With the Premier League season drawing to a close, we’ve decided to apply Animaniacs‘ ‘Good Idea, Bad Idea’ formula to assess this season’s transfers and performances.
By Darragh Harkin
Back in the days of Animaniacs it wasn’t just Wakko Yakko and Dot that were making us laugh with humorous cartoon antics. There was Pinky and the Brain, The Goodfeathers and of course Hello Nurse, but my favourite was always the good idea bad idea guy.
You remember him right? His name was Mr Skull Head and he was a mute skeleton who gave you a good idea which was normal and then a bad idea linked to the first. Here’s an example of his work:
Well with the English Premier League season drawing to a close, why don’t we apply Mr Skull Head’s theories of “Good Idea Bad Idea” to this seasons transfers and their performances?
GOOD IDEA
Signing Luis Suarez from Ajax half way through the season in an attempt to bolster the creative side of your team and increase your goal scoring threat.
This young man may have seemed a bit of a gamble coming from the Dutch league, as lets face it, Mateja Kezman banged them in whilst playing in Holland too, but Suarez seems to be the real deal and could help Liverpool to a title challenge in the coming seasons.
BAD IDEA
Signing Robbie Keane on loan from Tottenham half way through the season in an attempt to bolster the creative side of your team and increase your goal scoring threat.
Poor old West Ham.
GOOD IDEA
Coughing up the cold hard cash for a proven goal scorer by spending almost £24 million on Darren Bent.
Aston Villa may have struggled in the latter half of the season but that’s more down to a crazy manager than Bent, who has always scored goals.
BAD IDEA
Coughing up over £6 million for a player than most thought might have been homeless.
Bébé has not lit up Old Trafford yet and all the signs suggest he never will. With a first touch that’s as soft as Chuck Norris’s fist it seems Bébé will find himself joining the likes of Kleberson and Eric Djemba Djemba on the list of United flops.
GOOD IDEA
Signing Cheik Tiote for only £3.5 million.
The hard working all-round midfielder has had such an impressive first season at Newcastle there is speculation of a move to Chelsea and Arsenal. He has settled in extremely well and the Toon Army faithful love him.
BAD IDEA
Signing Stephen Ireland.
GOOD IDEA
Signing Peter Odemwingie for the small price of £1m to help add a bit of quality to your squad.
BAD IDEA
Signing Paul Konchesky for a small price of around £3m to add quality to your squad.
I just hope his mum is not reading this.
GOOD IDEA
Looking for a goal scorer and deciding to take a gamble on little known Mexican Forward Javier Hernandez.
Costing between £6-7m, “The Little Pea” has proven to be a huge hit amongst the Old Trafford faithful in his first season and has even been compared to united legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Only time will tell whether Chicharito will prove as good a signing as the baby-faced Norwegian, but things are looking good so far.
BAD IDEA
Looking for a goal scorer and deciding to break transfer records on the incredibly well known Fernando Torres.
Costing around £50Million Torres has stunk up the league since his arrival and Liverpool fans have laughed all the way to the bank.
We all know he is a great player and things will turn around for him at some stage, but there is that fear of a Shevchenko-type career for El Nino at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea will have to reshape the team to accommodate this Bad Idea, which could unsettle the squad and fans alike.
GOOD IDEA
Spending the big bucks (£24m) to get the man you want by signing Yaya Toure from Barcelona because you need an all-action centre midfielder, one who can tackle, pass and who has endless amounts of energy.
Toure has performed well all season long for Man City and along with Tevez and occasionally David Silva he has been there biggest offensive threat. He is an all action, all round midfielder and a player who is well worth his price tag.
BAD IDEA
Spending the not so big bucks (4.5m) to get Christian Poulsen.
Someone who should have been a bit like Yaya, but sadly is not. He and his friend Joe Cole have plenty of years to make it up to Liverpool fans, but whether King Kenny will put up with these Bad Ideas is very unlikely.
GOOD IDEA
Using your football knowledge to your advantage and keeping the purse strings tightly closed by signing Ali Al-Habsi on loan from Bolton.
Wigan may go down this season but if they do, it will not be the fault of their Omani goalkeeper. Ali Al-Habsi has grabbed the Wigan Number 1 spot from Chris Kirkland and has performed so well that he looks set to oust the evergreen Jussi Jääskeläinen when he returns to the Reebok.
BAD IDEA
Spending a fortune on Edin Dzeko, James Milner and Mario Balotelli.
City will be in the Champions league next season but it will not be thanks to any of these three players. Milner and Dzeko may get better but Mario “I can’t put a bib on right” Balotelli will just get stranger.
GOOD IDEA
Having a team that plays free flowing football and adding a player like Rafael Van der Vaart to help you progress.
Van der Vaart has slotted seamlessly into the Spurs team this season and for the small price of £8m has been a great signing.
BAD IDEA
Having a team that play the kind of football Birmingham do and trying to slot Alexander Hleb into the team.
Poor old Mr Hleb does not like the way that Alex McLeish’s team play football saying it doesn’t suit him. Funny that, it didn’t seem to suit Obafemi Martins either.
GOOD IDEA
When you are looking to solidify your defensive unit but also want someone who can play a bit of football, then signing David Luiz is a Good Idea.
The Brazilian does not look like the finished article just yet but he is quite close to it and Chelsea will surely see his best years in the near future.
BAD IDEA
When you are looking to solidify your defensive unit but also want someone who can play a bit of football, then signing Sebastian Squillaci is a bad idea.
Arsenal fans have been crying out for a good defender and sadly Squillaci does not seem to be it.
His partner in crime Laurent Koscienly had a very dubious start to the season which could have landed him a Bad Idea tag also. But good performances in the last few months and in particular a fine game against Barcelona make him look like a prospect for the future. Squillaci on the other hand, seems to have his best years behind him.
GOOD IDEA
Bringing in experienced manager Roy Hodgson to rescue West Brom, a decent football team who were getting closer and closer to relegation.
BAD IDEA
Bringing in experienced manage Roy Hodgson to win you the League at Liverpool when you already have the ready-made manager waiting in the wings.
Poor old Roy never stood a chance with Kenny Dalglish sitting on his back, but Liverpool fans won’t mind Hodgson’s short stint in charge if Kenny brings them trophies in the coming seasons.
Darragh Harkin can be heard on Saturday mornings 8am-10am on i102-104FM and 10am-1pm on i105-107fm
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