Weirdest Blackpool FC signings

I tried to mentally block most of these names out! Thank God that ‘époque de merde’ is over.
 
Trimm-Trab said:
There was a lad we signed when Holloway was manager who never kicked a ball for us. I think he was homesick or something. Just can’t remember his name. Possibly from Spain?
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Think you're thinking of Alberto Noguera. I talked to a young player who said he was the best player he'd ever seen in training, but he never got a game. Clearly couldn't settle. He was also tiny, and when I asked Holloway about him he couldn't remember him, so he couldn't have made that much of an impression. He's played in second division in Spain since though so I'm sure he's at least half-decent. Not like some of the other names here.
 
Zarko Grabovac. Not only was he crap but the old club secretary before Matt Williams got the contract rules wrong. We thought he was gonna be a free transfer but some rules kicked in and we ended up owing a couple of hundred thousand quid in compensation to his previous clubs. Karl was furious...And secretly Zarko became one of our most expensive signings in club history at the time.
 
foggy said:
Think you're thinking of Alberto Noguera. I talked to a young player who said he was the best player he'd ever seen in training, but he never got a game. Clearly couldn't settle. He was also tiny, and when I asked Holloway about him he couldn't remember him, so he couldn't have made that much of an impression. He's played in second division in Spain since though so I'm sure he's at least half-decent. Not like some of the other names here.
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That’s him. Cheers 👍
 
Any apart from Peter Clarke,Jamie O'Hara and the keeper(name escapes me),during the insane Riga,Clark,McDoughnut era. Surely the craziest period Blackpool FC has ever known.
 
Alfie Conn said:
Any apart from Peter Clarke,Jamie O'Hara and the keeper(name escapes me),during the insane Riga,Clark,McDoughnut era. Surely the craziest period Blackpool FC has ever known.
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Looking back and even then, it really was a bizarre time.
 
Peter Hartley, we signed him along with Curtis Tilt, Hartley went on loan to Scotland in the same window, guess Tilt was better than expected
 
Harry Sharratt. Played one game for Blackpool in 1952/3 season when George Farm was on international duty. At one of his previous clubs Bishop Auckland he was known sometimes to sit on the crossbar when his team was attacking. He was once booked for building a snowman on his goaline☃ and in another game with his team 12-0 up he commenced standing outside a goalpost and letting the opposition score three.😜
 
Wizaard said:
Yes. Played at Loftus Road in a draw. Don't remember seeing him after that.
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Scored a couple of decent goals for Everton in the prem off the bench, probably later fell out of favour, a strange loan signing for us. Then it’s as you said, I can’t remember seeing him more than once or twice in tangerine.
 
TangerinePeel said:
Terry McPhillip's signings that were given lengthy contracts a couple weeks before he was let go and they lingered around for years after:
- Adi Yussuf
- Jamie Devitt
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Probably signed off while the club was in administration, before Sadler took over, when no-one knew what was happening, and with a view to "we need bodies, and cheap ones at that", so perhaps not all that "weird" in the circumstances.
 
Lost Seasider said:
Probably signed off while the club was in administration, before Sadler took over, when no-one knew what was happening, and with a view to "we need bodies, and cheap ones at that", so perhaps not all that "weird" in the circumstances.
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I'd say it was a fairly unique situation, which could qualify as weird.

Terry McPhillips was pretty much an interim manager after Bowyer left (the Oyston's probably knowing the potential outcome of the case weren't going to appoint a new manager after Bowyer's departure), he was given funds by the receivers that were seeking to put new owners in place to pay Belokon. With those funds he makes 3 poor signings from either non-league or League Two, I can't remember the third but the two that stand out are Yussuf and Devitt who never made an appearance even though they were given 2 or 3 year contracts which they both sat on. A week or two after making those signings he is let go so Sadler can bring in who he wants and the next two managers (Grayson and Critch) both agree these players aren't good enough and never play them - so they both just linger at the clubs, being wheeled out occasionally for a pre-season friendly. One of those signings McPhillips made was alright actually in Kaikai, but I do worry from the other 3 how we'd have faired under him that year.

I do wonder whether the situations with Yussuf, Devitt and Nuttall has carved out a bit of our transfer policy. We don't seem to dish out the long term contracts anymore, only in our contract extensions do we do it when a player has proved themselves here.
 
L’étranger said:
Both of our signings this summer have been given 3 year (+1) contracts.
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Both from Prem clubs, I doubt we'd ever sign a player from the non-league or League Two again on more than a 1(+1)

Basically my point is the club were stung a few times early on into Sadler's tenure and we've been a bit more astute from there. Nuttall and Devitt particularly, they came, were given decent deals and then saw out their contracts when they didnt turn out to be up to standard.
 
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Who was the really tall Foreign lad - came on for a night game - looked like Bambi on ice - not sure he got past one game!
 
Banvo Anderson Anderson Banvo (I’m sure he didn’t even exist)
Alberto Noguera
Pedro (remember McMahon saying we were signing an ex Real Madrid player, failed to mention he also played for Tranmere and Macclesfield)

And anybody signed between 2014-18 was just weird reall
 
Tony Ellis for the following reasons was probably the weirdest signing at the time.

1) We never signed our main rival's best player and someone that every Blackpool fan had heard of before.

2) Unlike other well-known signings such as Sheedy or Madden in the Oyston era, he wasn't finished and went on to have
a great goals-per-game ratio for Blackpool. He was the best striker since Walsh and Hatton in the 70's. He could score with left or right and his
head.

3) Oyston paid £ 165,000 for him, previous to that we had Gary Brook who had scored 6 goals over three seasons. Andy Watson that the fans bought, and the return of Dave Bamber for £ 50,000. Ellis was better than all of them by some way.

Buying players that were crap and cheap was the norm for Blackpool at the time, and buying someone for decent money that was both good, well-known and upsetting PNE fans felt very weird at the time. Obviously, in hindsight, the reason was probably to buy support for Oyston with the fans due to the upcoming trial he was facing. But nonetheless it felt weird at the time.
 
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