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Paul Scholes and Thierry Henry have returned to former clubs, but which old stalwarts would you like to make a comeback?

After the comebacks of Thierry Henry and Paul Scholes, we asked Premier League fans who they would like to see return.

ARSENAL

Tony Adams

What’s the charge constantly levelled at this Arsenal side? A lack of leadership. While the character seems somewhat improved after Wenger’s late August transfer flurry, surely a team led from the back by Tony Adams would have held on for three points against the likes of Wolves and Fulham over the Christmas period. Toby Moses

ASTON VILLA

Thomas Hitzlsperger

Aston Villa supporters would always welcome Thomas Hitzlsperger back even if “Der Hammer” was a little sniffy when he left for Stuttgart in 2005 saying he wanted to join a “bigger club”. Villa lack a goalscoring midfielder with a powerful long-range shot and the German didn’t earn that soubriquet for nothing. He is still only 30 and Villa were hopeful of signing him when he left West Ham last year. Whether his current club Wolfsburg are “bigger” than Villa is a moot point. Ian Malin

BLACKBURN

Alan Shearer

When you are looking up at the rest of the Premier League, goals are gold dust and no one sprinkled it over Blackburn Rovers like Alan Shearer. He scored 30 goals or more for three consecutive seasons from 1994, blasted Rovers to the Premier League title and was the fans’ must-buy shirt. Too old? At 41 he’s only three years older than Ryan Giggs. Nick Duxbury

BOLTON

Jay-Jay Okocha

While the temptation – based on league position and Ivan Klasnic’s uninspiring shows up front – is to call for the return of a Daniel Sturridge or Johan Elmander, the footballing heart wants what it wants – and the sentimental Bolton fan’s heart wants to see Jay-Jay Okocha don white once more. The sight of the Nigerian superstar stepping-over and dummying, with all the authority of his experience, before unleashing goalwards a trademark curling effort, still evokes a fond nostalgia at the Reebok. Skilful while professional; flashy, yet substantial; good-humoured, but focused, always willing to give 100% to a perpetually glamourless cause: Jay-Jay, you’re always welcome back here. Jack Leahy

CHELSEA

Gus Poyet

Chelsea spent last summer chasing a diminutive magician who could supply missing creativity and unlock opposition defences … and even aged 45 Gianfranco Zola would have been ideal. But although the Sardinian genius was voted Chelsea’s best ever player, my choice in this strange, inconsistent season (and despite his unfortunate dalliances with Tottenham and Leeds) would be Gustavo Poyet: goals, guile and an unquenchable will to win. Chris Taylor

EVERTON

Wayne Rooney

Given Everton’s current situation, you could virtually take your pick of players from the turn of the century. The names of Arteta, Pienaar, Lescott, Johnson, Radzinski, Yakubu, Ferguson would all improve the team. I wouldn’t go quite as far as Gascoigne or Ginola, but if there’s one player who has left the club who could still do a job and you’d take back, it has to be Wayne Rooney. He may have left under a cloud and not be too popular at Goodison Park, but he’s Manchester United and England’s talisman and is still only 26. Can it really be 10 years ago this summer he made his Everton debut? Martin Rose

FULHAM

Brian McBride

With Bobby Zamora and Andy Johnson both reportedly unsettled, the big-hearted American Brian McBride could surely turn the clock back – a true leader of the line as recently as 2008 with his intelligent movement, all-round awareness and ability to nod on or hold up. He might even encourage Johnson to stay. He is not 40 until June and is well remembered at Craven Cottage in the renamed sports bar McBride’s. Steed Malbranque, 32 last week, would also be welcome, though his busy, scurrying runs, appreciated in the Chris Coleman years, might not fit Fulham’s current tempo of approach and he was nothing like as effective under Martin Jol at Tottenham or subsequently at Sunderland. No sooner did he go to St Etienne than he retired. At 32 he could shine again with Fulham’s love. Jeremy Alexander

LIVERPOOL

Jan Molby

Simply the finest passer I’ve ever seen in a Liverpool shirt – Xabi Alonso included. The Great Dane could land the ball on a fivepenny piece from 40 yards. His hulking frame gave him the ammunition to hit a fierce dead ball too – it also gave him numerous injury problems. He was the perfect holding player before English football adopted the 4-5-1 formation. A thinking man’s footballer before his time. With modern-day fitness coaches Molby could more than fill the void left by Alonso in Liverpool’s midfield. Gregg Roughley

