Sunderland - the only club to prevent a player from flying to the moon.

BushTucker · 8th September 2010, 11:47 AM

STEFAN SCHWARZ: SPACEMAN

Stolen from the Guardian's "The Knowledge."

"Through the use of the internet I am deperately trying to prove to my friend something which I am certain of - that a player around about 5-10 years ago, when signing for their new club, possibly Middlesborough, had contractual agreements set in place that they could not fly to space," writes Andy Simpson. "Can anyone shed some light on this?"

The frustrated spaceman was, and possibly still is, the former Sweden and Arsenal midfielder Stefan Schwarz, whose dreams of intergalactic travel we're never going to be realised during his time at Sunderland, due to the killjoy Black Cats board fearing a clash with a vital midweek fixture. Here's the Guardian's Michael Walker back in 1999:

He could become the club captain, lift the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Premiership title, he could even score 100 goals in his first few seasons back in English football, yet if he achieved all this and more, one comment we will not be hearing from Sunderland's record signing Stefan Schwarz is that he is over the moon.

The route to football's favourite cliche was denied Schwarz the moment he completed his £4m transfer from Valencia as the 30-year-old Swede was forced as part of Sunderland's negotiations to forgo the two tickets he's booked on one of the first commercial flights into space, a tourism venture due to begin in 2002.

Having signed a four-year contract, the former Arsenal player will still be at Sunderland then, and the club have gone as far as to insert a clause in Schwarz's contract forbidding space exploration. As Sunderland's chief executive John Fickling said: 'It means that Stefan cannot turn around and ask for time off to travel to the moon.'

Fickling explained that Sunderland's official position is that any Schwarz moon walk could clash with a potentially crucial midweek fixture. 'Lets face it,' he said, 'in four years' time anything could be possible. I've never dealt with anything like this before and our board had a chuckle to themselves when the details were sent off to the FA.

'We were chatting about the final details of the player's insurance policy when this cropped up. It is normal for the club to protect its interests when we have players with unusual or dangerous hobbies. It just so happens that we found out about these tickets from the player's agent.'

Perhaps it's the agent, rather than Schwarz, who is on another planet.

Only reply if you can pun...

TSL · 8th September 2010, 11:49 AM

Thats Stefantly true that

Aberdeen Angus · 8th September 2010, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BushTucker

STEFAN SCHWARZ: SPACEMAN

Stolen from the Guardian's "The Knowledge."

"Through the use of the internet I am deperately trying to prove to my friend something which I am certain of - that a player around about 5-10 years ago, when signing for their new club, possibly Middlesborough, had contractual agreements set in place that they could not fly to space," writes Andy Simpson. "Can anyone shed some light on this?"

The frustrated spaceman was, and possibly still is, the former Sweden and Arsenal midfielder Stefan Schwarz, whose dreams of intergalactic travel we're never going to be realised during his time at Sunderland, due to the killjoy Black Cats board fearing a clash with a vital midweek fixture. Here's the Guardian's Michael Walker back in 1999:

He could become the club captain, lift the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Premiership title, he could even score 100 goals in his first few seasons back in English football, yet if he achieved all this and more, one comment we will not be hearing from Sunderland's record signing Stefan Schwarz is that he is over the moon.

The route to football's favourite cliche was denied Schwarz the moment he completed his £4m transfer from Valencia as the 30-year-old Swede was forced as part of Sunderland's negotiations to forgo the two tickets he's booked on one of the first commercial flights into space, a tourism venture due to begin in 2002.

Having signed a four-year contract, the former Arsenal player will still be at Sunderland then, and the club have gone as far as to insert a clause in Schwarz's contract forbidding space exploration. As Sunderland's chief executive John Fickling said: 'It means that Stefan cannot turn around and ask for time off to travel to the moon.'

Fickling explained that Sunderland's official position is that any Schwarz moon walk could clash with a potentially crucial midweek fixture. 'Lets face it,' he said, 'in four years' time anything could be possible. I've never dealt with anything like this before and our board had a chuckle to themselves when the details were sent off to the FA.

'We were chatting about the final details of the player's insurance policy when this cropped up. It is normal for the club to protect its interests when we have players with unusual or dangerous hobbies. It just so happens that we found out about these tickets from the player's agent.'

Perhaps it's the agent, rather than Schwarz, who is on another planet.

Only reply if you can pun...

Ive just Saturn read that and now I feel a bit spaced out