Worst Signing Ever

[Dazzler007]

There have been some shockers, but who really was the worst signing ever?

Mine- Man Utd buying that guy Taibi

[Dr. Bob Kelso]

William Prunier..... (awaits abuse from mancs.)

[Tigermen]

William Prunier..... (awaits abuse from mancs.)

Do I remember rightly that the story was he had an absolute blinder in his first game (perhaps in a league cup match or something) prompting Fergie to start him in the next league game which was (un)coincidentally a 4-1 loss to Spurs. Think it went something like that.

[Ziss]

I know he was loaned in as he was a pal of King Eric, and he wasn't anything special. Think he scored once though :tongue:

Salif Diao springs to mind.

[Bammers05]

Igors Stepanovs

abysmal sums up his contribution to Arsenal

[dimitrivdr]

Rafael Scheidt - 5 million quid! :tongue:

http://media.rivals.net/media/jpg/2001110800411056.jpg


So farewell then Rafael
You cost several million
They must be laughing their bums off
On the Copacabana at that one

If you have tears prepare to shed them as we take a painful journey through the Celtic career of Rafael Scheidt.

December 15 1999 was the fateful day when the boy from Brazil finally put pen to paper, and caused a million guffaws at the pronunciation of his surname. His signing had been touted for many a month. Celtic contract guru Jim Hone had travelled to South America to clinch the deal that would see the Brazilian national team centre half sign up in Glasgow.

Basically things went badly wrong from minute one. He wasn't fit, on the eve of his debut he was taken to hospital with appendicitis, he collided with a team mate in training, injuring himself quite seriously in the process and by the time he was due to actually make an appearance the manager who had signed him was back in punditry purgatory.

In his first six months in Scotland he had played less than 90 minutes of first team football. Oh and there was small matter of a major scandal brewing in Brazil; apparently the national manager had been taking bungs from Brazilian league clubs to pick duds to play in meaningless friendly games, allegedly to seduce gullible European clubs into shelling out for a "Brazilian international". Sound familiar?

And here is where we come to crux of the matter; Rafael was hopeless. Speed, skill, and cunning - he lacked the lot.

Of course the alarm bells had started ringing pretty early on for most people, Barnes had calmly stated that he was spending £5.6m on the basis on a video put together by the player's agent. I'm sure most junior players could probably cobble together a video that would make them look like the next Johann Cruyff; unfortunately, that don't make it so. Then it emerged that the games the footage had been taken from had been heavy defeats of the 4 or 5 nil variety. You couldn't script this, it just beggars belief.

When O'Neill took charge he stated that he would give the Brazilian a chance, and indeed Rafael made an appearance in some pre-season friendlies and one or two of the early season League Cup games. But he never looked the part.

The fact that he was instrumental in leaking goals was bad enough, but when the opposition is of the calibre of Bray Wanderers you know your centre-back is going to struggle against the Del Pieros of the SPL. It can't do your confidence much good either when you're dropped for a friendly against the mighty Sachsen Leipzig.

There are some apocryphal stories doing the rounds about what MON said to Rafael regarding his future prospects at Celtic, but the player himself in a recent interview in the Sunday Herald admitted that the Blessed Martin told him, "I like footballers who are not like you. I like footballers who play well."

He was quietly shuffled back off to Brazil on loan, where apparently he's been a big hit, something which might say more about the current state of league football in that country than about Rafael.

So how to summarise this absolute fiasco? You couldn't say it was a nail in Barnes' coffin - he hadn't even played by the time the axe fell - but you could certainly say it has affected Barnes' future employment prospects.

Rafael himself seems unperturbed by the ridicule heaped upon him in Scotland, but I suppose you wouldn't be either if you were getting that weekly wage. When you consider that his ten appearances averages out at something in the region of half a million quid per game you begin to see the phrase "waste of money" in a completely different light.

He's gone now, we're winning trophies and we can laugh about it after a few pints. Good riddance.

[Karaoke29]

Emerson and Zebina play for Juve (Can't believe it till now). These were the worst signings ever.

