There is a long history of players and managers who reside in the short stay car park of football. The most recent example of this is Scottish international defender Paul Ritchie, who moved from Glasgow Rangers to Man City after only 76 days. Ritchie saw his route into the starting line up blocked, and so left after making no first team appearances. He is not the only offender in this area because a number swift stays have been documented over the years.
In the first category, we have the journeymen footballers who cannot understand the concept of settling down. Christian Vieri has managed to play for five different clubs in five years. One-year stays at Atalanta, Juventus, Athletico Madrid, Lazio and Inter, where he is amazingly about to enter his second season, make him the ultimate nomadic footballer. Stan Collymore and Everton’s Father Christmas clone Abel Xavier, would also seem to have problems when it comes to the term ‘club loyalty’.
Then comes another category, which sees the clubs themselves instigate a players quick removal. In the summer of 1980 Clive Allen became the first £1m teenager, when Arsenal signed the 19-year-old striker from Queen’s Park Rangers in a £1.2m deal. His record of 32 league goals in 49 matches seemed to justify the high fee paid by Arsenal. Allen went on to appear in a couple of pre-season friendly games for Arsenal, but they soon realised that they had made a mistake in signing the youngster. After only 62 days Allen was swapped for Crystal Palace defender Kenny Sansom.
When George Weah calls to recommend a player to you, your first instinct is to trust his judgement. Port Vale and Gillingham did just this, and offered a Senegalese striker called Ali Dai a trial. Though, it wasn’t long before both clubs sent him packing when it became quite clear he was rubbish. An impostor claiming to be George Weah had instigated these trials, but there was one club who became completely stuck in Dia’s web of deceit. Graeme Souness, an experienced Premiership manager, gave this trickster a month’s contract off the back of Weah’s supposed recommendation. All was well until Dia made his debut as a first half substitute against Leeds. He was so poor that the substitute was himself substituted shortly afterwards, and his stay of 14 days was abruptly brought to an end by the embarrassed Souness.
Players are not the only ones who have had problems staying in one place for any length of time, some of the most outrageous examples come from managers. Dario Gardi style loyalty was the furthest thing from Steve Coppell’s mind when he took over at Man City back in October 1996. The optimism raised by Coppell’s arrival was very short-lived as only 34 days later he resigned from his post due to stress. The shortest stay ever has to go to chirpy cockney Dave Bassett, who took over at Crystal Palace in May 1984 after leading Wimbledon from the forth to the first division in just five years. Instead of leading the Eagles onto glory, Dave packed his bags and decided he’d had enough after a grand total of 5 days.
Short stay parking will be the way of the future once plans to scrap transfer fees are introduced. The only positive aspect to come out of this scenario is that you get rid of any unwanted rubbish quickly, because everyone will be on year long contracts. In conclusion, loyalty and passion for the club, an attribute all fans love to see their players and managers possess, is sadly a thing of the past.
