The finest transfer bust- ups
Heard the one about the club whose owners keep getting assassinated? Roll up, roll up...
DAVE BASSETT’S LEAGUE OF CA TS
When Pierre van Hooijdonk left a club, he generally didn’t go quietly. A spell at Celtic ended acrimoniously after a wage dispute – the Dutchman was quoted as saying that £ 7,000 a week “may be good enough for the homeless, but not for an international striker”. He later claimed he was misquoted, but things were no calmer when he joined Nottingham Forest. After the East Midlands side reneged on a promise to let him leave after promotion, the angry frontman went on strike amid dissatisfaction at boss Dave Bassett. “We were doing f** k all in training,” he later told FFT. “People say we became champions, but so what? It’s about players as well. If you were to change all of the managers in the league for cats, there will still be one champion and three clubs will get relegated. Does that mean the cat who is champion is fantastic and the three who got relegated are s** t?” Er, quite…
MISS WORLD’S FUR COA T
George Best’s final 18 months at Manchester United were somewhat turbulent. First, the Northern Irishman announced his retirement in 1972, aged 26, then changed his mind – only to be suspended and transfer- listed by Reds boss Frank O’farrell soon afterwards, for persistent partying. Best retired for a second time, then changed his mind for a second time, before things imploded spectacularly midway through United’s relegation season. He refused to feature for the club ever again after being dropped by Tommy Docherty in January 1974, after missing training to go on a three- day bender. Weeks later, Best was arrested for stealing a fur coat from Miss World, although he was quickly cleared. This time, though, his decision to quit United was permanent, and he signed for South African side Jewish Guild.
THE ORIGINAL JEAN- MARC BOSMAN
In 1959, player power wasn’t really a thing – as George Eastham found out. Complaining that the house Newcastle had put him up in was barely habitable, Eastham refused to ink a new contract and requested a transfer. It didn’t go well: the Magpies immediately stopped paying him, and employment law meant they kept his registration beyond the end of his deal, too. Eastham earned some cash by becoming a cork salesman, before Newcastle relented months later and sold him to Arsenal. He then took the Magpies to court and won, prompting a change in the regulations. Bad news for Mike Ashley – just think of all the money he could have saved.
“DO I W ANNA GO HULL CITY? NO!”
It seems hard to believe now, but just a few years ago, England international strikers got annoyed if they couldn’t join Sunderland. Darren Bent’s final months at Spurs weren’t entirely happy. First, he squandered a sitter against Portsmouth, prompting boss Harry Redknapp to claim that ‘ even his missus’ would have buried it. Daniel Levy promptly dragged his heels over a summer move to Wearside, amid interest from other clubs – Bent’s cue to flip his lid in a glorious Twitter diatribe. “Seriously getting pissed off now,” seethed the forward. “Do I wanna go Hull City NO. Do I wanna go Stoke NO. Do I wanna go Sunderland YES, so stop f** king around, Levy.” Sandra wouldn’t have typed that...
WORKIN’ AT THE CAR W ASH
Would you carry out menial cleaning tasks using garments from a World Cup winner? Well, ex- Spurs owner Alan Sugar certainly wouldn’t. Jurgen Klinsmann was a success at Tottenham after arriving from Monaco in 1994, but just a year later he was off again – activating a timely get- out clause after Spurs finished seventh and lost 4- 1 to Everton in the FA Cup semi- finals. The Beetle- loving German striker said he’d give Sugar a signed shirt by way of compensation – but when it was presented to Spurs’ owner during a TV interview, the future Apprentice overlord lobbed it straight back at his rather bashful interviewer. “I wouldn’t wash my car with it,” Sugar infamously declared. Two years on, though, he swallowed his pride and signed Klinsmann for a second stint.
