By Jack Cranmer

The story of Ali Dia is one of the most infamous in football history. A non-league Senegalese forward who conned then-Southampton manager Graeme Souness into gifting him a sole English Premier League appearance after a friend duped the Rangers legend into believing he was Liberian legend George Weah over a phone call.

This occurred in November of 1996, but just like their claims of inventing football, the original story happened North of the border in Scotland at Greenock Morton.

In February of 1996 the Cappielow side were without long-serving goalkeeper David Wylie due to suspension. Then manager Alan McGraw was forced to turn to his understudy – Cameroonian keeper Andre Boe.

Signed in late August of 1995, after leaving French side Le Mans, or so he claims, the big stopper appeared for the Ton’s reserve side prior to Halloween that year, in a 2-2 draw with Dumbarton where he “palmed a cross into his own net.”

He would also keep net in a reserve win over Queen’s Park the following matchday, receiving praise from McGraw who claimed he would give a “spur” to Wylie and that “the competition between them has brought out the best in him.”

He would make his first-team debut against the same opposition, in February of 1996, 30 years ago this month, after Wylie’s red card against Montrose in a Scottish Cup defeat the prior week. The eccentric stopper kept a clean sheet against a Sons side rooted to the foot of the table.

He was reported to have “rushed off his line with reckless abandon” in match reports from the game, “standing on the centre circle and waving to the crowd” during Morton attacks and produced a performance which “ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous.”

Despite his antics, Morton won the match through goals from Derek Lilley and Alan Mahood.

Mahood, reflecting on his time with the Cameroon stopper said: “He was very eccentric and loved to play up to the crowd and, if we were attacking, he would be virtually standing on the halfway line.

“I think Davie was suspended and that’s how Andre made his debut, he had been the regular goalkeeper for years without really being pushed, so everybody was expecting a battle for the No.1 spot.”

Despite Wylie’s return from suspension for the following Tuesday’s trip to face Dundee United at Tannadice, McGraw opted to stick with his showboating stopper – and it would prove to be a regrettable decision.

He would concede four in the first half as Morton lost ground on promotion rivals and would again lose four in his final outing against Dunfermline the following weekend to end his short spell in Inverclyde.

“We played Dundee United away on the Tuesday after that and he kept his place. We lost 4–0 and many fans to this day still say that was the game that cost us heavily,” said Mahood, reflecting on the match with United.

Referred to by many Morton fans as their worst ever goalkeeper, how did a player reported in the press at the time as a 62-times capped Cameroon international, World Cup squad member in 1990 and the winner of the 1988 African Footballer of the Year perform so badly in Scottish second tier football?

The answer is simply that none of it appears to be true.

He was certainly capped by The Indomitable Lions – he has the ignominy of being the first goalkeeper to concede to Gabon in a world cup qualifier when Régis Manon scored past him in 1989 – but sources suggest he only earned up to five caps – nowhere close to the 60+ reported in the press and claimed by Boe at the time.

The Cameroonian FA were approached for comment but did not respond to confirm an exact number of caps.

He was not a member of the 1990 World Cup squad for Cameroon – Joseph-Antoine Bell, Thomas N’Kono and Jacques Songo’o were the trio taken to Italia 90 – with Boe left watching from his living room at home.

As for the claim, made by his then-boss McGraw about him being the 1988 African FotY, that may have flown in the mid-90’s before easily accessible internet – but now one Google search will inform you that the award was won by Brugge and Zambia forward Kalusha Bwalya – not Boe.

One theory flouted by Ton’s fans online is that McGraw liked him personally – and despite his obvious deficiencies kept him under contract to help him earn citizenship in Britain.

Indeed, his claims to the press about “bribing border guards” and hiding “from the police” before making it to Morton would suggest his employment at the club was needed to secure his future on these shores.

This citizenship would allow him to make his move to English non-league side Mossley following his spell in Scotland.

However, his spell South of the border was not antic-free either. Boe headed off for a match with fellow non-league outfit Wembley FC separate from his teammates – and turned up with gloves and boots at Wembley Stadium.

Wembley club secretary spoke of his antics following this initial gaffe and said: “A few weeks later we told Andre to meet us at Sudbury Station in Suffolk. Andre turned up at Sunbury which is miles away.

“Next up came a case where Andre turned up in Woking instead of Guildford. When he turned up at 8.10pm for a 7.45 kick-off we had had enough.”

“He could bring a tear to your eye at times. We tried to explain four-letter words to him and after one match when the fans were swearing at him he said, ‘what lovely gentlemen they are’.”

Like Dia, he quickly disappeared off the footballing map after his five-minutes of fame – he would never grace the turf at Cappielow again, but he is still remembered to this day as one of the most intriguing, confusing but entertaining signings the club ever made.

But despite the drama and deception – he appeared to be a man-about-town in Greenock and was well-liked by the locals, despite his less than stellar performances on the park and doubts about his veracity – with Mahood commenting that while he did not socialize with him that “he was a regular in a few local establishments,” and that “he enjoyed his time in Greenock.”

A story akin to that of Dia or the infamous Carlos Kaiser – and one that in this modern age of social media and instant search results would not fly. Boe is truly of a bygone era where foreign imports were a mystery to the ordinary fan without access to YouTube highlight reels and readily available stats – and you never quite knew what you were going to get.