"Thought he'd be sh**e but he's actually alright"

[NickDRFC]

The Nathan Tyson thread, and the comment that said "might be why he had a rare off day", made me think just how much I rate him. When he joined, I thought it was a dreadful signing - hadn't scored in 389 years, was knocking on a bit - but I'm delighted to say I was proven very wrong and he's been great for us.

Begs the question - who else were you horrified to hear that we signed only for them to turn out to be half-decent?

[1879Rovers]

I can think of many the other way round. I thought he was a decent signing and then he was sh*te.

[NickDRFC]

Far too many like that. Makes a refreshing change this way round.

[Chris Black come back]

Got to admit the first few 'galacticos' we signed in the conference weren't great, so my hopes for Steve Nicol weren't great. Little did I know.

[NickDRFC]

Steve Nicol remains my favourite Rovers player of all time. He was unbelievable for us. My mate's dad used to be the club doctor, and on his last game before he jetted stateside (Stevenage at home on a Friday night) he got to say goodbye personally. Never felt such sadness on the terraces as the grief at losing my favourite player wrapped up with the envy that my best mate got to have a chinwag with him.

[BillyStubbsTears]

A few archetypal old-pros who had a last (or near-last) hurrah with us.

Jack Ashurst
Hugh Dowd
Andy Kowalski
Ernie Moss
Leo Fortune-West
Paul Barnes
Neil Sullivan
John Breckin
Alan Little
John Sher.....joking....

[BobG]

I'd nominate John Doolan too.  An overweight, slow nobody when he arrived. Not far off a God when he left. It was him who played the Rovers pass of the decade for me: that awesome pass out of defence to Gregg Blundell haring through the centre as he bore down on the Crystal Palace goal. A geat pass. A great goal.

And how about Sean Who? He didn't inspire many folk either when he arrived but turned out not too bad.

BobG

[PDX_Rover]

Lewis Guy... Oh hang on.

[roversdude]

Doolan provided one of my favourite Rovers moments on a foggy night at Oakwell

[andyst79]

Doolan was class at that level, overweight & couldn't run very far or fast but he was that good he didn't need to!

[mushRTID]

I'd say Sullivan for me. I knew he wasn't shite but i did worry he'd be past it when he first joined.

Turned out to be the best goalie iv seen for us.

[Guernsey Exile]

Keegan for me. Raised a few eyebrows when he joined but defo come good!

[roversdude]

Diouf has to fall into this list
One of the few during 'the experiment' to show a bit of passion

[RobTheRover]

Rob Jones

I seem to recall a lot of hand wringing, probably brought on by memories of the torrid time Billy Sharp gave him at Scunny that day.  Turned out to be our talisman and leader.  Top bloke, too.

[craigdrfc]

Paul Green

Saw him play a few pre season games and he looked about 4 stone, 4 foot tall, and 4 years old. No chance I thought....

[Copps is Magic]

Adebayo Akinfenwa

[Dutch Uncle]

Although I never thought he was sh*te, the one who has exceeded expectations the most has to be a player we bought from Conference club Exeter in 2004 for 30K when we were about to pay much more than that for Heffs (OK reasonable value there, but can't match JC26), Sean Thornton, Alan Blayney, Byron Webster, Shelton Martis, Kyle Bennett, Theo Robinson, Harry Forrester..........

474 appearances later he's still not bad!   

[Al4475]

Beat me to the punch with jones rtr - I've never hiddden my criticism of him as a footballing defender but the impact he has had in and around the club is almost beyond comparison! Somewhat hard to believe as he was a fouth choice signing behind failed bids for the stevenage duo (roberts and ashton was it?) And the succesful acquisition of mccombe!

[Bentley Bullet]

Dave Mulligan was a very good signing, despite being a Dingle discard!

[wilts rover]

There was a lot of criticism flying around when we signed that Billy Blunt from Sheff U, so much so that we dropped him and tried to get Killen from Celtic and only went back for Sharp when Killen failed a medical. Then there was more abuse when he didnt score in his first four or five games ... turned out alright in the end though.

[andysly]

Another vote for Rob Jones.

[Bentley Bullet]

Sean O'Driscoll

[Derby Viking]

Paul Birch - streets ahead of the rest of that team in terms of vision and footballing brain

[1879Rovers]

Colin Douglas - Looked like a gangly lightweight streak of p*ss when we signed him but I think he learnt a lot from Ernie Moss and he never looked back.

[DRFC]

Colin Douglas - Looked like a gangly lightweight streak of p*ss when we signed him but I think he learnt a lot from Ernie Moss and he never looked sober .

Fixed that for you.

[essexrover]

Paul Barnes. The kind of player you would hate if he was playing for the opposition !
Thought the club had gone mad signing him, but he was great 

[BobG]

Paul Birch was always a good player though. You're right Derby - he certainly was streets ahead. But I thought we were looking for rubbish players, or players with rubbish reputations who turned out good?

Cheers

Bob

[roversdude]

George Friend - at the time was a terrible full back just goes to show what a spell at centre half can do

[DRFC]

Evina. Looked like I was going to proved right last season too but he's been a revelation this season.

Probably one of our most passionate players too, I absolutely love his little fist pumps to the crowd! 

[Derby Viking]

Paul Birch was always a good player though. You're right Derby - he certainly was streets ahead. But I thought we were looking for rubbish players, or players with rubbish reputations who turned out good?

Cheers

Bob

I see what you mean Bob - what I meant was was when he arrived he was cracking on a bit and I assumed he was coming for a last payday. We've seen a lot of old Prem players turn up and not give a toss but he gave his all every match - so I feared when we signed him but he was great - more like Steve Nicol than Mike Newell