Which players completely changed your opinion of them?

[djchapsticks]

Similar to the potential drop off thread. Which players at your club have had you completely do a 180 on your opinion of them both for good and bad reasons? Can be on field or off field antics, just anything that has swung opinion on them completely.

For me, from good to bad, Mark Corcoran. We signed him and I thought he'd be a game changer for us after watching him at Accies. He started slowly but then exploded onto the scene in a 3-0 win in the Scottish Cup against Motherwell which remains probably the best individual St. Mirren performance I've ever seen. And that was that, from there he turned into a challenge shirking shitebag with no end product whatsoever, he was essentially a man down for the rest of his contract and made supporters very frustrated because we all had that glorious taste of what he was capable of.

The other way, swinging opinion from 'FFS this guy' to more or less undroppable is Curtis Main. The guy looked like a hollowed out, albeit very well built, shell of a footballer in his first 9 months. This time last year we were desperate to get rid. There was genuine disappointment when Lee Erwin and Kristian Dennis went at the end of the window and Main didn't follow suit. We had Stephen Robinson in the supporters bar following a match, on camera, saying he knows how to get a tune out of Main and you can see supporters on the video silently sniggering at this wild confidence from the new manager.

A year down the line and almost every St. Mirren supporter is waiting with baited breath in hopes that one of these new contracts being signed is Curtis. He has become an absolute nightmare for opposition defences to deal with and defintely has found his groove. All action, powerful displays and appears to be enjoying his football. The fans genuinely appreciate him and I've not seen a player win so many folk over since Billy Mehmet.

 

[Kyle Reese]

Stevie Fulton; First game I saw him (may have been his debut) was away vs Motherwell. He barely moved from the centre circle… not in a Pirlo ‘I don’t have to move to control a game’ fashion, either. Huffed and puffed his way through the game and did very little. Went on to become one of my favourite players of the last century.

Mikey Stewart: When he first signed I though we had pulled off an absolute coup. Turned out he was an absolute coo. Mr pointy man who blamed everyone else for his mistakes. 

Paul Hartley: I remembered the insipid and ineffective winger at Hibs, and saw he had became a fullback. Signed for us, had a slightly shaky first couple of games and then went on to become one of the best players I have seen in maroon, ever.

Lawrence Shankland: I was very sceptical about how effective he would be, as he had faltered a fair bit and there were question marks about his commitment early on at Aberdeen. What a striker. 

[The Saintee]

I thought that Ali Crawford was good.

[Ranaldo Bairn]

Maurice Johnston. 

We took him from Hearts where he'd fallen out with the manager and the whispers were of a huffy diva who had chucked it. Obviously his innate ability was well known. 

We had him for 18 months or so and he was magnificent. Linking with midfield, scoring goals and giving 100% every game. That was easy in Jefferies wonderful 94/95 team but even more impressive in the disgusting Lambie car crash the following year. 

Heroic, and he left for the States with everyone's full respect in summer 96.

[houston_bud]

58 minutes ago, djchapsticks said:

Similar to the potential drop off thread. Which players at your club have had you completely do a 180 on your opinion of them both for good and bad reasons? Can be on field or off field antics, just anything that has swung opinion on them completely.

For me, from good to bad, Mark Corcoran. We signed him and I thought he'd be a game changer for us after watching him at Accies. He started slowly but then exploded onto the scene in a 3-0 win in the Scottish Cup against Motherwell which remains probably the best individual St. Mirren performance I've ever seen. And that was that, from there he turned into a challenge shirking shitebag with no end product whatsoever, he was essentially a man down for the rest of his contract and made supporters very frustrated because we all had that glorious taste of what he was capable of.

The other way, swinging opinion from 'FFS this guy' to more or less undroppable is Curtis Main. The guy looked like a hollowed out, albeit very well built, shell of a footballer in his first 9 months. This time last year we were desperate to get rid. There was genuine disappointment when Lee Erwin and Kristian Dennis went at the end of the window and Main didn't follow suit. We had Stephen Robinson in the supporters bar following a match, on camera, saying he knows how to get a tune out of Main and you can see supporters on the video silently sniggering at this wild confidence from the new manager.

