| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? 09:02 - May 5 with 3779 views | SaintNick |
I have just read this article below in which a Saints fans makes the brash claim that Damian Downs is our worst ever signing, I think that is a little over the top, if you take into account his actual cost etc.
Certainly as mentioned in the article, Brereton Diaz could be said to be worse and if we take transfer fees and wages into consideration then I would suggest Paul Onuachu is far worse, £18 million transfer fee and only 25 games and 4 goals and 1 assist.
I would also contest that you can only truly rate a player when he has left the club, this time last year not many would have many good words to say about James Bree, yet now he is a cult hero after returning from loan.
So who is truly our worst signing, the only rule being, that they have had to have left the club on a permanent basis
https://footballleagueworld.co |  |
| Satisfying The Bloodlust Of The Masses In Peacetime |
| |  |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 09:32 - May 5 with 2913 views | felly1 |
Onuachu started 11 games and scored 4 goals.
2 of those goals earned us 4 points in that disaster of a season and without them we'd have finished the season on 8 points.
To say he was arguably our worst ever signing is frankly ridiculous ...you do have some odd views at times.
Dont you remember Guido Carrillo ? 19m , 7 games 0 goals??
Damon Downs has been a terrible signing, 7m for a Championship striker who literally did nothing ..him and Carrilio are the two worst imo ....for their cost and performances . |  | | |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 09:53 - May 5 with 2888 views | saints__fan__73 |
Carillo. |  |
| |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 10:04 - May 5 with 2873 views | PatfromPoole |
Carillo has to be the worst when you consider what he cost.
I remember reading that the hapless fool Pellegrino had the choice of Carillo or Raul Jiminez, who I think was playing in Portugal at the time and ultimately went on to score a hatful for Wolves.
Great call, Pellegrino. |  |
| |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 10:17 - May 5 with 2840 views | ShirtNumbers |
Sulemana should be up there. Our record signing, somewhere in the region £22 million, and all we got was about 5 goals and some backflips in a dead rubber against Liverpool. Not helped by the fact that the bloke was completely talentless.
Though to be fair, they were some good backflips. |  |
| |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 10:28 - May 5 with 2790 views | UlsterBaz |
Carillo by a country mile - the epitome of panic buys.It wasn’t even hindsight ffs, everyone could see that he wasn’t what we needed. |  | | |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 11:00 - May 5 with 2767 views | Ifonly |
I agree with felly1. Onuachu was our best striker in our last PL season. He was never given a chance of performing in a team of terrible players, managed by terrible managers with terrible tactics that never played to his strengths.
Onuachu also went on to success elsewhere showing that at least part of the problem was Saints, not him. Carrillo did nothing after leaving us apart from achieving relegations and free transfers. The free transfers got his transfer value about right. He's ended up where he started at Estudiantes where he at least had one ok season in 2024. Perhaps he's one who had to feel at home.
Downs was a terrible signing but not as bad as Carrillo. But the one way that Downs was worse was that he wasn't even the type of player we needed, let alone ability. What we needed was a robust centre forward to play in the Championship (which we had with Onuachu but sold him) and yes I was saying that at the time. This was just total incompetence by Sport Republic. | | | |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 11:04 - May 5 with 2757 views | Butty101 |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 09:32 - May 5 by felly1 |
Onuachu started 11 games and scored 4 goals.
2 of those goals earned us 4 points in that disaster of a season and without them we'd have finished the season on 8 points.
To say he was arguably our worst ever signing is frankly ridiculous ...you do have some odd views at times.
Dont you remember Guido Carrillo ? 19m , 7 games 0 goals??
