’t even realise the guy could walk by then. But surely the reporter should have been more on the ball with how poor he was for us and one of the worst signings we ever made rather than the 4 games for Rangers he played. Is big Mark worthy of one of the worst premier league signings? Or am I being a bit harsh as he was following Les so was never going to be that good? | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Worst signings - The Times on 08:45 - Aug 12 with 6023 views | Random_Ranger | I couldnt agree more! All the signings with the Ferdinand money were pretty dreadful. Zelic (versatile as an egg), Osborn who wouldnt play if Wilkins was fit enough to play himself and Jurgen Sommer who was the wrong Yank to buy (should have gone for Friedel!). I still have shivers when I think about Hateley being paraded as our new hero at a match (can't remember which) holding crutches. It did not inspire confidence that he would be the saviour. I am sure we would never have signed him had he not been friends with the manager. It was a sad end to our Premier League stay although admittedly he did have huge boots to fill after Sir Les | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Worst signings - The Times on 08:52 - Aug 12 with 5988 views | BazzaInTheLoft | One thing that seems to have slipped QPR folklore is the player we signed who was allergic to grass. | ![](/images/avatars/6600.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Worst signings - The Times on 08:52 - Aug 12 with 5987 views | colinallcars | Is this in the online edition ? - it's not in my paper copy this morning. I remember one of the biggest cheers I've heard at LR was when Mark walked unaided on to the pitch for his first game. | ![](/images/avatars/22076.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Worst signings - The Times on 10:16 - Aug 12 with 5763 views | Wegerles_Stairs | The Hateley signing is mind-blowing. Clearly only happened because they were old mates from Milan and Rangers, but my God, it was preposterously stupid to replace our star striker with a crock. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Worst signings - The Times on 10:21 - Aug 12 with 5741 views | Northernr |
Worst signings - The Times on 10:16 - Aug 12 by Wegerles_Stairs | The Hateley signing is mind-blowing. Clearly only happened because they were old mates from Milan and Rangers, but my God, it was preposterously stupid to replace our star striker with a crock. |
And, again, there was so much value around in the market at that point. Leicester and Sunderland picked a lot of it up and had a great period under O'Neil and Reid including a cup win and European football, they finished last and got relegated as whipping boys the day before and Sunderland were division below. Matt Elliott, Andy Booth, Alex Rae, Kasey Keller,, Steve Guppy, Kevin Phillips all moved around this time for collectively less than the Ferdinand money we wasted. Little further down the track we spent £2.3m on Mike Sheron, a career 11-goal-a-season striker, after a hot period of three months with Stoke, and Charlton spent £800k on Clive Mendonca, who'd been banging 20 goals a season in that division for Grimsby for years.
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Worst signings - The Times on 10:35 - Aug 12 with 5699 views | stevec | I’m afraid Ned Kelly walks away with this one. | ![](/images/avatars/6823.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Worst signings - The Times on 10:38 - Aug 12 with 5684 views | PlanetHonneywood | With the £6m we got for SLF, for me we should have gone for Brian Deane or even Mark Hughes. We had two pups in KG and DD, who really needed an experienced striker to help them and, as it turned out, us in the end. Wasn't there a 'rumour' that MH was in urgent need of leaving Glasgow, and RW helped him out? An utterly appalling signing by QPR. No doubt we squandered everything that was at our funger tips under the tenures of Chris Wright and Tony Fernandes. While i believe the genesis of our issues go back to the bloke from Marler dying on the job, the train wreck that was the response in the immediate aftermath of the SLF sale was the root of the problems we face today. Unforgivable in a way, as everyone knew SLF was off months in advance, and QPR totally and utterly fcuked it up big time. | ![](/images/avatars/16575.gif) |
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Worst signings - The Times on 10:41 - Aug 12 with 5671 views | BazzaInTheLoft | Gonna do some shit stirring here, sorry. No one in this thread so far was signed during the Les Ferdinand era. | ![](/images/avatars/6600.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) | Login to get fewer ads
Worst signings - The Times on 10:54 - Aug 12 with 5640 views | stevec |
Worst signings - The Times on 10:41 - Aug 12 by BazzaInTheLoft | Gonna do some shit stirring here, sorry. No one in this thread so far was signed during the Les Ferdinand era. |
That’s because it’s about the Premier League. Now don’t get me started on that… oops | ![](/images/avatars/6823.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Worst signings - The Times on 10:58 - Aug 12 with 5615 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
Worst signings - The Times on 10:54 - Aug 12 by stevec | That’s because it’s about the Premier League. Now don’t get me started on that… oops |
