Who's our Ali Dia?

[Jack Torrance]

Somebody shared this story from 2016, on my Facetube this week, about the infamous Ali Dia. Great story which I vaguely remember at the time.

 

It got me wondering who were our Ali Dias? Who have we signed or had on trial that went to a training session and raised doubts from the rest of the squad; there must've been a few...

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/nov/22/ali-dia-story-20-years-on-southampton-souness?fbclid=IwAR2rBQRggzQYA1bRkSyKFtJAiyXlC5ICl5VlUo7MrcJChOjuAIiU7BdHU-s

[frankblack]

Probably Mo Berthe except Mo Berthe did have previous clubs.

[tian447]

Juwon Oshaniwa.

I'm not sure who we ended up with, but it was not the same Oshaniwa who won the African Cup of Nations, and played in the World Cup with Nigeria.

[Le Chat]

Husref Musemic.

 

Apparently his brother was the real player and we signed the wrong guy.

[Lone Striker]

29 minutes ago, tian447 said:

Juwon Oshaniwa.

I'm not sure who we ended up with, but it was not the same Oshaniwa who won the African Cup of Nations, and played in the World Cup with Nigeria.

These Nigerians have a habit of impersonating other Nigerians as part of a scam, so you could have a point.

 

I'll vote for Fernando Screpis  (quite an alliterative and appropriate surname, n'est pas ?)

 

 

[Lone Striker]

3 minutes ago, Le Chat said:

Husref Musemic.

 

Apparently his brother was the real player and we signed the wrong guy.

Got a winner against the vermin, so not bad going for the "wrong guy". 😉

[Le Chat]

3 minutes ago, Lone Striker said:

Got a winner against the vermin, so not bad going for the "wrong guy". 😉

 

Absolutely.

 

Worth every penny.

[Jambo92]

Tremendous story. For us more recently I would throw Kenny Anderson in their, sounds like a plumber and played like a plumber. 

[JamboAndrew]

42 minutes ago, tian447 said:

Juwon Oshaniwa.

I'm not sure who we ended up with, but it was not the same Oshaniwa who won the African Cup of Nations, and played in the World Cup with Nigeria.

First name that came to mind

[JamboAndrew]

There was some guy who's name popped up here. People got excited. Had some reserve team games and then disappeared. Can't remember his name for the life of me. If I saw his name I'd remember. A striker. Not the French guy from Albion Rovers.  A year or so before I think.

 

Curses this age thing and what it does to memory.

[Lone Striker]

6 minutes ago, JamboAndrew said:

There was some guy who's name popped up here. People got excited. Had some reserve team games and then disappeared. Can't remember his name for the life of me. If I saw his name I'd remember. A striker. Not the French guy from Albion Rovers.  A year or so before I think.

 

Curses this age thing and what it does to memory.

Russell McLean ?

[biffa12]

David Witteveen - worth a shout- a man of many clubs and very few goals 

[JamboAl]

10 minutes ago, JamboAndrew said:

There was some guy who's name popped up here. People got excited. Had some reserve team games and then disappeared. Can't remember his name for the life of me. If I saw his name I'd remember. A striker. Not the French guy from Albion Rovers.  A year or so before I think.

 

Curses this age thing and what it does to memory.

Was he a young, well built, black lad?

His name eludes me too.

[Carl Fredrickson]

Not quite along the Ali Dia line but I mind in the pre-internet days which for me was the 90s taking a half day from work to go to a reserve derby at fester road. IIRC @Shaggy2 joined me as we wanted to scout a French Man Utd centre half who we had on trial. Cant mind his name, big tall bald guy with bulging eyes, like something from the Addams Family. Awful player who thankfully we didnt sign but I wasted a half day. 

 

I was at Dundee for the Mo Bertha game and his physic was impressive - until you asked him to run or put a ball near him. 

[Carl Fredrickson]

12 minutes ago, JamboAndrew said:

There was some guy who's name popped up here. People got excited. Had some reserve team games and then disappeared. Can't remember his name for the life of me. If I saw his name I'd remember. A striker. Not the French guy from Albion Rovers.  A year or so before I think.

 

Curses this age thing and what it does to memory.

 Was it Toto or something similar? I can think of two - one who we got from Stirling Albion and joined us as an amateur and then got a contract before being released. The other guy played a number of preseason games and scored a few - think he played v Dunbar Utd but we didnt follow up our interest. 

[The Apprentice]

22 minutes ago, JamboAndrew said:

There was some guy who's name popped up here. People got excited. Had some reserve team games and then disappeared. Can't remember his name for the life of me. If I saw his name I'd remember. A striker. Not the French guy from Albion Rovers.  A year or so before I think.

 

Curses this age thing and what it does to memory.

Jonathan Toto?

[Hectormasson]

39 minutes ago, Le Chat said:

Husref Musemic.