Damon Downs has been a terrible signing, 7m for a Championship striker who literally did nothing ..him and Carrilio are the two worst imo ....for their cost and performances . |
Spot on. Nick has never been a fan of Tall Paul, but in the relegation season he did a decent job when selected. With us getting crosses in the box he would have easily had 20 this season. |  |
| |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 11:52 - May 5 with 2703 views | DorsetIan |
I think everyone if forgetting Damian Downes' great assist to get the season off to a winning start, as reported here:
https://sbisoccer.com/2025/08/
Without his contribution and those 2 points, we'd be playing the second leg of the playoffs at Boro. |  |
| |
Login to get fewer ads
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 12:37 - May 5 with 2621 views | 1885_SFC |
We've had a few shockers at the club over the years, but if I had to pick THE worst signing I have ever witnessed... it would be Damion Downs. There is no way that lad is a professional footballer - no way. Mind you, you could fit a fag paper between him & Carillo as to who's the sh1test player to ever pull on a Saints shirt. But yeah, Damion Downs takes the accolade by a whisker. |  |
| |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 12:52 - May 5 with 2597 views | franniesTache |
Didn't we sign a player that didn't even make it through pre-season before we got shot? Can't remember his name but came with a load of hype and then literally played zero minutes.
Surely that has to take some beating?
Also Dixon and Speedie must be in with a shout, especially considering we sold shearer to buy them |  | | |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 13:08 - May 5 with 2576 views | yateleysaint |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 09:53 - May 5 by saints__fan__73 |
Carillo. |
He was the worst for me too. He never even looked like scoring (or doing anything in fact). |  |
| You cannot reason a person out of something they were not reasoned into. |
| |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 13:09 - May 5 with 2573 views | yateleysaint |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 10:17 - May 5 by ShirtNumbers |
Sulemana should be up there. Our record signing, somewhere in the region £22 million, and all we got was about 5 goals and some backflips in a dead rubber against Liverpool. Not helped by the fact that the bloke was completely talentless.
Though to be fair, they were some good backflips. |
He could do the 100m in the Olympics for Ghana but that’s about it. Zero end product. | |
| You cannot reason a person out of something they were not reasoned into. |
| |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 13:11 - May 5 with 2571 views | yateleysaint |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 12:52 - May 5 by franniesTache |
Didn't we sign a player that didn't even make it through pre-season before we got shot? Can't remember his name but came with a load of hype and then literally played zero minutes.
Surely that has to take some beating?
Also Dixon and Speedie must be in with a shout, especially considering we sold shearer to buy them |
I was going to complain about recency bias.
Dixon and Speedie were both toilet for us. | |
| You cannot reason a person out of something they were not reasoned into. |
| |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 13:12 - May 5 with 2565 views | Ifonly |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 11:52 - May 5 by DorsetIan |
I think everyone if forgetting Damian Downes' great assist to get the season off to a winning start, as reported here:
https://sbisoccer.com/2025/08/
Without his contribution and those 2 points, we'd be playing the second leg of the playoffs at Boro. |
If we'd had a proper centre forward who was fit for the first half of the season we'd certainly have picked up more points.
We hadn't won since Downs brilliant(?) assist on the opening day when we got smashed 3-1 away at Hull with Downs as CF in September. Next game, Stewart was fit enough to start and we deserved to win against top of the table Boro, drawing 1-1. Next game better still we win 2-1 away at Sheff U, Stewart scoring twice. Next game Derby away, Stewart starts again because he's our only option. We start well and are 1-0 up when Stewart pulls his hammy.
From there on our form collapses (apart from the initial Tonda bounce) and are on Tonda's bad run of form, 6 games without a win and are 2-0 down at home against Hull again when Stewart gets his first proper minutes on his return as a sub. He scores but it's not enough and we lose 2-1.
Next game, Stewart is fit enough to start and we win 1-0 to break our run of 7 without a win. From there it's onwards and upwards.
These aren't coincidences. It's not just goals. Trying to play without a centre forward affects so many things on the pitch. Tonda found a way to do it in his initial games, but then we got found out. We didn't win again until Stewart returned. Tonda is great but even he needs a centre forward! | | | |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 13:19 - May 5 with 2552 views | saintmark1976 |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 09:53 - May 5 by saints__fan__73 |
Carillo. |
Those of us with longer memories would put another contender into the mix :-
Stuart Ripley. 52 games and 1 goal. [Post edited 5 May 14:07]
| |
| |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 13:26 - May 5 with 2536 views | TimSaint |
I am not sure that he is our worst ever, but Downs must come close.
The guy is simply not a footballer. He clearly does not want to be here. He cannot head it, control it, trap it, chest it, pass it or lay it off. He doesn't put any effort in, doesn't make any runs and does not have the respect of his team mates.