THE IMMOVABLE OBJECT
Winston Bogarde had been at Chelsea for only a matter of weeks when the Stamford Bridge outfit decided he needed to go. There was just one problem: he didn’t want to. The Dutchman had arrived in west London from Barcelona in August 2000, amid conflicting reports about whether boss Gianluca Vialli actually had any say in his signing. Vialli was soon sacked, and new gaffer Claudio Ranieri immediately made the defender surplus to requirements – but Bogarde refused to leave until his deal expired four years later. “Why should I throw € 15 million away when it’s already mine?” he asked, with sound logic. “At the moment I signed, it was my money.” Bogarde made just one appearance in his final three- and- a- half seasons at the club, with a 21- minute cameo against Gillingham.
LIKE A HOUSE ON FIRE
You just don’t aggravate Cerro Porteno fans – Paraguayan Carlos Gamarra found that out the hard way. Having begun his career with Cerro and later played abroad with Benfica, Atletico and Inter, things went badly indeed for him when he returned to Paraguay at the age of 35. After teasing an emotional return to Cerro in 2007, Gamarra ended up joining their arch- enemies Olimpia instead – leading to apoplectic Cerro fans attempting to set his house on fire. Possibly a slight overreaction.
BERBA KIDNAPPED
When ambitious Bulgarian team Velbazhd Kyustendil attempted to sign a young Dimitar Berbatov from CSKA Sofia, they didn’t go for the conventional method. Instead, several unsavoury associates of club owner Georgi Iliev kidnapped the goal- getter and tried to persuade him to join. “It was late at night, they took me to some place and there was a guy talking s** t to me,” Berbatov later told
FFT. “I was thinking, ‘ What the f** k? Where am I?’ This was probably the biggest mafia guy in Bulgaria. It was frightening.” Luckily, they eventually let Berbatov leave and the forward stayed put at CSKA Sofia. Iliev soon merged Kyustendil with Lokomotiv Plovdiv but was killed by a sniper in 2005, following in the footsteps of previous Plovdiv owners Georgi Kalapatirov ( shot through the heart), Georgi Prodanov ( killed in a car crash after his brakes were slashed), Peter Pesho- Petrov ( gunned down at his front door) and Nikolai Popov ( bludgeoned to death). The man who succeeded Iliev, Aleksandar Tasev, was also assassinated. Nothing like job security.
NEUER TAKES UP PUPPETRY
Manuel Neuer is admired around the world – but in Gelsenkirchen... well, not so much. The revered goalkeeper rose to fame in five years with hometown club Schalke, assuming the captaincy at 24 and leading Die Knappen to the Champions League semi- finals in 2011. That, however, made it all the more painful when Neuer refused to sign a new deal and joined Bayern Munich with 12 months left on his contract. Schalke’s miffed supporters have branded him ‘ Judas’ ever since, and unveiled a banner outlining their displeasure when he returned to the Veltins- Arena with Die Roten that year. “We mourn the loss of M Neuer – 2005 to 2011 – risen again as a characterless puppet,” it guffawed.
GEOGRAPHY WITH SA VAGE
Robbie Savage spent two- and- a- half happy years with Birmingham, but then Blackburn came calling – managed by his hero Mark Hughes. Sav promptly submitted a written transfer request, explaining that he wanted to be nearer his family in Wrexham – only for David Sullivan to publicly point out that Birmingham was in fact a few miles closer to Wrexham than Blackburn. The midfielder had one desperate, last- ditch option left at his disposal. “To go onto a football pitch and not try – it was a preconceived thing and I’m ashamed of it really,” he revealed about his final Birmingham game against Newcastle. He joined Rovers a fortnight later.
THE UNFRIENDLY FRIENDLY
Jorge Cadete’s time with Portuguese giants Sporting came to an unhappy conclusion in 1996: out of favour after Carlos Queiroz replaced Bobby Robson as boss, he was sold to Celtic. Cadete became a hero at Parkhead, only for things to go wrong again when he joined Van Hooijdonk and Paolo Di Canio by forcing his way out of the club over a wage dispute. The Portugal frontman refused to return for pre- season and was then sold to Celta Vigo – making it all the more awkward months later when Celtic finally travelled to play Sporting in a friendly, agreed as part of the original deal to sign Cadete. Amid chatter that some of the gate receipts might go to the player, and both sets of fans no longer on good terms with the marksman, only 600 people turned up to watch the match at the 60,000- capacity stadium.
