[Archived] The Worst Ever Rovers Player?

[Jan]

I can't believe no-one has yet mentioned Darren Peacock. The pony-tailed one (mark 1) whose speciality was those trickling passes across his own 18 yard box with the opposing striker bearing down on the ball.

Grabbi was pants too, though.

[jim mk2]

John O'Mara

Martin Britt. We were conned into signing another crock. Did he ever play?

One game, which we won.

Britt was a good player, but with a very bad injury when we signed him.

Thank you West Ham.

I would like to nominate a couple of 1970s duffers - Martin Fowler and Paul Round.

Awful.

[Manchester Blue]

They've got it right there. Donkey Davis, what a waste of money.

Allardyce has proved that there is nothing wrong with Davies as long as you play to his strengths, keep his weight off and dont pay 7 million for him. I'd place him behind Grabbi and Dahlin (player was fine but we bought a crock) anytime.

However as the title is worst ever Rovers player rather than worst ever player to play for Rovers it is irrelevant what Davies has doen since. For what he cost us and the impact he had it was a disaster, Grabbi was similarly as bad but he had little negative impact. That and he didn't spend his time boozing instead of training.

[berkshireblue]

McClarky---

You are correct he was playing for them and we signed him on the strength of his performance - memory lapse about that one, but not about the minibus door...

But he still was good for us for a time!!!

[philipl]

Weren't transfer medicals introduced into the English game because of the Martin Britt fiasco? Typical of Rovers' luck at that time we ended up on the wrong end of that particular misfortune.

Glad to see Parker gets an "honourable" mention. Parker and Shepstone were attrocious. Given they both played at times when Rovers were close to their all time nadirs, awarding them the "accolade" of all time worse is probably accurate.

The youngsters who are nominating the likes of Dailly, Davies, Grabbi, Peacock et al simply have not got a clue what went before!

As for the suggestion of Cowans- he was one of the most skilful players seen at Ewood in the 40 odd years I've been following the Rovers and would have definitely made it into the greatest votes in the way Waggy did had it not been he was playing for us on the cusp of the great side of the early/mid 90s. Speedie rightly was a hero for scoring so many goals with such elan but "Sid" was the wellspring of that team.

Jimmy Quinn did put in some decent performances for us (as well as for Swindon ) and Paul Round is exempted because he scored two crucial goals (good ones at that) when we beat Stoke (I think) 2-1 when we perilously close to going down from the old second division and sparked a revival of belief in the team.

Edited April 11, 2005 by philipl

[arealbrfcfan]

hahaha Davies what a joke. He was so lazy, another player that used us as a meal ticket.

Does anyone remember Per Pedersen? he was an advised buy from Sven Goran, this was at the time when we were gonna get him as a manager. He was bought on the basis that he netted over 50 goals in one season.....in sweden. Doesnt take a mastermind to work out that, that scenario doesnt always work in the premiership.

Roy hodgson was a poor manager... just wondering...where is he now?

[vyeo]

on the topic of kevin davies, that same season we apparently had an australian defender, douglas ithier, on trial. hodgson wanted him but as he only has 3 caps (i think), he was rejected a work permit. anyway, to cut the story short, he scooted over to Singapore next, which i thought was really strange anyway. imagine, from english premiership to singapore's national league! what disparity. anyway the fact that hodgson wanted him but he did not get a work permit was well documented in our local press as its naturally a big thing for us.

in any case, he played for my team (useful centre back, loads of fancy tricks, the fans loved him; but seriously would never have cut it in the prem i thought) and i was talking to him one day when he realised i was a blackburn fan. so he gave me some nice stories about his time at brockhall, and apparently in his 2 weeks on trial, he put up with kevin davies and got on well with him. nice bloke he said, but ALWAYS drinking. seriously. doug went on to say that sutty was a top player, no airs, very hardworking even in training. as for dahlin, i remember his exact words: "always on his phone speaking in swedish".

[baldybobbo]

Two spring to mind,Davies and Ward,I have to say Ashley Ward,he has made a good living from football,so there must be hope for anyone,given that little slice of luck. Footballer and Ward do not go together,he was awful.

[Maverick]

Roy hodgson was a poor manager... just wondering...where is he now?

Roy Hodgson is now manager for Viking in Stavanger, Norway. Viking won last night. First game of the season.

[LeftWinger]

Omar Konde (a similarly uselss Rovers signing)

Speaking of Oumar Konde, I was on a quiz machine with some mates the other day. It was a football hang man game, and one of the categories was "Rovers Heroes". We selected Rovers heroes in the thought that I should be able to get it- got a few letters, but still had no idea. Then when we lost it revealed the answer- Oumar Konde. Ha Ha- hero, didn't think he even ever got a first team game.

[Sanny]

Shearer?

Nah j/kin i agree with Davies, had high hopes for him, read an article when he joined that he said he was hoping to be partnering Owen for england when he was at Rovers, well at least he was close to a call up

[OnePost]

Baba Diawara

Fortunately he was only on loan.

