Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan has expressed his regret for signing former Nigerian international Ade Akinbiyi in the past.
Jordan, who was in charge of Crystal Palace between 2000 and 2010, admitted that he wasted his money and time on Akinbiyi, branding him as ‘useless’.
He signed Akinbiyi in his second year in charge of the Eagles.
However, the England-born Nigerian forward never lived up to his £2.2 million price tag.
Akinbiyi, now 49 years old, scored just three goals in 24 appearances for Crystal Palace during his time at the Premier League club.
“Ade Akinbiyi was a bad buy. He just was useless. I wasted my time and money, and he wasted his own time. The reality is how weak one can be when one says ‘I don’t want to do this’ and is worn down by the processes of the manager, eventually knowing something is wrong but you continually do it and then you are surprised by the outcome,” Jordan said in quotes revealed by TalkSport.
“It was on the player, it was on the manager, and it was on me. I should have said no, but the problem is when you are the owner of a football club you have to back him or sack him.
“I’m in a situation where this is my champion and he says he wants him. This guy looks bleeding useless to me and is going to cost me a fortune. I was looking at the boat he was buying thinking ‘I could buy that boat if I wasn’t buying that club-footed clown that I know isn’t going to be of any use to me.’
“And that’s what I ended up doing, and so he proved to be. I got neither the boat nor a decent player.”
Akinbiyi made just one senior appearance for the Super Eagles during his playing days.
I wasted my money, time – Ex-Crystal Palace owner, Jordan regrets signing ex-Nigerian forward
