How the hell did we hold on to Zamora for so long

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Mellotron

I've asked for soup
Jul 2, 2008
32,479
Brighton
But why - after the season where he won us League Two - was he not subject to bids from Champ clubs or anything?
 


GT49er

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Feb 1, 2009
49,186
Gloucester
For some reason, higher level teams didn't seem to rate him - even when Spurs bought him, they didn't seem very enthusiastic about it, and hardly played him; he didn't fare much better at West Ham, either.
 






Seagull over NZ

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
1,607
Bristol
Also think it was fairly common knowledge that he was very well paid for the division we were in so that may have kept him here for a while longer. I must say, as much as I loved him and thought he was a great player, I didn't think he would quite get to be as good a premiership striker as he is now. At best I thought he would be a fringe premiership striker.
 








drew

Drew
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Oct 3, 2006
23,626
Burgess Hill
For some reason, higher level teams didn't seem to rate him - even when Spurs bought him, they didn't seem very enthusiastic about it, and hardly played him; he didn't fare much better at West Ham, either.

I think to be fair, Hoddle did rate him but unfortunatley for Zamora, he lost his job not long after Zamora signed and David Pleat definitely wasn't a fan.
 


GT49er

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Feb 1, 2009
49,186
Gloucester
I think to be fair, Hoddle did rate him but unfortunatley for Zamora, he lost his job not long after Zamora signed and David Pleat definitely wasn't a fan.
Fair enough - I'd forgotten that detail - I just remember him not playing at Spurs.
 




backson

Registered Mis-user
Jul 26, 2004
2,430
It probably helped that we had back to back promotions, so each year he was able to play in a higher division with us anyway.
 


ROSM

Well-known member
Dec 26, 2005
6,776
Just far enough away from LDC
We turned down at least 2 bids from premiership teams in the year we got promoted to the championship or Div 1 as it was then. One was Everton and the other was 'boro who both offered between 2 and 3 million albeit in phases. In the end the club viewed that div 1 was worth turning the money down. In the end we got a year in div 1 and 1.5m up front from spurs, however I know that some agents felt we stood in zamora's way and feared we would do the same to their young starlet if they came to us. The criticism Knight got from some fans over that decision was very vocal too and Zamora himself criticised the club in the press just before we were relegated.
 


drew

Drew
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Oct 3, 2006
23,626
Burgess Hill
Fair enough - I'd forgotten that detail - I just remember him not playing at Spurs.

He got a raw deal at spurs. I remember getting tickets for a cup game because I thought he would be playing (it was a midweek replay and I worked in London so not too far out of the way) only for him to be sold 3 days before the game. Fortunately it was the one where Spurs led 3-0 at half time and Barton got himself sent off as they trapsed off at half time only for City to win 4-3 so I got to see a 'reasonable' game.
 




westy

Member
Jul 25, 2003
704
I think one of the factors in how we held onto Zamora for that long was after the Gillingham years we were nowhere near as high profile as we are now. I think the rest of the football league weren’t interested in us and subsequently prob didn’t realise, like we did, what a player we had on our hands.

A Few months and some great goals into Bobby's time with us we were so impressed by him my bro bet a mate he would play for England one day. That was a sweet day when he pulled on the famous 3 Lions... He looked the real deal from day one to be honest.
 
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Jul 5, 2003
6,776
Bristol
How?
By turning bids down, just like we are for Bennett and will do for any of our other assets.
I don't get where this myth has appeared from that a) a bid leads to a transfer and b) a bid leads to a player wanting to leave.
It simply isn't the case.
 


HastingsSeagull

Well-known member
Jan 13, 2010
9,433
BGC Manila
I made that bid with a mate who supports Spurs. Way before they'd shown an interest in him. I bought him a beer and years later got my £100 as he finally got a cap. When he was clearly going to get called up but then got injured not long ago, I was so gutted! Great he played his game and to be fair hope he gets called up to some more squads :)
 


Fitzcarraldo

Well-known member
Nov 12, 2010
973
b) a bid leads to a player wanting to leave.

Would an example of this not be the Darren Bent transfer; he heard there was an offer from Aston Villa on the table for him, saw the oppurtunity to increase his wages (maybe he had other reasons) and started aggitating for a transfer. The move soon followed after Sunderland saw he didn't want to be there and Villa were offering very good money for him.

They didn't seem too keen to sell until Bent handed in the transfer request and I can't imagine Darren Bent dreamt of partnering Emile Heskey up front at the start of the transfer window.
 




Jul 5, 2003
6,776
Bristol
Would an example of this not be the Darren Bent transfer; he heard there was an offer from Aston Villa on the table for him, saw the oppurtunity to increase his wages (maybe he had other reasons) and started aggitating for a transfer. The move soon followed after Sunderland saw he didn't want to be there and Villa were offering very good money for him.

They didn't seem too keen to sell until Bent handed in the transfer request and I can't imagine Darren Bent dreamt of partnering Emile Heskey up front at the start of the transfer window.

Of course. And Austin handing in a transfer request. But this is by no means a certain outcome.
 


Lurker

62 years and counting ...
Mar 8, 2010
416
West Midlands
TV coverage of the lower reaches of the Football League wasn't as good when BZ was with us?
Maybe that had something to do with it?

My brother-in-law has been a STH at Coventry for years, and he never rated BZ from all his years of not watching him play ... until Bobby ran the Cov defence ragged at Highfield Road, almost breaking the cross-bar with a snapshot effort (in a 0-0 draw from memory?).
That was the first time he'd seen Zamora play live ... and suddenly he was wishing Cov had him!
 


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