221: Gary Elkins, Wimbledon, Merlin’s Premier League 96 Sticker Collection

Today Richard Allinson delves deeper into some of the more interesting transfer dealings of the last few decades with some suggestion that it’s not just about what you do on the pitch but how you look while doing it. Good news for the likes of Alessandro Del Piero but probably not great news for Phil Jones. Over to Rich.

Sometimes, football managers and their chairmen don’t see eye to eye on signings. Take José Mourinho and Roman Abramovich’s fallout out over the latter’s insistence on signing Andriy Shevchenko to partner Didier Drogba upfront at Stamford Bridge. José wanted Samuel Eto’o, Roman didn’t, and so Chelsea signed the Ukrainian striker. In all honesty, getting a Ballon d’Or winner as second prize isn’t bad, and as José was apparently also making eyes at Milan Baros at this time, it could’ve been much worse. 

Next, and still involving José Mourinho, we have the time when experienced football man Ed Woodward overruled his multiple title winning manager and decided that spaffing £52m on Fred was a good idea. That has worked out tremendously well. It’s okay though because Woodward also sanctioned the transfers of Bastian Schweinsteiger, Angel di Maria, Memphis Depay, Alexis Sanchez, Morgan Schneiderlin, Dan James, Lee Grant, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Odion Igalho, Matteo Darmian, and Eric Bailly. Oh. 

We then have the times when those that control the purse strings put a stop on transfers. Let’s take Blackburn Rovers as an example. Fresh from reaching the zenith of the English game and lifting the Premier League in 1995, Rovers were in the hunt for a new central midfielder, and top of Kenny Dalglish’s list was Bordeaux playmaker Zinedine Zidane. The Frenchman could’ve been a Blackburn player for £3.5m, or roughly 3/5ths of a Chris Sutton. However, in stepped Jack Walker who posed the immortal question “Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?” Zidane went on to play for Juventus and Real Madrid, winning the 1998 Ballon d’Or and World Cup. Tim Sherwood went on to wear a gilet and manage Aston Villa for eight months. 

All of this brings us to Gary Elkins. In 1991, Elkins was plying his trade as a defender with Fulham when Brentford boss Steve Perryman wanted to take him to Griffin Park on a free transfer so he approached his chairman, Martin Lange, about the proposed move. However, Lange wasn’t keen because Terry Bullivant had told him that Elkins had “shifty eyes”. The issue ended up with Perryman resigning, because he felt that Lange was making decisions on facial expressions rather than footballing ability. Once again, football in the nineties was bonkers and better. 

Elkins’ facial features didn’t stop him though, as he went on to play over 100 games for Wimbledon’s Crazy Gang in the Premier League, before playing for Swindon Town between 1996/97, and finally moving into non-league. Since retiring from football, Elkins’ life has been spent giving a lot back to society. Firstly, he runs the charity SaveYu, which provides first aid training to both kids and adults, and which he set up after his son suffered a febrile convulsion. Alongside this, he also works for the Prison Service, initially as a Prison Officer, and latterly as a PE instructor a job in which he says he is “…able to give people the opportunity to continue with their lives." Absolute respect to him. 

So Gary Elkins then. He had a good career, seems like a top bloke and he was involved in the strangest transfer story I have heard since Roy Keane refused to sign Robbie Savage because his answerphone greeting was “WAZZZZZUP!”