176: David Unsworth, West Ham United, Merlin’s Premier League Kick Off Sticker Collection, 1998

Richard Allinson takes a look today at one of the strangest pieces of transfer market chicanery to light up the 1990s. It probably isn’t a huge shock that Harry Redknapp was at least a little bit involved but this time it wasn’t a squad number that proved the sticking point but the proximity of a certain city on the banks of the Mersey. Over to Rich for the details.

In football, there are some transfers that make perfect sense. Everton signing Emeritus Ballon d’Or winner Ibrahima Bakayoko, Newcastle United signing local hero Alan Shearer, and Harry Redknapp signing Niko Kranjcar for the 11,000th time are just such examples. Sometimes there are those that make less sense. Manchester United’s capture of Bebé, David Bellion, Fred, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Massimo Taibi, Kleberson, Morgan Schneiderlin and Harry Redknapp signing Niko Kranjcar for the 11,001st time are just such examples. And then there is Aston Villa signing David Unsworth. 

Unsworth had started his career with Everton in 1992 and played 116 games over a five-year period before he signed for West Ham United at the start of the 1997/98 season. After one year and 32 games at the Boleyn Ground he was on the move again, apparently citing a desire to be closer to Merseyside as the driving factor. Logically, if you want to move to Liverpool, the best place to put down routes is Birmingham, and with this in mind Unsworth moved to Villa for £4m in July 1998. In his autobiography, then Villa boss John Gregory outlined Unsworth’s agent had told him that his man was desperate to sign and the only demand from Villa would be that Unsworth would eventually find a home closer to work. And with that, the deal was done and everyone was pleased with how things had panned out.

“I think I’ve made an unbelievable mistake.” Probably not what Mr Gregory was hoping to hear from his new recruit on his second day at work. “I’ve made a mistake, I should have signed for Everton.” Apparently Unsworth had realised that the M6 was the single most miserable road known to man and the reality of sitting in stationary traffic near the IKEA turnoff at Wednesbury was the circle of hell that Dante had held back because it was too extreme. “Don’t be silly, it will be fine. You can buy a flat, move down, go home at weekends and then find a house for the family. Your wife will love it down here.” According to Gregory, Unsworth’s response was to outline that there was “no way” his wife would move to Birmingham. Gregory, who was quite rightly a bit miffed about how the transfer was working out, tried to explain that there were some nice areas around Birmingham and that as he later said in his book "… he could buy as many houses as he wanted.” Personally, I’m not sure that buying multiple houses in a place you don’t want to live is an answer to not wanting to live there, but there you are. Despite only being with Villa for six days, Unsworth did make one “reluctant” appearance for the club in a pre-season friendly, before negotiations were underway for him to move back to Everton on a permanent transfer which was eventually sealed a few days later. 

Gregory made no bones about who he felt was to blame for the farcical situation: “It’s quite clear that it’s David’s missus who wears the trousers in their house. She refused point-blank to move to the Midlands. In my time as a player it used to be a case of ‘pack the china, love, I’m going to a new club somewhere else in the country’…” Safe to say, he was annoyed. For his part, Unsworth was honest about it in an interview with the Sunday Times later that year: “I made a mistake signing for Villa, but it was an honest mistake and I thought the best thing was to be open and acknowledge it. John Gregory was very hurt by what I had to say when I told him I was determined to leave, and the only way he could hurt me back was by saying those things about my wife. None of it was true and he was well out of order, but I think I can understand his frustration and anger.” Moreover, Unsworth also said it wasn’t the travel, his wife, or the fact that he had two young girls that was behind he decision - he just really wanted to play for Everton. Explaining this in the same Sunday Times chat he said “…when my agent contacted Everton both the manager and chairman were on holiday and there was no response. It was disappointing but we felt their interest had gone and I signed for Villa." Surely there was a transfer specific fax machine somewhere in Walter Smith’s Torremolinos hotel?

In his second spell with the Toffees, Unsworth went on to play 188 games between 1998 and 2004, before taking in spells at Portsmouth (252 miles from Liverpool), Ipswich (244 miles from Liverpool), Sheffield United (78 miles…) before returning to relative home turf with Wigan Athletic, Burnley and the non-local Huddersfield Town. 449 games, 45 goals, one England cap, one FA Cup and a Charity Shield. It was an excellent career, and just to think, if the M6 Toll had been open in 1998 it could’ve been oh so different.