The Fallen Ones

Last updated : 02 September 2005 By Keith Allman

Now that the transfer window is closed we can finally reflect on those rumours which kept us all going over the summer. How every day brought another name like a sunbeam breaking through the clouds; like a drop of dew on a rose. Or something. What the hell, here's some of the (many) names that were linked with us over the summer.

The funniest thing is that this is all I found after half an hour - god knows how many would've turned up if I had a proper look! I've tried to include some sort of vague description about each deal, why it allegedly didn't come off and so forth - but it's worth taking it all with a pinch of salt. Undoubtedly the vast majority of these were targets nowhere other than the offices of newspaper sports editors up and down the country.

A
Aloisi, John - Turned us down then begged us for a second chance - whoops
Arca, Julio - Too popular in the North East
Ashton, Dean - £7m? You can keep him thanks

B
Basinas, Angelos - A Mark Storey favourite who nearly ended up at Birmingham
Belardi, Emanuele - Goalkeeper who was sent home after a couple of days of his week trial
Benayoun, Yossi - Asked Berkovic if he should come to Pompey. It was doomed from then on
Bentley, David - Will he, won't he, will he? No, he won't
Bowyer, Lee - Seen as an escape route for him on loan, but came to nothing
Butt, Nicky - A lucky escape on our part

C
Camara, Henri - Going for his fourth successive relegation at Wigan
Cole, Carlton - Fancies his chances forcing his way into the Chelsea team
Crouch, Peter - Not sure how much this was a Milan wind-up to be honest

D
Danilevicius, Tomas - A rumour "The News" viciously stole off this site
Daerden, Koen - Highly rated young midfielder, but surplus after Viafara signed
Dellas, Traianos - Greek defender, supposedly Zajec loves him
Djorkaeff, Youri - French media had him down for a player-coach role...
Duggary, Christophe - ...and this guy too.

E
Eremenko, Aleksei - Never "Finnished" a deal for this "Finnish" striker. Boom boom
Euell, Jason - One of those rumours that wouldn't die until he dislocated his shoulder

F
FanFan, Pierre - Wasn't especially complimentary on the possibility of coming to Pompey
Figueroa, Luciano - Birmingham flop who was a possible target in mid-July
Fiorese, Fabrice - Opted for wheelbarrows full of cash in Qatar instead
Flo, Tore Andre - God knows who came up with this one. Thankfully it turned out to be wrong
Forssell, Mikael - Unlikely we ever would've got him, but we bid anyway dagnabbit
Francis, Damien - Seemed destined to sign until problems with the structure of the deal

G
Grax, Sebastian - Took the easy option by staying in France
Green, Robert - Put off by the £5m price tag, about as error-prone as Westerveld anyway

H
Hadji, Youssouf - Not THAT Hadji; this one was a very short-lived little rumour

I
Iversen, Steffen - The Norweigan press came up with this cracker. Instead we got Karadas

J
Job, Joseph-Desiré - Another of those "one day wonders" that crop up each year

K
Kaebi, Hossein - Talented Iranian youngster who was supposed to be signing
Katan, Yaniv - Big target in early summer, although failed to earn a deal
Kallstrom, Kim - Target since the days of Redknapp, but still no signature
Khizanishvili, Zura - We opted for Priske despite the loss we'll make on shirt printing
Koumas, Jason - Troubled West Brom playmaker who returned to Wales with Cardiff
Kyrgiagos, Sotirios - Wages, signing on fees and agents proved too big a problem

L
Laurenti, Fabien - I'll be honest; I have absolutely no idea when we were linked with him
Lovenkrands, Peter - Turned out to be a smokescreen for Laurent Robert
Lokvenc, Vratislav - The first player of the summer who officially turned us down
Luyindula, Pegguy - 50/50 chance of getting him on loan, but ended up staying in France

M
Marlet, Steve - The fact he's French was probably the only reason for this rumour
Miccoli, Fabrizio - The last player of the summer who officially turned us down
M'Bami, Modeste - Nope, don't remember this one either
Modesto, Francois - I'm starting to think these might be ones I just made up myself

N
Niang - Striker who was heavily linked with us and West Ham. In the end went to neither

O
Osman, Leon - Fancied Champions League football at Everton. That didn't last
Ouaddou, Abdeslam - Former Fulham defender. For the reason, see "Steve Marlet"

P
Pedretti, Benoit - I'm drawing another blank on this one sadly
Phillips, Kevin - Would've been popular after his parting shot at Southampton
Proto, Silvio - Supposed goalkeeper target, although Westerveld rendered him useless

R
Rodriguez, Julien - Tried to nick him from Rangers, failed miserably

S
Saha, Louis - Coming on loan from Man Utd to recover from his injury, apparently
Scholes, Paul - The winner of "most hilarious rumour of the summer"
Smertin, Alexei - Where would "The News" have been without this daily favourite?
Solskjaer, Ole Gunnar - On loan for the season. And then we woke up

Thatcher, Ben - A target last year and again this year for one glorious day

U
Udeze, Ifeanyi - No deal, so will still be remembered only for being subbed after 25 minutes

V
Valgaeren, Joos - Another Fratton Faithful exclusive stolen by "The News"

W
Ian Walker - "No Premiership club would be stupid enough to sign him!" Then Bolton did
Paulo Wanchope - Another smokescreen, not all fans were best pleased with the rumour
Steve Watson - West Brom took a brave gamble on this youngster

X, Y, Z

Where does all the time go eh?