Most Disappointing XI

[tamthebam]

10 hours ago, Redcar said:

Neil Martyniuk, Scott Dalziel, Blair Henderson, and (going back a bit)Charlie Lytwyn, Hugh Douglas & Paul Cavanagh.

Douglas stood 6 feet 4 or something like that, but lumbered around in a Quasimodo style stoop, reducing his height to 5 feet 6. Incredible. Still better than Martyniuk though.

We actually signed Martniuk - he was quickly dispatched to a struggling Newtongrange Star and so should make the Disappointing XI for two different clubs..

[BB_Bino]

We’ve had quite a few over the last few seasons alone. Blair Henderson was the biggest of the all though, the guy was just an absolute dud in every sense of the word at Forthbank. You won’t find many people trying to defend him.

Although he is our Assistant Manager, as a player, Fraser Wright was a bombscare. By the time he joined us, the player we saw playing for Kilmarnock & St.Johnstone was clearly done and a move to The Albion was probably a playing step too far for him, however I’m delighted to report he is doing a wonderful job off the field.

Ross McMillan would also fall into this category for us. After 2 years of chaotic Defending under Greig McDonald, there was a huge sigh of relief when Stuart McLaren (it was it Martin Corrigan?) brought McMillan to the club. Sadly for us, the player who was a rock at Stenny, was more like a sponge at The Albion and just couldn’t help plug the gaps that were being exploited.

Once Jordon White moved on, it was hugely anticipated that Lewis Coult could replace him after firing goals for fun at Cowdenbeath, however that was never likely when the lad was more interested in Twitter than playing football. A huge disappointment and another flop.

[The_Pit_Owns]

3 hours ago, BB_Bino said:

Once Jordon White moved on, it was hugely anticipated that Lewis Coult could replace him after firing goals for fun at Cowdenbeath, however that was never likely when the lad was more interested in Twitter than playing football. A huge disappointment and another flop.

What a keeper Coult was for you though.

[mo83]

John the beast gemmell and johnathan smart for the mo for sure.

[The Clyde Man]

Not many pre-2002/2003ish for me; at that age, you don't really have as much anticipation of signings, and therefore not the same disappointment. Could no doubt come up with an entirely different eleven tomorrow; indeed most of this is different from EP's team.
GK - Kevin Budinaukas. Came with a great reputation from PTFC of all teams. All sorts of people at my west-end secondary school telling me he was a great goalie. He hardly played, due to injury and when he did, he didn't manage to displace Bryn Halliwell.
CB - Mark Casey/Scott Gair. Casey was, rightly, picked as Alan Lithgow's partner in our first non-Championship season for nearly a decade. He was absolutely diabolical but still miles better than Gair, who had put  in one decent pre-season performance before being exposed as a cart-horse. Both of them perfectly encapsulated disappointment; we were always likely to harbour hopes of challenging in a lower division, but despite having arguably the best centre half in the league in Lithgow, and one of the better 'keepers in Reidford, we didn't ever really have a chance of winning a game, resulting in a 7-1 embarrassment against Livi in the cup. Soul destroying watching those two, as having just had a few seasons of Marko, Potter, Kernaghan, Mensing, McGregor, Higgins and McKeown, it was a clear sign of what we were about to become. For this, also read such (hopefully forgotten) names as Connor Cassidy, Robert Halliday, Paul Stewart and  Gary Muir. 
CB - Ross Perry. No-one really expected him to be good. He was a laughing stock at Rangers, and at Raith. We brought him in pretty much at the time Dylan Easton picked up a season-ending injury, turning us from an entertaining team into something a bit more conservative. An impressive first few starts included clean sheets against Elgin, Edinburgh and Brora and we romped into a title-challenging position. As his form fell into hilarity, compounded by injury and a bald lump named Chris Smith, so did the rest of the side. For the second half of the season he was back to being a laughing stock. Gives me an excuse to mention how David Goodwillie saved us  
CB - Craig Halkett. Slightly different tact here. We had him on loan during BF's first season, when he saw the deadline day coming and decided to build a team of loanees from top division clubs. Halkett was a good player and got better with each bit of experience he picked up but missed a fair few games through injury. The disappointment comes from the fact he left at New Year when BF did his next transfer window roulette; partnering him with Marko and Alan Martin would have undeniably seen us go half a season without conceding a goal.  He's now a stand-out for Livi.
RW - Gary Arbuckle. Perhaps unfair as he had a couple of great scoring runs, stonked in a long-ranger to take us to a  money-spinning cup tie with Celtic (no, not that cup tie), helped rescue the relegation play-off with Alloa and since he's left, we have turned into an absolute embarrassment. Still, his debut in a friendly with Macclesfield was never really replicated in his other appearances for Clyde and for that reason, he was a disappointment in my eyes.
MF - Mikael Marsiglia. A bizarre conveyor belt of talent from Billy Reid's dodgy pals included Karim Kerkar (the best entertainer seen in my time watching Clyde), Hearts hero Jean Louis Valois and the beautifully composed  Spanish defender Miguel Espinola. Marsiglia had played for Marseille (after a 1.75 million transfer, replacing Robert Pires no less). His touch was genuinely outstanding but it was almost impossible to notice as he hardly ever got near the ball. Punted after three games.
MF - Jay Lang. Came on as a sub in a friendly against PTFC. Put in one of the most incredible performances ever seen at Broadwood, dribbling past players for fun and scoring the winning goal for John Brown's bunch of trial assembled trialists. Hit the post with a free-kick in the first league game, didn't do a single other constructive thing.
LW - Paul McMullan. Played against Clyde for Berwick and ripped us to pieces on a couple of occasions. Left the over-the-Borderers due to work commitment and the mighty Clyde stepped in and snapped him up . Broke his foot on his debut in a January match at Montrose, didn't play again until the start of the following season when he was fat and useless. 
ST - Marc McCusker. Third time around. First time he didn't play as a youngster. Second time he was outstanding when fit (14 goals in 24 games) and left to go full-time. We resigned him again and I think everyone thought he'd run riot again. Was slow, clumsy and didn't come close to a goal. It was kind of like the bit in Space Jam when the basketball player's talent is stolen by some pesky aliens.
ST - Bradley Coyne. Absolutely outstanding against us for the Shire. Signed to be the difference maker in our promotion push in 13-14.  Made 4 subs appearances. 
ST - Kris Doolan. Scored nearly 100 goals for PTFC, mostly in the top division. Couldn't come close to scoring in a 9 game loan spell in League 1. Only Clyde...
 
