Steven MacLean: Plymouth Argyle will forever rue doing £500k club-record Cardiff City deal | OneFootball

The signing of Steven MacLean for £500k was one to forget for Plymouth Argyle.

Steven MacLean's club-record move to Plymouth Argyle in January 2008 certainly didn't pay dividends, as his time at the club was short, and not very sweet.

The striker completed a move to Home Park from Cardiff City for a fee reportedly worth £500k, which at the time became the record fee paid for a player by the Devon-based outfit.

This sort of fee was met with big expectations from the Green Army, but it simply wouldn't work out how either party would've hoped, and the Scotsman would go down as one of the biggest flops in their recent history.

The mere utterance of MacLean's name to a Plymouth supporter will still send shudders down their spines to this day, as memories of his goalscoring antics, or lack there of, summed up a disastrous stint on the pitch for the whole club.

Steven MacLean arrived at Plymouth Argyle with great pedigree

Before his arrival at Home Park midway through the 2007-08 Championship campaign, MacLean had posted a very solid record in English football, and had a great pedigree behind him to back this up.

The forward came through the ranks at Scottish giants Rangers, making three senior appearances, whilst also representing the Scotland under-21s international side in the early days of his career at Ibrox.

His first loan move came to Third Division (League One) Scunthorpe United in the 2003-04 season, and would be a huge success, as he netted 25 goals for the Iron, which caught the eye of other clubs in the EFL.

This time, MacLean was rewarded with a permanent move to the English third tier, signing for Sheffield Wednesday for a fee reportedly worth around £125k, which would turn out to be worth every penny for the Owls.

Over his three-year stint at Hillsborough, the ex-Rangers star scored 35 goals in 90 appearances in all competitions, including 18 League One goals in his first season at the club, helping them to promotion to the Championship.

2007 would mark the end of his time in Yorkshire, as he moved to Cardiff after failing to agree a new deal at Wednesday, which would begin the decline of MacLean's decline.

It took the Scot just six months to fall out of favour in South Wales, and he found himself on the chopping block come January 2008, which saw Championship rivals Plymouth swoop for his services in a deal worth £500k, which was a club-record fee at the time.

Several key departures had left Argyle in turmoil, and the hopes and expectations of the Green Army rested on MacLean as they tried to continue their solid first-half of the campaign.

However, this wouldn't be the case, as the West Country side somewhat stalled out and limped home for a tenth-place finish, with their new record signing scoring just three goals in 17 Championship outings.

The next campaign wouldn't be much better, as the club's record-breaking forward netted just two times in 21 league matches, and was told by manager Paul Sturrock that he was free to find a new club, as he struggled to gel with the team, and displayed attitude issues.

Loan spells at Aberdeen and Oxford United followed before he finally joined Yeovil Town permanently in July 2011, bringing to an end a miserable three-and-a-half-year partnership with the Pilgrims, who'd just suffered back-to-back relegations.

To list MacLean as one of the biggest flops in Plymouth's recent history wouldn't be harsh, with him not repaying the big money the club splashed on him, and his falling out with the Green Army making the transfer a complete nightmare for all involved.