SCHALKE FANS UNFURLED A BANNER THAT CALLED NEUER A ‘ CHARACTERLESS PUPPET’ WHEN HE RETURNED IN 2011
CLOUGHIE LASHES OUT
Brian Clough and Peter Taylor were one of the best managerial double acts in history, but things turned very sour over the transfer of John Robertson in June 1983. The Scot had helped Nottingham Forest win back- to- back European Cups, but was soon lured to rivals Derby when Taylor took over as manager at the Baseball Ground. Clough branded Taylor “a snake in the grass” as the transfer went to a tribunal, and the pair never spoke again – even though Robertson returned to Forest for a second spell just two years later.
“DEAR GAFFER, I’M OFF”
There’s a time and place to lodge a transfer request – and in the dressing room straight after the last game of a season probably isn’t it. Still, that’s what Pascal Chimbonda chose to do after an impressive debut campaign in the Premier League with Wigan – the Latics had just lost 4- 2 at Arsenal in the last ever game at Highbury in 2006, when the full- back produced a written transfer request that he had reportedly hidden inside his sock. “I was speechless,” said boss Paul Jewell, who had awarded Chimbonda a fresh four- year deal only months earlier. The Frenchman moved to Spurs that summer.
MO CHOCOLATE, MO PROBLEMS
It takes a special kind of transfer to upset both sets of supporters involved in the move – but Mo Johnston achieved exactly that. The forward scored more than 50 goals for Celtic before joining Nantes in 1987, only to come home two years later and join… Rangers. The Gers broke their own unwritten rule to seal the deal – they hadn’t recruited high- profile Catholics since the start of the 20th century. Celtic fans were livid and a section of Rangers fans weren’t best pleased, burning scarves in protest. Even the club’s kitman got involved, withholding chocolate bars from the Scotland international. There can surely be no greater symbolic protest. “You’ll get one when you’ve done something to earn it,” said the kitman, largely in jest. Things changed when Johnston scored in an Old Firm game against Celtic – suddenly, he had all the treats he could eat.
WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY
We’re not sure what it was about poor Paul Jewell, but he didn’t seem to have much luck with wantaway players. After Chimbonda at Wigan, he then watched Tyrone Mears take a bizarre escape route from Derby. Or rather, he didn’t. Mears had just been part of the Rams squad that picked up a record low 11 Premier League points in 2007- 08, but that didn’t stop French behemoths Marseille from offering the defender a two- day trial. Mears was so keen to leave Derby that he climbed through a window at their training ground and crawled past Jewell’s office to collect his boots, before heading south and sneaking across the Channel unnoticed. His club was understandably incensed, but a loan switch was eventually completed.
GUNNING FOR TROUBLE
Things were inevitably going to be difficult for Sol Campbell when he quit Tottenham to join Arsenal in 2001 – but even he probably didn’t expect what happened next. Sol’s decision to join the Gunners on a Bosman resulted in his mobile phone number being spread around internet message boards, sparking a flurry of abusive calls. There was worse to come, too, when one irate fan strung up an effigy of the England man on a noose outside White Hart Lane. In the 19 years since, Arsenal have not signed a single former Spurs player.
BABY PAINS
Do you remember when Rafael van der Vaart represented Valencia? Nope, us neither. The Dutch playmaker was set to join the Spanish side from Hamburg in 2007, though, and even posed with a Los Che shirt. But then he pulled out of a UEFA Cup match, explaining that he had hurt himself while lifting his one- year- old son. Hamburg smelled a rat, believing he just wanted to avoid being cup tied, and refused to let him move to Mestalla – the saga was dubbed ‘ Van der Farce’ in the German media. But perhaps most surprising of all: there really was a time when people refused to believe that Van der Vaart was injured.
