Tbh mate this isn't a debate around Johnsons footballing ability, nobody can deny that he was class at football if a little inconsistent. Coeus is abcolutely right when he says that it was very well known that he was a wrongun and a shit person by not only those in footballig circles but by most with even a passing interest in the off field side of the game, I mean Jesus Christ even I knew. I doubt anybody could have guessed just how much of a wrongun he would turn out to be, but at the very least it was obvious that he wouldn't be having a positive impact on our behind the scenes issues and would engrain the problems further. O'Neil either knew that or suffered from some form of brain damage given his position in the game. The question was do you risk those problems for such a talented player on the field, O'Neil and the majority of fans/the football world said yes.
The damage that signing did to our club and reputation is bigger than anything anybody has done here positive or negative since Porterfields goal against Leeds. We will be known as the club that hid a nonce, tried to cover up for him, and a fan base that proudly sang his name, amongst fans in the uk for the 2 generations.
I'll tell you point blank, because I actually know it's facts so I'm not scared of the 'libel' that people hide behind. He used to see prostitutes regularly, manipulate the young lasses that worked as hostesses in nightclubs and tell them he could get them into modelling if he could pay them to spend the night with him, there's the Katie Price thing that has been brought up but he was also involved with other c list lasses and models that liked 'dates' on the side, Kim Marsh from Corrie for a start, he was partial to the smell of a certain powder, and went out on the piss whenever he could, add to that we now know he used to go home and watch animals fuck people then it can be defined by odd. If I had a mate that behaved like that I'd certainly call him odd too. I know this because I've been told first hand by those that managed the clubs he went to. The bloke used to get a thrill out of feeling like he 'owned' people, that can look like a daft lad playing billy big bollocks on a big salary from the outside, but then again these aren't my words. This post will probably be deleted but I don't care.
Even the sky coverage on SSN on the day we signed him mentioned "hopefully it's time for Johnson to start a fresh and leave his problems in Manchester and concentrate on getting back to his best for England".
All this is discounting everything that happened since.