[Dazzler007]

If you want, I'll do a poll

Who should be in it?

[Bammers05]

Here are some bad Arsenal signings:

Igors Stepanovs
Francis Jeffers
Junichi Inamoto
Nelson Vivas
Oleg Luzhny
Pascal Cygan
Richard Wright
Tomas Danilevicius
Gio Van Bronchorst

[ATH10]

diouf to liverpool was a bad signing

[Karaoke29]

diouf to liverpool was a bad signing

Diouf is a bad signing to any team. He is a negative player.

[Matio]

ali dia no one can beat his story

[Viperized]

Here are some bad Arsenal signings:

Igors Stepanovs
Francis Jeffers
Junichi Inamoto
Nelson Vivas
Oleg Luzhny
Pascal Cygan
Richard Wright
Tomas Danilevicius
Gio Van Bronchorst
van Bronchorst was a bad signing for us?

[Bammers05]

For 8.5million, he didn't really live up to our expectations I'd say

[Yossi]

Raymond de Waard
Fernando Derveld
Andy Hughes
Mathieu Louis-Jean
Victor Segura
Trevor Benjamin
Peter Thorne (although he scored tonight)

Quite a few more too.

[LeNitewatchman]

3 words.

Paul FUCKING Telfer

Worst signing Celtic ever made, or any team for that matter

[Hunter]

Forgot the name, but claiming he was related to George Weah. Turns out he couldn't actually play football, this was found out after he was given about 20 minutes I believe. Didn't Souness sign him ?

[Yossi]

That was Ali Dia.

[shweeny666]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=m6jWccH0_wU


lol

[GuyP]

Taibi by a mile.

[football4life]

Ah Yes, that Ali Dia was a full crock of shit, fat tinted minge who could not even pass the fucking ball. Spectacularly below level of any quality. God damn was he terrible!

[Dave!]

Rogue Junior for Leeds, lucky it was only a loan deal...

[pategato]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=m6jWccH0_wU


lol

Damn!! who's that prick?

[Viperized]

Forgot the name, but claiming he was related to George Weah. Turns out he couldn't actually play football, this was found out after he was given about 20 minutes I believe. Didn't Souness sign him ?
An imposter phoned Harry Redknapp and said he knows a top class striker as good as George Weah. Redknapp didn't believe this however Souness did.

The player was subbed on and off.

[Definitely Maybe]

None of these are the worst ever like.

[Viperized]

Damn!! who's that prick?
Taibi.

[Nedy]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=m6jWccH0_wU


lol

:laugh: :laugh: Good stuff there!

[wrigh2uk]

Jeffers

[Badgerman]

That guy who combusted on his debut upon being confronted with a brilliant paradox, better than "I am unique, like everyone else" or "I always lie".

A superdox.

[Dr. Bob Kelso]

Rogue Junior for Leeds, lucky it was only a loan deal...

Wasn't that the kid of that tart off X-Men ?

[Dr. Bob Kelso]

That guy who combusted on his debut upon being confronted with a brilliant paradox, better than "I am unique, like everyone else" or "I always lie".

A superdox.

"Hegel is arguing that the reality is merely an a priori adjunct of non-naturalistic ethics, Kant via the categorical imperative is holding that ontologically it exists only in the imagination, and Marx is claiming it was offside."

Ah Python does it get any better ? :P

"Nietzsche has just been booked for arguing with the referee. He accused Confucius of having no free will and Confucius he say name go in book."

[Badgerman]

A superdox.

Also, capitalise my username please.

Must keep up appearances now I'm 3 years and 6 months old on this site.

Also, I did enjoy that Python sketch. It's on YouTube somewhere, I do enjoy it so.

[Dr. Bob Kelso]

A superdox.

You want a superdox ok, I was merely pointing out the fun one can have with philosophic thoeries if one were so inclined to do so but here it is....

God made me an atheist, who are you to argue ?

[Charlie]

Rafael Scheidt - 5 million quid! :tongue:

http://media.rivals.net/media/jpg/2001110800411056.jpg

3 words.