A year down the line and almost every St. Mirren supporter is waiting with baited breath in hopes that one of these new contracts being signed is Curtis. He has become an absolute nightmare for opposition defences to deal with and defintely has found his groove. All action, powerful displays and appears to be enjoying his football. The fans genuinely appreciate him and I've not seen a player win so many folk over since Billy Mehmet.

 

Think you're a bit harsh on Corcoran there. Whilst the Motherwell game remains far and away his best performance (and he did have some stinkers) I don't remember him being quite as bad as you make out.

You're spot on with Main, I'm struggling to remember such a turnaround in a player in terms of how the fans feel. 

One player I would mention is Andy Dow. I remember being delighted that we'd brought him in, seemed a good Premier league midfielder and he'd signed for us in the First Division. He was honking. 

I also thought Kyle Hutton would be a solid signing, he wasn't. Heard him speak on the open goal podcast recently and he was quite complimentary about St Mirren though when he didn't need to be. 

Andy Millen is another player I did a 180 on. I hated him when he was at other teams, thought he was a dirty b*****d. Whilst I would've been happy enough to have him in the coaching set up i wasn't expecting that we'd signed this aging, average first division journeyman to play. How wrong I was, what a terrific signing and what a great a guy as well. At 40 he must've been about the fittest player at the club, apparently did runs up the steps of the Caledonia stand after games.

[Dons_1988]

Pretty much anyone who’s gone from Aberdeen to rangers, although everyone knew Ryan jack was a c**t already. 

Considine the other way, I’d have probably gotten rid of him if I had my way in the early days, he could be heavy shite. Didn’t exactly become a superstar but a really reliable and likeable figure at the club. 

[Sergeant Wilson]

33 minutes ago, Ranaldo Bairn said:

Maurice Johnston. 

We took him from Hearts where he'd fallen out with the manager and the whispers were of a huffy diva who had chucked it. Obviously his innate ability was well known. 

We had him for 18 months or so and he was magnificent. Linking with midfield, scoring goals and giving 100% every game. That was easy in Jefferies wonderful 94/95 team but even more impressive in the disgusting Lambie car crash the following year. 

Heroic, and he left for the States with everyone's full respect in summer 96.

That's either a very poor, or brilliant, choice of words in the circumstances.

[oneteaminglasgow]

Joe Cardle. Thought he was a shite one trick pony and a p***k, but turns out he’s actually really sound and, while he does only have one trick, he’s really good at it. 

[RandomGuy.]

Stefan Scougall - Was convinced he'd be the missing link to turn us into a baller outfit. Had seen him dominate us as a youngster for Livingston and thought he was destined for the top. Just seemed unable to actually get involved and his lack of size definitely held him back, just couldn't hold onto the ball when outnumbered. On a lesser note I was convinced Willie McLaren/Gavin Swankie/Dyron Daal were all destined for success too due to how they played against us but all fell short, maybe harsh on Swankie.

Darnell Fisher the other way. He started off shit and was getting condescending cheers when he completed passes at one stage, by the end I was desperate for him to stay and hes arguably one of the best right backs we've had since Mackay. 

[Ranaldo Bairn]

8 minutes ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

That's either a very poor, or brilliant, choice of words in the circumstances.

I would love to say I had cunningly wrought such clever wordsmithery, but alas no.

[Guest]

A recent example for Livi is Jack Fitzwater. His early appearances were very unconvincing as he seemed timid and hesitant. To give an idea of how it was looking, A View from the Terrace described him at the time as "a centre back who can't header". My theory is that because he'd only really played under 23s for West Brom, he'd only experienced low intensity football. The contrast of the Scottish Premiership was probably like a whack to the face for him.

Anyway, from his second season he massively improved. He's been consistently excellent for a long time now and due to that, he'll be leaving Livi this window or next.

[Sergeant Wilson]

4 minutes ago, Ranaldo Bairn said:

I would love to say I had cunningly wrought such clever wordsmithery, but alas no.

I laughed anyway.

[Cptn Hooch]

1 hour ago, djchapsticks said:

Similar to the potential drop off thread. Which players at your club have had you completely do a 180 on your opinion of them both for good and bad reasons? Can be on field or off field antics, just anything that has swung opinion on them completely.

