Who is Norwich's best ever sale?

[The Great Mass Debater]

Sorry if this post is too close to the previous, but as the obvious antithesis - who is the best ever sale?

For me this has to be someone sold for a high fee, who then gave very little back to the purchasing club, was offloaded to the purchasing club who unwittingly bought a duffer (or someone with an injury), or generally someone a bit over-rated who we made a fortune out of.

Recent offerings would be Snodgrass - although this is very unfair as his injury was unforeseeable (unless you believe the conspiracy), but think we got a very good deal with him, and Pilkington, who McNally I believe upheld as the best deal he ever did considering Pilks' injury problems.

Who would you highlight as the best ever sale?

 

[It's Character Forming]

I think the players we unloaded after relegation are the best selling business we've ever done.  Generally you sell players because bigger clubs want them and it's a choice of taking the fee or waiting until they're near the end of their contracts and you have to accept a lower fee.

But to get rid of Snoddy, Pilks and Fer, all for decent fees, was great business.  Pilks "on his day" could be a match-winner, but he was injury prone and poor away from home, not the sort of player you want in the Champ (or indeed if you're fighting relegation).  Fer again could be a great player but would go missing all too often, so ditto.  It's not exactly a surprise that he's moved to another club now fighting relegation but searching for him on google I see he's been out injured since mid Feb too.

Snoddy was different in that he was a very whole-hearted player, unlike the other two, but he was a bit injury prone and his playing style tended to slow down the game.  He was excellent at dead ball situations but after Holt went, the supply of free-kicks in good attacking positions dried up and he became much less effective.

Looking back over our history, the only transfer to compete with these would be selling Dean Ashton, a great pity about his career-ending injury after he left us.  But unlike the 3 above, I'd say Ashton would've been a real asset if we'd been able to keep him after relegation and he hadn't been injured.

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

I truly believe Ashton would have become the next Alan Shearer if not for his injury. Such a shame for him

 

[GJP]

Hmm. Not sure about that.

Ashton was a good player and a good striker.

But Shearer was a world class striker.

 

[Canaryboy]

I can remember being flabbergasted that we managed to get £600k for Lee Marshall, and even more shocked that he went on to play a few games in the Premier League. He was useless. 

 

[Dubai Mark]

Agree on Ashton's potential, a terrific player who would have gone on to great things. For me though, in recent years I cant think of any better business than the Snodgrass deal, particularly as he recently mentioned that he had a dodgy knee while he was with us. That said, I really liked him as a player and was sad to see him move on. 

 

[Beauseant]

No problems with this one. Justin Fashanu to Forest for a million. His career went downhill from the moment he left.

 

[splutcho]

Not sure on the answer, but regarding Ashton, if he hadn't had the injury troubles, he could have played 50+ games for England. One of the best players I've seen in a Norwich shirt.

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Not sure on the answer, but regarding Ashton, if he hadn't had the injury troubles, he could have played 50+ games for England. One of the best players I've seen in a Norwich shirt.

Agree. He had everything in his locker but pace, which was never a part of Shearers game. Heartbreaking to read an article about him and his coming to terms with barely even being able to walk whilst watching his ex-teammates at U21 level progress with the national side. And of all the people to ruin his career SWP, one of the slightest footballers I've ever seen

 

[CanaryNath]

Agree. He had everything in his locker but pace, which was never a part of Shearers game. Heartbreaking to read an article about him and his coming to terms with barely even being able to walk whilst watching his ex-teammates at U21 level progress with the national side. And of all the people to ruin his career SWP, one of the slightest footballers I've ever seen

I can remember going to the QPR Norwich game at Loftus road with a friend who was visiting from Canada and staying in West London. He was keen to see some 'soccer' so we grabbed a couple of tickets in with the home fans.

Even he could se just how much more strength, athleticism, awareness and quality Ashton had than anyone else on the field. At one point he was being man-handled by two QPR defenders, and still managed to take a high ball down in one touch before escaping them and playing a nice pass. 

He wasn't too quiet about his admiration for Ashton, but it seemed that the QPR fans around us felt the same! there were about 20 of us in the end, basically discussing how far we thought he could go, and how much we would end up selling him for!!

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

I can remember going to the QPR Norwich game at Loftus road with a friend who was visiting from Canada and staying in West London. He was keen to see some 'soccer' so we grabbed a couple of tickets in with the home fans.

Even he could se just how much more strength, athleticism, awareness and quality Ashton had than anyone else on the field. At one point he was being man-handled by two QPR defenders, and still managed to take a high ball down in one touch before escaping them and playing a nice pass. 

He wasn't too quiet about his admiration for Ashton, but it seemed that the QPR fans around us felt the same! there were about 20 of us in the end, basically discussing how far we thought he could go, and how much we would end up selling him for!!

Quite amazing really that Pardew's attitude was consistently that West Ham had overpaid for Ashton at £7m - a pittance really in todays terms

 

[Monty13]

Ashton in hindsight, but at the time it looked like we had been underpaid.

Snodgrass was a pretty brilliant bit of business imo based on how long he had left on his contract.

 

[Canaryboy]

Not sure on the answer, but regarding Ashton, if he hadn't had the injury troubles, he could have played 50+ games for England. One of the best players I've seen in a Norwich shirt.

I think if he'd have stayed in the game he'd still be playing for England now, would have played for one of the top 4/5/6, at least a Spurs or Liverpool, if not Man Utd. 

He was the real deal, as a nation we were deprived of our next Alan Shearer. 

 

[GJP]

He was the real deal, as a nation we were deprived of our next Alan Shearer. 

Well, tbf, we got Rooney. And he is better than Ashton.

 

[Splendid Rush]

Mike Sheron. Was it QPR we sold him to? Either way I remember being in the Barclay singing 'thank you very much for taking Sheron' (to the tune of 'thank you very much you're one in a million') at his first game back at CR.

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Mike Sheron. Was it QPR we sold him to? Either way I remember being in the Barclay singing 'thank you very much for taking Sheron' (to the tune of 'thank you very much you're one in a million') at his first game back at CR.

What a depressing signing he was...