Who was good who was bad

So who have been the best and worst of the loan signings made by Argyle?

This what the Herald had to say

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Good;

Tommy Tynan
Kevin Godfrey
Dean Blackwell
Alan Miller

Shocking;

Jim Beglin
Phil Barber
Paul Mardon
Stuart Elliott

Craig Sutherland was an utter waste of space, time, energy, boots etc. He looked miles behind even our teenage strikers in terms of development. It was pure desperation when we needed someone with experience. The argument that he must be good because Holloway signed him and he 'knows a good striker' was truly bizarre.

Good:
Steve Guinan (shame he never repeated it when permanent)
Jason Dodd
Elliot Ward

Bad:
Mark Sale
Phil Gee
Anthony Pulis
Leon Clarke

Yes, Jason Dodd and Elliot Ward .... excellent, few would argue with those two.
But then we got Alan "I was always coming back" Judge.
What a mini disaster he was, as he shouted and screamed his Premiership credentials to crowbar his way into a failing team that failed even more with him in it.

Scott Sinclair

Bad- Micky Quinn

Best loan signing...Paul Gallagher...should have signed him permanently,you knew what you were getting with him as he had already done the business whilst on loan,the same for Elliot Ward,yet Argyle go and sign MaClean who we didn't know what we were getting but soon found out.You think the club would have learnt the dos and donts but then they went and signed Simon Walton,without him ever playing in a green shirt to see if he was any good and then offered him a 4 year contract.

Penz wrote:

Yes, Jason Dodd and Elliot Ward .... excellent, few would argue with those two.
But then we got Alan "I was always coming back" Judge.
What a mini disaster he was, as he shouted and screamed his Premiership credentials to crowbar his way into a failing team that failed even more with him in it.

Had you stopped going by then Penz? I tend to agree with this which is part of the GoS write up on him:

A skilful and whole-hearted player who was a firm favourite of the Argyle crowd during his time with the club, he always gave maximum effort to add to his undoubted ability.

Yes, we got relegated but it wasn't solely his fault.

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No I hadn't "stopped going then" and nor have I stopped going now ... so I hope that puts that to bed. Ridsdale was my boycott... that's not hard to understand, given his methodology.
I thought Judge was hopeless, a real rabbit run sort, but was poor at it. What really got my goat was when he thought he'd stride down to the manager's office and complain at his omission from the team, thus depriving a more deserving player from having a shot at it.
He will be playing non league football before he is 30. If he's not, it will be because he's still saying "Blackburn, Blackburn.... do you know who I am".

Warny wrote:

Craig Sutherland was an utter waste of space, time, energy, boots etc. He looked miles behind even our teenage strikers in terms of development. It was pure desperation when we needed someone with experience. The argument that he must be good because Holloway signed him and he 'knows a good striker' was truly bizarre.

Holloway knows that if he signs enough strikers, one or two of them might come good and if not he can throw them all on in the last 20 minutes if we're losing.

Penz wrote:

No I hadn't "stopped going then" and nor have I stopped going now ... so I hope that puts that to bed. Ridsdale was my boycott... that's not hard to understand, given his methodology.
I thought Judge was hopeless, a real rabbit run sort, but was poor at it. What really got my goat was when he thought he'd stride down to the manager's office and complain at his omission from the team, thus depriving a more deserving player from having a shot at it.
He will be playing non league football before he is 30. If he's not, it will be because he's still saying "Blackburn, Blackburn.... do you know who I am".

My apologies, I thought you were also against the current set up. It's a game of opinions and I thought Judge had something about him irrespective of his strops and personality. The Notts County fans must also think the same as he's just won 2 player awards with them.

In my time watching argyle

Best:

Scott Sinclair
Craig Noone
Connor Clifford

Worst:

Craig Sutherland
Emile Mpenza
Anthony Pulis

Ward - whatever happened to him - he was destined for higher achievement.

Alan Miller - a keeper of the highest order.

Best loanees I've seen -

Lord Thomas of Tynan
Scott Sinclair
Paul Gallagher
Elliot Ward

Worst -

Paul Mardon
Kenny Cooper
Mickey Quinn
Richard Eckersley

knecht wrote:

Ward - whatever happened to him - he was destined for higher achievement.

Alan Miller - a keeper of the highest order.

After a couple of injuries he became an ever present for Norwich in the last few months of last season. It took him a few years but he made it to the Premier League.

knecht wrote:

Ward - whatever happened to him - he was destined for higher achievement.