Paul FUCKING Telfer

Worst signing Celtic ever made, or any team for that matter

I agree with both.

I would also like to mention Mo Camara, obvious reasons.

[Badgerman]

I keep editing my posts. I was hoping just to randomly put "A superdox"a post after the bloke after me, just for randoms, not as in a response to anything, then i edited that post and you quoted it before the edit and w/e.

So here's the edit.


Also, capitalise my username please.

Must keep up appearances now I'm 3 years and 6 months old on this site.

Also, I did enjoy that Python sketch. It's on YouTube somewhere, I do enjoy it so.

[Dr. Bob Kelso]

I defy anyone not to enjoy it. Pure comedy gold. Speaking of comedy gold did you read about the lad who stood for "several minutes" dressed as a terracotta soldier in the middle of the other terracotta soldiers and the security couldn't find him?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5355546.stm

[Badgerman]

My quoted username still isn't capitalised.

What were you doing anyway to give me a lower case b?

Eh?

[otobot]

veron, miller, kleberson, djemba-djemba (basically, anyone who was dubbed to be the "new-keane")

hopefully, carrick wont be in that list too...

[dimitrivdr]

van Bronchorst was a bad signing for us?

I was pretty surprised by his inclusion myself! Definitely not a bad buy in my memory. Left back has been well represented at Arsenal over the last years if you look at players like Sylvinho, Gio, Cole and now Gallas.

Personally, I was tempted to put in Balaban, but then I thought my anti-Club Brugge bias would shine through...

[Jasperinho]

Ivan Gabrich for Ajax... absolutely the worst signing ever in human history

[flash dan]

any player graeme souness has ever signed which include chris woods, nearly everyone he bought for liverpool, dean saunders, albert luque and of course the cream of the crop jean-alain boumsong

others worth a mention have to be veron, kleberson and djemba for man u chris sutton for chelsea and woodgate for real madrid

also who was the guy redknapp bought for west ham who was austrian or australian he saw a video of him signed him then he never or hardly ever played a game for them b4 goin mental and running off

[Papa]

Steve Marlet. I rest my case.

[ATH10]

Diouf is a bad signing to any team. He is a negative player.

no he was a good signing for bolton because generally he has done a good job for them and they got him cheap unlike liverpool who payed 10 million for him and he done fuck all

[ATH10]

For 8.5million, he didn't really live up to our expectations I'd say

not living up to expectations doesnt really qualify him to be the worst signing ever

[rkinder]

There is no one to match Ali Dia. Winstone Bogarde comes close, but in truth, Dia is a clear winner.

[bobbyb91]

wat about seba veron, 20 million squids and he did jack shit!

[Bammers05]

Having been the only person to vote on the poll yet, I think Francis Jeffers is running away with it

[Sir Rivaldo]

where is kleberson and djemba djemba???

[flash dan]

found this on he net by David hills of the observer its the top 10 worst foreign signings of all time its from 2000 though so is a bit out of date but may have to agree with brolin at number 1 so shit i forgot leeds signed him and never knew he played for palace the rest are bobins to


1 Tomas Brolin

In Euro 92, England fell to a superb goal from a hugely promising young Swedish striker. Eight years on, the scorer, now a vacuum-cleaner salesman based in Stockholm, could only reflect on a career which went grindingly wrong. Tomas Brolin at his peak was graceful, skillful and captivating. Past it, he was one of the most limited players in world football. The decline set in soon after Euro 92, but apparently went unnoticed by then Leeds boss George Graham, who paid Parma £4.5m for him in 1995. When Brolin arrived looking like Keith Chegwin's tubby twin, Graham was panic-stricken. Brolin made just 19 appearances in two years before his career collapsed amidst a series of training ground walk-outs and dietary rumours. Leeds paid out the remainder of his contract. He returned to England for a final Premiership fling at Crystal Palace in 1998, but, after 13 appearances, was deemed too fat to play, and made assistant manager to Attilio Lombardo when Steve Coppell was moved aside. Palace were instantly relegated - Brolin hasn't been seen in this country since.

