Ten Players Who decided to join their arch rivals!
(Yep he made the list!)
1) Steve Bull: West Brom to Wolves
The former England striker was born and bred in the West Midlands and became a Wolverhampton Wanderers hero, slamming in over 300 goals in 13 years at the club.But Bull, who netted four goals in 13 games for the Three Lions, cut his teeth at West Brom, where he did his apprenticeship and made his professional debut (replacing Garth Crooks in a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace).
When he was 20, in November 1986, Wolves bought him for £65,000 – oh how the Baggies must have kicked themselves!
2) Nick Barmby: Everton to Liverpool
The Tottenham trainee has a CV that reads like a Premier League who’s who – indeed, he is one of only five players to have netted for six different top division clubs – so loyalty, you would think, is not his strength.Mind you, the 35-year-old midfielder, capped 23 times for England, has been at current club Hull City for five years.
But earlier in his career – 2000 to be exact – he became the first player in over 40 years to cross Stanley Park from Everton to Liverpool. He had been bought from Middlesbrough aged 22, in 1995, and moved to the Toffees for £5.75m, a year after making his international bow.
Four seasons later he moved to Liverpool for £6m, though he only lasted two years at Anfield, scoring only twice.
3) Dave Hickson: Everton to Liverpool
The last man to “do a Barmby” was Dave Hickson, way back in 1959. The prolific striker, now 79, had to wait for World War Two to finish before he could make his debut for Everton, aged 19.Ellesmere Port-born Hickson stayed at the club for seven years in his first spell before moving Aston Villa and then Huddersfield before moving back to the Toffees in 1957.
Two years later, when he was 30, Hickson crossed to Liverpool, where he netted 37 goals in two seasons. He felt so bad that he later said: “I would have died for Everton, I would have broke every other bone in my body for any other club, that’s how I look at it, you know, if it was that much I would have died for this club.”
He still works as a tour guide at Goodison Park.
4) Peter Beardsley: Liverpool to Everton
The Geordie playmaker had travelled the opposite way to Hickson and Barmby in 1991 when Liverpool sold the then 30-year-old for £1m to Everton.Four years early the 59-cap forward had cost the Reds a British transfer record £1.9m.
Another player whose CV is cluttered with clubs – 11 in all – Beardsley famously never appeared for Manchester United, though was on their books as a 21-year-old. He later turned out for Manchester City, loaned out by Bolton in 1998.
5) Denis Law: Manchester United to Manchester City
One of Scotland’s greatest players, Law played with such flair and skill that Dennis Bergkamp’s father was moved to borrow his Christian name for his son – though he added in an extra ‘n’ by mistake.A wiry ginger forward, Law moved from Huddersfield to Maine Road aged 20, in 1960, and had two successful seasons at Manchester City before switching to Italian side Torino.
Then, in 1963, he transferred to Old Trafford where he enjoyed nine trophy-laden seasons. The 1964 European Footballer of the Year was handed a free transfer to City in the summer of 1973.
On the last day of the 1973-4 season his back-heel handed City a 1–0 win over United and – thinking his goal had relegated his old team – Law he did not celebrate. United would have been relegated even if it had been a draw, but Law did not know that at the time and looked so creast-fallen that he was immediately subbed off.
6) Sol Campbell: Tottenham to Arsenal
Tall centre-back Sulzeer Jeremiah made his professional debut for Spurs in 1992 as an 18-year-old and quickly became a crowd favourite at White Hart Lane.Nine years later, after playing for the Lilywhites over 250 times and captaining the side to League Cup glory in 1999, the Plaistow-born defender sparked a near riot when he moved over to Spurs’ north London rivals Arsenal.
Campbell moved on a free transfer and Spurs had offered a salary to stay that would have completely changed the wage system and made him easily the highest earner at the club. Also, in Spurs Monthly magazine, the 73-cap star had been quoted as saying that there would be no way he would ever play for Arsenal.
Even now, eight years later, the move still rankles – In January, four Tottenham supporters were banned from every football ground in England and Wales for three years after being found guilty of chanting an offensive song (containing homophobic and racist language) aimed at the Portsmouth player.
7) Pat Jennings: Tottenham to Arsenal
The Northern Irish goalkeeper, who won 119 caps for his country, spent 13 years at White Hart Lane, after joining from Watford in 1964.Spurs sold him to the Gunners in 1977, thinking that, at 32 he was near the end of his career. But he went on to play in the No1 jersey at Arsenal for another eight years and won the FA Cup in 1979.
8) Jermain Defoe: West Ham to Tottenham
Another player about as popular in the East End as the Luftwaffe, Jermain Defoe infamously slapped a transfer request in less than 24 hours after West Ham’s final day relegation from the Premier League in 2003.That he eventually wound up at Spurs only served to fan the flames further, ensuring that the pint-sized England striker is now greeted with the cheery refrain ‘You’re just a short Paul Ince’ every time he returns to E13.
9) Lee Clark: Newcastle to Sunderland
Newcastle born-and-bred, Clarke swapped the black and white stripes of the Toon for the red and white ones of local rivals Sunderland in 1997.A key part of the record-breaking promotion winning side of 1999, Clarke had just about won the sceptical Sunderland fans over when he was pictured at that season’s FA Cup Final between Manchester United and Newcastle wearing a t-shirt bearing the slogan ‘Sad Mackem Bastards’.
Funnily enough, he was transfer listed immediately, and never played for Sunderland again.
10) Liam Ridgewell: Aston Villa to Birmingham
The England Under-21 centre-back switched the claret and blue of Villa for Brum’s colours in 2007, after playnig nearly 80 times for the Villans.Ridgewell moved for £2m and in the process become the first player to transfer between the two cluns since Des Bremner in 1984. (Daily Mirror)
Good piece from The Mirror this one, brought back some old memories. Will Carlos Tevez’s likely move to Man City cause him to be a hated figure by his former fans?