What’s the craziest decision your club has ever made?

[Derry Alli]

9 hours ago, Thumper said:

You turned Riyad Mahrez down in the last decade for f**k's sake.

Mahrez openly admits he stole a pushbike to escape Paisley. 

[Mr.Blue]

Where do us Morton fans start .

[Specky Ginger]

12 hours ago, pub car king said:

 

This, we win this thing end of. No other club has done anything so utterly fucking reckless in living memory.  

Absolutely. 

The very fact appointing Gary Locke then loaning Vaughan to Dumbarton doesn't register as the most stupid thing we've done tells you everything. 

Edited August 11, 2021 by Specky Ginger

[Fuctifano]

10 hours ago, Cardle is Magic said:

I haven’t heard this story before? He signed the wrong player?

Thistle allegedly did this under John Lambie, though the story didn't come out until many years later so I'm not sure whether it's true.

The story goes that in the early 90s when it was still reserve teams rather than under 21s/23s Lambie watched Aberdeen reserves a couple of times and wanted to sign Andy Roddie. He delegated the signing to the board but instead gave the name Andy Gibson who was also on the books at Pittodrie. The latter had a decent scoring record at reserve level so the board didn't question it but we paid about £50k for him. Despite being a striker / winger, he didn't score for 11 months after he joined the club, with his first goal coming against Aberdeen (obviously).

Lambie did sign Roddie for us 8 years later after he'd been round about a dozen clubs.

The demolishing the terracing without planning permission still wins it for me though.

Edited August 11, 2021 by Fuctifano

[btb]

Re Alex Ferguson, if we go back in time to 78 Celtic had demoted Jock Stein and replaced him with Billy McNeill from Aberdeen who wanted Fergie as a replacement, we refused and the relationship between him and our then chairman Willie Todd went downhill quickly from there with Fergie being sacked for gross misconduct and then surprise, surprise being hired by Aberdeen a coupla days later. Fergie took us to an industrial tribunal but lost it famously being described as having "no managerial ability".

We  sacked him because he wanted to leave and decided to force the issue, not because we didn't realize he was a great manager. One way or another he was going and we'd have been better taking whatever compo was  available from Aberdeen. the real pity is that relations between Fergie & the club were soured for years and never really recovered.

*****************************

Worst decision - hiring a barely interested David Hay in the summer of 91 who was gone before the season ended and relegation an inevitability.

Edited August 11, 2021 by btb

[RRFC2711]

Found this clearing out cupboards….any bids ?

[TheScarf]

11 hours ago, Highland Capital said:

Going into the final game of the 08-09 season and going into the final game against Falkirk, needing only a point to stay up and Butcher decided to leave one of the club's best ever keepers Ryan Esson on the bench due to a training ground bust up and starting the mediocre Michael Fraser in goal despite him signing a pre-contract with Motherwell.  This would be bad enough but in defence Butcher opted for the right-back Ross Tokely at centre-back and the centre-back at Pavels Mihadjuks at right back for reasons completely unknown.

We got beat 1-0.  Tokely got sent off and we went down.

You reckon that was worse than appointing Richie Foran?

[Scary Bear]

24 minutes ago, RRFC2711 said:

Found this clearing out cupboards….any bids ?

If you have their bank details too, then I’m interested.

[Highland Capital]

9 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

You reckon that was worse than appointing Richie Foran?

In some ways.  We were relegated in 2009 in large part by Butcher's ego and a bizarre line-up.  Granted he put it right the following season, but that was helped (at least in part) by Dundee collapsing.  

Appointing players as manager was kind of in-vogue around that time.  Accies had done it twice with Alex Neil and Martin Canning.  The worst decision wasn't so much appointing Foran, it was not punting him around January 2017 when it truly became clear that he was absolutely clueless.

If we're talking *bad* decisions, not punting Foran is there, but the title says 'craziest' decision.  I think going into a relegation decider with a bizarre defensive line-up in-front of a mediocre-at-best and imminently-leaving goalkeeper was probably *crazier*.

[TheScarf]

10 minutes ago, Highland Capital said:

In some ways.  We were relegated in 2009 in large part by Butcher's ego and a bizarre line-up.  Granted he put it right the following season, but that was helped (at least in part) by Dundee collapsing.  

Appointing players as manager was kind of in-vogue around that time.  Accies had done it twice with Alex Neil and Martin Canning.  The worst decision wasn't so much appointing Foran, it was not punting him around January 2017 when it truly became clear that he was absolutely clueless.

If we're talking *bad* decisions, not punting Foran is there, but the title says 'craziest' decision.  I think going into a relegation decider with a bizarre defensive line-up in-front of a mediocre-at-best and imminently-leaving goalkeeper was probably *crazier*.

The craziest decision the club ever made was not sacking Richie Foran in January 2017.   Butcher's decision that day in 2009 was a blessing in disguise, he signed a great side after that which was added to and eventually won us the cup 5 years later.

