Terk

With the impending release of his autobiography, disgraced ex-football manager Rob Watson has given us an insight into the man he labelled 'The Greatest Player Ever to Fail'. In this two part series, we'll take an in depth look at just how Scott Anderson's career came crashing down around him.

The summer of 2017 was supposed to be a great time for Scott Anderson. Having seen his wonderful efforts rewarded on the international stage at the 2016 European Championships, he finally won his dream move back to the club he had left as a youngster. In the June of 2008, a fresh faced 17 year old striker was sent from the Rangers FC youth academy to train with the senior side over the summer in an attempt to win himself a contract. The Englishman had joined the 'Gers at the tender age of 12, and since then it had been his dream to run out in the first team at Ibrox. Unfortunately, things went pear shaped. A groin injury picked up in his first week meant he was unable to impress then manager Alex McLeish. As such, come the start of the league campaign, Scott was told he had no future at Rangers, and released on a free transfer.

Looking back when he rejoined the 'Gers some ten years later, Scott admitted that the pain of being let go drove him on to become better and was one of the main factors in him becoming the most sought after property in English football. After leaving Glasgow, he set finding himself a new club, and was invited for a trial at Preston. Two days was enough for the North End staff to recognise his talent, and he was offered a contract straight away, making his first team debut just two months later. He ended that season having played 14 games and scored 6 goals. But it was the next campaign, 2009/10, in which he would announce himself to the wider public. Still just eighteen years old, Scott was given his England U-21 debut in September 2009, coming off the bench to score the winner in a 2-1 victory over Northern Ireland. And he was constantly impressing in the English Championship with Preston. He managed a total of 32 games that season, netting 28 goals across all competitions as he fired his side to the play-offs (though his own penalty miss cost them a place in the Premiership).

And it was form that attracted the big guns. Reigning FA Cup holders Manchester City were the first to move, and secured his signature for a £4M fee. He spent three years at the City of Manchester Stadium, leaving in the summer of 2013 to join high-flying Aston Villa in their first Champions League campaign. The 58 goals he scored in his three seasons in Manchester had won the youngster his first England cap, and he was thought unlucky by some to miss out on the squad for the 2012 European Championships.

His four years at Villa could hardly have gone better. A 32 goal haul in his first season was added to by 26 in year two, 31 in season three and his last campaign yielded 34 goals in all competitions. Despite that, the only piece of silverware he won with the Villains was the 2013/14 FA Cup, a final in which his hat-trick defeated Liverpool. And the international honours kept coming. Unlucky to miss out on World Cup 2014 through injury, he stunned the world at the 2016 European Championships with a 10 goal haul which fired England into the final, but not even he could help his nations overcome the might of the Dutch.

His 123 goals for Villa, plus an international record that read 22 caps and 16 goals made him a player who was wanted across Europe. Some of the biggest teams in the game were linked with him over the summer fo 2017, but when Rangers stepped in, there was only one place he was ever going to go. It took an £18M bid from the Glasgow giants to prise open the gates of Birmingham, and the chance to return to his spiritual home was something that Scott felt he could not reject. He finally had the chance to run out at Ibrox, to help a team ever growing on the European scale become one of the greatest in the game. Little did he know that in twelve months time he would be back south of the border, this time a broken man.

Terk

Interviewer: "So, Rob, why did you spend £18,000,000 on Scott Anderson?"
Rob Watson: "I would have thought that was obvious enough. The guy was scoring goals for fun, both at club and international level. He had everything we wanted in the player we chose to replace Derek Riordan."

I: "Looking back, if you had your time over again, would you still sign him?"
RW: "Absolutely. I thought it was the right choice then, and given the same situation again, I'd make the same decision. He was wanted by a huge number of teams at the time, including Real Madrid. I still maintain that he was a great player, just for whatever reason things didn't work out for him at Ibrox."

I: "What was his record over the season he spent at Rangers?"
RW: "He played thirty-seven games across all competitions and scored three goals. I think that OPTA Index thing rated his performance over the campaign as 6.12 out of 10."

I: "That surely begs the question, why did you continue to persist in playing him when he wasn't producing the goods?"
RW: "It was a mixture of the fact that, for a long while I had faith in him to recapture his form, and we didn't have much strength in depth up front at Rangers that season. We'd had three strikers leave the club over the close season, and the entire transfer budget was spent on bringing Scott in. So we ony had youngsters to back him up with."


With hindsight, Watson's insistence on playing Anderson was almost certainly the major factor in the slide which saw them finish only third in the league, a massive twenty six points shy of champions Celtic. And that campaign also saw the side fall from being Champions League semi finalists who came within a penalty shoot-out of a place in the final, to a laughing stock, beaten in all six of their group games as Anderson tried in vain to lead the line.

There were the required false dawns as well. A goal against Celtic at Ibrox in the New Year's Day Old Firm derby proved to be the winner, and it was followed by another winner in their very next game against eventual league runners-up, Hearts. But that was to be the final time he found the back of the net when wearing a Rangers shirt. The follwowing months were long, arduous and interrupted by periods spent on the bench. What was becoming ever more clear, though, was that his stay in Glasgow would be a short one. Enquiries were being made about strikers around Europe, and even Scott knew that his days at Ibrox were numbered. He had little time left, and had to start thinking about a move elsewhere.

Come the opening of the summer transfer window, Scott had been placed firmly on the transfer list. A cut price fee of just £3M was being asked, and eventually a buyer was found. Scott Anderson was on his way back to England, to once again ply his trade in the Championship. This time his employers would be Sunderland, and this time he would fail once more. Two seasons spent at the Stadium of Light saw him make just eighteen appearences, without hitting the back of the net even once, and his travels down the divisions continued before he eventually retired aged 32 after being released by Kidderminster. The confidence that his failure at Rangers had taken from him was never restored, and a man who could have been a true great simlpy faded away.


The End

Peacemaker7

Nice edited, I was looking for the third part. I think shorts are your forte tbh, another good one well done :thup:

Terk

no idea why i typed three. was only ever meant to be two. and seeing as few of my supposed proper stories ever get past short story length, I think you're right that shorts are my forte

Brian of Nazareth

Blimey - that's one heck of a decline - but meh - he was good when it counted

and as PM said, another good one

Terk

it was incredible. I kept expecting him to come good again and start scoring but it just never happened. It's the most spectacular decline I've ever seen from a player in any management game and was decent fodder for a story.

Peacemaker7

Thats how you gotta love this game for throwing up these kinds of scenarios. Where would we be without it

LongTimeComing

Even though its not real, that's quite sad

Terk

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Peacemaker7:
Thats how you gotta love this game for throwing up these kinds of scenarios. Where would we be without it <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

probably interacting with the rest of society

flipsix3

Seriously quality piece of short story writing. As Stuart says, the ability of these games to throw up the opportunity for such tales is fantastic, especially if people are prepared to look beyond their own team, or beyond their career story.

:thup: