So City find some money to buy a player and not get him on a free but how much of a gamble is it in brining in someone born in France? Will Romain Vincelot be a èchouer (fail) or succeed (succeed, it’s the same word in French) and have City spent the alleged £25,000 wisely or have thrown it away?
Jean-Guy Wallemme (1998)
The central defender was part of the Lens team that won the French League in the late 90’s but frustrated by the lack of national call up’s in his league side he looked elsewhere to play. City’s manager Gordon Strachen, was on the look out for players to challenge Richard Shaw, Gary Breen and Paul Williams for a first team place and splashed out three quarters of a million on the defender. Jean-Guy made his debut as a sub away to Forest in the second game of the season in a 1-0 defeat. He soon was starting for City but made one the more comical errors by a City when warning one of his team mates he called “Saucy” the player didn’t respond and City concede he he meant to shout “Shawsy” after Richard Shaw. After his fifth league game he had only gained one point and been in a side that conceded ten goals including five at Newcastle after that he only appeared once more as a sub and played in two League Cup games. The player seemed home stick and complained he couldn’t find a French school for his son in the area and soon left. So that is eight games in all coasting City 93,750 per game. Jean-Guy returned to France to play for Sochaux before playing for Stain Etienne and back to Lens for a season completing over 400 league games for the club. Since then he has been on the management round-about with eleven league sides in France and Belgium and even a spell as the Congo’s National Coach he is now the coach in Algeria for Jeunesse Sportive de Kabyliepan, overall a dismal failure for City.
Fabian Debec (2002-2003)
After Magnus Hedman had left, Morten Hlydgaard became first choice but manger Gary McAllister, was looking for someone with a bit more experience so he went to France and brought back Fabian Debec who had “Fab” in his name. Debec started off at Olympic Lyonnais but failed to make the break through he moved to Stade Rennais where he was a reserve player appearing 19 times in six seasons in a mostly struggling French top flight side. It is a wonder why the management team thought Debec would be any good. He made his debut away to Wimbledon in front of the lowest league crowd to watch City since 1932 but City won 1-0. The next game at Bradford he made an error in letting in a long range shot. He turned out to be not very good at all as the last straw came at bottom placed Sheffield Wednesday as City lost 5-1 and Debec was blamed for three of them, he never played for us again and many rank him of one of the worst keepers in our history in fact some reckoned he was really a fullback having a laugh. He returned the French second flight and played for AS Saint-Étienne, Gernoble Foot and LB Chateaurox playing in all 26 games in four seasons. He dropped down the French leagues playing for several different clubs.
Verdict, F***ing awful!
Yazid Mansouri (2003)
Gary McAllister brought in the French born, Algerian international on loan from Le Harve to play in City’s midfield. He made his debut as a sub in a 1-1 away draw with Ipswich in the second game of the season. He was brought in to understudy the player manager but things came to a head when he, against the clubs wishes left to play an African Nations Cup game for Algeria and City returned him to his parent club. After his spell with City he played for four different teams but his biggest disappointment was after helping his country qualify for the 2010 World Cup he lost his place and captaincy and didn’t play,
verdict with City, not good enough.
Eric Deloumeaux (2004)
Manager Eric Black brought in Eric to play the same role Mansouri had for City. Deloumeaux, nicknamed “Dolly Mixtures” by some City fans, made his debut in the 6-1 away demolition of Walsall despite not being everyone’s “cup of tea” Deloumeaux proved to be a steadying influence in the hart of the midfield and contributed to Black’s outstanding record he played 19 times for City and became the first French born player to score for us in a 4-0 home win against Millwall. After Black was sacked the midfielder only played twice more before moving on but only played 31 times more for four different clubs,
verdict successful whilst here.
Florant Laville (2004)
With City short of defenders manager Peter Reid went to Bolton and got Florant on loan. The centre back, made his debut in a 3-2 home win against Reading. He played five more times and did OK. He went on to 31 times for Bastia in France before retiring.
