Strike Factory

Paul Gascoigne (Eng)

http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=277...

Former England International Player now managing a unknown footy team in Portugal

Gazza who in my mind will be best remembered for that legandary goal against Scotland in Euro 96 and those celebration scenes, not to mention his tears at the World Cup, has a lot of reasons to be inducted into this hall of fame. Firstly for being the victim of Vinne Jones during a footy match and being in a resulting amusing picture, when playing for his home town team Newcastle United, then for the above at the 1990 world cup. Then for some looney moments at Lazio, to his spell at Rangers, and of course the drink and drugs not to mention one bad thing about him the wife beating. But he produced some fine moments playing for England, and is a legend in his native Geordieland, Spurs for his goal against the Gooners in the semis of the FA Cup. At Rangers, he is one of the few English men the fans have ever loved. So try and remember more the good than the bad about this legend.

GAZZA we salaute you.

Ali Dia (Sen)

Former Southampton player who has now disapeared into obsecurity

Article from Laugh FC site this made me laugh and have memories of this 

http://www.laughfc.co.uk/stories/story.php?id=525

In 1996 Graeme Souness immortalised himself in football folklore by falling for an amazing scam that resulted in him signing a player, so bad, that it made Gerard Houllier’s decision to buy Bruno Cheyrou look inspirational.

It all started when Ali Dia, a desperate 30 year-old nobody, convinced his agent to phone the Southampton boss pretending to be World Footballer of the Year George Weah recommending ‘his cousin’ (Ali Dia) as the next big thing.

Souness fell for it quicker than Robert Pires looking for a penalty and Dia was instantly signed up on a month’s loan. As you can imagine, Souness was eager to see what his new acquisition could do, but the Gods of Football Humour were smiling down on the Dell and a proposed reserve game, and Dia’s debut, against Arsenal was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

That close shave didn’t deter the ‘striker’ who tried to build up his credentials by saying, “I feel I have a bit of pace and I can dribble well. Hopefully I can now show enough of that to the manager and maybe get a place in his squad.”

Once again, Souness took the bait and Dia suddenly found himself on the bench in Southampton’s next game against Leeds. But the unthinkable was to follow.
Despite Souness never seeing Dia kick a ball, he brought him off the bench.

After one minute the whole crowd had to pinch themselves, trying not to believe that Coco The Clown was playing. Dia had the touch of an elephant and the deadliness of a fly. He couldn’t control a ball to save his life and after 14 minutes of 'Bambi on ice' the substitute was substituted, and his loan rapidly terminated.

After such a humiliation, you would expect that Souness would have learnt his lesson about taking on a player who clearly can’t play football. I guess this wouldn’t be the right time to mention the £7m he spent on Corrado Grabbi then… oops!

Ali Dia and Graeme Souness… we salute you!