What is the biggest fee earned from a football sell-on clause? | The Knowledge

“What is the biggest fee a lower-league club has bagged from a sell-on clause?” wonders Jonathan Brown.

Due to the usually confidential and always complicated nature of transfer deals, it’s hard to be precise with a question like this, but the battle of the beneficiaries seems to be between QPR and Barnsley.

When Rangers sold Raheem Sterling to Liverpool in 2010, they made sure to include a 20% sell-on clause in addition to the initial fee of £600,000. The forward’s subsequent £49m move (£44m up front, with £5m in potential add-ons) from Anfield to Manchester City in 2015 guaranteed QPR a minimum £7.8m.

Barnsley, meanwhile, inserted a 15% sell-on clause into the deal that took John Stones to Everton in 2013. His £47.5m move to Manchester City ast summer therefore bagged them around £7.1m, though there were some suggestions that the payment could rise as high as £9m.

Elsewhere, Bournemouth, who were not a top-flight club at the time, received £6.25m from Adam Lallana’s £25m move from Southampton to Liverpool in 2014, having inserted a 25% sell-on clause when he moved along the south coast at the age of 12.

Saints, on the other hand, missed out on the jackpot when Gareth Bale moved from Tottenham to Real Madrid in 2013. They had negotiated a clause – reported to be anywhere from 15% to 25% – when they sold Bale in 2007, but financial difficulties a year later forced them to waive it in exchange for around £1.5m and Spurs goalkeeper Tommy Forecast. So, when Bale headed to Spain for £86m, Southampton missed out on something approaching £20m.

Much further down the food chain, Hayes FC pocketed £600,000 when Les Ferdinand moved from QPR to Newcastle for £6m in 1995 thanks to a 10% sell-on clause. Hayes, who had sold the striker for £30,000 in 1987, used the money to fund the Les Ferdinand Suite at their ground.

The amazing Ljubomir Fejsa

Last week’s column asked if any footballers had won three consecutive titles with different clubs? You dug out a number of examples, but there are more …

“I believe that Kingsley Coman won Ligue 1, Serie A, and the Bundesliga, with Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus, and Bayern Munich, three seasons in a row – and all that before his 20th birthday,” writes Antoine Jourdan. “Probably hard to beat in terms of precocity.” Several of you pointed to Brazil and the case of Emerson Sheik …

And then there’s another player, well worthy of a mention: “Ljubomir Fejsa!” yells Daniel Thornton. “He has won a league title every year since 2009. First off, with Partizan he won the Serbian league title in 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11, including two Serbian cups in 2009 and 2011. Then he moved to Olympiakos where he won the Greek Superleague in 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14. Also in that time he won two Greek cups in 2012 and 2013. And, since then, he has moved to Benfica, where he won the Portuguese Primeira Liga in 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16. In his time at Benfica he also won the Taça de Portugal in 2014, the Taça da Liga in 2014, 2015 and 2016, two Supercups in 2014 and 2016, and a Europa League runners-up medal in 2014. Note: he transferred from Olympiakos to Benfica in January 2014, thus winning two league winners medals in two different countries that season.”

Rovers and back

“There must be some reason players keep returning to Motherwell,” writes Alan Paterson. “In the fairly recent past Brian McClair, John Sutton, Henrik Ojamaa and the late Phil O’Donnell all returned to play at Fir Park after time playing for other clubs on a permanent basis. Last week Stephen Pearson returned to Motherwell to begin his third spell with the club. As of January 2016, though, Motherwell had six players in their squad (Stephen Pearson, Scott McDonald, Steven Hammell, Keith Lasley, James McFadden and David Clarkson) all in, at least, their second spell with the club. Has any club ever had more returning players in their squad at the same time? Particularly, with none of the spells at or away from the club being on loan.”

Sean DeLoughry was all over this one. “This type of revolving door transfer activity is nothing new in the League of Ireland, where one-year contracts are the norm, and most clubs turn over at least half a squad a season,” he writes. “When Trevor Croly took over at Shamrock Rovers before the 2013 season he seemed determined to literally return the club to former glories. He brought back Barry Murphy (after spells at Bohemians and St Pats), Jason McGuiness (Bohs, Sligo), James Chambers (Hamilton, Sligo), Sean O’Connor (Limerick, St Pats), Shane Robinson (Stirling Lions, FC Haka), Richard Brush (Sligo) and Mark Quigley (Millwall, St Pats, Bohs, Dundalk, Sligo) who had previously had a load spell at Rovers while at Millwall. Pat Sullivan (Southern Star), Tommy Stewart (Partick) and Ciaran Kilduff (UCD) were already in their second stints at Tallaght Stadium after spells away. During the season Karl Sheppard returned to Rovers on loan from Reading, making it a total of 11 returning players in the squad.” They finished fifth.

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“Has a streaker ever scored? And would it count if they did?” Jimmy Lloyd asked in July 2005.

Well Jimmy, the self-proclaimed World’s No1 Streaker, Mark Roberts, from Liverpool, has scored at least two goals while baring all. Roberts, who has also streaked at the Super Bowl and Royal Ascot, scored in the Liverpool v Chelsea Carling Cup game at Anfield in 2000 and the 2002 Champions League final, between Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen. At Anfield, Roberts hurdled the perimeter fence, took a pass from Gianfranco Zola, and beat the entire Chelsea defence, before firing past a half-hearted Ed de Goey. His goal bonus: a magistrates court appearance and £100 fine. In the Champions League final at Hampden Park, he ripped off his velcro suit before stealing the ball, running past two defenders and finding the aptly-named Leverkusen keeper Hans-Jorg Butt no match for his finishing prowess.

Roberts is not the only streaker to find the back of the net. In December 1998, during an interruption in Reading’s 1-0 win over Notts County, a fan ran on to the field, kissed the ground and scored past the County keeper before evading a steward and disappearing into the crowd.

These goals didn’t count because they occurred during breaks in play (both of Roberts’ efforts came during the half-time interval), but even if a streaker were to find the net during a game, it wouldn’t count. Law 10, The Method of Scoring, says that a goal can only be given if no infringement has been made by the team scoring the goal. A streaker would be an ineligible player; a team cannot field more than 11, so there would be no goal. And that’s even before considering improper kit! The referee also has the power to stop the game if “an unauthorised person enters the field of play”.

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Can you help?

“Has the wrong trophy ever been presented to a team at the end of a competition?” asks Derek McHugh. “For example, the FA Vase instead of the FA Trophy. I know it’s as good as impossible to ever happen in a major competition, but perhaps at a regional level, or in a country where football is very badly organised, there’s a better chance of it happening?”

“Does anyone know of any teams that have scored an own goal direct from their kick-off without the opposition touching the ball?” says Mark Jones.

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