Famous sporting u-turns

After Sol Campbell hastily pulled the plug on his Notts County career, we take a look at other figures in sport who have famously changed their minds.

Lance Armstrong is the most successful cyclist in history, having won amongst many other honours, the Tour de France a record breaking 7 times. In 1996 he was diagnosed with stage 3 testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain. However by 1999 he had recovered and he competed in that year's Tour de France, which he went on to win. He went on to win the competition every year for the next 7 years, before announcing his retirement after the 2005 race. However in 2008 he announced his shock intentions to come out of retirement in order to compete in the 2009 Tour de France. After taking part in several competitions as a warm-up he managed to finish third in his first Tour de France for 3 years.

Brett Favre is arguably the most famous and successful NFL quarterback in history. He was the starting quarterback for the Green Bay Packers for 16 seasons but decided to call it a day in March 2008. At the press conference he said an emotional goodbye to the sport and to many it seemed to be the end of an era. However later that year, in July, Favre caused shock as he announced his intentions to return to the sport. After protracted negotiations with the Packers' management he was allowed to sign with the New York Jets and complete his return to NFL. At the end of his first season at the Jets and at the age of 39 it was discovered he had a tear in the tendons of one of his biceps. Although it did not require surgery Favre stated this as one of his reasons for announcing his second retirement from the game. But Favre again caused shock as he announced yet another return to the sport the following season, this time with the Minnesota Vikings.

The John Obi Mikel transfer from Lyn Oslo to Chelsea is now infamous for being one of the most bizarre and controversial u-turns in football history. The Nigerian midfielder had initially been courted by Manchester United when he was 16, as well as receiving interest from Chelsea. In 2005 just after he had turned 18 Manchester United announced that they had agreed a deal with Lyn and the player, without the player's agents, to sign him. Chelsea however issued a claim that they had already agreed a deal with the player's agents to sign him, as well as paying for his education in Norway in order for him to gain a European work permit. Mikel was unveiled in a press-conference saying how delighted he was to have signed for United but shortly after this Mikel disappeared and was reportedly taken to London by his agent John Shittu. He then stated on SkySports that he had been pressured into signing for United by the two clubs and had never wanted to. FIFA then ruled that he had to return to Lyn to see out his contract and that the deal with United would be reviewed. However Chelsea decided to settle a deal with Lyn and United to sign the player themselves, in which they paid United £12 million and Lyn £4 million, at which point the extraordinary transfer saga came to a close.

On her retirement in May 2008 at the age of just 25 years old Justine Henin was ranked number 1 female tennis player in the world and had been labelled, the best pound for pound tennis player of her generation, by Billie Jean King. Before her retirement she had had a hugely successful career, winning the Australian Open, the US Open twice and the French Open 4 times. On 14th May 2008, after a difficult start to the year in which she had already withdrawn from a competition in Rome blaming fatigue, she announced her retirement from the sport. She said she was not sad because she had concentrated 20 years of her life on tennis and wanted to focus on charity and her tennis school instead. However on 22nd September 2009 a Belgian newspaper announced she would be returning to the sport after just 15 months out, a rumour that she confirmed later that day.

David Unsworth began his footballing career at Everton where he played for 6 years. However in 1997 his infamous transfer saga started to unfold. He moved to West Ham at the start of the 1997/8 season before signing for Aston Villa the following summer for £3 million. However his family couldn't settle in Birmingham and so after only a month at the club and before the season had started, he was sold back to Everton for the same £3 million Villa had paid a month earlier.

After spending 7 years at Liverpool, German midfielder Dietmar Hamann decided it was time to move on. In June 2006 he entered into talks with Bolton Wanderers and signed a pre-contract shortly afterwards. However, after spending less than a day at the club he had a change of heart' and signed for Manchester City. City paid £400,000 compensation to Bolton and completed a transfer u-turn even more extreme than David Unsworth's.

Steve Coppell proved in 1996 that in football it's not just the players who can make a quick u-turn. Coppell resigned as manager of Crystal Palace in October 1996 to take charge of Manchester City. However his reign was to be the shortest in the history of the club. After just 6 games in charge over 33 days Coppell resigned claiming the pressures of the job were too great.

The Brazilian legendary striker announced his retirement from football at the age of 43 on April 15th 2008. After a playing career that spanned 3 decades and scoring over 1000 goals he finished his career at Vasco da Gama in Brazil. However, despite his age he announced in August 2009 he declared he would return to the game to play a few matches for America Football Club to fulfil a promise he had made to his late father.

Michael Jordan is possibly the most famous and successful basketball player in history. He caused uproar at the beginning of the 1993/4 season when he retired from basketball to pursue a career in baseball following the murder of his father. This in itself was a great u-turn, however in March 1995 he announced his comeback with a two word press release, "I'm back." Jordan again retired in January 1999 but returned to the sport a year later as part owner and President of Basketball Operations for the Washington Wizards. However, in September 2001 he made his second basketball comeback, as a player for the Wizards. Jordan eventually ended his career in his final game against the Philadelphia 76ers on 16th April 2003 to cap a remarkable career full of high profile u-turns.