Features

Famous football U-turns

Author: Lynda Collins
Date: 28/09/2009
Football betting

Sol Campbell quit Notts County five weeks into a five-year contract this week, but he is not the first footballer to have a quickfire change of mind

The former England defender made just one appearance for the Magpies before deciding that life in League Two was not for him.

County remain the sportsbook favourites to win the League Two title this season courtesy of their deep pockets.

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But which other players have headed for the exit door in double-quick time?

Dietmar Hamann

Not only did the Germany midfielder leave Bolton Wanderers soon after signing for them from Liverpool, but he headed off to Manchester City without even playing a game for the Trotters.

Rumour has it that Hamann spent less than one day at Bolton before deciding the Reebok Stadium wasn't for him and agreed to pay the club £400,000 in compensation to take up an offer from City.

Clive Allen

Arsenal paid Queens Park Rangers £1.25million to sign the teenager in summer 1980.

However, less than two months later he was on his way to Crystal Palace as part of the deal which took full-back Kenny Sansom to the Gunners.

Allen didn't make a single competitive appearance for Arsenal but ironically went on to acquire legendary status at north London rivals Tottenham

David Unsworth

Aston Villa paid West Ham £3million for the defender in 1998 only to sell him for the same amount four weeks later.

Unsworth never played a competitive game for Villa but did manage to crock new team-mate Dwight Yorke during pre-season training.

Stories at the time suggested that Unsworth's wife became unhappy when she discovered that Birmingham was further away from her native Liverpool than she realised.

Marco Boogers

Boogers joined West Ham in a £750,000 from Sparta Rotterdam in July 1995 but lasted only one-and-a-half games at Upton Park.

His second appearance came as a substitute against Manchester United where he lasted just minutes on the pitch after a horror challenge on Gary Neville.

The Dutch striker left England shortly afterwards and his career quickly nosedived into obscurity.

Per Kroldrup

The Danish defender arrived at Everton from Italian side Udinese in a big-money move in June 2005.

He promptly left Goodison Park bound for Fiorentina soon after having made just one first-team appearances.

Legend has it that manager David Moyes discovered during training that the 6ft 5in defender just couldn't head the ball.

Joey Beauchamp

West Ham broke their club record to sign Beauchamp for £1.2million from Oxford United in 1994 but he left to join Swindon Town 58 days later for a cut-price £800,000.

The commute from his hometown to east London just didn't seem to agree with the midfielder.

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