Nigeria: Former Owner Of Crystal Palace Regrets Signing Former Nigerian Striker, Ade Akinbiyi

By Onoja Baba, Abuja, Nigeria

Former Crystal Palace owner, Simon Jordan, has labelled the signing of Nigerian striker Ade Akinbiyi as the club’s worst ever.

During an interview on talkSPORT on Wednesday, Jordan openly expressed his regret, referring to Akinbiyi as a “bad buy” and lamenting the financial and emotional toll of the deal.

Jordan, who became the youngest chairman of a Football League club when he acquired Crystal Palace in 2000 at the age of 32, reflected on his decision-making during his decade-long tenure at Selhurst Park.

He noted that Akinbiyi, signed in 2002 for a then-substantial fee of £2.2 million from Leicester City, failed to meet expectations, managing only three goals in 24 appearances.

“Ade Akin Bad Buy [Akinbiyi]. He just was useless,” Jordan said bluntly. “I wasted my time and money, and he wasted his own time.”

Jordan explained that he felt pressured into signing Akinbiyi by then-manager Trevor Francis, despite his reservations.

“The reality is how weak one can be when one says, ‘I don’t want to do this,’ but is worn down by the processes of the manager,” he remarked, criticizing the decision to go through with the transfer.

When asked who was to blame for the failed signing, Jordan spread the responsibility across the board. “It was on the player, it was on the manager, and it was on me. I should’ve said no, but when you’re the owner of a football club, you either back the manager or sack him,” he explained.

Jordan recalled his frustration vividly, sharing a moment of regret during a trip to the south of France. “I was standing on the side of a pier next to Eddie Jordan, 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,” he said humorously. “I got neither the boat nor a decent player.