Imagine if ANDREI ARSHAVIN signed for the Albion..

[hans kraay fan club]

Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it, but when we signed Sergei Gotsmanov way back when, it really was a signing of a similar magnitude. A brilliant footballer, captain of his country, recent scorer of a winning goal at Wembley, at the ALBION.

I was only young at the time, and took things for granted, I guess, and didn't really appreciate just how lucky we were to have him.

How times have changed....

 

[butchy]

we are a horrid little club arnt we

 

[Manthorpee]

difference is we were not in the 3rd league in english football back then...

 

[Herne Hill Seagull]

The world's a smaller place now and players of Gotsmanov's quality are much less likely to be hidden from the glare of the media/scouts/whomever. Gives clubs like us a much lower chance of finding a diamond in the rough, but that's symptomatic of the way the game's gone.

 

[Easy 10]

Arshavin is in his 20's
Gotmanov was in his 30's

God I loved Gotsmanov though. What I wouldn't give to see someone like him in our team now.

 

[Mackenzie]

Probably the finest player we've ever had.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

difference is we were not in the 3rd league in english football back then...

We were in the second. Would Arshavin go to Watford?

Arshavin is in his 20's
Gotmanov was in his 30's

God I loved Gotsmanov though. What I wouldn't give to see someone like him in our team now.

Gotsmanov was 31.
Arshavin is 27.

 

[Amsterdam Albion]

Gotsmanov great player great name
Arse Having great player dodgy name

If I was manager I would only pick players with cool names

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Probably the finest player we've ever had.

Quite possibly. Shame it was so brief [16 games].

If anybody needed a reason to hate Southampton, it is the THEFT of Sergei, who they then didn't play anyway [played just 8 games for them].

 

[The Large One]

Top players can now pick and choose where they play.

A Russian in the west in 1987 was VERY rare, and a second division outift looked to have suited him fine.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Quite possibly. Shame it was so brief [16 games].

If anybody needed a reason to hate Southampton, it is the THEFT of Sergei, who they then didn't play anyway [played just 8 games for them].

Very very true Hans. I still f***ing hate them for that.

Like Charlton when they RAPED us over John Robinson with a derisory £75,000 (having just sold Rob Lee for £5m)

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Very very true Hans. I still f***ing hate them for that.

Like Charlton when they RAPED us over John Robinson with a derisory £75,000 (having just sold Rob Lee for £5m)

Ah, yes, but don't forget we wisely put in a VERY healthy sell-on clause

 

[hans kraay fan club]

A Russian in the west in 1987 was VERY rare, and a second division outift looked to have suited him fine.

As rare as a BELARUSIAN in 1990?