CLOUGH BRANDED TAYLOR, HIS LONG- TIME ASSISTANT, A “SNAKE IN THE GRASS” – THEY NEVER SPOKE AGAIN
A DIVINE RIOT
When the iconic Roberto Baggio was sold to Juventus weeks after he’d starred for Italy at the 1990 World Cup, it’s fair to say Fiorentina fans were a bit upset. OK, extremely upset: what actually happened was a full- scale riot in the city of Florence, with 50 people injured. Fiorentina received a world record £ 8m fee for the sale – they likely needed most of it to repair the damage done to the city’s streets.
“GUN? WHAT GUN?”
Suffice to say, it was a surprise when reports suggested mild- mannered N’golo Kante had become embroiled in a gun dispute after his £ 32m transfer to Chelsea from Leicester in 2016. French website Mediapart claimed that a row ensued between his different advisors regarding the £ 4m commission, with Houari Saadna on tape saying he’d kill Abdelkarim Douis if the midfielder didn’t fire him. Kante admitted that a “discussion” had taken place, but everyone involved denied wrongdoing. “I’m a football professional – I do not live in a world of thugs,” insisted a bemused Kante.
OWN GOALS AND GAFFES
There was aggro aplenty when Ashley Cole and William Gallas swapped teams in 2006. First, Cole nearly crashed his car in shock after learning that Arsenal were ready to offer him only £ 55,000 per week, then he was caught meeting Chelsea without permission. Gallas’ move was no less controversial – particularly after Chelsea released a cutting statement that slated the defender after his departure. “Before the opening game of the season, he refused to play,” they revealed. “He went on to threaten that if he was forced to play, or if he was disciplined and financially punished, that he could score an own goal, get himself sent off or make deliberate mistakes.” It was a statement that sent Gallas mad, and he still hadn’t calmed down when he spoke to FFT years later. “I never said I’d score an own goal,” he insisted. “It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
THE CRUYFF U- TURN
His bamboozling move became a legendary World Cup moment, but Johan Cruyff may not even have played in 1974 after a transfer rumpus. Infuriated by losing out on the Ajax captaincy in 1973, Cruyff’s instruction to his agent was very simple: “Get me out of here.” He attracted Real Madrid and Barcelona, but rejected Los Blancos by declaring they were “a fascist club”. The Dutch FA threatened to block his move to Barça, though, following encouragement from Ajax. Cruyff vowed to boycott the World Cup, before the KNVB relented. Things went well after that – until he boycotted the 1978 World Cup, at least.
THE DECAPITATION OF DEFOUR
Standard Liege and Anderlecht aren’t exactly pals, so Steven Defour’s decision to cross the divide was never going to sit well. No matter that the Belgian spent three years with Porto after becoming a firm fans’ favourite in Liege – when he returned home with Anderlecht, Reds supporters were incensed. Five months later, Defour lined up against Standard in Liege, where supporters unfurled a gigantic tifo spanning two tiers of the stadium – on it, a masked man wielding a machete and the midfielder’s head, alongside the words ‘ Red or Dead’. Defour took the ultimatum literally, booting a ball at fans and earning a red card, prompting visiting Anderlecht supporters to rip up seats and chuck them onto the pitch. A nice, calm afternoon then.
A PIG AND THE BLOND ARROW
Long before Luis Figo swapped Barça for Real Madrid and ended up being bombarded with pig’s heads, the rivals warred over Alfredo Di Stefano. The Argentine departed River Plate in 1949 to join Millonarios in Colombia’s rebel league, which was banned by FIFA. Madrid then agreed a transfer with Millonarios, while Barcelona arranged their own with River – the last FIFA- affiliated team to hold Di Stefano’s rights. To resolve the argument, FIFA came up with a bonkers plan for the marksman to alternate between both clubs each season. Regrettably, the idea didn’t come to fruition: Di Stefano began so poorly at Real that Barça quickly sold their half of the rights, and had to watch on as the Blond Arrow bagged five consecutive European Cups. Oops.