I sometimes think that modern day substitutions have gone a bit mad. I get that sometimes they are done purely to delay the game or derail an opposition comeback, but that’s only a small percentage of them. There’s too many substitutions available perhaps, so a lot of the time subs are just made to placate people and don’t actually change the game a great deal, in fact they can (and tactically they are) be used to deflate a game, as a negative move to suck the momentum away from the team on top.
At City we’re unsurprisingly a fairly regular offender of this modern phenomenon, and so there are more than enough examples in the recent past. On Saturday you saw both the best of substitutions (Mason Burstow, almost changing the game in our favour by scoring with his first touch) and a more familiar move where Marvin Mehlem was given 9 minutes at 3-1 down to impact a game. Fair enough Andy Dawson had been proactive in his first game back in charge and young Mason’s substitution had given us hope,but, what’s Marvin meant to do in nine minutes? I’m far from picking on the caretaker manager as far, far more examples are seen under the previous manager and at least AD’s subs were for the right reasons and to change the game.
Which made me think… who are the best and most impactful subs we’ve seen at City throughout the years? And why were they so good? The dynamic I think that’s the most important, is that they were able to change a game, perhaps add something that we didn’t have before they came on, was it height? Pace? Insanity? (ok, maybe not insanity… but you take my point). What did they add that wasn’t there before?
Writing this was perhaps not my greatest decision ever as most lads are on the bench in modern football as they just aren’t playing that well. If they come on and do good things, invariably they’re back in the first team, so I’ve settled on 3, every other name I thought of didn’t quite fit. But…I’d also appreciate some statto help on who I’ve missed… because I really have missed some… so send your hate tweets to @thelikesofhull on twitter x and/or @peterthornes.bsky.social on blue sky.
- Andy Flounders
Andy Flounders should perhaps just be put into “The boy was a larker” because the more I think about it, the more I realise that actually he was hugely underrated. He had to play second fiddle behind several other strikers and big names in the early and mid eighties, the likes of Mutrie, Whitehurst, Saville and Bunn, but he just had that knack, that marvelous knack of scoring goals.
Most strikers that were born in Hull and scored 54 goals in 126 appearances might have a statue up by now, but his name quietly goes under the radar for all but the most ardent city fanatic. I think it’s because he was neither a “big” presence, (he was moderate in stature) and he wasn’t a sexy player as such, with no silky skills or tricks. He just scored goals, and those goals mattered. Not least seen as him banging in two in the improbable “Miracle in Leytonstone” as City came back from 4-1 down to beat Leyton Orient in the promotion season of 1984-85.
He wasn’t on the bench all the time but when he was he would often make an impact as City were chasing a game down and needed more up front. After leaving City in 1987 he went on to be even more prolific for both Scunthorpe and Rochdale and his final stats of 175 goals in 408 appearances is a measure of his goal scoring presence. Underrated and impactful, are the two words that I think befit Andy Flounders most.
2. Steve Massey
Just like Andy Flounders found, the forward positions were pretty tricky to nail down in the eighties and so it proved for young Steve who like Flounders could point to a very impressive career goals to games ratio. (125 in 384). However there is where the comparison probably ends. Massey was a crowd pleaser and definitely had a trick or two in his locker, he was sometimes put into midfield or out wide by both Brian Horton and Colin Appleton, as City were trying to change the game in a second half.
As a kid (and I’ve written it before in a blog) I wanted to be Steve Massey, blond hair, good looking, tall and elegant, with feet like marauding river dancer. He was quite the sight in full flow and despite not getting regular starts during his two year stay in East Yorkshire, he definitely won over the fans and made an impact in two seasons where we chased promotion to the second level.
He went on to play well and score goals at Wrexham and Cambridge United and even managed to play European football for the former, in an era before those well annoying bumblefucks made them like a crap episode of Ted Lasso. I like many other City fans appreciated the impact Steve made for City, and felt we could have given him more chances to shine. He’s still heavily involved in football at Helston Athletic in step 4 of the non-league. Great player and a fantastic bloke.
3. Caleb Folan
Thinking about it. I think Caleb might just be the greatest sub we’ve even known at City, mainly because he epitomised the concept of impact. Injuries and suspensions seemed to have bowled him a curveball after we paid a million pounds for him from Wigan in August of 2007. He sustained a nasty injury at Blackpool early that season and he also struggled with an ankle problem.
That meant in the meantime Windass and Campbell became the dominant duo for City. This though was also fortuitous for City as Deano at 39 was not made to last much more than an hour and we had a game winner ready to go. Folan’s pace and physical strength was all a centre back needed after Dean had threatened his family for an hour and thus the system just worked.
He scored some really important goals, some of the most important ever in the club’s history at times, firstly in a start at West Brom, in the February of the promotion season it was Caleb that pushed us past the much fancied Baggies. It was Caleb’s goal that finally, truly broke Watford in the play off semi final, and meant all the nerves went, leading to us scoring two more and of course, the best one… by miles, when perma-skin head Paul Konchesky cocks up big time and who is Jonny on the spot? None other than super sub Caleb Folan and City have a historic Premier League win the in bank on week one.
Caleb, like all players with eyes, ears and the ability to speak, fell out with Phil Brown and his time at City ended a with a little bit of a whimper. However he of all players that ever played for the club understood how to make an impact off the bench and win the biggest of games.
Thanks for reading UTT.