Alan Miller - a keeper of the highest order.

Indeed, I predicted an England place for him. Where did he end up?

Barry Silkman, an amazing player but with pish poor attitude.

GOB wrote:

knecht wrote:

Ward - whatever happened to him - he was destined for higher achievement.

Alan Miller - a keeper of the highest order.

Indeed, I predicted an England place for him. Where did he end up?

...

Last seen running a taxi business in the Canaries or similar.

He had a few big signings for different clubs but they never realised his potential. Retired early due to injury I think.

Wasn't he such a favourite with the club and the fans that a special watch was presented to him on the pitch as a token of esteem? I can't remember properly.

Penz wrote:

No I hadn't "stopped going then" and nor have I stopped going now ... so I hope that puts that to bed. Ridsdale was my boycott... that's not hard to understand, given his methodology.
I thought Judge was hopeless, a real rabbit run sort, but was poor at it. What really got my goat was when he thought he'd stride down to the manager's office and complain at his omission from the team, thus depriving a more deserving player from having a shot at it.
He will be playing non league football before he is 30. If he's not, it will be because he's still saying "Blackburn, Blackburn.... do you know who I am".

I knew I had heard a commentator use some crazy nickname for Judge last season. This is from Wickipedia:

Judge is known for his energy and his driving runs, as well as his ability to score spectacular long range goals. This has led to him being nicknamed "The Irish Messi" by players, fans and pundits.[14]

The Irish Messi? Playing for Notts County in League 1

I thought he had loads of talent, but you had to watch loads of games to get a full 90 minutes shift out of him. He's no longer a teenager though, and I reckon he might once again play in the Championship one day, but that will be about it. Unless he is a slow burner and still improving, but somehow I doubt it.

knecht wrote:

GOB wrote:

knecht wrote:

Ward - whatever happened to him - he was destined for higher achievement.

Alan Miller - a keeper of the highest order.

Indeed, I predicted an England place for him. Where did he end up?

...

Last seen running a taxi business in the Canaries or similar.

He had a few big signings for different clubs but they never realised his potential. Retired early due to injury I think.

Wasn't he such a favourite with the club and the fans that a special watch was presented to him on the pitch as a token of esteem? I can't remember properly.

I don't remember but it should have been a pen

He probably got rid of the watch but I'm sure he would have saved the pen.

Bad:
Marin
Eckersley

Off the scale awfulness:
Cooper

Penz wrote:

No I hadn't "stopped going then" and nor have I stopped going now ... so I hope that puts that to bed. Ridsdale was my boycott... that's not hard to understand, given his methodology.
I thought Judge was hopeless, a real rabbit run sort, but was poor at it. What really got my goat was when he thought he'd stride down to the manager's office and complain at his omission from the team, thus depriving a more deserving player from having a shot at it.
He will be playing non league football before he is 30. If he's not, it will be because he's still saying "Blackburn, Blackburn.... do you know who I am".

Dunno about that last bit, he's just won a POTY award in a top 8 League One side so he must have something about him. It would take a pretty big fall from grace for him to end up playing non league but I suppose stranger things have happened.

If you ever get to play adult football, you will find there are a fair few rather oppinionated substandard players at their level that bully their way into teams. Professional football is just like any other human activity, it is not a 100% meritocracy, ask Blair Sturrock. And by the way, the POTY team doesn't actually exist in the real world. He sounds good so he must be, probably badgered and stalked the pundits who sat around a table for an hour. His performance down here for Notts County had declined even from what he did for us.
Huff and puff, lots of shouting, with little to no end result.

Not a loanee but I remember us signing a winger from Notts Forest called Carr. Everyone thought of Franz Carr an exceptionally fast winger but instead of a Rolls Royce Carr we got a Reliant Robin Carr who wasn't quite the same. In fact he was quite crap. A bit nippy but not much ability.

Sensiblegreeny wrote:

Not a loanee but I remember us signing a winger from Notts Forest called Carr. Everyone thought of Franz Carr an exceptionally fast winger but instead of a Rolls Royce Carr we got a Reliant Robin Carr who wasn't quite the same. In fact he was quite crap. A bit nippy but not much ability.

Yes, I remember him. His trouble was he didn't bring Brian Clough with him.

(PS his Wikipedia entry is worth reading for another Cloughie story.)