When Gianluca Vialli signed Gabriele Ambrosetti in 1999 and
immediately proclaimed him the 'Italian Ryan Giggs', it evoked memories
of an equally amusing quote made by a Chelsea manager; namely that of
John Hollins when he signed Hamilton Academicals'
John McNaught and
swiftly informed the press that he had signed a player who bore
significant comparisons to Liverpool's Jan Molby.Unfortunately for the
Chelsea supporters, Hollins was, not for the first or last time during
his managerial reign, totally wrong, for although
McNaught possessed the
same formidable build as the Liverpool man, he had none of the Dane's
subtlety on the field of play.
The £80,000 signing made his debut as a
substitute in an astonishing last match of the 1985/86 season when a
Chelsea side featuring eight
Scottish players - not that this was in any
way a factor - were beaten 5-1 at home by Watford. In truth, the team
for the Watford game was
severely depleted and included a 16-year-old
novice in goal.
br/>
Chelsea actually finished in sixth spot at the end of
that campaign but they were
an entirely different prospect the following
season. McNaught was an early beneficiary of Chelsea's poor start,
being given his first start in a League Cup tie at York which the Blues
lost 1-0. He kept his place for the return match and created a goal for
Kevin McCallister as Chelsea
> ran out 3-0 winners but he was soon back in
the reserves as he failed to convince in an appalling side that were
bottom of the table at Christmas.
A three-match winning run from Boxing
Day to New Years Day culminated in John's finest match for Chelsea as
his two-goal salvo - both excellent
finishes past David Seaman - set up a
3-1 triumph for the Blues against QPR, but he was dropped after a
defeat at Luton two days later and was
selected for just one more match
prior to the season's end.
An appearance at Manchester United, where he
was credited in some quarters with
Chelsea's goal in a 3-1 defeat (more
impartial observers suggested that United's goalkeeper, Gary Walsh, was
the actual scorer), proved to be
his last for the club. John's bustling,
combative style had led to disciplinary problems: his 34 appearances
for Chelsea's first and reserve teams
had seen him accrue two red and
eleven yellow cards and included a tunnel brawl after a match against
Arsenal reserves when he reacted to a
jibe from the father of one of the
Gunners' young players. Frustrated by his inability to break back into
the first team and beset by personal difficulties,
McNaught walked out
on Chelsea in the autumn of 1987, returning to Scotland and initially
working as a nightclub doorman before resurfacing for a
>brief spell at
Partick Thistle once Chelsea had reluctantly agreed to terminate his
contract.
His stay at Firhill lasted a matter of months before he
returned to Hamilton, where he was hugely popular, late in the 1987/88
season. Sadly, his second spell with the Accies was to be curtailed
within weeks of the start of the 1988/89 campaign as he was forced to
retire from football as a result of a blood disorder which had caused
him serious
kidney problems.
A kidney transplant followed in the
early 1990s but in June 1997, having apparently returned to good health,
he passed away suddenly and
unexpectedly at the tragically young age of
32. (Kelvin Barker)
|