Peter Jackson 2008

Division: League Two

Estimated Budget: Upper Mid Table

Ins: Frank Sinclair, Stefan Oakes, Rob Burch, Aaron Brown, Adrian Patulea, David Graham, Kevin Gall, Janos Kovacs

Outs: Mark Stallard, Adie Moses, Jamie Forrester, Nat Brown, Jamie Hand, Gary Croft, Alan Marriott

Rating at the time: 8/10

Rating with hindsight: 3/10

The summer of 2008 was one of the biggest disappointments of any manager having his first full window. Peter Jackson inherited John Schofield’s squad, rocked by a weak window in 2007. That had left us short, and tactically we’d been found out. Jacko came in and instantly made changes he just didn’t need to make; remember Ben Smith replacing Mazza? Madness. However, it gave Jacko half a season to assess his squad and make the necessary changes. How did he do?

Badly. He let Jamie Forrester go (arguably) a season too early and sacked off Mazza one year shy of a testimonial. Forrester scored eight the following season for Notts County, not earth-shattering, but more than David Graham and Kevin Gall scored combined. Eight more.

The one player he signed that did well, Adrian Patulea, he was constantly locked in battles with. The season promised so much, on paper the signings looked superb, but not one of them truly excelled. Janos Kovacs was a big signing, literally, and the closest we came in those doldrum years to replacing McAuley, McCombe and that type of player.

This is the perfect example of a transfer window that looks great on paper, but that didn’t cut the mustard when push came to shove.

Biggest Hit

With 11 goals in 33 matches, Adrian Patulea has to be classed as the biggest hit from this summer. Aaron Brown and Janos weren’t bad, but Patluea at least played with his heart on his sleeve. He wasn’t technically the best, and he did sometimes look to be all about himself on the field, but isn’t that what a top striker should be like? Some of my disdain for Jacko comes from the way Patluea left, even though few fans really know what happened, me included.

Biggest Flop

Take your pick! I quite liked the look of David Graham when he first signed, a former £1m striker, but in fairness, he’d come off the rails and not a lot was expected of him. The same applied to Kevin Gall; he’d been a big name, but one great season had long since past him by. Both looked decent on paper, the sort of player you think might be worth a punt, but ideally one needs to work out and neither did. I’m going to pick Stefan Oakes, because he was a good player, he had bags of ability but he showed it on far too few occasions for my liking.