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Biggest financial gamble on a player by the club?



Doc Lynam

I hate the Daily Mail
Jun 19, 2011
7,186
Given the size of our club at a particular time, whats been the biggest financial gamble we've taken on a player, Glenn Murray £300,000 in 2007?
 


Easy 10

Brain dead MUG SHEEP
Jul 5, 2003
61,673
Location Location
Good question. £300k back then for Murray was EYEWATERING. I remember at least one of my eyebrows venturing northwards when that happened. Thankfully he paid us back in goals goals GOALS (even though we got no cashback, thanks Gus). What sort of state were we in when Andy Ritchie signed ? The top flight was nothing like the honeypot it was now, and half a mill for him back in 1980 must've made a dent in the budget.
 




















Easy 10

Brain dead MUG SHEEP
Jul 5, 2003
61,673
Location Location
I don't think CMS was a financial gamble as such. It was pocket money to Bloom. He was just a HORRIFIC waste of money, as it turned out.

We were all happy at the time though.
 


Exile

Objective but passionate
Aug 10, 2014
2,367
That's a very good call. The Adam Virgo interview with Zamora covers this and Virgo says how everyone at the club realised how big a spend it was given our resources.

Thing is, that wasn't such a gamble - he'd already scored 6 in 6 on loan, so we pretty much knew what we were getting.

A similar figure on Turienzo, based on a couple of dodgy videos, was a far bigger gamble.
 




Paul Reids Sock

Well-known member
Nov 3, 2004
4,458
Paul Reids boot
How much did we spend on the two Argentinians? Was it Baz and Battipiedi? I have a weird feeling it was 100k but may have been free

The CMS one, although not much to Bloom really came as a shock to me as it was such a massive fee and we had only just got the new stadium so after years of being little old Brighton it felt a bit like trying to push our way into the big time and maybe jeopardising our future.

I am older and know more now and realise Bloom would never do that to us.
 


AnotherArch

Northern Exile
Apr 2, 2009
1,174
Stockport & M62
Jason Peake at £100,000 exactly 20 years ago was a significant sum with our meagre income at the time - and the future looking even bleaker.
One worldie goal at the beginning, and that was it. Despite this, we survived.
(For younger fans, just think 'Ryan Harley' and you will get my drift.)
 








Oct 25, 2003
23,964
I'd say given the financial position the club were in it is absolutely MIND BLOWING that we paid £150k for Turienzo. We were spending next to nothing on players at the time so to splash that out on a complete unknown was utterly ludicrous

I was also FLABBERGASTED when we paid £300k on Murray but he did at least come with a bit of pedigree
 


GT49er

Well-known member
Feb 1, 2009
46,467
Gloucester
Good question. £300k back then for Murray was EYEWATERING. I remember at least one of my eyebrows venturing northwards when that happened. Thankfully he paid us back in goals goals GOALS (even though we got no cashback, thanks Gus). What sort of state were we in when Andy Ritchie signed ? The top flight was nothing like the honeypot it was now, and half a mill for him back in 1980 must've made a dent in the budget.
We paid £500K for Richie, but most of that was from the £400K we got for Ward.
 


Beach Hut

Brighton Bhuna Boy
Jul 5, 2003
71,903
Living In a Box
Turienzo surely given the scouting amounted to watching a DVD or possibly even a video
 




Oct 25, 2003
23,964
Turienzo surely given the scouting amounted to watching a DVD or possibly even a video

he also played in a friendly whilst on trial against Lewes. He looked like he'd literally never played football before or he was a fan who'd won a competition and was allowed to play for a laugh

....and then we signed him
 


Leegull

Well-known member
Apr 7, 2016
1,133
I can't recall how much we paid for Mark Farrington but it was clearly a big gamble when you consider that he had clearly hadn't ever played football previously!!
 



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