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With the David Goodwillie saga in the Scottish transfer window about his move to Rangers (which eventually failed) it came to mind that in recent years, there have been a few transfers that had they went through, they would have changed the fortunes of the different parties involved for several different reasons.
Some transfers failed due to the club, some due to the player, and some were just plain nuts.
Now I’ve said that, you want to know about these transfers don’t you? Well, you’re in luck!
Johan Cruyff to Dumbarton, 1982
Yes, you read that right. Dumbarton’s stadium at the time was called Boghead. Rather fitting, I assure you. Anyway, Dumbarton at the time decided they needed to boost the club’s image as they were doing… something.
The obvious port of call? Amsterdam. Manager Sean Fallon was sent to Holland to speak to Johan Cruyff in an audacious attempt to convince him to move to the West of Scotland. His legendary quote at the time:
“Having spoken to the boy Cruyff, he says he’ll get back to us.”
As far as I know, Dumbarton are still awaiting the call. Cruyff is said to have politely listened to the pitch before Fallon left. Rumours that he muttered the Dutch equivalent of ‘fuck off’ under his breath as the door closed are unfounded.
Thierry Henry & Robert Pires to Aberdeen
This one is short and sweet. Their ages at the time have never been able to be 100% confirmed, but most reports suggest when Thierry was 15 and Pires was 18 years old, they were offered a trial at Aberdeen. Both young and desperate to start their careers, they naturally accepted the offer.
Aberdeen are alleged to have told both players they would never make it in the game, but what is known as fact is Aberdeen did knock back Henry and Pires for their own reasons.
Oops.
David Murray to Ayr United, 1988
Ok, not actually a footballer, but it’s my article and I’m counting a change of club ownership as a transfer!
A local businessman, David Murray placed a bid in 1988 to buy Ayr United the club he supported as a boy. The matter went to a board vote, who rejected his bid by a score of 60 to 56.
He was determined to buy a football club however, and after his rejection by The Honest Men, he decided to chance his luck elsewhere. What club did he buy for £6 million?
Glasgow Rangers.
Over a 23 year period, he transformed the fortunes of the blue half of Glasgow and invested a huge amount of his own personal fortune into the club. And to think Ayr, it could have been you…
Ronaldinho to St.Mirren, 2001
Yes, Ronaldinho. You know, the fat, buck-toothed, curly headed Brazilian superstar?
Yep, THAT Ronaldinho.
He had already agreed to move to PSG in the summer of 2001, but he was looking for a short term move to Europe in January that year to help him acclimatise to the European game. Quite how he thought a move to Scotland would be similar to playing the likes of Lyon and Monaco is anyone’s guess.
The loan deal was ready to go through until Ronaldinho became embroiled in an off-field legal scandal (said to be to do with fake passports) and the Brazilian FA refused to let go of his registration. Alas, the move to Paisley was not to be, and he has never truly gotten over the heartbreak of missing out on being in the same team as Barry Lavety.
Mario Jardel to Rangers, 1996,1997,2001 and 2003
That’s right, Jardel could have signed for Rangers FOUR times in nine years. The mess that played for Bolton was unrecognisable to the player who had terrorised European defences for years, and he could have been terrorising Scottish defences as well!
In 1996, he had agreed a move from Gremio, had met his new team-mates and fans, and was ready to move to Scotland. Only setback? He failed in his application to receive a Portuguese passport and as a bizarre SFA ruling regarding non-EU players meant the Scottish quota of them had been filled up, the transfer was off and he went to Porto.
In 1997, Jardel was still desperate on a move to Ibrox, and had since got the Portugese passport. In a rare move of idiocy, Walter Smith chose Marco Negri over Jardel. While Negri was a superstar for six months, he got injured playing squash at Christmas 1997 and was rarely seen again.
2001 came, and Mario was offered to Rangers for £12 million. They baulked at the price tag and instead chose to sign Tore Andre Flo for the same money. Twats.
In 2003, Rangers could not raise the £2 million required to sign him from Sporting Lisbon and he went to Bolton instead. On this occasion however, this was a good thing, as he was shit.
Diego Maradona to Clyde, 2003
Ok, not El Diego. His son Diego Maradona Junior however was however offered to Cumbernauld minnows Clyde in 2003.
The 16 year old was a product of Napoli’s youth system at the time and certainly had his dad’s talent, having being capped for the Italian under 17’s team as a 14 year old.
Clyde manager at the time Alan Kernaghan stated:
“I took a phone call out of the blue last week from a TV company acting on behalf of Napoli about the possibility of Diego Maradona’s son coming to Clyde.”“At the moment, he’s too young to play for the first team there and they want to put him out on loan next season. They said they can’t really put him on loan to another Italian club because there would be too much pressure on him with the media there.”“I haven’t really had the chance to look into it because we’re fighting for promotion but it is definitely something we will check out in the summer.”
The move never materialised however, and the last his name was mentioned was playing beach soccer as well as playing in the Italian amateur leagues.
John Hartson to Rangers, 2000
In August 2000, John Hartson was on a fantastic run of form at Wimbledon (now MK Dons) which led to him being linked with a move to Ibrox.
A fee was agreed, as was a contract, but after the results of his medical, the Ibrox ‘experts’ said his fitness would be too much of a risk to make it worth their while going through with the transfer. Hartson was disappointed the transfer didn’t go through but vowed to get his head down and prove himself.
This led to a move to Parkhead and to Celtic in August 2001, where over the next five years he played in 146 league games and scored 89 league goals, as well as winning several trophies and making it to the UEFA Cup final.
Not bad for someone who was unfit.
