I thought it was official Emile Sinclair was the king stinker and cost us £100k as well, it wasnt just his complete ignorance of where the goal is, he also couldnt win a header or hold up the ball.
Did he cost us at all? I had the impression that Posh still owed us money for Tyrone so palmed him off on us in lieu of that. Happy to be corrected on that though. As somebody who has been watching Crawley for a bit longer, I would add Phil Basey and Eric Whitington to Simon's list. Eric has to be in with a shout for my all time favourite Crawley player. I think Barnyard was the most disappointing. For somebody who scored goals in the Premier League he showed very little of that ability for us. I saw his only goal for us at Yeovil and even that was an accident.
Yes, I would definitely have Phil Basey on that list. He has a small Wikipedia page ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Basey ). It describes him as a left winger, but I thought of him as a central striker.
I feel honoured to have witnessed his only goal for Crawley. Shrewsbury away on a Tuesday night. There was a conversation with the stewards that if he scored we would all invade the pitch. He took his goal very well, but the stewards looked very worried.
Basey was before my time but everyone always said that he and Eric Whittington (Craigs dad) were the best strikers we ever had.
I notice that wiki page doesn't have the amount of goals he scored for Crawley. I checked the ctfc history site and couldn't see it there either.
Come on. Some one must know.
Jim Baker
I can find out...
Good stuff. I would be interested to know as well. It seemed like a reasonable number at the time, but I was only 11 or 12 so memory may be wonky. I think he was with us in the late 60s promotion season. I remember him playing up front years later for a visiting team. I'm guessing that was near the back end of his career. I do sometimes get a bit muddled though about who played for us and when.
In terms of quality in the quality he provided on the pitch and what he’s done in his career afterwards, it has to James Collins as he’s now regularly scoring at Championship level and has played and scored for Ireland.
In terms of impact, it has to Tubbs. He was sensational for us scoring over 50 goals for us in a season and a half. His goals got us to the football league and gave us one of the best FA cup runs we’ve ever had. It will take a brilliant player to make that sort of impact on the team!
P.s I wouldn’t count Karlan Grant, even though he now plays in the Premier League, for two reasons. Firstly he wasn’t our player he was on loan. Secondly he played on the wing for us, not as a striker.
With the wide selection of strikers mentioned, I'll throw in the two from my earliest memories which were Ray Carter and Ken Parsons. Ray Carter certainly was a bit of a legend and returned shortly for a second spell towards the end of his career. Also, Wayne Peacock is worthy of a mention. As for the worst (or at least one of the most disappointing), how about the chap we wasted money on from the proceeds of Terry Robbin's sale - I believe his name was Colin Barnes (signed form Maidstone) - not sure if the same on who also played for Torquay and Yeovil.
If you are going back in time what about Ernie Randell ex pro who had played for Palace and then played for crawley in the County league just before we started our Southern League adventures. Scored plenty of goals and also broke quite a few windows in the club house at town mead when he missed had a terrific shot on him.
Good stuff. I would be interested to know as well. It seemed like a reasonable number at the time, but I was only 11 or 12 so memory may be wonky. I think he was with us in the late 60s promotion season. I remember him playing up front years later for a visiting team. I'm guessing that was near the back end of his career. I do sometimes get a bit muddled though about who played for us and when.
Phil only had one spell with us as far as I am aware. To add more fuel to the Maidstone debate, it was them we sold him to and I remember going to their place the following season when they put 5 past us with him getting at least one of those. I did see Eric play once or twice in his second spell but I think injuries had taken their toll on him by then. He was certainly not the same player as in his first spell.
I was told that Eric Whittington left pro football after an injury a d thinking he would not be able to play moved to South Africa but while there found he could so started again.