Bilel Moshni
Position Defender Age 28
Nationality Tunisian Club Unattached
On the 31st May earlier this year, Bilel Moshni
made a name for himself, but not in the most desirable manner for a footballer.
In what turned out to be his final match for Rangers, Moshni reacted to
Motherwell striker, Lee Erwin, who pushed the tall-Tunisian in the back, with a
flurry of aggression and a lot more hits than Floyd Mayweather landed on Manny
Pacquiao. Consequently, Moshni was sent off, caused quite the stir in the
media, received a seven-match ban from the SFA and his marching orders from
Scottish Football as Rangers let him go. This was rubberstamped by his agent
who said his client’s career in “British football is over.”
To think this was Moshni’s only moment of madness is a
moment of madness in itself. His first move into English football was with
Southend. In his debut season, he was sent off three times and that prompted
then manager Paul Sturrock to say Moshni “was walking foul with his
ill-discipline.”
If his first impressions weren’t telling enough, he heightened them in the second season with The Shrimpers. In the 2011/12 season, he didn’t show up for the whole of Southend’s pre-season. Why? Because he thought he was better than the League One outfit and wanted to join a bigger club. West Ham were interested and did offer him a trial but their transfer bid for too low for Southend’s liking.
Instead, Moshni went back to Southend to get his head down
and start playing football again. 27 minutes into his big return, he was sent
off for a high challenge. After a brief loan spell at Ipswich and 62
appearances for Southend, Moshni made the move up-north to Scotland to join
Rangers in 2013.
Rangers knew of Moshni’s terrible disciplinary record yet
still took a gamble on the Tunisian international. However, Moshni was Moshni and
in a pre-season game with Derby County, he was sent off for performing a
WWE-style flying head-butt on Rams’ striker Chris Martin. The SFA reacted
angrily and suspended him for two domestic matches.
When he finally got to represent Rangers in a competitive
league game, he didn’t receive a single yellow or red card for the rest of the
season. Only joshing, he was charged with violent conduct and banned for a
further three matches when he got into an altercation with Hibs defender Liam
Fontaine. A glittering domestic career, thus far!
Perhaps the achievement and the immense pride of putting on
your nation’s jersey would instil some self-control and responsibility? Sadly not. He was brought into the Tunisian
squad for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations but after the opening match in which
he was an unused sub, he stormed out the dressing room and had to deny that he
was going to leave the squad and just focus on a pre-season at a new club where
he can happily be charged with violent conduct and pick up red cards as he
pleases. Allegedly.
But, give credit to the man, he has just been offered a
three-year £1m deal with Club Africain in his home-country to keep referees
busy as a bustle of Moshni’s best Street Fighter combinations.