2 Ali Dia

The Jeffrey Archer of Premiership imports arrived at Southampton in 1996 after convincing then-manager Graeme Souness that he was a top quality 30-year-old Senegalese striker with 13 international caps, carrying a recommendation from former Paris St Germain teammate George Weah. Plainly, he wasn't - but Souness's curiosity got the better of him. Dia was signed and brought on as a substitute against Leeds. After a superbly inept 53 minutes he was brought off again, and, 14 days after agreeing it, his contract was cancelled. 'I don't feel I have been duped in the slightest,' explained Souness afterwards. 'That's just the way the world is these days.' From Southampton, the japester joined non-league Gateshead, where he was transfer-listed in February 1997. He hasn't been heard of since.

3 Andrea Silenzi

Signed for £1.8m by Frank Clark for Nottingham Forest in 1995, 6'3" Silenzi took just seven full appearances to prove his worth. One of the first 'big name' Italian imports, Silenzi, known as 'the Big Brush', was a picture of disinterest. Earning a then-enormous £30,000 a month, his laid-back control, finishing and approach play soon had management and supporters worried. His only excess was in the length of his first touch. It took just weeks for the deal to look suspect, a month for it to look plain wrong and another to collapse. Half way through his first season, he had lost his place to Jason Lee, was loaned to Venezia, and when told to return by Dave Bassett, refused. Forest tore up his contract - meaning the whole deal, including wages and bonuses, had cost the club £2.75m. He scored twice - one against Oxford in the FA Cup and the other against Bradford in the Coca Cola cup. 'The whole business turned into a complete fiasco,' said Bassett.

4 Michele Padovano

Former Crystal Palace chairman Mark Goldberg, author of the club's recent near-death experience, signed Padovano from Juventus reserves in November 1997 for £1.7m in a typically ill-considered move. Handing the Italian an enormous contract in the hope that gratitude alone would spur him to score the goals to beat relegation, Goldberg touted his newest expensive arrival as the answer to Palace's prayers. In the event, the long-haired, out-of-condition forward scored once, appeared twelve times, and came to embody the club's failings. Utterly disinterested, Padovano never played more than two games in a row, and, after his twelfth appearance, settled contentedly into reserve team football, before leaving on a free to join Metz. He made a brief return visit earlier this year once the club had fallen into the hands of administrators to claim a reported £1m in unpaid wages.

5 Marco Boogers

Harry Redknapp wasn't always the streetwise London gaffer he is today. The arrival of 'Mad' Marco Boogers for £1m from Sparta Rotterdam in July 1995 was just one of a number of misjudged West Ham imports. Coming on as a substitute against Manchester United in only his second appearance for the club, Boogers was almost immediately red carded for 'a sickening horror tackle' (The Sun) on Gary Neville. He promptly disappeared, discovered several weeks later hiding in a mobile home in a Dutch caravan park. The Boogers debacle, which ended in a loan deal and subsequent free transfer to Groningen despite his protestations - 'I'm not mental' - was the worst of a dreadful Redknapp collection: Florin Raducioiu arrived for £2.4m in July 96 and was sold at a £600,000 loss six months later after missing training for a Harvey Nichols shopping trip; Portuguese supermodel Dani lasted five months before being thrown out for excessive nightclubbing; and £2m star Javier Margas went missing in February last year, turning up later at home in Chile. He, unlike Boogers, did come back.

6 Brian Pinas

A member of a select group of players capable of inspiring an entry in The Sun Says by the power of their name alone - Stefan Kuntz, Celta Vigo's Turdo and Sparta Prague's Milan Fukal wait their turn - Dutch winger Pinas survived 12 months in Newcastle's reserves before returning, broken, to Feyenoord. Greeted on his arrival in August 1998 by the Sun's editorial ('Pity soccer star Brian Pinas. The first time a referee takes his name he'll get sent off for using foul language'), the winger made one substitute appearance in a pre-season friendly against Birmingham before disappearing for good into reserve team football. He was sold back to Feyenoord in 1999, Newcastle making £200,000 from the deal. However, confidence shattered by a year's worth of jokes, he failed to settle, and was quickly sold on to feeder club Excelsior in the Dutch second division.

