Lets seperate fact from fiction regarding the Ali Dia myth

Nearly 15 years on from the event, the story of Ali Dia's one game for the club is often embellished when its brought up periodically in the national press

It is true that Dia arrived at the Dell after then manager Graeme Souness recieved a tip off about Dia being George Weah's cousin and therefore invited him along to training to have a quick look at him, but this is where luck was not in for Souness, firstly an arranged behind closed doors game in which they would be able to see him in action had to be cancelled due to the weather and then due to an injury crisis and with not a lot of forward options available for even the bench, Souness was forced to sign Dia on a short term contract and name him amongst the substitutes for the visit of Leeds United on 23rd November 1996.

Souness's luck was further out when on the half hour mark Matt Le Tissier had to go off with an injury, now up to this point Souness could definately blame bad luck on the events that had lead to this, but the next thing was of his own making, despite only having seen Dia for a day or two in training he decided to throw him on to the pitch, as we have said Souness was low on options, he already had Graham Potter on the pitch for one of only two starts Potter would make for the club, but he did have other choices, not least Robbie Slater who came on late in the game or even Neil Maddison who didnt get off the bench at all.

Baically although the situation that put Dia on the bench was not of Souness's own making, he then took a big gamble, one that would forever come back to haunt him and managerially at least will be remembered long after the fact for instance that he did actually win the FA Cup whilst manager of Liverpool.

The second myth is that Dia's appearance was short and sweet, nothing could be further from the truth, he came on after 32 minutes and didnt depart till the 85th, his "debut" lasted 53 minutes a lot longer than some Saints players career's in this series.

But perhaps what prompted Souness to keep him on so long was what happened with Dia's first touch, a touch that almost changed history and might have given Souness an excuse for his actions, Dia cam on with Saints having a throw in on the East Stand side of th pitch attacking the Archers Road end, Dia took up position and the Saints player taking the throw noticed that Leeds hadnt really re organised, a quick throw saw Dia run on to the ball and swivel for what could have been a dream goal, lucky for Leeds and unluckily for Souness andindeed Dia who might have got a years contract out of it, Nigel Martyn in the Leeds Goal had seen what was happening and had rushed off his line to block the shot and with that condemn Dia to obscurity and notoriety.

For long periods though Saints were a match for Leeds, who scored the first goal of the game after 81 minutes, four minutes later Ken Monkou came of for Dia in a last throw of the dice and Lleeds sneaked another in the last minute to give them a result that flattered them.

Dia of course was let go the following week and after a few abortive attempts to get into non league football, went back to his studies graduating from Northumbria University in 2001      

Photo: Action Images

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