 

Apparently his brother was the real player and we signed the wrong guy.

Still OK 

He was ...

[graham]

53 minutes ago, JamboAndrew said:

There was some guy who's name popped up here. People got excited. Had some reserve team games and then disappeared. Can't remember his name for the life of me. If I saw his name I'd remember. A striker. Not the French guy from Albion Rovers.  A year or so before I think.

 

Curses this age thing and what it does to memory.

Bikey?

[DS98]

Maulary Martin. 
 

Played for Monaco. France u21 captain. Set piece specialist. 
 

Still convinced it was his wee brother or something.

[AlimOzturk]

Connor Sammon.

I remember him playing again us and dominating our defence. Genuinely excited when we signed him Convinced we got his twin because he was utter shite. 
 

John Sutton. Once again reputation of grabbing goals but once he came here was completely shite. 
 

Boyce seems to be on the same track. Hope he turns it round. 

[JamboAndrew]

2 hours ago, Lone Striker said:

Russell McLean ?

 

Nope. Its on the tip of my tongue. Not overly tall, a bit stocky black striker. 

[JamboAndrew]

2 hours ago, JamboAl said:

Was he a young, well built, black lad?

His name eludes me too.

That's the one I think

[JamboAndrew]

2 hours ago, Carl Fredrickson said:

 Was it Toto or something similar? I can think of two - one who we got from Stirling Albion and joined us as an amateur and then got a contract before being released. The other guy played a number of preseason games and scored a few - think he played v Dunbar Utd but we didnt follow up our interest. 

 

Toto. Thats the one. Whatever happened to him?

[JamboAndrew]

1 hour ago, The Apprentice said:

Jonathan Toto?

Thats the man

[JamboAndrew]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Toto 

[tcjambo]

Dodged a diddy there

[Lone Striker]

8 minutes ago, JamboAndrew said:

 

Toto. Thats the one. Whatever happened to him?

Last heard of playing drums in his Dad's band.  😜

 

[karipidis]

2 hours ago, Carl Fredrickson said:

Not quite along the Ali Dia line but I mind in the pre-internet days which for me was the 90s taking a half day from work to go to a reserve derby at fester road. IIRC @Shaggy2 joined me as we wanted to scout a French Man Utd centre half who we had on trial. Cant mind his name, big tall bald guy with bulging eyes, like something from the Addams Family. Awful player who thankfully we didnt sign but I wasted a half day. 

 

I was at Dundee for the Mo Bertha game and his physic was impressive - until you asked him to run or put a ball near him. 

William Prunier was his name. Played 2 games for Man Utd. Looked a bit like Jaap Stam but certainly didn't play like him. 

[Carl Fredrickson]

30 minutes ago, karipidis said:

William Prunier was his name. Played 2 games for Man Utd. Looked a bit like Jaap Stam but certainly didn't play like him. 

 

Thats the guy. Awful player

[Locky]

Jonathan Toto is the one I thought of right away. Summer 2010, he joined up with us on our training camp in Italy I'm sure. Looking at his Wikipedia, it would appear he had been at an Italian club before that, so it would make sense.

 

Remember him playing in a friendly at Tynie against, I think, Blackburn Rovers. Big, well built lad, but had a quiet game. Not awful, just quiet. Can't remember a lot of him after that as we couldn't sign him. Couldn't recall why, but it seems his contract might've still been protected by his previous club Legnano, but as they were wound up, it seemed there was complications.

 

He went to Morton on a short term deal, which I believe was on amateur terms, as he couldn't enter into a contract, and at the time, I don't think we could sign amateur players. Or we could, but couldn't loan out, so it made sense to let him go elsewhere for experience, and if he impressed, we take him back. As fate would have it, we never did.

 

A glittering career in the Singaporean league followed by an unsuccessful spell in 2013 with a Greek 2nd tier club. Seems as though he's drifted off the face of the earth since then.

[sadj]

1 hour ago, JamboAndrew said:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Toto 

Going by that and some peoples comments on here JJ must have been impersonated by Levein during that time 😝

[sadj]

1 hour ago, karipidis said:

William Prunier was his name. Played 2 games for Man Utd. Looked a bit like Jaap Stam but certainly didn't play like him. 

Oooft now theres a name 🤣🤣

[weegranty]

1 hour ago, karipidis said:

William Prunier was his name. Played 2 games for Man Utd. Looked a bit like Jaap Stam but certainly didn't play like him. 

