Leeds United made a string of big monetary and switch missteps within the run-up to their 2004 relegation, with it largely guilty for the way their keep within the Premier League ended.
David O’Leary had constructed a sensible staff able to competing on the prime finish of the desk, they usually had been a constant fixture in European soccer.
Is Seth Johnson’s Leeds’ worst ever signing?
No
Yes
So when he added Seth Johnson to his ranks, it appeared like one other piece of the puzzle falling into place.
Signed as a younger midfielder with an eye fixed on each the current and the long run, a £7m payment was massive on the time.
There was a perception that in time he would greater than repay this price ticket, nevertheless, accidents struck.
The 42-year-old suffered all through his time at Elland Road, and regardless of being on the membership for 4 years, he solely managed to play 58 occasions.
He value the membership £120k per look, and regardless of a median return of four objectives and six assists, by no means actually acquired entering into Yorkshire.
To add insult to damage, the one-cap England worldwide could be released 11 months early on a free switch on the finish of his depressing profession for Leeds.
His stint on the membership is broadly thought to be one of many worst items of enterprise in Premier League historical past, particularly given how he oversaw the autumn from a fifth-place end in his first season, to relegation simply three years later.
Speaking out on his time taking part in for the Whites, Johnson opened up on how accidents turned his dream transfer into fairly the other.
He said: “I’d never really been injured before then, but I think I had seven or eight operations within four years. It was just a nightmare, I could never get a run of games going.”
As irritating and unlucky as it might have been, the very fact of the matter was that he was a large flop for Leeds.
For the cash he spent, O’Leary acquired little to no return on what appeared like a promising coup at first.
The £7k-per-week Johnson will eternally be remembered as one in every of many large blunders that contributed to the situations surrounding their relegation. He was a actually terrible signing.