A Biblical transfer window jubilee

A BIBLICAL TRANSFER WINDOW JUBILEE KEY Manchester United Queens Park Rangers Swansea City Wigan Athletic At least two of this summer's big transfer stories have been about players wanting to 'go home' (Fabregas to Barca and Tevez to wherever). That got me thinking; in the Bible, there's this idea of the 'year of jubilee': What would football look like if this summer's transfer window had included a jubilee-style return of players to their 'home' clubs*? Player staying (current club is the same as their first club) Player leaving o goes back to their first club Player arriving e retums to first club from current club AI Habsi + Al-Midhaibi van der Sar - Ajax Heaton e Cardiff Kenny O Bradford Park Ave Bull + Wycombe de Vries + Telstar Letheren - Kilmarnock Tynan e Vauxhall Motors *for these purposes, I'm taking that to be the first club listed in their senior career on Wikipedia. I've stuck to teams' first elevens (by most starts last season, in all competitions), replacing leavers with players coming back from other clubs ('cos that's more interesting than just promoting reserves). ...it is a time of freedom and of celebration when everyone will receive back their original property, and slaves will return home to their families...During this year, all property must go back to its original owner Leviticus 25.10:13 (CEV) Gohouri O PSG Charnock Torquay Alcaraz + Teniente Farina Figueroa + Victoria Fulham Boyce - Luton Williams Vidic + Red Star Monk > Torquay Tate O Man Utd O'Shea Gorkšs Rangel - Tortosa Hednesford Ferdinand Evra Or Hill Connolly - Newcastle Audu Riga e Tranmere O Arsenal Murphy e Cork City O West Ham Marsala Piqué Kanyuka + Tamworth Duffy e Exeter Jones e Llanelli Jenkins Carmarthen Neath Town Fitzhenry e Southport Baines e Everton Brown Neville Shimmin O'Leary Cochrane Antigua Barracuda Lee + Sunderland Barcelona Everton O Dover e Southport Schwarzer Marconi Stallions Flitney e Gillingham Arsenal Aston Villa Thomas > Olimpia Routledge e Gillingham Stockport Diamé Smith + Watford Pratley O Fulham Derry O Notts County McFlynn Sydney FC Gower Tottenham Fletcher Giggs Allen Nani e Sporting CP Eagles e Bolton Carrick e West Ham Beckham e LA Galaxy Faurlin + Rosario Central O Lens B Montrose Mumford Langley e Pattaya Utd Corbisiero + Llanelli + Afan Lido Donnelly e Swansea Szczęsny Friedel + USSF Rachel e Solihull Moors Hangeland O Viking Pantsil > Berekum Newcastle Arsenal Hughes Salcido O Guadalajara Hudson Leacock + Derby McCarthy + Hamilton Academical Watson * Crystal Palace Cwyka + Derby N'Zogbia O Newcastle Kupisz O Jagiellonia Bialystok Fontaine e Bristol City Knight + Bolton • Cardiff Sinclair Bristol Rovers Bond + Llanelli Taylor O Wrexham Jones e Neath Dyer > Southampton Tarrabt Rooney + Everton Berbatov + Pirin Blagoevgrad + Lens B Santus Pritchard Bean + Shevington Koscielny O Guingamp K. Touré Man City Djourou Clichy + Cannes Collins Sagna > Auxerre L. Young + Tottenham Warnock + Liverpool Barry e Man City Ebanks- Blake olves Dunne • Brentford e Oxford > Everton + Cardiff Murphy Crewe Baird Southampton Rossi e Villareal Hoyte e M'boro Edwards Barmsley Davies O Peterbrough Duff * Blackburn Cole Cahill Ridgewell + Birmingham Bolton Davis e Bolton Timlin Swindon Chelsea Helguson • UMFS Dalvík Rodallega + Deportes Quindio Magno Vieira O Fleetwood Town Pratley Bolton Milsom + Aberdeen Mackie O Wimbledon Newcastle United Oli Tottenham Hotspur Wilshere Baidoo + Gillingham Song O Bastia Reo-Coker Petrov > Wimbledon CSKA Sofia Hitzlsperger West Ham + Croydon Dempsey + NE Revolution Muamba Davis e Bolton O Rangers Willock e Ebbsfleet Gomes Cruzeiro Burch e Notts County Krul Stoke City Wolverhampton