For me, from good to bad, Mark Corcoran. We signed him and I thought he'd be a game changer for us after watching him at Accies. He started slowly but then exploded onto the scene in a 3-0 win in the Scottish Cup against Motherwell which remains probably the best individual St. Mirren performance I've ever seen. And that was that, from there he turned into a challenge shirking shitebag with no end product whatsoever, he was essentially a man down for the rest of his contract and made supporters very frustrated because we all had that glorious taste of what he was capable of.

The other way, swinging opinion from 'FFS this guy' to more or less undroppable is Curtis Main. The guy looked like a hollowed out, albeit very well built, shell of a footballer in his first 9 months. This time last year we were desperate to get rid. There was genuine disappointment when Lee Erwin and Kristian Dennis went at the end of the window and Main didn't follow suit. We had Stephen Robinson in the supporters bar following a match, on camera, saying he knows how to get a tune out of Main and you can see supporters on the video silently sniggering at this wild confidence from the new manager.

A year down the line and almost every St. Mirren supporter is waiting with baited breath in hopes that one of these new contracts being signed is Curtis. He has become an absolute nightmare for opposition defences to deal with and defintely has found his groove. All action, powerful displays and appears to be enjoying his football. The fans genuinely appreciate him and I've not seen a player win so many folk over since Billy Mehmet.

 

I've always quite liked Curtis Main....he's a very Livi type player in that he's not the best technically but he runs his heart out and that often pays off for him

[Central Belt Caley]

In the 2011/2012 season, we were playing some horrendous football punting the ball upto a 5 foot 7 Billy Mckay and there was games where he barely got a sniff. I wasn’t overly pleased with him and would’ve preferred sticking a big lump up front in his place. 
 

Over the next 2.5 seasons anything he touched seem to end up in the back of the net. Loan spell in the relegation season which we’ll not go into as I believe he was injured for the duration and played regardless to help the team out. He’s back again in the Championship and he’s scored some important goals and I believe close to being our all time top scorer. 

[Stylish Kid]

Andrius Velicka. Looked like an absolute huddy on his debut, I came back raging about "Vlad's schemes". Turned out to be a great player for us.

 

 

In a slightly different vein, but same era - Ketsuis Ivaskevikus - looked completely light weight and was pushed in ahead of some more seasoned pros for a season. Back at Kaunas, he ran the show against Rangers

[coprolite]

Sam Cosgrove twice. 

Immobile plank to unstoppable goal machine. 

And back again. 

[Lyle Lanley]

Thought Martin Boyle was a strange signing. Now one of the best players we've had in the last 10 years. 

[Clown Job]

Fraser Forster

Looked liked he’d never played in goals before when he first arrived

Edited January 2, 2023 by Clown Job

[lubo_blaha]

Sam Cosgrove

Signed for 20k from Carlisle United with 5 clubs and 1 senior goal scorer to his name. He was sent off on his debut against Celtic. He looked like a pub player.

He eventually scored a double on his 17th appearance for us. A few games later he got sent off again at Ibrox and then went on to score 7 goals in 5 games. 

Having only scored 2 goals up until the middle of December, he ended up with 21 for the season and would’ve been equal top scorer had he not missed a penalty on the final day. He was now playing with confidence and scoring all kinds of goals.

Another exceptional year followed with 23 goals before the covid hiatus (and a customary old firm red card).

The next season wasn’t as fruitful with just 3 goals before Birmingham took him off our hands for £2million. Their manager at the time seemed to think he was a wide player. He is still to score for Birmingham but has found his feet on his third loan spell from the club with 10 goals for Plymouth since the start of September.

A total enigma of a player. Had near enough a goal every 2 games for Aberdeen and Plymouth but has scored a grand total of 4 goals in nearly 80 games for his other 8 clubs combined.

[Kyle Reese]

57 minutes ago, Stylish Kid said:

Andrius Velicka. Looked like an absolute huddy on his debut, I came back raging about "Vlad's schemes". Turned out to be a great player for us.

 

 

In a slightly different vein, but same era - Ketsuis Ivaskevikus - looked completely light weight and was pushed in ahead of some more seasoned pros for a season. Back at Kaunas, he ran the show against Rangers

Kello, Ivaskevicius and Pilibitis all on the pitch that night if I remember right. Rimkivicius who we nearly signed as well. Velicka on the losing side in Kaunas.