William Prunier
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William Prunier (born 14 August 1967) is a French former footballer who played as a centre-back position. He was most recently the manager of Canet Roussillon.[1][2]

William Prunier
Personal information
Full name
William Prunier
Date of birth
14 August 1967 (age 53)
Place of birth
Montreuil, France
Height
1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position(s)
Defender
Youth career
Auxerre
Senior career*
Years
Team
Apps
(Gls)
1984–1993
Auxerre
221
(21)
1993–1994
Marseille
35
(4)
1994–1996
Bordeaux
37
(0)
1995–1996
→ Manchester United (trial)
2
(0)
1996
→ Copenhagen (loan)
11
(0)
1996–1997
Montpellier
27
(0)
1997–1998
Napoli
3
(0)
1998
Hearts
0
(0)
1998–1999
Kortrijk
14
(3)
1999–2004
Toulouse
142
(5)
2004
Al-Siliya
Total
492
(33)
National team
1992
France
1
(0)
Teams managed
2010–2011
Cugnaux
2011–2014
Colomiers
2014
GS Consolat
2017–2018
Toulon
2018–2020
Canet Roussillon
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only
Prunier spent most of his playing days in France, primarily with Auxerre where he spent nine years, but also played for clubs in England, Denmark, Scotland, Italy, Belgium and Qatar, where he finished his career. He also represented France, gaining his only cap in 1992.

Career    
Honours    
References

[Gordon7co]

I think Musemic's brother was a joke at the time. May have thought we were signing the Red Star centre forward who replaced him  Darko Pancev.

[Tommy Brown]

I wasn't at Dumbarton the day Genero Zeefuik made his debut.

There must have been a few open mouths and FFS mumbles when he appeared on the pitch.

Thankfully he wasn't an Ali Dia and will be fondly remembered by us all.

[Cruyff]

Willi Ouefio

 

[JamboAl]

4 hours ago, The Apprentice said:

Jonathan Toto?

That's precisely who I was thinking of.

[upgotheheads]

4 hours ago, Jambo92 said:

Tremendous story. For us more recently I would throw Kenny Anderson in their, sounds like a plumber and played like a plumber. 

 

He's still playing at a professional level so a proper footballer to be fair.

[weegranty]

20 minutes ago, Cruyff said:

Willi Ouefio

 

That's the player I was trying to remember.

[William H. Bonney]

Hans Eskilsson. 

[Shaggy2]

6 hours ago, Carl Fredrickson said:

Not quite along the Ali Dia line but I mind in the pre-internet days which for me was the 90s taking a half day from work to go to a reserve derby at fester road. IIRC @Shaggy2 joined me as we wanted to scout a French Man Utd centre half who we had on trial. Cant mind his name, big tall bald guy with bulging eyes, like something from the Addams Family. Awful player who thankfully we didnt sign but I wasted a half day. 

 

I was at Dundee for the Mo Bertha game and his physic was impressive - until you asked him to run or put a ball near him. 

Wow, we did some crazy things back then! 

I wouldn’t have remembered his name if I lived to be 100. 😂

[Carl Fredrickson]

3 minutes ago, Shaggy2 said:

Wow, we did some crazy things back then! 

I wouldn’t have remembered his name if I lived to be 100. 😂

 

He made a similar impression on me. Evening News had a big right up about him before the game. Strangely quiet after it. 

[Fitzroy Pointon]

I remember FIFA 99 or 2000 had Prunier in the Hearts team . I remember playing my mate and setting my team up, seen his name and thought who the **** is this guy? 

 

Decent pedigree by the looks of it. 

 

[karipidis]

2 hours ago, Cruyff said:

Willi Ouefio

 

I’m sure he started a game against Celtic. Didn’t make many appearances after. 

[bajthejambo]

Does Vanecek count?

[Carl Fredrickson]

5 minutes ago, karipidis said:

I’m sure he started a game against Celtic. Didn’t make many appearances after. 

 

I could be wrong but I thought his game was away to Motherwell when we fielded a young team and got humped 6-0. We wanted the game called off due to illness or injuries but were told to play it. 

[cosanostra]

9 minutes ago, karipidis said:

I’m sure he started a game against Celtic. Didn’t make many appearances after. 

 

He started a game v Rangers at Ibrox i think. Sure it was a night game and maybe first game of the season.

[Finlay James]

Andy Watson - He must have had photos of every manager that he had.

[Batistuta87]

Vanecek or Klemek

Edited November 26, 2020 by Batistuta87

[Dagger Is Back]

6 hours ago, AlimOzturk said:

Connor Sammon.

I remember him playing again us and dominating our defence. Genuinely excited when we signed him Convinced we got his twin because he was utter shite. 
 

John Sutton. Once again reputation of grabbing goals but once he came here was completely shite. 
 

Boyce seems to be on the same track. Hope he turns it round. 

 

Strange that isn't it? Three players all of whom caused us and plenty of other defences all kinds of problems. We sign them and they're rotten, Boyce excepted because I still think he can be a big player for us.

 

I've said it before but players like Sammon and Sutton were penalty box players benefitting from wingers who got to the bye line. IMO we ruin decent players by not playing to their strengths. We've struggled to find wingers wo love taking on a man and getting to the bye line