Wanderers Fabregas Arshavin + Zenit Nasri Young e Watford Downing M'boro Albrighton Dembélé O Germinal Beerschot O Marseille Gardner e Sunderland Begovic O Portsmouth Duggan -Drogheda Larsson + Sunderland Bentley + Tottenham Whittingham e Cardiff Hennessey Hutton O Rangers Notts Forest Kelly Gallas e Caen Campbell Fulham Birmingham Free agent e Aston Villa Dawson Assou-Ekotto Lens Williamson + Torquay G. Caldwell S. Caldwell e Wigan Simpson O Man Utd Coloccini + Boca Jrs Hammond e Woking Enrique > Levante B Carr Young Ramage e QPR Hughes e Fulham e Birmingham Chamakh O Bordeaux Agbonlahor Elokobi * Dulwich Hamlet Stearman Leicester Berra Ward O Bohemians Naylor e Cardiff Liverpool Wilson O Portsmouth > Hearts Huth - Chelsea Keogh e Colchester Coventry Northamp- Shawcross > Man Utd Wilkinson Stokes e Celtic Barton Lowe Lescott Tioté O Anderlecht Edgar - Burnley Wilson Modric > Dinamo Zagreb Jackson O Charlton van der Vaart + Ajax Marney e Burnley Wedderburn Bale Lennon O Leeds Cheltenham Man City O Man City > Southampton e Peterborough Little Kerr ton Town e Arbroath Yeates e Watford O'Hara e Wolves Reina - Barcelona B Warner + Tranmere Blackburn Rovers Bolton Wanderers Whitehead Etherington * Oxford o Peterborough Foley + Luton Milijas + FK Zemun o Gillingham Pennant Delap Jarvis - Notts County + Carlisle Henry - Stoke Gutiérrez e Véléz Sársfield Nolan Lövenkrands + Akademisk Boldklub Neal e Orlando City Clingan e Coventry Gobern Henry • Wolves O'Connor Commons Davies Bolton + Bolton Crouch Andrews Pavlyuchenko - Dynamo Stavropol Barnard e Southampton e Sheff Wed e Celtic e Blackburn Notts County Robinson * Leeds ??? + M'boro Jääskeläinen O Mikkelin Palloilijat Kazimierczak e Flota Świnoujście Škrtel O AS Trenčín Chopra Ipswich Kelly Carragher Johnson - West Ham Coppinger Doncaster N'Zogbia + Aston Villa Warnock e Aston Villa Whitbread - Norwich Doyle + St Patrick's Athletic Larkin Hartlepool Fletcher * Hibs Clarke OPR Jones * Joe Public Walters + Blackburn Ameobi Rooney Birmingham Paterson Nelsen + Sedan C'church Utd Monaco K. Touré • Man City Knight O Fulham Fojut e Sląsk Wrocław Salgado O Čelta Samba Givet Taylor + Luton Cahill * Aston Villa Augustyn Robinson O Watford Lucas Gerrard + Burnley West Bromwich Albion • Grêmio Cahill Hoyte + M'boro Cole + Chelsea O'Brien + West Ham Hunt + Bolton + Bristol City e Catania Guthrie + Newcastle Carson O Leeds Allsop Millwall Norwich City Sunderland BUY-BACK Emerton o Sydney Olympic Pedersen + Tromsø Petrov + Botev Vratsa Olsson Holden > Sunderland P. Jones Lee + FC Seoul Arsenal Muamba Kuyt O Quick Boys Meireles • Boavista Maxi Rodríguez O Newell's There have been quite a few high profile deals to take players back to their first clubs over the years: Cole e Chelsea Nolan Ward + Hudders- West Ham field Basham + Blackpool Hammill Le Tallec Cahill S Bolton Mooy • St Mirren e Auxerre Sinama- Pongolle e Sporting CP Mignolet O Sint-Truiden Alnwick e Wolves Ruddy Cambridge Shorey + Huachipato FC Brasov o Landskrona o Leyton Orient Jara Tamas Olsson Player Sold to Bought from Green West Ham + Tottenham BolS Chambers e Doncaster Gabbidon Peter Crouch, Tottenham Portsmouth for -£10m QPR for £60k Torres * Atlético Madrid Mkandawire Hodgkiss O Millwall + QPR M. Diouf • Diaraf Hoilett Elmander K. Davies Forest O Holmalund Chesterfield Green Vaz Te Barnsley R. Martin > Brighton West Ham Eagle e Grimsby Barnett + Luton Peterborough Elmohamady - Ghazi El- Man City West Ham Man Utd Mahalla Shaun Wright- Phillips Chelsea for - £21m Chelsea for - £8.5m Ward Onuoha Ferdinand Bardsley Cahill e Bolton Drury Buval • Lechia Gdansk Owen • Man Utd Scharner > Austria Wien Mulumbu Rossiter Hartley Spillane + Brentford Clark Shackell + Derby Rossi Jarvis + Barnet Manchester City on a free O PSG B Byrne + Scunthorpe - Gateshead e Bohemians - Hartlepool Robbie Fowler, Liverpool Leeds for - £12m Chambers e Walsall Briggs e Mosta Manchester City Mark Hughes, Man Utd Barcelona for £2m Barcelona for £1.8m Chelsea Everton Fox - Man Utd Russell Preston Henderson Malbranque Cattermole Richardson Man Utd Edgar Davids, Ajax Milan on a free Morrison M'boro Brunt M'boro Tottenham on a free O Lyon O M'boro Thomas Leadbitter * Arsenal Thirlwell + Carlisle Butler Crofts Gillingham Lappin O St Mirren e Ipswich Davies e Worcester Smikle - Cheltenham Hart + Swansea Dyer e Leicester Howard Real Madrid for £20m Čech O FK Chmel BIšany Pidgeley e Exeter • NJ Imperials - Shrewsbury Nicolas Anelka, PSG Arsenal for £500k Henderson Smart + Skonto Riga Schmeichel Jones + Leyton Orient O Colchester e Leicester Hoolahan + Shelbourne Welbeck O Man Utd Waghorn + Leicester Bent > Ipswich Kyle + Hearts Odemwingie e Bendel Insurance Ryan Jarvis Walsall Lescott + Wolves Edghill e Free agent Brentford Distin * Tours Zabaleta San Lorenzo Kompany Kolarov * Anderlecht Čukarički Stankom Jordan Free agent Neville + Man Utd Jagielka Sheff Utd Baines Ivanović Alex Cole * Arsenal Di Cesare e Torino Terry * Remont * Santos >Wigan Richards MY FAQS Gerrard e Cardiff Logan Dunne • Aston Villa Leicester e Burton Albion Or Ball Mears + Bolton Mancienne Huth + Stoke + QPR It's quite tough to track down youth team products who are still playing, and l'm sure there are some glaring omissions. Who did I miss from your club? O Hamburger C. Martin Holt Workington Bellamy e Man City Heitinga > Ajax Standard Liege de Jong + Ajax Barry Aston Villa Fellaini What impact do you think this principle of 'jubilee would have on football? Would it do anything to improve the transfer market or state of the game? (Read more about jubilee at http://goo.gl/08YND) Lampard > West Ham Essien - Bastia Filipe Oliveira e Parma Mikel > Lyn Etuhu Barton Southern e Blackpool McCann e Fulham Smith • Leyton Orient Stoch e Fenerbahçe e Bolton • Newcastle RICH GET RICHER? RETURN TO SENDER Who would win the league if this setup were brought in tomorrow? On this 'evidence', it looks like the richer/higher- finishing clubs are actually more likely to bring through home-grown (or at least 'scouted and signed at a young age') talent: Arsenal would keep four first teamers, Man Utd and Liverpool three each. By contrast, Bolton, Fulham, OPR, West Brom and Wigan would have no first-teamers left... oh, and neither would Man City (exception that proves the rule?) HAPPY HAMMERS Two players on this list have already made their own way back to their first clubs, having played for a few others along the way: Peter Crouch at Tottenham and Shaun Wright-Phillips at Man City. Google the pair of them, that's always a fun photo: http://lgoo.gl/AXfKd Arteta O Barcelona B Sligo Rovers Y. Touré + Beveren Osman Coleman Milner Silva Malouda * Leeds e Valencia B Drogba > Le Mans o Châteauroux Anelka • PSG Ben Sahar e Espanyol One team that would certainly do alright out of this arrangement is West Ham, who have six players on this list alone: Frank Lampard, Glen Johnson, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Anton Ferdinand and Elliott Ward. Had they not had so many injuries last season, Jermain Defoe and Joe Cole could be added to that group as well. Rooney Croft Ireland Answers on a postcard, please, to bitemybible.com Cole West Ham e Man Utd Fox e Bumley e Derby + Aston Villa Sturridge Chelsea Borini + Parma Saha Tévez BITE BIBLE • Metz O Boca Juniors Miller Vaughan e Norwich • Notts Forest Tasty, nibbly little Bible starters Grass texture CC from zooboina on Flickr • of