Grimsby Town and Rangers shared bizarre player experience: View | OneFootball

Tunisian international defender Bilel Mohsni played for 16 different clubs across his 17-year career. However, he rarely stayed at any for too long, and his time with Grimsby Town and Scottish giants Rangers are memorable in particular for all the wrong reasons.

When Ian Holloway added centre-back Bilel Mohsni to his squad for the 2020/21 League Two campaign, the Mariners became the thirteenth club of the Tunisian's nomadic career. In-keeping with many other things happening at Grimsby Town at that time, his spell at Blundell Park was an unmitigated failure, as he became remembered more for off-field issues rather than those on it.

It's fair to say Mohsni was a journeyman, with a career path that saw him play for sides in seven different countries, starting in France before moving around for sporadic spells in England, Scotland, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Northern Ireland, and the nation he represented nine times internationally, Tunisia.

That's not to say he hasn't turned out for some notable clubs in that time, however, with the likes of Rangers, Ipswich Town, Dundee United, Étoile du Sahel, Southend United and, of course, Grimsby Town acquiring the aggressive defenders' services at one time or another, with vastly varying levels of success.

Mohsni was certainly a physical presence, with his aerial ability and committed attitude seeing him deployed as an emergency striker on occasion, particularly during his time with the Shrimpers, which turned out to probably be the most stable, lengthy, and arguably the best part of his time in the professional game.

Southend fans remember the Tunisian fondly as Mohsni gained cult hero style status at Roots Hall, scoring 18 goals across his 80 appearances at Southend between 2010 and 2013. It didn't work out that well elsewhere, however, and his time in North East Lincolnshire could be best described as farcical.

The 2020/21 season was a disastrous one for Grimsby. With supporters unable to attend games due to the coronavirus pandemic, Mariners fans watched on from home in dismay as their ill-equipped side buckled with regularity against their fourth-tier opponents, ultimately finishing bottom of the EFL and relegated to the National League.

The signing of Mohsni summed it up. The defender had been out of the game for some time following his departure from Greek club Panachaiki, but that didn't stop then manager Ian Holloway from snapping him up, alongside players from the seventh-tier of English football, who were all clearly well out of their depth at the Mariners' level.

Add to that the fact the club played just one pre-season friendly - against neighbours Cleethorpes Town - and you were left with a woefully unfit squad that was nowhere near the standard needed to compete. The writing was on the wall from the start for the shambolic nine months that followed.

Defender remembered for social media videos rather than performances

Mohsni only featured for Grimsby Town's first-team on one occasion, coming on as a substitute in an early season 4-0 home defeat at the hands of Salford City. The Parisian-born central defender was, like many of his teammates at that time, in fairness, not up to the job.

His absence from that point eventually led to questions over his fitness and abilities, and following a 5-0 November humbling at Tranmere Rovers, boss Holloway declared Mohsni had left the club as he looked to trim his squad. This wasn't the end of the story though, as the defender used his personal account on social media platform X to produce two somewhat bizarre videos, one denying he had left the club and would be present at the club's training ground. The other contained footage of the Tunisian putting himself through his paces on Cleethorpes beach.

Again, the uncertainty was symptomatic of a chaotic season for Grimsby Town, one that unsurprisingly led to the club dropping out of the Football League for the second time. Mohsni did depart the Mariners, joining National League side Barnet just 10 days after posting the above videos on X. He wouldn't stay with the Bees long either, lasting just a month and making three appearances for the London club.

Bilel Mohsni was certainly a fiery character. No stranger to having his name taken by referees, the Tunisian often found himself in hot water. Sent off no fewer than eight times (in competitive matches) during his time in British football - three of which came during his spell in Glasgow - he also saw red for headbutting Derby County striker Chris Martin during a 2014 pre-season friendly.

More infamously, however, was his antics during the Gers 2015 Premiership promotion play-off final second-leg against Motherwell at Fir Park. A skirmish between Mohsni and the hosts' striker Lee Erwin turned into a full-scale brawl as the former Southend man landed punches and kicks on Erwin and others who became involved as things turned nasty as Rangers lost out on promotion.

The incident made headlines across the British game, and was understandably Mohsni's final act in a Rangers shirt. Quickly released by the Glasgow giants following the culmination of his contract, the defender's agent told The Guardian, he expected his client's career in Britain to "be over" following the incident.

That turned out to not be quite accurate, as Mohsni later went on to briefly represent Dundee United, Grimsby, Barnet and Dungannon Swifts, and while the Tunisia international is likely to be well thought of by regulars at Roots Hall, supporters of some of his subsequent clubs certainly have different recollections of his time with them.