Here at Sport.co.uk we keep a very keen eye on the transfer rumour mill, but even we were surprised when former Spurs midfielder and Dutch veteran Edgar Davids returned to London to sign for Crystal Palace last week. The 37-year-old midfielder came out of retirement to join the Eagles in one of the more sensational summer deals.
Without using the phrase “hung up his boots” (a cliché so tiresomely prevalent in such features), we take a look at ten similarly surprising footballer comebacks, from the short-lived swan song to the new lease of life.
Jimmy Greaves
After retiring six years earlier, the highest goalscorer in the history of English top flight football turned out for Barry Fry’s Barnet. Having represented non-league outfits Brentwood Town and Chelmsford City in the two previous seasons, Greaves felt he could still do a job in midfield at the age of 38. He was right, and in his first campaign for Barnet was voted the Bees’ player of the year, but his comeback proved to be short-lived as Fry released him the following season. His return to football in the mid-eighties as half of the double act Saint and Greavsie would prove somewhat more successful.
Pele
Barely in his thirties, the Brazilian legend seemed to have ended his career prematurely when he retired from football in 1974. Sure enough a year later Pele packed his bags to spend his twilight years in the North American Soccer League. His enviable record of 37 goals in 64 appearances for the New York Cosmos may have been the product of a lower standard of football, but it did culminate in a championship medal. The end of his career was marked by a showpiece game between Cosmos and Pele’s former Brazilian side Santos, an occasion believed to have played such a part in the export of football to the States that it’s even parodied in an episode of The Simpsons.
Socrates
If the Davids deal was unexpected then this one was truly bizarre, but perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised when it comes to intellectual, political animal and Che Guevara lookalike Socrates. That he became a doctor of medicine while playing professional football is quite remarkable, but that he continued to smoke heavily throughout his career beggars belief. Then over a decade after calling time on said career, the Brazilian midfielder appeared one Saturday for Garforth Town of the Northern Counties League. Spare a thought for the opposition that afternoon. Occasionally at that level you will come up against the odd ex-pro or two, but for Tadcaster Albion to be facing one of the stars of the 1982 World Cup hardly seemed fair. They needn’t have worried however as time had taken its toll on the 50-year-old, who spent the majority of the game shivering on the sidelines and whose late introduction made limited impact.
"It was much faster than what I am used to. In Brazil games just aren't that fast,” he admitted afterwards, but it soon became clear that Socrates had lost it in more ways than one, adding, “Leeds looks a beautiful city and I am enjoying my stay here.” Yes it’s right up there with Rio...
Jean-Pierre Papin
Another one for the “No, seriously.” file, the one-time European Footballer of the Year returned to the field last year at the tender age of 45. After unsuccessful stints managing both Racing Clubs Strasbourg and Lens, the highly-gifted striker who scored 30 goals in 54 appearances for les Bleus came out of retirement to line up for French minnows AS Facture-Biganos Boiens. It seems he joined the amateur outfit out of friendship with the team’s coach coupled with a sheer love of the game. Sadly little is known about how he fared in the tenth tier of French football.
Romario
After reaching four figures in the scoring charts, the prolific striker retired from football at the tender age of 42, but last year his playing career was given one final chapter when he signed for America, the Brazilian side his late father had supported. Romario played only one quarter of a match for the club in what turned out to be a purely sentimental return to the game, and his failure to score in that fixture is not something that we would hold against the former World Player of the Year. Closer to home, you may remember Steve Claridge making a similar solitary appearance for cash-strapped Conference South side Weymouth this time last year.
Stephen Carr
Okay perhaps the shock value is limited on this one, but Carr had announced his retirement at 32 after injuries had seen the Irish international ruled out of a new contract with Newcastle. However in February last year he was picked up by Birmingham City and helped confirm their promotion to the Premier League. Now captain of a Blues side set to consolidate their position in the top half of the table, the tenacious full-back has been given a new lease of life at St Andrew’s.
Rene Higuita
The eccentric goalkeeper, set piece expert and exponent of the ‘scorpion kick’ retired this year at the age of 43, but not for the first time. One of the game’s more colourful characters, the Colombian stopper came out of retirement in 2007, spending a further two seasons between the sticks for second division side Deportivo Pereira. His last game in January saw Higuita recreate his unconventional save from Jamie Redknapp’s goal-bound effort 15 years earlier much to the delight of the masses who gathered in his hometown of Medellin for his final bow.
Terry Butcher
One of England’s heroes at Italia 90, Butcher became Coventry City player-manager that year only to give up his playing career midway through his tenure at Highfield Road. However in the aftermath of his dismissal in 1992, Butcher decided he quite fancied playing again and was back on the pitch with Sunderland the following season. Again he took on the player-manager role, again he was sacked after a year in charge. After a decade in the wilderness Butcher eventually returned to management and is now in charge of Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
Jamie Carragher
The no-nonsense centre-back was the surprise England call-up ahead of the World Cup, having quit international football under Steve McLaren and shunned all previous attentions of Fabio Capello. At a time of defensive crisis, Carragher slotted in at the back ultimately to no avail and may regret any involvement in England’s poorest showing at a major tournament in recent history. In much the same way the French persuaded Messrs Zidane, Makelele and Thuram to roll back the years and rescue a particularly precarious qualifying campaign in 2004, while Roger Milla, Gheorghe Hagi and Francesco Totti to name but a few all played for their country after claiming international retirement. These days such announcements simply aren’t worth the press releases they’re printed on. Like performers waiting backstage to be invited for an encore, footballers seem happy to reappear on the world stage at the first sign of public encouragement to do so.
Kevin Keegan
Despite decades of football experience it seems that managers can be just as indecisive when it comes to retirement. Only three years passed between Keegan’s declaration of retirement from football after leaving Manchester City and “the return of the Messiah” to Newcastle in January 2008. Following a slow start Keegan began to turn things around on Tyneside, but his reign was cut short early the following season with Keegan citing irreconcilable differences with the board, owner Mike Ashley and director of football Dennis Wise. Always a popular figure within the game we would love it, love it if he were to take to the dug-out once again, but a year’s legal wrangling following his last return may prove enough to put him off football management for good.