10 PWSTK (WL) - 9 Sean Dundee

Ok, so we didn’t love him, but we laughed at him and seeing as though I was struggling to find ten players who fulfilled both of those requirements, the South African made the list by default.

In the summer of 1998 Roy Evans paid £2m for the striker who had forged a good reputation for himself in the Bundesliga. He had a good goalscoring record, and was described as a pacy, powerful forward who was as much a threat in the air as he was on the ground. That was partly true, in that his aerial threat was the same as his threat on the ground. He posed no threat either way.

On his arrival, he was asked about his strengths as a player. He immediately mentioned pace, saying“I’ve always been the quickest player at every club I’ve been at, but I hear Michael Owen is pretty quick so we’ll see…” Understandably, hopes were high amongst the fans after the build up he’d given himself, but he was a total flop, making only three substitute appearances before returning to Germany at the end of the season.

The most notable of those appearances was in a home defeat to Leicester City. As the ball was cleared out wide of the Leicester penalty area, Dundee set off after it, with a clear five yard start over Frank Sinclair. Yet Sinclair overhauled him with such ease it appeared Dundee was standing still. Faster than Michael Owen? Maybe now that Michael’s on crutches perhaps, but even that’s debatable.

He was a character though was Sean, and there were loads of wild stories doing the rounds about him, the strangest being that he had more than one wife back home in Germany. I never did find out if that was true, but nothing would surprise me as he was a bit of a party animal.

Rumour has it he’d turn up on a Saturday morning, still dressed in the clothes he’d left Melwood in the day before, stinking of booze, wanting to know why he wasn’t playing! There were also reported sightings of him cruising for talent around Liverpool City Centre in his convertible sports car. I never saw this myself, and it could be one of those urban myths you get about footy players, but it would explain why he couldn’t run!

I was told a story by a club employee a few years ago that Dundee actually scuppered his own transfer to a top German side, by asking them what the nightclubs were like in their city. Everything had been agreed, transfer fee, personal terms the lot, then he popped the question and they couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Luckily Stuttgart came in for him, he was warned not to ask any questions and we got a million quid for him.

When it comes to the worst player ever to play for the reds, Dundee is a strong contender. Had he been given more opportunites to play he’d probably be most people’s number one. Luckily for him hardly anyone can remember seeing him play. I saw him play in the reserves, but I’ve tried to erase that from my memory. We’d have been better off signing Mick Dundee from ‘Walkabout Creek’.

Dave Usher