I'd love to know what Les signings were worse than Zelic and Hately! | ![](/images/avatars/6600.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Worst signings - The Times on 11:26 - Aug 12 with 5538 views | DavieQPR | Keiron Dyer was a pretty poor signing with four appearances in two seasons. | ![](/images/avatars/21942.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Worst signings - The Times on 11:34 - Aug 12 with 5516 views | Tonto | i was based in Scotland at the time and Hatley was banging the goals in for Rangers (at a time when the Scottish league was at least a bit more competitive than the 2 horse race like today, although Rangers were better than the rest), so I actually thought it was a good move. The worst signing we did in the Premiership IMO was anyone signed by either Mark Hughes or Harry Redknapp not named Remy. | ![](/images/avatars/1261.gif) |
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Worst signings - The Times on 11:48 - Aug 12 with 5461 views | Galileo | Hateley for me. Wasn't he in someway responsible for not marking his man letting ManUre score their equaliser in the 145th minute the season we got relegated ? I can still see it clear as day from my position in the Loft. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Worst signings - The Times on 11:56 - Aug 12 with 5422 views | PhilmyRs |
Worst signings - The Times on 08:52 - Aug 12 by colinallcars | Is this in the online edition ? - it's not in my paper copy this morning. I remember one of the biggest cheers I've heard at LR was when Mark walked unaided on to the pitch for his first game. |
Yeah sorry, online addition. Writers picking their worst signings during premier league history. One listed all those we made under Hughes (which is fair enough) and another had listed Hatelely which I assumed was when we bought him but was actually when Glasgow bought him back from us which I didn’t even realise had happened. Surely us buying him in the first place was a worse buy? | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Worst signings - The Times on 12:03 - Aug 12 with 5402 views | stanistheman |
Worst signings - The Times on 10:21 - Aug 12 by Northernr | And, again, there was so much value around in the market at that point. Leicester and Sunderland picked a lot of it up and had a great period under O'Neil and Reid including a cup win and European football, they finished last and got relegated as whipping boys the day before and Sunderland were division below. Matt Elliott, Andy Booth, Alex Rae, Kasey Keller,, Steve Guppy, Kevin Phillips all moved around this time for collectively less than the Ferdinand money we wasted. Little further down the track we spent £2.3m on Mike Sheron, a career 11-goal-a-season striker, after a hot period of three months with Stoke, and Charlton spent £800k on Clive Mendonca, who'd been banging 20 goals a season in that division for Grimsby for years.
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Sunderland signed Niall Quinn in August 1996 from Man City. I know it was a year later, but perhaps QPR could have made a bid for him in 1995 that might have been accepted. Although maybe they did and it was rejected, but I got the feeling that Wilkins wanted his old mate all along. Likewise, maybe we could have bid for Nigel Martyn rather than Somner. More expensive, but a much better keeper. Given that we were always going to struggle to replace SLF's goals, we could have done with being tighter at the back and conceding less to equalise the goal difference. So for me, the list of signings Hateley, Zelic, Somner and Osborne all go down ass expensive EPL flops. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Worst signings - The Times on 12:22 - Aug 12 with 5323 views | Wegerles_Stairs |
Worst signings - The Times on 12:03 - Aug 12 by stanistheman | Sunderland signed Niall Quinn in August 1996 from Man City. I know it was a year later, but perhaps QPR could have made a bid for him in 1995 that might have been accepted. Although maybe they did and it was rejected, but I got the feeling that Wilkins wanted his old mate all along. Likewise, maybe we could have bid for Nigel Martyn rather than Somner. More expensive, but a much better keeper. Given that we were always going to struggle to replace SLF's goals, we could have done with being tighter at the back and conceding less to equalise the goal difference. So for me, the list of signings Hateley, Zelic, Somner and Osborne all go down ass expensive EPL flops. |
Yeah, and the consequences of going down then are still with us today. Of course, we may have ended up going down anyway later in the decade but the imploding of the great side of the early 90s really is encapsulated by Ray's signings that season. The problem with the later signings under Hughes and Redknapp was the scattergun approach. Why have one goalkeeper on a fat contract when you can have two? Interestingly, Forest seem to be going down that route now but they were doing the same thing in the Championship anyway. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Worst signings - The Times on 13:00 - Aug 12 with 5225 views | Esox_Lucius |
Worst signings - The Times on 10:38 - Aug 12 by PlanetHonneywood | With the £6m we got for SLF, for me we should have gone for Brian Deane or even Mark Hughes. We had two pups in KG and DD, who really needed an experienced striker to help them and, as it turned out, us in the end. Wasn't there a 'rumour' that MH was in urgent need of leaving Glasgow, and RW helped him out? An utterly appalling signing by QPR. No doubt we squandered everything that was at our funger tips under the tenures of Chris Wright and Tony Fernandes. While i believe the genesis of our issues go back to the bloke from Marler dying on the job, the train wreck that was the response in the immediate aftermath of the SLF sale was the root of the problems we face today. Unforgivable in a way, as everyone knew SLF was off months in advance, and QPR totally and utterly fcuked it up big time. |
