Why do we always sign obscure players?

[The Dark Zat Knight Rises]

One thing that've always bothered me with Fulham is our tendency with signing these cheep, obscure players no-one ever really heard about and that no-one else in the premiership would even consider signing? I cant really think of any other side (maybe Sunderland) that has a history and tradition of signing crap, unknown players.

Let have a looksy, shall we?

Stolcers, Sava, Elrich, Elliott, Runström, Stoor, Elm, Kallio, Kuqi, Johnson, Teymourian, B H Riise, Halliche, Somogyi, Sá, Gecov, Manolev, Tavares, Zverotic.

Is it just poor scouting? The managers fault?

I dont see any fault in signing a unknown youngster that later doesnt fulfill his potential, but theese lads are well past any "talent" stage in their careers. Why did we sign them when everything about them screamed rubbishness. Lets take the Swedes for instant: Runström was never near any sort of star talent status in Sweden. He was known for being a striker that ran a lot but never could score - so why buy a player that a ) cant score in a crap league and b ) why sign a player that wasnt even top five in a crap league? Cookie could litterally have just asked any Swedish supporter about RUnström and they've would have told him that Runström is a alright striker but no where near premiership class. Same goes for Elm, not in any way a player that took swedish allsvenskan with storm, never scored a lot of goals and at that age (28?) he wasnt even near the swedis national team.

Why did we go for quantity and never quality? I would have traded all of them for just 1 decent, solid signing like Huddlestone or Malanda or any other player that had a good track record.

[BigNigeBowds]

had u heard of dembele before we signed him? or hangeland?

[cmg]

...and that obscure bloke from Bulgaria? Barbershop or something.

...and that goalkeeper bloke who'd only played in one World Cup final and his mate, the centre-half.

[BigbadBillyMcKinley]

Not many had heard of McBride or Dempsey either I'm guessing.

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[Julius Geezer]

Who knew about Steed?

[The Dark Zat Knight Rises]

Of course I've heard about Hangeland, he was tearing it up in Denmark. Same goes for Dembele who scored quite a lot in Holland, think he was a winger then. Steed wasnt a household name, sure, but playing for Lyon is hardly what Ive would call obscure.

McBride was a nice find, same with Dempsey even though Dempsey I believe was back then seen as a rising star in the States, which cant be said about any of the names ive mentioned.

[Southcoastffc]

And there was that unknown lad from Metz who scored 5 goals in 3 years and 1 goal in 11 games on loan at Newcastle.  Then he came to us and luckily got 53 in 117 games - now what was he called? Oh yes, King something. 

[Southcoastffc]

Of course I've heard about Hangeland, he was tearing it up in Denmark. Same goes for Dembele who scored quite a lot in Holland, think he was a winger then. Steed wasnt a household name, sure, but playing for Lyon is hardly what Ive would call obscure.

McBride was a nice find, same with Dempsey even though Dempsey I believe was back then seen as a rising star in the States, which cant be said about any of the names ive mentioned.

Umm, so are you now saying that we DON'T always sign obscure players?

[Jamie88]

You could select any club from any league over the last 10 years and pick and choose players whom they've signed who weren't up to much from obscure clubs..
And in the same breath you could do the same the other way round, mentioning the better players they've signed!
Pointless thread

[SouthfieldWhite]

Why do some fans always look on the negative side of things, how about stating some of the good signings, who would of thought someone like van der sar would ever play for us.

All clubs make crap signings, most signings are a slight gamble as you never know how a player will settle.

Stop living in a goldfish bowl

[ron]

"The real problem is that the cost of these obscure players always seems to be inversely proportional to their value "
Discuss.

[Lighthouse]

I thought we signed players who become obscure AFTER we signed them.

[King_Crud]

Football club sometimes signs players that don't make it: News at 11

[Big Martin Jol]

Come on.

We had seven current or former international captains on the books this season, which is pretty good for a bottom-half club in a tiny stadium on the Thames.

Have you seen Hull, Norwich or Stoke team sheet recently? They're not exactly the Galácticos.

[PokerMatt]

Wreh, Diawara, cygan, Stepanovs, Park, bischoff, Lupoli.

Thought I'd play the same game with arsenal. These off the top of my head for a club I don't follow, so it's clearly not restricted to fulham.

[Nero]

Wreh, Diawara, cygan, Stepanovs, Park, bischoff, Lupoli.

Thought I'd play the same game with arsenal. These off the top of my head for a club I don't follow, so it's clearly not restricted to fulham.

you could add Henry and Viera to that list pretty much unknown when signed

[God The Mechanic]

Wouldn't say Henry was unknown.  He'd been highly touted at Monaco and made a move to Juve for reasonably serious money for someone so young, he was just played out of position and it didn't work out.

And Man Utd have signed the likes of Manucho, Bebe, Kleberson, Djemba Djemba, Forlan was hardly a world renown player at the time, Taibi, van der Gouw.  Every team signs players under the radar.

[Jack Fulham]

Bebe

Established player are more expensive.

[Northern Cottager]

Football club sometimes signs players that don't make it: News at 11

Exactly. Look at how excited we got at Ruiz... Name doesn't necessarily bring the best results. Sometimes they're a gamble.

[Syd Cupp]

It's easier to bash these signings in hindsight.
BUT if these players had of worked out i bet you wouldn't have knocked them...may even of sang their names along with many others.

The otherside of the coin would be we carry on spending big money on well known names that could turn into total flops. Sometimes its not through potential but players not fitting in or adapting to a system or even a cultural change.

Managerial changes also come into this. especially if the new one don't rate you.

Like the everyday man on the street, you can go for a new job thinking this is the one for me then after a week think what have i done.

Just had a look at Real Madrid's worst signings and the money they spent and they are all big names.
Woodgate, Walter Samuel, Javier Saviola, Nicolas Anelka, Antonio Cassano

Another way is going through the youth product system but when you look at these most have been released or bought from clubs at an early age, and I reckon hardly any one had ever heard of them before....Cauley Woodrow (luton?) Dan Burn (Darlington) Chris Smalling (Maidstone) even Ray Houghton (West Ham).