Ali Dia

Infobox Football biography


playername = Ali Dia
fullname = Ali Dia
height = height|m=1.78
dateofbirth = Birth date and age|1965|8|20|df=y
cityofbirth = Dakar
countryofbirth = Senegal
position = Striker
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1988-1989
1989-1990
1990-1991
1991-1992
1995
1996
1996–1997
1997
clubs = Beauvais
Dijon
La Rochelle
Saint-Quentin
Lübeck
Blyth Spartans
Southampton
Gateshead
caps(goals) =



2 (0)
1 (0)
8 (2)

Ali Dia (born 20 August 1965 in Dakar) is a former amateur Senegalese footballer who once played for English FA Premier League club Southampton, after falsely claiming to be a Senegalese international.

Career

After a playing career at the lower levels in France and Germany, and having already had failed trials at Port Vale, Gillingham and Bournemouth, before playing at semi-pro club Blyth Spartans, Dia was signed by Southampton manager Graeme Souness in 1996, after Souness received a phone call purporting to be from Liberian international and former FIFA World Player of the Year George Weah. "Weah" told Souness that Dia was his cousin, had played for Paris Saint-Germain and had played 13 times for his country. Actually, none of this was true, and the phone call was from Dia's agent. [cite web | url=http://www.laughfc.co.uk/stories/story.php?id=525 | title=Ali Dia - Southampton | work=laughfc.co.uk] Nonetheless, Souness was convinced, and signed Dia on a one-month contract.

Dia played just one game for Southampton, in the number 33 shirt, against Leeds United on November 23 1996; he had originally been scheduled to play in a reserve friendly against Arsenal, but the match was cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch. In the match against Leeds, he came on as a substitute for Matthew Le Tissier after 32 minutes but his performance was spectacularly below Premier League quality. He was later substituted (by Ken Monkou) after playing until the 53rd minute; Leeds won the match 2–0.

Le Tissier himself recalled the story in a television interview, telling that Dia spent only a weekend at the club. He first came down to train with the team on Friday morning and what he did "didn't look very good" and Southampton players thought that they would "never see him again", but then on the next day Dia was surprisingly named to the subs bench. His performance on the field after he came on to replace Le Tissier "was unbelievable. He ran around the pitch like Bambi on ice, it was very very embarrassing to watch." Yet according to the team's physiotherapist on Sunday morning Dia "turned up for treatment of an injury" and "then he left, and we never saw him again ... nobody knows where he went." [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyT1r_oVcdA Matt Le Tissier recounts the Ali Dia saga] ]

Dia was released by Southampton two weeks into his contract. He briefly played for non-league Gateshead, before leaving in February 1997. His whereabouts since then are unknown among reliable sources.

Legacy

Dia has achieved a notorious status amongst English football fans for his lack of ability, and is regularly featured in lists of bad players or bad transfers.cite web | url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/toptens/story/0,14034,1078421,00.html | title=The 10 worst foreign signings of all time | work=The Observer | date=2000-08-06 ] [cite web | url=http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/2006/11/premierships_to.html | title=Premiership's Top 10 Foreign Flops | work=whoateallthepies.tv ] He was named at #1 in a list of "The 50 worst footballers" in The Times newspaper. [cite web|title=The 50 worst footballers|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article2025420.ece|work=The Times|date=2007-07-04|accessdate=2007-07-20]

Notes

References