7 Marco Negri

Every week, Marco Negri, Rangers long-serving reserve team striker, earns an estimated £18,000. As, at the start of this season, he hadn't kicked a ball for Rangers in 26 months, with the exception of a brief substitute appearance against Morton in the Scottish Cup, that's almost £2m banked for no return. He arrived from Perugia for £3.5m in June 1997 under Walter Smith, scoring a phenomenal 23 goals in ten games - the best strike rate in Europe. But the warning signs were already there: Negri refused to celebrate his goals with more than a handshake, and managed to look aloof even while hitting the back of the net. He socialised only with full-back Sergio Porrini, with whom he played squash. During one of their matches, Negri was hit in the eye, and was out injured for weeks; once he recovered, his first team appearances were few and far between. Last month, now under Dick Advocaat, he played in the Rangers youth team that lost a pre-season friendly to East Fife. But with another £18,000 in the bank, he's not complaining.

8 Alberto Tarantini

Known chiefly for his haircut and temper, Alberto Tarantini was by far the least successful of England's 1970's Argentinian imports. Skilful on the ball but with no positional sense or discipline, his year at Birmingham City was fiercely unhappy - particularly given his pedigree as a World Cup winner. Whereas Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa made a positive mark at Spurs, Tarantini came and went in 23 games, with little or no footballing consequence. His career in England anded in 1987 after he waded into a home crowd for a punch up - a little publicised precursor to Eric Cantona's efforts at Selhurst Park 17 years later. At £295,000 from Boca Juniors, he was one of the first great foreign flops.

9 Stephane Guivarc'h

Stephane Guivarc'h features strongly among a convincing list of Newcastle contenders. Signed by Kenny Dalglish for £3.5m in 1998 and instantly belittled by successor Ruud Gullit, the French World Cup winner moved on to Rangers for another brief, miserable spell. He returned to Auxerre for £3.5m last summer, having collected substantial signing-on fees due to him from both clubs. 'I knew I could leave Rangers via an escape clause,' he said. 'I made sure of that after my experience at Newcastle.' Today, Guivarc'h is notable only for the interesting apostrophe between the c and h in his surname - the relic of Breton, a language once spoken by half-a-million Celts, and meaning 'swift stallion'.

10 Savo Milosevic

Yugoslavia's hero in Euro 2000 was a disaster at Aston Villa. Cleverly nicknamed 'Miss-a-lot-evic' by the tabloids, his finishing and approach play at Villa Park eventually left Brian Little, who signed him from Partizan Belgrade for £3.5m, unemployed. Villa fans failed to take to him despite 28 goals in 90 games, including the winner in the club's League Cup final victory over Leeds. The pressure became too much. After spitting flamboyantly at his own fans in Villa's 5-0 defeat to Blackburn he was put on the transfer list and sold to Real Zaragoza for £3.5m at the end of the season, where he recovered his form. Now he's off to Parma for £16m.

[ih8puppies]

Tomas Brolin - Fat Bastard

[Barry]

"Hegel is arguing that the reality is merely an a priori adjunct of non-naturalistic ethics, Kant via the categorical imperative is holding that ontologically it exists only in the imagination, and Marx is claiming it was offside."

Ah Python does it get any better ? :P

"Nietzsche has just been booked for arguing with the referee. He accused Confucius of having no free will and Confucius he say name go in book."

:laugh: Freaking brilliant.

[bbjaylive]

wat about seba veron, 20 million squids and he did jack shit!

He was being played in the wrong position so it was Fergie's fault and i do remember him scoring this amazing chip in the champions league. He wasn't a bad signing.

[kallem28]

Chris Sutton to Chelsea! Now there's a major mistake huh!? And that one guy Real Madrid signed for an enormous fee, Elvir Baljic or something like that...? Loved that all George Weah's mate thing !!! :D

[benthehornet]

pierre issa of watford.

bought him for quite a lot, paid him £25,000 a week and he was crap. When he got injured, the stretcher bearers even chucked him off to try and injure him some more.