“What are the highest-profile examples of players who have failed a medical and then gone on to have long and successful careers,” wonders Crispin Leyser.
Club doctors and physios, look away now. One has to be pretty confident in a diagnosis to halt a multimillion pound deal in its tracks, but a failed medical is no laughing matter. That said, there are lots of players who have overcome the odds and gone on to have stellar careers elsewhere.
Tom Aldous is first through the door. “Demba Ba failed a medical at Stuttgart in 2009 and Stoke in 2011, but still went on to have a good career at West Ham, Newcastle and Chelsea, which included some goal after someone slipped,” he emails. “Kanu underwent a medical following his transfer to Internazionale in 1996 which found a heart defect and stopped him playing until 1997. He still went on to have a great career at Arsenal and Portsmouth, in particular. Ruud van Nistelrooy failed a medical in April 2000, which delayed his move to Manchester United by a year … it’s fair to say that it all went well anyway. John Hartson failed a medical at Rangers, Charlton and Spurs in 2000; he instead moved to Celtic and scored 88 goals in 146 league games.”
For a bit more context, the Rangers chairman, Sir David Murray, had flown Hartson up from Wimbledon in his private jet with his dad. Such were the crowds, “it was like Michael Jackson was arriving”, remembers the former striker. Murray did not hold back after the results of the medical. “His levels of fitness, our doctor told us, was a risk,” said Murray. “We did not feel that he had the correct fitness at the time to go straight into the Champions League. No disrespect, but to score against Huddersfield is slightly different to scoring against Galatasaray.” Celtic’s manager, Martin O’Neill, had a different view: “Look John, unless you’ve got a hole in your heart, I’m gonna sign you,” he said in a phone call in 2001.
More Rangers cautiousness, from Jordi Gómez. “In 2000, all was set for Rangers to sign a very young Raúl Tamudo, but the medical found a knee problem with an injury that he had got during the Olympic Games,” writes Jordi. “Tamudo would go on to become Espanyol’s captain, arguably their most important player ever, and even the doctor that blocked the signing got an Espanyol supporters’ club named after him.”
Garry Brogden takes us back to the 1970s for the next entry: “In November 1971 Leeds were about to buy Asa Hartford for what I think was a club-record fee from West Brom, only for it to fall through when Hartford was discovered to have a minor heart condition. I distinctly remember a picture of Hartford in the crowd at the West Brom game in the Sunday papers after the deal collapsed and speculation followed as to whether he’d ever play again. He played another 500-plus club games in the 20 years after that, including a League Cup win while at Norwich, and played 50 times for Scotland.”
Fred Sullivan nominates Frank Worthington, who was also 24 when a Liverpool medical picked up his high blood pressure in 1972. Famously, he was sent on a sunshine break to Mallorca but ignored orders to relax, returned with blood pressure unimproved and the transfer from Huddersfield fell through. Worthington went on to become a Leicester City legend instead, and represented England, before playing for dozens of other teams in a playing career that ended only in 1992 – 20 years after that failed medical.
To more recent years on Merseyside, and a combination of a dodgy knee and confusing negotiations led Liverpool to pull out of the £53m deal to sign Nabil Fekir from Lyon in 2018. Fekir’s agent, Jean-Pierre Bernes, said the medical was “negative”, Fekir blamed Bernes, who hit back by claiming that Fekir’s brother-in-law had worsened relations with Liverpool by demanding a fee at the last minute. The deal was called off, but Fekir would win the World Cup with France a month later, and join Real Betis a year later for £17m, where he is now one of the most creative midfielders in La Liga.
Latest comebacks to win (3)
Continuing our thread of remarkable late shows to come from behind and win – which we followed up on last week – Jim Clark has a real doozy …
“Sorry I’m late to the party,” he begins. “On 25 August 2018, there were 87 minutes on the clock and home side Airdrie led Raith 3-1. Rovers had been down to 10 men since the 72nd minute after centre-back Iain Davidson was shown a deserved straight red for violent conduct. The small band of away fans were getting ready to vent their collective spleen at the team and manager Barry Smith for a dismal performance and result.
“Goals on 87, 90 and 90+4 minutes brought the most unlikely turnaround imaginable. The final 10 minutes, complete with wild commentary from Rovers fans for our club TV channel are on YouTube. Despite all this, Smith was in charge for just one more game – a 4-0 home win over Forfar which took us to second place in League One. He resigned the following Monday citing a breakdown in the relationship with the board.”
Knowledge archive
“Have a husband and wife ever been sent off in the same match?” wonders Steve Turner in September 2010.
Indeed they have. Back in December 1999 Bristol Rovers were taking on Oxford United in the South-west Women’s Combination league. Midway through the match an Oxford player appeared to handle the ball, but the referee was unmoved. A livid Mandy Gornicki-Bond furiously protested, and was promptly shown a red card, despite her insistence that her remarks had not been directed at the official.
The decision infuriated the Rovers manager, who just happened to be Mandy’s husband Bill. Angered by the perceived injustice he strode on to the pitch to confront the official. Bill, a policeman and class one referee, later insisted that he had not been abusive, but he too was sent to the stands.
Can you help?
I feel it necessary to ask the kind folks at @TheKnowledge_GU if a perfect (left-foot, right-foot, header) natural (first three goals in a row) hat-trick of own goals has ever been done before this. https://t.co/f6jDK1KGKC
— austin (@bainard) February 20, 2022
“On 8 January this year, Barrow’s Ollie Banks scored away at Barnsley. His goal came exactly 41 years, 11 months and 27 days after his father Ian scored his first goal for Barnsley, at home to Torquay on 12 January 1980. Is this the longest time between a father and son scoring at the same ground?” muses Jonathan Wray.
Brockenhurst United have a cattle grid on the entrance to their stadium are they the only ones?
— train man (@WestburyJames20) February 22, 2022
“Bristol City’s 2-1 win over Middlesbrough on 19 February 2022 was their 12th consecutive league game in which they have both scored and conceded. What’s the longest such streak any team has managed?” wonders Simon Orriss. Plus …
What is the longest run a team has had with both teams scoring and over 2.5 goals? Bristol City are currently on a run of 12 league games
— Ashley Gower (@AshGower1990) February 22, 2022
“After Billy Sharp took the Championship record, who actually stands as the all-time English second-flight top scorer?” asks Mark Stephenson.
@TheKnowledge_GU England's Nation's League game with Hungary will be at Molineux. If Bendeguz Bolla is picked (@Wolves player on loan at @gc_zuerich), he'll be making his home debut for an international opponent from a different country? Any other instances?
— Black Country Rock (Stuart Edwards) (@Stue1967) February 18, 2022
“Romelu Lukaku only had seven touches of the ball while playing the full 90 minutes of Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace,” writes Michael Vraney. “Certainly this must be a record low number of touches by a player in a winning side?”
Mail us your questions or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU.
