Worst Chelsea transfers?

[BlueBeard]

Following the Top 50 Transfers thread, this is my list of the worst Chelsea transfer signings. There are varying reasons for their inclusion, whether it be the price, the quality (or lack of) of the player, or the misjudgement of the manager - sometimes all three!

Under TOMMY DOCHERTY

Tony Hateley - Aston Villa ?100,000 - Oct 1966

At the time a Chelsea transfer record, and officially only the second ever ?100,000 British transfer (after Alan Ball). Hateley was bought hastily to replace Peter Osgood who'd had his leg broken by that total c*nt Emlyn Hughes. Excellent in the air, but sh*te on the ground, Hateley stayed at the Bridge less than a year.

Under DAVE SEXTON

Alan Birchenall - Sheff.Utd ?100,000 - Nov 1967

Brought in to bolster our attack, which at the time consisted of Ossie and Tommy Baldwin. Sexton even pushed Osgood back into midfield to accomodate Birch, but that was never really effective. Birchenall was never really good enough, and it wasn't long before Ian Hutchinson pushed him into back into fourth choice striker.

Steve Kember - Crystal Palace ?170,000 - Sep 1971

A record Chelsea transfer fee at the time, Kember was an average player, no more no less.

Under KEN SHELLITO

Duncan McKenzie - Everton ?165,000 - Sep 1978

A highly skilled player, McKenzie was past his best by the time we signed him and only played 16 times for Chelsea.

Under DANNY BLANCHFLOWER

Eamonn Bannon - Hearts ?200,000 - Jan 1979

An underrated player, Bannon could have gone on to be very successful at Chelsea, but Geoff Hurst in his infinite wisdom sold him within 2 months of becoming manager. Bannon played just 27 games in the nine months he was at the Bridge.

Under GEOFF HURST

Colin Viljoen - Man.City ?60,000 - March 1980

F*ckin' pathetic signing - just 22 appearances

Alan Mayes - Swindon ?200,000 - Dec 1980

?200,000????

Under BOBBY CAMPBELL

Dave Beasant - Newcastle ?725,000 - Jan 1989

A lot of money for a keeper who turned out to be as reliable as a rice paper condom

Alan Dickens - West Ham ?650,000 - Jul 1989

Unbelievable waste of money

Under IAN PORTERFIELD

Joe Allon - Hartlepool Utd ?200,00 - Aug 1991

Lower league player, was never going to be anything more

Tony Cascarino - Celtic ?1,100,000 - Feb 1992

Can't believe we paid over a million for him

Robert Fleck - Norwich ?2,100,000 - Aug 1992

One of the most spectacular Chelsea flops of all time

Under DAVID WEBB (?)

Steve Livingstone - Blackburn ?350,000 - Mar 1993

Who? Made one appearance as substitute in the six months he was here

Under GLEN HODDLE

Andy Dow - Dundee ?250,000 - Jul 1993

Not good enough - just 17 appearance plus one as sub

Paul Furlong - Watford ?2,300,000 - May 1994

Nearly two and a half million quid??????

Under GIANLUCA VIALLI

Chris Sutton - Blackburn ?10,000,000 - Jul 1999

Sutton's strength was in the air, but Vialli signed him and then played a system without wingers, meaning Sutton got no service at all

Gabriele Ambrosetti - Vicenza ?3,500,000 - Aug 1999

Never strong enough - 11 appearances for Chelsea, plus 12 as sub

Under CLAUDIO RANIERI

Emmanuel Petit - Barcelona ?7,500,000 - Jul 2001

Past his best, we paid way over the odds for him

Boudewijn Zenden - Barcelona ?7,500,000 - Aug 2001

Nobody has ever seen his best, paid well over the odds for him - Barca must have pissed themselves every time Claudio came calling

Enrique De Lucas - Espanol FREE - Jul 2002

Nothing was too much to pay

Glen Johnson - West Ham ?6,000,000 - Jul 2003

Still waiting for him to justify his price

Damien Duff - Blackburn ?17,000,000 - Jul 2003

Good player at first, then faded dramatically - ?17m was way over the top

Juan Sebastian Veron - Man.Utd ?15,000,000 - Aug 2003

I don't think anyone needs me to say anything about this c*nt really....

Adrian Mutu - Parma ?15,800,000 - Aug 2003

At first he looked a good buy, but to get caught doing drugs was ridiculous. A waste of talent.

Hernan Crespo - Inter Milan ?16,800,000 - Aug 2003

Excellent player, but never settled (or his wife didn't). A real shame, he was/is a top striker

Neil Sullivan - Tottenham FREE (?) - Aug 2003

Again, nothing was too much to pay

Scott Parker - Charlton ?10,000,000 - Jan 2004

Good player, could have been successful at the Bridge, but Mourinho didn't rate him. Made just 19 appearances in blue, plus 9 as sub

Under JOSE MOURINHO

Paulo Ferreira - Porto ?13,200,000 - July 2004

Reasonably good defender, nothing more - far too expensive

Mateja Kezman - PSV Eindhoven ?5,200,000 - July 2004

Couldn't hack it

Jiri Jarosik - CSKA Moscow ?3,700,000 - Jan 2005

Looked way out of his depth at times

Asier Del Horno - Atletico Bilbao ?8,000,000 - Jun 2005

Lost all confidence, and was soon shipped off back to Spain

Shaun Wright-Phillips - Man.City ?21,000,000 - July 2005

I don't think he'll ever justify that price tag - not his fault though, who the f*ck decided ?21m was a good price to pay?

At the moment it's too early to make a proper judgement on Ballack, Shevchenko and Boulahrouz.