At Derby away this season, he came on and players were literally not passing to him because it was him !! Every time he did get the ball he was awful, did nothing with it and soon lost possession. Finally he chested or passed it to a team mate and the ironic cheers were deafening !!
At least Ali Dia looked interested and showed enthusiasm - another 2 traits that are severely lacking from DD's game.
Over the years though, we have had some complete and utter flops, to put it mildly.
Perhaps we could create a Saints Flop XI ? |  |
| |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 13:30 - May 5 with 2531 views | grumpy |
I can go back as far as Frank Saul who was part of the deal for Spurs buying Martin Chivers.
David Speedie and Kerry Dixon replacing Alan Shearer didn't work out well.
Perry Groves didn't work out well either.
Paul Onuachu would have done all right in the Championship. |  | | |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 14:30 - May 5 with 2434 views | 1teeminants |
Delgado was pretty bad, Paul Moody was awful , Dixon & Speedie rubbish for us too but my vote also goes to Carillo. 20 million wasn’t it ?  |  |
| |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 14:53 - May 5 with 2408 views | PJK1972 |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 13:26 - May 5 by TimSaint |
I am not sure that he is our worst ever, but Downs must come close.
The guy is simply not a footballer. He clearly does not want to be here. He cannot head it, control it, trap it, chest it, pass it or lay it off. He doesn't put any effort in, doesn't make any runs and does not have the respect of his team mates.
At Derby away this season, he came on and players were literally not passing to him because it was him !! Every time he did get the ball he was awful, did nothing with it and soon lost possession. Finally he chested or passed it to a team mate and the ironic cheers were deafening !!
At least Ali Dia looked interested and showed enthusiasm - another 2 traits that are severely lacking from DD's game.
Over the years though, we have had some complete and utter flops, to put it mildly.
Perhaps we could create a Saints Flop XI ? |
Ok here goes on my all time worst 11 signings per position (not including current players, loanees, or players we picked up for free like Ali Dia)
Gazzaniga
Nielsson
Van Damme
Hoedt
Davenport
Bleidelis
Clasie
David Lee
Sulemana
Carillo
Speedie |  |
| |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 14:58 - May 5 with 2399 views | franniesTache |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 14:53 - May 5 by PJK1972 |
Ok here goes on my all time worst 11 signings per position (not including current players, loanees, or players we picked up for free like Ali Dia)
Gazzaniga
Nielsson
Van Damme
Hoedt
Davenport
Bleidelis
Clasie
David Lee
Sulemana
Carillo
Speedie |
Needs Lee Todd in there who was hands down the worst player i've ever seen, not just for saints but in general | | | |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 15:03 - May 5 with 2389 views | PJK1972 |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 14:58 - May 5 by franniesTache |
Needs Lee Todd in there who was hands down the worst player i've ever seen, not just for saints but in general |
Wasn't he in the Dave Jones era? I think he played left back if memory serves and yep he was awful. I don't think we'd have wasted as much money on him as Van Damme though. | |
| |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 15:33 - May 5 with 2322 views | Ifonly |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 12:52 - May 5 by franniesTache |
Didn't we sign a player that didn't even make it through pre-season before we got shot? Can't remember his name but came with a load of hype and then literally played zero minutes.
Surely that has to take some beating?
Also Dixon and Speedie must be in with a shout, especially considering we sold shearer to buy them |
Maybe you're thinking of Vegard Forren. Signed on a big contract and never played.
In terms of a waste of money, Danny Osvaldo probably has to be up there. £15m down the toilet I think. | | | |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 15:53 - May 5 with 2265 views | franniesTache |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 15:33 - May 5 by Ifonly |
Maybe you're thinking of Vegard Forren. Signed on a big contract and never played.
In terms of a waste of money, Danny Osvaldo probably has to be up there. £15m down the toilet I think. |
Forren that's the mush i was thinking of, complete waste of money | | | |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 16:39 - May 5 with 2204 views | sledger |
tommy forepast wasn't great even as a make weight. | | | |
| Is Damian Downs Our Worst Ever Signing ? on 17:16 - May 5 with 2171 views | cocklebreath |
Bazanu has been far worse than Damo |  |
| |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.