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Hated transfers

ESPN staff
August 19, 2011
Emmanuel Adebayor scored twice as Real Madrid knocked Tottenham out of the Champions League last year © Getty Images
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Unless Harry Redknapp is selling us down the river, which may well be the case, it would appear Emmanuel Adebayor - once of Arsenal - may soon by lining up in the white of Tottenham. Some Spurs fans are happy, "it makes sense" and "we need a striker" are phrases that spring to mind, but many will resent the sight of a once-hated Gunner striding out at White Hart Lane. As a result, we've come up with 10 more transfers that sparked anger among fans.

Luis Figo - Barcelona to Real Madrid
Imagine, just for a second, if you picked up your Friday morning paper and saw on the back page an image of Lionel Messi signing for Real Madrid. 11 years ago something close to the equivalent happened, when the darling of the Catalan public, Luis Figo, swapped Camp Nou for the Santiago Bernabeu. During his five years at Barcelona, Figo had grown from a talented 22-year-old kid into a fully fledged global star partially responsible for a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup triumph and back-to-back league titles. Madrid, though, were building the Galacticos, and Figo was their unlikely figurehead. "Pigs might fly" may have been the prediction of certain Barca fans when rumours of the transfer surfaced, but a £38 million switch did indeed stun the footballing world in 2000. The feeling of hatred between the two clubs' fans hit an all-time high, but the player was the focal point, and Barca fans let him know by tossing a pig's head at him during one Clasico encounter. Pigs did indeed fly, and so did Madrid for a number of years after, winning two league titles and a Champions League crown with Figo's expert help.

Nick Barmby - Everton to Liverpool
Nick Barmby is one of only five players to have scored for six different Premier League teams, but it was his transfer from Everton to Liverpool that caused more headlines than any other. For the first time since Dave Hickson in 1959, an Everton player was making the trip to their more illustrious Merseyside rivals, something no man had been brave enough to do in the previous 41 years. The chants of "Judas" were so loud that they could be heard well outside of Liverpool, prompting Reds boss Gerard Houllier to scoff, "he's not changing religion or something". In footballing terms, he was. Half a dozen players had swapped Liverpool for Everton, but there was an unwritten rule about exchanging blue for red, until Barmby. Kopites loved it of course, particularly as Barmby scored a spectacular header in his first Anfield Merseyside derby, amplifying the song sung by Liverpool fans, "he's red, he's white, we signed him from the s***e." A series of goals in Europe that season then helped Liverpool win the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup treble, although injury limited Barmby's role in two of those finals.

Gordan McQueen & Joe Jordan - Leeds to Manchester United
The White Rose-Red Rose rivalry between Leeds United and Manchester United burned brightest in the 1970s. By 1978, the patriarch figures of Don Revie and Matt Busby had departed their respective clubs and both were in reduced circumstances, though the Red Devils were back and challenging after a season in Division Two. Meanwhile, Leeds' old guard of players had departed the scene, and a club where attendances had never been comparable to their rivals needed to sell to buy. Two remnants of the late-Revie era were Scotland pairing Gordan McQueen and Joe Jordan, a defender and centre-forward hugely popular with fans. McQueen (£495,000) followed Jordan (£350,000) across the Pennines to sign for Dave Sexton's United, and insurrection became the order of the day at Elland Road, especially when McQueen said: "Ask all the players in the country which club they would like to play for and 99 % would say 'Manchester United'. The other 1% are liars." On their first return to their old club, both were booed, with McQueen, who had received hate-mail to his Leeds home, especially targeted. He responded with a headed goal.

William Gallas came back to haunt Arsenal last season © PA Photos
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William Gallas - Arsenal to Tottenham
The first man to have appeared for Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal (Clive Allen never featured for the latter), William Gallas was a "no-brainer" according to Spurs boss Harry Redknapp. It was an easy statement to argue in certain respects. Gallas was, after all, an Arsenal captain who had been blamed for failing to steer the ship from muddied waters in 2008, when a last-minute Gael Clichy error at Birmingham effectively sparked the beginning of the end for Arsenal's title challenge. Gallas threw an on-pitch tantrum, crying in the middle of the pitch (partially due to a sickening injury suffered by Eduardo), yet Redknapp still saw the defender as a leader. Available for free, Spurs snapped up Gallas in 2010 and then sat back as he helped them into the quarter-finals of the Champions League, where they eventually lost to Real Madrid. Perhaps the favourite moment among Spurs fans was when Gallas was handed the captaincy for the trip to Arsenal last season, where he turned in a starring performance as the Gunners were beaten 3-2 - their first home league defeat to Tottenham since 1993.

