which could be said for all of the welsh players we signed in the 80s and 90s. A couple have been mentioned on here such as Stuart Evans but I would also include Clive griffiths who we paid £25k for and was pretty useless.

Totally made up story!
Seeing as Tanner didn't even play at the same club as Mark Preston.
Wigan signed him from Grasshoppers as you say, but we signed Tanner from Fylde RU.
Makes me laugh that people actually believe these stories about us signing the wrong players by mistake.

Well I think Scully bought that line as he put it in his autobiography.

whoah there cowboy, i'll raise you Mr Scott Gibbs

I'd be astonished if it was true.

Ok I will remove Gibbs from the list of lousy trogs, he was one that worked out reasonably well, but in a tit for tat retaliation will throw roger Owen into the bag of useless welch gets.

Josh Perry is without a doubt the biggest ever flop that you have signed from overseas,he won't have come cheap either
He's spent more time on the sidelines than some of your season ticket holders

Hence why I said "The story's probably BS"

Shocking thread - x factorish.

Mike Carrington and Darrell Trindall stand out for me. I think I've done more on the pitch for Saints over the course of my career than Carrington ever did. The fact that Hanley thought that Tommy God needed to be replaced with Tricky shows how much we lucked out winning the GF with him as coach too. Throw in Andy Dannatt (came with a big reputation and probably big money to replace the legend that was Wardie and stunk out the joint) if you want a forward too.

The people listing Stuart Evans (devastating in spells when he was occasionally fit) and Perry (give the guy a bloody chance!) are well out of order frankly.

a doodle

Tanner was unspectacular - but he was not mediocre. Tanner's problem was pace - or lack thereof. Which presents certain challenges when you're occupying a wing berth in a post-Offiah era where clubs are falling over themselves to acquire the (often dubious) talents of RU speedsters.

It's difficult to accurately express the sense of utter hopelessness one felt scanning the teamsheet at martial bearpits such as Craven Park or Thrum Hall, where you knew Saints needed plenty of quick points on the board in order to demoralise the local pack of mountain trolls, only to discover your right centre/wing combo is Mark this-ball-is-mine-and-I'll-be-damned-before-I-pass-it-to-anyone Bailey and David Tanner.

That said, Murphy loved Tanner - and not without some justification. He was reliable and made very, very few mistakes (handling, positional play etc). He was an outstanding tackler. Indeed, outside of Gary Connolly and Scott Gibbs I don't think I've seen a better defensive back in a Saints shirt (he absolutely pole-axed Karl Harrison and left him on a stretcher with nothing more than an orthodox front-on tackle). He offered a lot of utility and in an injury crisis could occupy (albeit slooowly) any spot from one to six. Finally, he could kick goals.

Look, by no stretch of the imagination was Tanner a runaway success. But when you take into account the number of games he played, his versatility and the paltry sums it took to sign and retain him I'd argue he was pretty good value for money.