I remember being really pleased when we signed Simon Trevitt, having seen him have a decent game on loan for us. A one-off, unfortunately.
Andy Brown sounded like a good signing, on the basis we got him from the mighty Leeds United. I can only imagine he was signed purely due to that fact rather than on a scout's recommendation. Even Terry Dolan realised he was rubbish; he chose to force Duane Darby out of his sick bed to play an FA Cup tie as he had such little faith in his only fit striker, Brown, leading the line on his own. It was a good job he did - Duano scored 6 that game. Brown only ever scored one goal for us (what a goal it was though) and looked far more comfortable in goal than kicking the ball. It originally felt like good news when we signed him!
Perhaps those were just simpler times, when the only news you'd get on City was on the back page of the Hull Daily Mail, or Radio Humberside, and with Dave Gibbins as Sports Editor, their output was more Channel Five Football Night than Match of the Day. Now, there's no end of rumoured new signings, and as soon as you hear one you can instantly look up his career stats, player profile, videos of him in action, and message boards full of other fans' opinions on whether he's any good or not.
An overkill of signings in recent years has probably had something to do with it too. We signed 13 players in Adam Pearson's first summer as chairman. Given the number of players you can field at any one time, at least 2 of those couldn't have been considered by the manager to be part of his best 11. So why sign them? Scott Kerr, David Lee and Matt Bloomer hardly had a sniff of first team football with us, so were completely unnecessary signings. We signed a further 3 as the season went on, plus 6 on loan. Clearly not enough thought went into getting our signings right that season.
That failure led to Jan Molby taking over, and overhauling the squad was about all he did until being replaced by Peter Taylor two months into the 2002/03 season when we were treated to yet another succession of new signings. 44 players made first team appearances for us that season. When Marc Joseph arrived in November, the lowest squad number he could take was 39.
Taylor's signings were plentiful, and not all of them good. Too many cheap alternatives signed - Aaron Wilbraham, anyone? - instead of one long term solution. We could name an entire team of right-backs Taylor signed - Carl Regan, Marc Joseph, Jon Otsemobor, Alton Thelwell, Richard Hinds, Ryan France, Lee Marshall, Stev Angus, Robbie Stockdale, Mark Lynch, Danny Coles. One of the things Phil Parkinson got right was bringing in Sam Ricketts. If we'd have done that in the first place we needn't have gone through the motions of all those other signings.
It's the overload of new players that has made each one seem not so special, and almost makes us forget how privileged we are to be in a position to buy players as and when the manager wants.
Besides very few exceptions, signings in the last few years have left me unmoved, and I can name all of those exceptions individually. Jon Walters' return, having been a total class above during his loan spell, was an extremely pleasant surprise. Watching Look North and seeing Nick Barmby pull on a Hull City shirt beside the KC Stadium pitch, making the news seem real after days of speculation. Dean Marney, a signing from a Premiership club I'd actually heard of and remembered seeing score those goals against Everton, instead of any unknown youngster who could just as easily turn out to be another Andy Brown. Danny Mills certainly had shock factor but didn't really excite me; all I really knew was the nasty side to his game and not the genuine football ability we were soon able to see. Dean Windass returning certainly delighted me, but knowing what we were getting with him didn't give me the same buzz as "new" players who are unknown quantities. Ricardo Vaz Te excited me as I'd been impressed the few times I'd seen him play for Bolton. What a disappointment he turned out to be. Jay-Jay Okocha was the last signing with the "wow factor" for me. I was hoping he'd be another Theo Whitmore, which is sort of what we got.
City must have made around 75 signings in the last 5 years, and only half a dozen of them have managed to excite me. But now, that's starting to change. Those feelings of hope, expectation, awe and anticipation to see a potential new hero are back. Maybe it's because we haven't seen it all before. These aren't yet more signings from Stockport, Scunny, Cambridge and Colchester. These are recent, or even current, internationals. Players in their prime. Not joining us because their club doesn't want them or can't afford to keep them, but handpicked by our manager and considered Premier League quality. It's Hull City, but not as we know it.
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