Lilian Nalis (2005)
Another loan this time to play in midfield under Micky Adams. He made his debut in a 4-1 home defeat against Palace but many gave him the man of the match in that game for at least trying. He scored in his next game a draw away to Ipswich and again was man of the match he played another three games before his loan ran out and he returned to his parent club Sheffield United, verdict did well when he was here. He played for three more teams before retiring.
Youseff Sofiane (2005)
This Frenchman form Lyon had one of the shortest and most unsuccessful stays of any player in our history. The midfielder started of in Auxerre’s reserves in France before signing for West Ham as an 18 year old. He was very much in The Hammers Youth set up and only played one league game as a sub. The following season he went on loan to Notts County playing four games before returning to Upton Park. He was soon released and a free agent when Micky Adams gave him a chance. It was the season of City’s first year at the Ricoh and a record crowd of just over 24,000 turned up to see City take on Crystal Palace. Half time City were 2-1 down when Sofiane replaced Stephen Hughes he made one good pass as City went down 4-1. That was it one half of football and he wasn’t offered a contract. He was released and played for eight more clubs never playing more than 20 games for any of them,
verdict, Youseff who?
Guillaume Beuzelin (2008-2009)
Brought in by Iain Dowie from Hibs as one of the main midfielders for the season the Le Harve born player was a regular and to date had played more games than any other French born play, 40. He made his debut in a 2-0 home win against Norwich on the opening game of the season. His performances throughout the season were modest. With his contract over he moved on and only played four more times as City managed to get shot of him in time.
Kevin Malaga (2012)
Kevin was one of two French players sign by Andy Thorn in the summer of 2012 the defender was signed from Nice and made his debut in the home game against Sheffield United the 2nd game of the season and he looked good in that game and seemed a real goal threat he played again in the home game against Bury but then Thorn was sacked and caretaker manager Richard Shaw preferred the other Frenchman over Malaga. Who knows what would have happened if he was given more games but must be looked on as a dismal failure. He played three for Nuneaton before disappearing from the football world.
William Edjenguele (2012-2013)
The Edge became an instant fans favourite when he was signed by Andy Thorn from Greek side Panetolikos but never player for the man who signed him. The Edge made his debut in the win at home to Birmingham in the League City. He eventually became first choice under Mark Robbins. The Edge proved to be a good player at the back if a little immobile but it was a big surprise when he was allowed to leave by Steven Pressley at the end of the season after a year at Bury The Edge returned to Greece where he is now in pre-season training with Veira.
Mathieu Manset (2013)
The powerful forward was brought in by Steven Pressely as competition for Leon Clarke and Callum Wilson. Manset made his debut for City in Northampton in the opening “home” game in the 5-4 win, he scored in his next Northampton game earning a draw with the final goal in the 4-4 draw against Preston. He played 7 more times but could dislodge the front two and left in a huff, verdict not very good at all. He was last seen at Cheltenham were he failed to score in 12 games as the Robins dropped out of the league.
Mohammed Coulibaly (2014)
One of three makeweights Pressley brought in on loan from Bournemouth in the Wilson deal. Coulibaly was a winger so it was to some surprise that the manager changed formation in pre-season and so restricting the player appearances. He made his debut in the J.P.T Cup win at Wycombe but played only another five times before returning to Bournemouth, verdict yet another dismal failure. He is now with Racing Santander.
Reda Johnson (2014-2015)
Released by Wednesday because he was injury prone became an instant cult hero with the City fans after scoring twice on his debut he became only the 7th player to score two ro more on his debut none of the others were defenders. A few games later City were winning at Scunthorpe and heading for 4th in the table when Reda was sent off and City lost and the season went into a nose dive.
Since then he had his run ins with the manager and a lift door breaking his hand but ended up joint top scorer and by far and away the best French born player (Reda was born in Marseille, France) we have had.
So in the above thirteen, only about five at a stretch can be consider successful but at least he is not on loan so maybe Romain Vincelot will be a success after all, we did splash out some money on him.