[Highland Capital]

12 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

The craziest decision the club ever made was not sacking Richie Foran in January 2017.   Butcher's decision that day in 2009 was a blessing in disguise, he signed a great side after that which was added to and eventually won us the cup 5 years later.

Of those who played in our Division One winning season, Ryan Esson was only real stalwart in that side who won the cup while Shinnie only played once in the league that season and Foran was injured for the whole cup winning campaign.  The real core of the cup winning team came in 2012-13, which was a side we surely could have built had we stayed up in 2009 anyway.

Edited August 11, 2021 by Highland Capital

[Raith_Raver]

As has been well covered already Anelka and Locke were both near the top of the Richter scale. One thing that I sometimes reflect on is our decision to remain at Stark's Park and turn down the opportunity to build a new stadium to the north of the town, with great road access and parking. Instead we spent a fortune on the north and south stands.

[Ex Machina]

12 hours ago, CALDERON said:

Anyway, it will always be Anelka.

However, it is remarkable that loaning your best player to relegation rivals, who scores the goal that effectively condems your fate, is not the worst decision.  It must always be remembered that Vaughan was effectively swapped for Ryan Stevenson.

Stevenson was probably a better option for backup goalkeeper tbf, all part of the masterplan...

[Central Belt Caley]

I was probably only about 7 or 8 when this Claude Anelka business went on and I genuinely can’t believe I’m only just hearing about it now  

[oneteaminglasgow]

8 minutes ago, Central Belt Caley said:

I was probably only about 7 or 8 when this Claude Anelka business went on and I genuinely can’t believe I’m only just hearing about it now  

Aye, I only heard about it fairly recently despite being around the same age as you.

Was there not one of the players who admitted he’d never been a footballer before but asked if he could stay on to mend things around the stadium or something like that?

[John MacLean]

This. 

Appointing the one on the right as manager and allowing the one on the left to sponsor the jersey for about £1.50 when, if you believe his autobiography, he was prepared to spend tens of thousands to do so. 

The 86/87 season was horrific beyond belief and those not old enough to have experienced it should consider themselves incredibly fortunate. 

Home crowds dropping below a 1,000 on several occasions. Playing trialists straight out of amateur football. Being gubbed 5-2 at home to Morton with the manager, who played in the first half, spending the second half hiding away in the secretary's office. 

We survived that season purely by Colin West being half decent and Johnstone finally getting binned in time for someone half competent, Billy Lamont, steering us away from the bottom two. 

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

50 minutes ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

Aye, I only heard about it fairly recently despite being around the same age as you.

Was there not one of the players who admitted he’d never been a footballer before but asked if he could stay on to mend things around the stadium or something like that?

@Ebanda's Handyman Services

[Ranaldo Bairn]

6 minutes ago, John MacLean said:

This. 

Appointing the one on the right as manager and allowing the one on the left to sponsor the jersey for about £1.50 when, if you believe his autobiography, he was prepared to spend tens of thousands to do so. 

The 86/87 season was horrific beyond belief and those not old enough to have experienced it should consider themselves incredibly fortunate. 

Home crowds dropping below a 1,000 on several occasions. Playing trialists straight out of amateur football. Being gubbed 5-2 at home to Morton with the manager, who played in the first half, spending the second half hiding away in the secretary's office. 

We survived that season purely by Colin West being half decent and Johnstone finally getting binned in time for someone half competent, Billy Lamont, steering us away from the bottom two. 

Is that the English Colin West that Rangers brought up with Butcher et al?

Lamont must have joined you quite late on as he only resigned from Falkirk in Feb 1987.

[John MacLean]

3 minutes ago, Ranaldo Bairn said:

Is that the English Colin West that Rangers brought up with Butcher et al?

Lamont must have joined you quite late on as he only resigned from Falkirk in Feb 1987.

An English Colin West but not the same one that played with rangers. This Colin West was on loan from Chelsea and had a later spell in Scotland with Dundee. 

I think Lamont was appointed in time for the last 4 games of that season. John Haggart, Johnstone's assistant, had taken temporary charge between Johnstone's sacking and Lamont's appointment. 

[Raith_Raver]

1 hour ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

Aye, I only heard about it fairly recently despite being around the same age as you.

Was there not one of the players who admitted he’d never been a footballer before but asked if he could stay on to mend things around the stadium or something like that?

That's entirely apocryphal. Anelka thought the French 5th tier was better than our 2nd so brought over a load of duffers, (there was a short legged winger who could hardly run that sticks in my memory).  However he did sign some decent players, like Hajovsky who went on to play in the UEFA Cup semi final for Plzen, and a Congo international centre half (who unfortunately spent his whole time injured) and a couple of half decent forwards. Unfortunately the capable players couldn't compensate for the duffers.