Well, this is just my humble opinion of course - I shall now await the usual abuse, arguments, and corrections

[Elliott]

Adrian Mutu - Parma ?15,800,000 - Aug 2003

At first he looked a good buy, but to get caught doing drugs was ridiculous. A waste of talent.

Hernan Crespo - Inter Milan ?16,800,000 - Aug 2003

BB,

Crespo and Mutu were fine players.

If Mutu had not have gone off the rails, i still think he would have been a great striker for us.

Crespo's quality has always been there to see, and he has scored some brilliant goals for Chelsea.

It was a real shame that he didnt take to England.

[dkw]

Gabriele Ambrosetti -

how dare you slag off the italian ryan giggs

[midlandblue]

Thought Cascarino was a swap deal

[andy]

The one I would really take exception to is Glen Johnson... Fine player and still only 22 great prospect. Claudio had faith in him and he repaid him, I wish Jose did, maybe he will break through this year :-)

[bjd]

Cant agree with Paulo or Crespo.

Wasnt Steve Livingstone a swap ?

No Joka !? No Bogarde!?

[TT]

At the moment it's too early to make a proper judgement on Boulahrouz.

I think Jose has most definately made up his mind on this one.

[Elliott]

The one I would really take exception to is Glen Johnson... Fine player and still only 22 great prospect. Claudio had faith in him and he repaid him, I wish Jose did, maybe he will break through this year :-)

I'm afraid Glen will never be good enough.

Just my opinion of course.

[Sofa Manager]

Scott Parker - Charlton ?10,000,000 - Jan 2004

Good player, could have been successful at the Bridge, but Mourinho didn't rate him. Made just 19 appearances in blue, plus 9 as sub

Definitly another "english overprized player ^TM ".

I also don't rate him at all.

[BlueBeard]

OK, let's see........

BB,

Crespo and Mutu were fine players.

If Mutu had not have gone off the rails, i still think he would have been a great striker for us.

Crespo's quality has always been there to see, and he has scored some brilliant goals for Chelsea

I agree with all of that - Crespo is one of the best strikers we've had in the last 30 years or more. It was a bad transfer only because it never worked out. As I stated at the beginning of my post, the success of the transfers weren't always to do with the players. Mutu's transfer wasn't a success because he f*cked up - nothing to do with his ability as a player.

how dare you slag off the italian ryan giggs

Awfully sorry, don't know what came over me

Thought Cascarino was a swap deal

I'm pretty sure it was a swap deal, with Tommy Boyd going to Celtic. Doesn't make any difference, Cascarino was a sh*te signing

The one I would really take exception to is Glen Johnson... Fine player and still only 22 great prospect. Claudio had faith in him and he repaid him, I wish Jose did, maybe he will break through this year :-)

Can't agree - he cost ?6m and has hardly improved at all since he arrived. I've said before, he'd do really well as a winger, but defensively he makes me as nervous as Frank Sinclair used to.

Cant agree with Paulo or Crespo.

Wasnt Steve Livingstone a swap ?

No Joka !? No Bogarde!?

You don't agree about Paulo??? I can't believe that!

For Crespo, see my response to Elliott.

Steve Livingstone was part of the Graeme Le Saux to Blackburn deal, I think. Doesn't make any difference really

Jokanovic only cost ?1.7m, so didn't exactly break the bank. I think he was harshly treated while he was here - he wasn't nearly as bad as a lot of people made him out to be. We'd been signing quality players for some time, and because he wasn't as good as the likes of them, he got dog's abuse. Just goes to show how fans become spoiled after a while - he'd have got into the Chelsea team if he'd played 25 years earlier - then again, so would I if I hadn't been so busy on the terraces

As for Bogarde, he was a free transfer, but nobody at the club has ever owned up to being responsible for signing him. He arrived while Vialli was manager, but Gianluca always denied signing him, so I didn't want to put him under Vialli's transfers, it wouldn't have been fair!

I think Jose has most definately made up his mind on this one

I'm sure he has - but I made the list, not Mourinho

Definitly another "english overprized player TM ".

I also don't rate him at all

Fair enough, we've all got our opinions

[glory55]

BB,

Cant agree with these mate.

Emmanuel Petit - Barcelona ?7,500,000 - Jul 2001

Frank and Petit made a good partnership!

Was impressed with him in his second to last season!

Damien Duff - Blackburn ?17,000,000 - Jul 2003

Expensive but fantastic!

Hernan Crespo - Inter Milan ?16,800,000 - Aug 2003

His record........ even at Chelsea......... Amazing a truely world class striker.

Loved by the North stand!!

I would bring him back tomorrow.

I would put Shevchenko above any of these signings.

His signing is a farce!

For the cash they splashed out on him and at his age,we'll never get anywhere near the return in goals.

Jokanovic might not have cost a lot but he was woe-full!

Rob

[Englishman]

Emmanuel Petit - Barcelona ?7,500,000 - Jul 2001

Frank and Petit made a good partnership!

Was impressed with him in his second to last season!

We never really saw the best of Petit, but he was excellent in the game against Liverpool on the final day of the season.

[lauren]

Laudrup who lasted errrrrrrrr 5 minutes, I mean games.

[Guest Brian M]

GREAT post, BB. Few of your calls I don't agree with. And some before my time, so can't comment on. But fantastic to read all the same. Nice job!

[glory55]

Emmanuel Petit - Barcelona ?7,500,000 - Jul 2001

Frank and Petit made a good partnership!

Was impressed with him in his second to last season!

We never really saw the best of Petit, but he was excellent in the game against Liverpool on the final day of the season.

He was fantastic in that game.

I think it was difficult for him with the injuries he picked up.

We never saw him at his best......but a decent player all the same!

[g3.7]

I also thought that when he was fit, petit was class.