Then of course:

Kevin Davies

Ashley Ward

Martin Dahlin

Richard Wichka(speeling?)

Darren Peacock

Neil Croft

Dailly

Gillespie ( the deepest winger in the history of wingplay)

Ken Beamish (Beamo,Beamo,Beamo)

and on

and on

and on

and some that I've blanked out of my mind......

Namely Dwight Yorke !!!

God knows we've witnessed some sh!te down at Ewood, but let the good times roll again next season.

Edited April 14, 2005 by OnePost

[Laurence]

Alan Miller seemed like a nice guy but I always thought he was a dodgy 'keeper - always made me worry seeing him on the bench.

[Nayef]

McPie Face Davies.

An utter embarassment to the club. £7m of Jack Walker's hard earned money splashed on a fat piggy.

Aside from the sitters he missed, the only "real" comedy we had from him was the moment when he bashed into that Olympic Lyonnais player causing him to fly into the advertising. It was only comical because the referee had turned his back and didn't see it.

Grabbi was nowhere near as bad as this little pig.

[moerpho]

Have to agree with most people here about Davies and Ward, but seeing as I am a bitter man I have to vote for that sissy Barry Ferguson! Expensive, useless *#¤%¤%#¤%*

[tmap]

slimiest - Witschge

biggest waste of money - Davies, clearly

oddest-looking - Brotherston

most toe-curlingly embarassing - McKinnon

but there's only one whose lack of prowess has entered the English language, and that's Beeeeeeeeeeamo.

I used to get a bit puzzled by the crowd's reaction to Quinn. There again, I also remember people singing "the mighty Quinn", even when he'd headed over from 6 inches out, so it wasn't all bad.

[MIROVER]

Forgetting the relation between transfer fee and performance the worst player in a rovers shirt is without question Kaba Diawara he was awful. Thankfully we binned him before his months loan was complete.

[Cheshireblue]

This comes up very frequently on here in one guise or another.

By far th eworst player that has ever donned the blue and white is Martin Dahlin.

He was over paid, over weight, entirely disinterested and just about summed up Hodgson in one signing.

I'd have a hundred Ashely Wards before another Dahlin.

[Tony Diamond Inc]

Paul Shepstone

Not only was he a bad footballer, he was also built like a 6 year old!

[Jan]

At least Ashley Ward was pretty to look at and looked very nice in the catalogue modelling the kit, so he did have SOME uses!

[leon]

At least Dahlin had the decency to break his leg so at least we got the insurance return on him :-)

[speeeeeeedie]

Davies: far too overpriced, didn't do any good, but is still scoring in the Permiership. I think we did pay about £5 million too much with Woy praising him before he walked in the door and that expectation tipped it for the portly Tyke and he lost it. He was truly awful to watch for us, looked a a deer in headlights everytime he played. His solitary goal should have been saved. He did sell more shirts than any other player that season, who has still got one?

Grabbi: technically good but not fast enough for the Prem, simple as. Another massive waste.

I do think that the worst player ever tag can be split up into eras, especially during the 20 years I have been following the club. Pre Jack Walker we had some genuinely bad players on offer. During and after Jack it was a case of bad cash management, but the bad players bought were still better than the old crap.

Peacock, Dailly, all those ropey Scandanavians, Perez, Kounde, Marcolin, Holmes, Ward etc, would all have been regulars for the 1980's sides I remember. On the other hand, Paul Shepstone, Darren Donnelly, Ronnie Hildersley, Keith Hill, to name a few never had a chance at top flight football.

I thought Jimmy Quinn was a hero, I was little but used to be proud that Rovers had an international playing for them. Remember, Northern Ireland were in the 1982 World Cup, they beat Spain, so it was a big deal to an 8 year old.

What was the name of the old football in the community man, surname began with a "D" who used to play? He was on A Question of Sport once taking a penalty for Morcambe where he fell and ended up heading the ball about a yard. He was crap.

Part of me misses the old days of bad players. I have a couple of friends who are Preston fans, and I used to go and watch. During John Beck's tenure they had some really bad players, but the crowd comedy was first class. You don't get that at Ewood anymore.

[tmap]

Peter Devine - that was him. Good point - he was a Rovers player too.

He was on the Nick Hancock video with surely the worst ever penalty. He basically tripped up in the run up (on an admittedly sandy-looking pitch) and stubbed the ball about 3 yards.

[Fife Rover]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned "Big Jim" Fryatt. How on earth he ever became any kind of footballer, let alone a professional I will never understand. His legs and feet were strictly for standing/running on. He had no ball control at all in either foot, but his one and only asset as a footballer was his heading ability, and that was phenomenal. he could head a ball further and faster than any player I have ever seen before or since and he was fairly accurate in getting his headers on target too. But that was all he could do. I seem to remember his one claim to fame as a Rovers player was scoring a goal (cant remember who against) in something like 7 seconds from the kick-off. A Rovers record?

[LeftWinger]

Give Matteo a few more games and he'll be a contender.