Something about gambling debts and incapacitation of limbs I recall. Not too dissimilar to the Joleon Lescott rapid departure from Wolves back in the day. | ![](/images/avatars/9990.gif) |
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Worst signings - The Times on 13:16 - Aug 12 with 5172 views | BrianMcCarthy |
Worst signings - The Times on 13:00 - Aug 12 by Esox_Lucius | Something about gambling debts and incapacitation of limbs I recall. Not too dissimilar to the Joleon Lescott rapid departure from Wolves back in the day. |
"Something about gambling debts and incapacitation of limbs I recall" That was the rumour. And also being found in the wrong bed with the wrong wife was another rumour. I always thought it was nonsense. Like the mobsters in Glasgow couldn't find a professional footballer in London. Then he started playing for us, and he was completely anonymous, and I thought...well, maybe... | ![](/images/avatars/1570.gif) |
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Worst signings - The Times on 13:24 - Aug 12 with 5127 views | Antti_Heinola |
Worst signings - The Times on 10:21 - Aug 12 by Northernr | And, again, there was so much value around in the market at that point. Leicester and Sunderland picked a lot of it up and had a great period under O'Neil and Reid including a cup win and European football, they finished last and got relegated as whipping boys the day before and Sunderland were division below. Matt Elliott, Andy Booth, Alex Rae, Kasey Keller,, Steve Guppy, Kevin Phillips all moved around this time for collectively less than the Ferdinand money we wasted. Little further down the track we spent £2.3m on Mike Sheron, a career 11-goal-a-season striker, after a hot period of three months with Stoke, and Charlton spent £800k on Clive Mendonca, who'd been banging 20 goals a season in that division for Grimsby for years.
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What we should have done, and I think even looked at, was get Hartson from Luton for £1m late the previous season, and give him a few weeks to bed in. Instead he went and sat in Arsenal's ressies for a bit. | ![](/images/avatars/5743.gif) |
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Worst signings - The Times on 13:27 - Aug 12 with 5101 views | Antti_Heinola |
Worst signings - The Times on 13:16 - Aug 12 by BrianMcCarthy | "Something about gambling debts and incapacitation of limbs I recall" That was the rumour. And also being found in the wrong bed with the wrong wife was another rumour. I always thought it was nonsense. Like the mobsters in Glasgow couldn't find a professional footballer in London. Then he started playing for us, and he was completely anonymous, and I thought...well, maybe... |
Judging by his state on his arrival, didn't they get him on the train down? ;) | ![](/images/avatars/5743.gif) |
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Worst signings - The Times on 13:27 - Aug 12 with 5099 views | Esox_Lucius |
Worst signings - The Times on 13:16 - Aug 12 by BrianMcCarthy | "Something about gambling debts and incapacitation of limbs I recall" That was the rumour. And also being found in the wrong bed with the wrong wife was another rumour. I always thought it was nonsense. Like the mobsters in Glasgow couldn't find a professional footballer in London. Then he started playing for us, and he was completely anonymous, and I thought...well, maybe... |
I think the signing on fee was enough to stop them searching if you know what I mean. Lescott was the wrong bed/ wrong wife scenario. Back in the day I was told the story of Ian Bishop and Trevor Morley bust up. In these modern times of LGBTQ+ acceptance it may not have been such a big deal if it had been published but the NOTW decided not to run it. | ![](/images/avatars/9990.gif) |
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Worst signings - The Times on 15:28 - Aug 12 with 4935 views | kensalriser | Isn't this just another example of the football history began with the premier league revisionism? | ![](/images/avatars/3082.gif) |
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Worst signings - The Times on 15:48 - Aug 12 with 4914 views | ted_hendrix | I seem to recall Hateley sarcastically cupping his ear when he scored his first goal for us without the aid of his fcking crutches, pretty certain it was the equalizer at home to Huddersfield in the FA cup, that done It for me with the bloke, I had no time for the bloke anyway. What used to niggle and baffle me was the signing of Simon Osborn, on the few occasions I saw him play I thought he was very good especially up at Bolton (one of our rare away wins that season), Just couldn't work out why he got so little game time, a very neat and tidy player but seldom used. [Post edited 12 Aug 2022 15:48]
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Worst signings - The Times on 16:30 - Aug 12 with 4833 views | Phil_i_P_Daddy |
Worst signings - The Times on 11:26 - Aug 12 by DavieQPR | Keiron Dyer was a pretty poor signing with four appearances in two seasons. |
Am I right in remembering he spent more time getting treated for injury than he did playing on his debut?! | ![](/images/avatars/14053.gif) |
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