Quote: phillgee "he might not have been worth the money but he was useful and IIRC a lot on here would have offered him a new deal when his contract was up.
I'm not saying the whole signing wasn't a mistake, it was. It was wrong to sign him when he had other obligations and it was wrong to offer so much for him, upsetting other senior players in the process. Technically he wasn't available to sign but we signed him anyway. IF we had got Leeds consent and offered him a more realistic package, that would have been great. Expectations would have been lower as a supporter and the club would have pulled off the deal of the century had he performed to exceptional levels. As it was performances were useful, not exceptional. The club has paid in more ways than one for the signing.
I don't think getting Harris to play for the Bulls was a mistake, the stupidty surrounding it was.'"
My disagreement was with whether, as you put it, he was a good player for us.
Had he been on a "more realistic package" and had he not come with the massive baggage that not having "Leeds' consent" brought, then maybe we would then have judged his performances for us as "good"? "Good" is, after all, seen by most fans as being relative to the player's preceived stature, ability and cost? But he was not on a more realistic package, and we did not secure Leeds' consent, and so - relative to his perceived stature, ability and cost -I personally do NOT think he proved a good player for us. Again, for whatever reasons (which in fairness may have included other players not responding to him and the external pressures he was under) in many games he disappointed, surely? And in those games where he performed well - and there was a run when he was regularly picking up MOM - that was after all only the level of expectation we had anyway?
I would not have re-signed him - I think by then he was attracting too much of the blame that should have been laid first at Caisley's door, and had not won the fans over. I do not think it would have been a popular re-signing at the time, tbh. But that is my opinion. And its anyway all "might have beens", and we could hardly have been much worse than we became after he went?