Alex McLeish - Birmingham to Aston Villa
Football is a strange business. In very few other professions would an individual in a management position be actively sought for employment by a bigger company if he had failed so badly with his current employers that it had led them to a major financial hit. That is effectively what Alex McLeish did at Birmingham, leading them to relegation and the loss of significant income from the Premier League. Fierce rivals Aston Villa saw something in the Scot though, no doubt remembering his Carling Cup success, and they moved quickly to cement one of the most unpopular managerial appointments of recent years. Negotiations were conducted against a backdrop of protests from Villa fans threatening to stay away from the club, but McLeish sealed his move and opened his reign with a draw at Fulham.

Sol Campbell - Tottenham to Arsenal
Having once stated in Spurs Monthly magazine that he would never play for Arsenal, it is perhaps understandable that Tottenham fans felt a little betrayed when the England defender moved to their north London rivals. The Bosman ruling was proving a real hazard for Premier League clubs just after the Millennium, so Tottenham attempted to offer Campbell the biggest contract in the club's history. Big Sol wanted Champions League football though, so when Arsenal expressed interest he went back on those words spoken to Spurs Monthly. As a consequence, Campbell was subjected to some of the most vile chants sung at a professional footballer - unprintable in this article - leading to a group of fans being banned from all football grounds in England. He had the last laugh though, becoming a rock in the back four of the Arsenal Invincibles side that won the league without losing a game.

Mo Johnston - Nantes to Rangers
The introduction of greater sums of money to football undoubtedly led to the decreasing of loyalty and respect. Mo Johnston, once of Celtic, was ready to return to the Bhoys after a spell at Nantes. He even appeared at a press conference declaring that Celtic were the only club he wanted to play for. However, Rangers had money, and it turned the striker's head at the 11th hour - to the disgust of nearly everybody in Glasgow. Celtic felt snubbed while Rangers had religious beliefs to adhere to. Johnstone was a Roman Catholic joining a traditionally Protestant club, and the Rangers kitman was one of many to give him an icy welcome, refusing to arrange his kit as he did for all other players. In the end, 31 league goals in 76 appearances turned a lot of Rangers fans in Johnstone's favour, although there remained a section at Ibrox who refused to celebrate.

Eric Cantona was a magician for Manchester United © PA Photos
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Eric Cantona - Leeds to Manchester United
Considering Howard Wilkinson once uttered the quite profound statement, "I am a firm believer that if you score one goal the other team have to score two to win", it is astounding that he sold Eric Cantona to Manchester United to help them build the dynasty that still stands strong to this day. Cantona had just inspired Leeds to the league title in 1992, and the Elland Road club inquired about the possibility of adding Dennis Irwin to their squad. Manchester United said no, and then proceeded to ask Wilkinson if he would sell his best player. Wilkinson agreed. For £1.2million, the Red Devils had captured the man who would prove the figurehead of four league championship triumphs and two FA Cups. He even got to spit in the face of a Leeds fan upon his return to Yorkshire, for the pitiful fine of £1,000, but Wilkinson had done far worse to the club's fans by selling the enigmatic Frenchman.

Ashley Cole - Arsenal to Chelsea
"Cashley Cole" as he became known by Arsenal fans was treated with such "disrespect" by Arsenal that he described himself as "trembling with anger". What did the Gunners do to make him feel this way? They had the sheer arrogance to offer a player that was nurtured through their academy the pitiful sum of £55,000 per week. A year before his move Cole had been involved in an alleged tapping-up affair involving Chelsea, which saw him fined heavily for holding meetings with Chelsea staff. 12 months later that move came to fruition, mainly because Chelsea had offered the England left-back £90,000 per week when Arsenal had displayed the cheek to only present him with £55,000. It's difficult to know who had the last laugh, with Cole having currently won as many FA Cups (3) at Chelsea as he did at Arsenal, but one less league title. The Blues have, however, enjoyed the better record in the years since Cole left Arsenal.

Paul Ince - West Ham to Manchester United
The self-styled "Guvnor" made an enemy of West Ham fans until the end of time when, in the summer of 1989, a photo of him wearing a Manchester United shirt appeared in the Daily Express before any transfer deal had been completed between the clubs. Ince later claimed that Ambrose Mendy, his agent, had "said it wasn't worth me coming back from holiday to do a picture in a United shirt when the deal was completed, so I should do one before I left." Yet the photo sneaked out and all "hell broke loose". A £1 million sale was eventually completed and any return since to the club he supported as a boy - and had played for from the age of 12 - saw him subjected to a beasting from the Upton Park faithful. Manchester United fans would later target the "big-time Charlie" when he chose to sign for Liverpool on his return to England from Inter Milan.

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