1) George Haworth (Accrington to Blackburn Rovers, 1885)

In December 1884 Blackburn announced a deal had been struck for them to field Haworth, Accrington’s captain, in that season’s FA Cup. He would continue to play league fixtures for his parent club, or anyone else who wanted to borrow a decent defender (he also played a bit for Preston that season). But before their quarter-final against West Brom, something happened. The finer details are hard to ascertain but it seems the club hadn’t joined the British Football Association, which was trying to force them to do so by blocking the Haworth deal.

Rovers set off with a weakened team, won 2-0 and – still without Haworth – then thumped Old Carthusians in the semi-final. But, with Scottish side Queen’s Park awaiting in the final, they were desperate for Haworth’s help at Kennington Oval. So desperate, in fact, that according to the Manchester Weekly News they “sacrificed any pride by begging permission to enlist the services of that grand player.” Athletic News said they “made themselves ridiculous before the football community”, before eventually striking a deal. According to the Sportsman, Haworth “proved himself to be one of the grandest half-backs that we remember seeing”. As the match progressed, thousands of people congregated outside the Blackburn offices of the Preston Herald, where the latest scores would be posted in the window as soon as word from London arrived – as close as the 19th century came to a liveblog. The final score was 2-0. Haworth won the Cup with Blackburn and was named Accrington’s player of the season. SB

The Joy of Six: unlikely football career twilights Read more

2) Manny Omoyinmi (West Ham to Gillingham, 1999)

Omoyinmi arrived at Gillingham, with a view to a £400,000 permanent move, and had an immediate impact. He scored the winner at home to Oldham on his debut, repeated the feat at Oxford in his next game, and got the first in a 2-1 win at Brentford, who had gone unbeaten in their previous 26 games. But then, after seven league starts and a couple more in an emphatic two-legged League Cup defeat by Bolton, he was called back to West Ham and flung on to the bench.

Finally, in mid-December, the lifelong Hammers fan got the opportunity he had dreamed of, replacing Paulo Wanchope for the final eight minutes of extra-time as his side knocked Aston Villa out of the League Cup on penalties. But he’d already played in the competition for the Gills, which led to the match being replayed (West Ham lost, inevitably) and Omoyinmi being immediately and permanently cold-shouldered by Harry Redknapp. “The manager hasn’t spoken to me since it happened and it has been made out to be all my fault,” he said, when the club announced he would be released. “All I ever wanted to do was play for this club, and it has all gone wrong.” SB

Sign up to The Recap: get our weekly email of editors’ picks.

3) DJ Campbell (Leicester City to Blackpool, 2010)

The Football League show on the BBC was great. No adverts, slick presenting by Manish Bhasin and you didn’t even have to change the channel after Match of the Day. Sadly it ended in 2015, but not before inspiring Campbell to rejoin Blackpool on loan in 2010.

“It’s odd but I was watching the Beeb’s show last Saturday night” Campbell said. “For some reason my mate said ‘just go back to Blackpool’, and I said I wanted to. Then at the exact moment, the lady on the TV said they had just had an email from a guy in Blackpool saying: ‘Sign DJ Campbell.’ The way that happened was crazy really, fate I guess.” Campbell swiftly went about fuelling Blackpool’s promotion push: eight goals in their final 12 matches helped pip Swansea to sixth. A daunting play-off against Nottingham Forest awaited, but a wonderful assist by a young Séamus Coleman and Charlie Adam’s penalty – won by Campbell – gave Blackpool a slender first-leg lead. Forest hadn’t conceded at home for more than 12 hours going into the second leg, but Campbell’s hat-trick sent the Seasiders to Wembley, where they would beat Cardiff. Campbell made his loan permanent and finished their Premier League season as top scorer, but will always be remembered for that night in Nottingham. MB

Facebook Twitter Pinterest DJ Campbell scores Blackpool’s second goal in the first leg of the play-off semi-final. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA

4) Uwe Fuchs (Kaiserslautern to Middlesbrough, 1995)

Bryan Robson signed the 6ft 2in Fuchs on the advice of former England team-mate Tony Woodock, saying “in Germany they call him a typical English centre-forward.” As Middlesbrough fan Harry Pearson wrote in the Guardian, those were ”words which are to football what the phrase ‘contains mechanically reclaimed meat’ is to fine dining,” yet for a few magical months Boro’s fans took Fuchs hungrily to their hearts.

It wasn’t just his goals that endeared him to fans – there were rumours of a romance with Jet from Gladiators and tales of his quirky foreign habits became the subject of fevered debate. He liked, for example, to warm down after a match with six laps of the pitch – “I used to warm down with several pints of lager,” sniffed former Boro midfielder Gary Gill. But then, suddenly, it was over: he was sent off against Sheffield United – “There have been some excellent foreign imports to this country, but Fuchs is a disgrace,” raged Dave Bassett – and suspended for the season’s final game. Bryan Robson declined to trigger a £500,000 pre-agreed permanent fee and he ended up moving to, and being rubbish for, Millwall. SB

5) Osvaldo Ardiles (Tottenham to Paris St-Germain, 1982)

The Joy of Six: one-goal wonders Read more

On 2 April 1982 Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. The following day Tottenham beat Leicester 2-0 in the FA Cup but every time Ardiles, their Argentinian midfielder, touched the ball the crowd booed. “It’s incredibly sad how these countries I love could be at war against each other,” he told Spurs’ kit man, Roy Reyland. On 4 April he flew home, and did not return for eight months. As the conflict rumbled on and the player – whose cousin José, a fighter pilot, was shot down over the Falklands and killed – announced he “could never play soccer again in England unless relations between our two countries improve dramatically” it became clear his immediate future lay outside London. “And that’s when Paris St-Germain came in for me. I thought: ‘Paris is nice.’ And off I went,” wrote Ardiles in his autobiography.

Sadly, however, “my football there was lamentable. There’s no other word for it.” By the end of 1982 the conflict was over, and Ardiles returned to England. His friend, team-mate and compatriot Ricky Villa had remained throughout and Ardiles received a warm welcome. “The English are used to these sorts of conflicts,” Villa said. “Throughout their history they’ve taken control of lands that aren’t theirs, so they’re more experienced than us with this kind of issue.” SB

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ossie Ardiles (right) left Spurs on loan when the Falklands War broke out, but compatriot Ricky Villa stayed in London. Photograph: Colorsport/REX/Shutterstock

6) Fernando Morientes (Real Madrid to Monaco, 2003)

Morientes was in his prime, and Real Madrid didn’t want him. Three times a Champions League winner, Morientes was not deemed Galáctico enough by Florentino Pérez and after a loan deal with Schalke collapsed and Monaco’s star striker Shabani Nonda suffered a season-ending injury, Morientes joined the Ligue 1 side and was prolific. Real had been so keen for Morientes to join Monaco that they’d waived various clauses to get the deal done. Naturally, in the Champions League quarter-finals, Monaco were drawn against Madrid, and Morientes played against his parent club.

With Monaco trailing 4-1 at the Bernabéu, Morientes rose above five defenders to plant a header past Iker Casillas. Two weeks later, Monaco won the second leg 3-1 – Morientes again scoring a sensational header from Patrice Evra’s cross – to win the tie on away goals. Morientes scored home and away against Chelsea in the semi-finals and after defeat by Porto in the final he returned to Madrid as the competition’s top scorer. But following Michael Owen’s arrival, Morientes never scored again for Madrid and left for Liverpool in January 2005. MB