Bilel Mohsni believes that a seven match SFA almost ended his career.
The former Sevco defender lost the plot when Motherwell pumped the tribute act 6-1 on aggregate to deny Stuart McCall’s side a place in the Premiership.
At the final whistle Mohsni started punching out at Lee Erwin as another season of failure ended for the Ibrox club.
There was no new contract offer on the table for the one time Southend defender with the SFA going in hard with an additional three match ban for Mohsni’s third red card of the season.
After three seasons bouncing around the lower reaches of the game Mohsni has signed a short term deal for Dundee United which looks certain to end their outside hopes of promotion through the play-off’s.
Reflecting on the events at Fir Park he told The Sun: “Since May 31, 2015 I have had no luck at all in football, everything has gone wrong.
“I got seven matches and that really affected my career because I went to a team in France and seven games there is almost three months.
“It has hung over me, I went to France and that prevented me from playing.
“I was training every Saturday on my own and lost my place in the national team. I wasn’t playing so I didn’t get to the Africa Cup of Nations. What happened was a mistake and I know it was wrong, but they nearly banned me from football over it. I have never forgotten, it has always been on my mind.
“I didn’t think properly, I know that, and all the way from Glasgow to Paris in my car I knew I had made a big mistake. I thought to myself ‘Maybe football is over for me’.
“I was lucky to find a club in France but then they gave me the big ban and I couldn’t play.
“I had teams in the English Premier League wanting me but after what happened at Motherwell that was finished.
“Did what happened make me think twice about coming back to Scotland? No, I like the Scottish people and I like the football in this country.
“I am passionate, I love football and I love to win. I will be aggressive but it will be controlled — I won’t be fighting with anyone! The manager has told me what he wants and I hope to provide that.”
Dundee United are currently sitting in third place in the Championship, seven points behind Livingston with two games in hand.
Finishing second would mean that they would face four rather than six play-off matches to return to the top flight.