Additional mentions to Evangelino Valentim (who absolutely destroyed the reserve league with a unique combination of height, power and tricks) and Stephen Odenewu, who managed to dribble around the entire second string Man U team before  comically sticking the ball over the bar. Darren Miller and Matt Flynn would probably be worth mentioning as well as players who had performed well against Clyde previously but then contributed almost nothing. Stevie Masterton gets enough respect for his first spell to avoid being named in this team for his second, which was the very definition of disappointment, same with Alex Williams.

Surprised you didn’t include MF Barry F as he disappointed as both player/manager.

[Jack Burton]

Few more for Clyde.

Frédéric Boniface - A bizarre signing back in 2000 when Maitland was in charge. I'm sure we paid a good bit of money for him around £40k but not according to Wikipedia.

A foreign striker was a rare thing back then and the fact he had played at a reasonable level in France added to the hype. If I remember right he did actually have a few decent games but disappeared after 8 games.

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

Bryan Dingwall - Signed by Millar back in 2010 when we tried to emulate Maitland/McDonalds success by raiding the juniors. He had scored 117 goals in 150 games for Pollok and scored on his Clyde debut against Everton. He scored once more in a rare away win at Hampden before being let go. I really thought we were getting another Steve Convrey/Pat Keogh type player.

Ryan MacBeth - Impressed when he was on loan from Partick Thistle. Tidy midfielder with a good first touch. We signed a season or two later once he was released by Thistle and he was rubbish.

Dylan Easton & Matt Flynn - Both signed at the start of last season and I really did start to believe we would be challenging for the title. Both started well and then Easton got crocked playing against Arbroath and was never seen again in a Clyde shirt. Flynn has never captured the form he showed at Annan. Both were a constant thorn in our side when playing for the opposition. Injury robbed us of Easton while Flynn has just been pish.

Steve Howarth & Kevin Higgins - Both broke into the first team while John Brown was in charge. Rangers were apparently sniffing after both. Both left at the end of the season for Motherwell, I believe, no idea where they are now.

Murray McDowell - Decent scoring record for Cowdenbeath and got a move to Partick Thistle. I think we signed him on loan from Thistle and he was utter shite.

Aaron Wilford - We had great success in signings from England under Maitland and Reid but Wilford was the exception. Big tall striker who was unfit and barely look interested.

Willie Falconer - Was done by the time he signed for us. Looked like he was out for Sunday stroll when playing as he barely got involved. Played 20 times for us in 2002 and no surprise he retired after that.

Scott Ferguson - Great player in his first season in 13/14 under Duffy. Fast, could fly past players and for his height won a lot of headers. He rediscovered his form in 15/16 and scored twice in a 2-0 home win against East Fife around Xmas time. Got an injury soon after and has almost been constantly injured since. Losing him and JP McGovern, was for me, a big reason why the title challenge came to an end in March/April 2016.

[FREDDYFRY]

I would add the McLennan Brothers.

Rhurie  was fantastic for us until  injury  finished  him at  senior level.

Roddy; it was claimed was even better but never really either showed that or perhaps never got the chance.

Disappointment was that we never got to see their potential in a Clyde strip which was a real shame.

[ian mac]

Do any Clyde fans remember just how rubbish Peter Latchford was when he signed during the firhill yrs only time i have seen demonstrations behind the goal demanding the keeper must go . He was highly regarded at parkhead at the time but cost us pts every week absolutely useless

[AlbionMan]

Too many list in full but special mentions to:

Lindsay Hamilton, John Millar, Brian Martin, Blair Henderson, Denis McDaid, Paul Cavanagh