Millwall and Nottingham Forest will always share transfer regret - West Brom laughed to the bank | OneFootball

Both Millwall and Nottingham Forest will regret the signing of Scott Dobie as he didn't live up to the price tag

Millwall's £750,000 investment in Scottish striker Scott Dobie from West Brom quickly turned sour for the Lions - Nottingham Forest made the same mistake.

For West Brom, they can look back fondly on the £750,000 sale of Scott Dobie to Millwall in November 2004, as the deal saw the Baggies gain a nice profit.

But for Millwall, and subsequently Nottingham Forest, the next stage of his career didn't pan out the way both clubs would've hoped, and as a result, endured years of frustration due to the striker’s lack of impact.

Dobie arrived at The Den with plenty of optimism and expectation as his three-year stay at the Hawthorns in the early 2000s was successful on a personal note as he scored 22 goals in 110 appearances.

His signing was initially viewed as a smart, value-for-money signing for Millwall, who were a side searching for consistency in the Championship.

But after only 16 appearances and three goals to his name in his one and only season with the Lions, what was expected from him didn't come to fruition, and his time in Southeast London came to a premature end.

What followed for Dobie in the next few years of his career in the Midlands was equally disappointing after making the move to Nottingham Forest.

Scott Dobie's Millwall days were short, and by no means sweet

Dobie’s arrival at Millwall for a sizeable £750,000 fee looked to be a shrewd piece of business on the face of it, as the Lions looked to bring in attacking reinforcements to inject energy and a goal threat into their front line.

Having shown promise at West Brom and possessing the physical profile of a traditional centre-forward, he seemed to be a smart addition for a Millwall side on the up.

However, Dobie never fully settled, as reflected by merely playing 16 times in a Millwall shirt.

Despite scoring three times with game time being sparse, the confidence and reliability needed in front of goal to become a regular on the teamsheet never materialised for Dobie.

At the time, Millwall were planning for a stable long-term attacking setup but, after failing to hit the ground running in his four months with the Lions, they decided to cut their losses by agreeing to a deal with Nottingham Forest for Dobie, for a lesser fee than what they bought him for: £525,000.

It goes down as a notable financial loss, and the decision to sell the Scotsman, even after such a short spell at the club, highlighted the frustrations surrounding his time with the Lions.

Upon singing for Millwall, they had hoped he would be their main talisman, but instead, his brief time for them was clouded and defined by inconsistency and injuries.

Ultimately, it was the wrong step in Dobie's career at that period, but for West Brom, they would end up being the big winners of the sale to Millwall.

Scott Dobie hoped for a career revival at Nottingham Forest after Millwall stint - he didn't fare much better there

Nottingham Forest believed they could revitalise Dobie’s career only a few months after signing for Millwall, and saw the striker as a potential bargain at a reduced fee of 525k.

The thought of a new environment was expected to bring out the best in him, but his time with Forest mimicked that of his time with the Lions.

Much like his short-lived spell in Southeast London, Dobie was hit with a lack of rhythm, limited output in front of goal, and was unable to secure a run of form for his new club.

Across his three years at the City Ground, the forward managed only four goals in 47 appearances, which, again, fell well short of what was expected of him.

Given the growing pressure on Forest both financially and competitively in the mid-2000s, they certainly didn't want to make the same mistake as Dobie's transfer was an indicator that their recruitment strategy needed to change.

Despite sticking at it throughout his difficult time with Forest, his numbers were impossible to ignore.

By the time January 2008 arrived, both Dobie and Forest knew a change was needed and, as a result, he signed for Carlisle for a small fee.

Ultimately, the transfer saga of Scott Dobie ever since departing the Hawthorns has gone down as one of the more forgettable transfer sequences for both Millwall and Nottingham Forest.

However, for West Brom, who moved the Scotsman on at a healthy fee, the deal proved to be nothing short of excellent business as they received the best of his services, on the pitch and in a financial sense.