MANCHESTER CITY

Colin Bell

Colin Bell would finally return free from injury at the age of 65. The crowd would roar themselve hoarse as they did when he returned on Boxing Day 1977 against Newcastle. But instead of being a limping, shuffling shadow of his former self, this time he would play 200 more games, scoring another 100 goals in the process. His nickname, Nijinsky, said it all – named after the racehorse, but it could as easily have been the ballet dancer. King Colin would prove himself the most complete English midfielder of all time. On my bench of returnees would be Shaun Goater for his soul, Kenny Clements for his heart, Nicolas Anelka for his selflessness (honest) and Denis Law for his nerve. Simon Hattenstone

MANCHESTER UNITED

Denis Law

Every team needs goals and to see United’s strikers outside of Wayne Rooney struggling to hit the net brings back memories of a player who made scoring seem so effortless. If you told people now that a Scottish striker could be European footballer of the year they would laugh in your face, but Denis Law was only the second Briton after Stanley Matthews to win the award. The wiry Law may have been as thin as a matchstick but his refusal to be intimidated and his immense bravery, agility and sharpness around the box saw him average better than a goal every two matches for United. Each strike was saluted by a huge grin and raised fist and it was this infectious relish for the game that endeared him to the fans. His last eight years at United were blighted by a debilitating knee injury that was “treated” by putting hot poultices on it. The injury robbed him of a place in the 1968 European Cup-winning team and what should have been the crowning glory for the man nicknamed the King of Old Trafford. Mark Redding

NEWCASTLE

Alan Shearer

The Premier League’s record goalscorer is still looking quite trim on the Match of the Day sofa and will have benefited from the significant amount of time he has been spending enjoying the energising rays of Barbados. Sure, the pace went a long time ago. But I reckon the, er, 41-year-old would still have some of the old power and magic. And he’s not someone who is ever going to forget where the goal is. There would be some tasty strikes in a Demba Ba/Alan Shearer partnership. Demba could do the mobile, acrobatic goals like his one against Man Utd. Shearer could do the penalties and a few belters from outside the box. I’m sure the faithful at the Sports Direct Arena would like to see that one-armed goal salute again. Mark Oliver

NORWICH

Darren Huckerby

In the out-of-retirement stakes, Norwich fans didn’t take long to decide who they were backing: Darren Huckerby. The former Coventry, Leeds and Man City winger became a club legend in his five seasons in Norfolk. He’s also reinvented himself as something of a voice on Twitter and has been RTing requests for him to come out of retirement, only with the added suffix: “Legs gone”. Derided by some as a head-down merchant during his big club days, Hucks was always highly effective for Norwich, getting us promotion after signing in 2004 and becoming one of the few players to emerge with any honour from our sole season in the top flight. Now a regular in the Carrow Road stands, he’s truly one of us. Paul MacInnes

QPR

Clarke Carlisle

With Rangers languishing in 17th in the Premier League, one might think there would be plenty of former greats who could come back and Do a Thierry to perk things up. But that ignores Loftus Road history: the last decade has seen QPR relegated to the third tier, promoted back, and largely struggling until last season’s promotion. The players who became genuine heroes in that period are now retired (Paul Furlong) or seeing out their careers way down the league (Gareth Ainsworth). And neither of them, even young and at their peak, would be likely to be able to drag the Rs out of the mire. On the other hand, there are scores of players we’d never want to see at Loftus Road again. But if forced to pick one current player to return to Loftus Road, I think I’d have to plump – in the absence of anything better – for Clark Carlisle. But on one condition: that I am also granted a time machine to get the Clark Carlisle who played 27 games for Rangers before tearing his posterior cruciate ligament against Fulham in January 2001. Before then he’d looked like a potential England centre-back; afterwards he was never quite the same. As a footnote, that game also saw Richard Langley – at that point, quite the most promising player in a hooped shirt – tear his cruciate, too. Like Carlisle, he was never the same again either. Michael Hann

STOKE

Mark Stein

This is a tough one given the current Stoke squad is probably the best we have had for the last 40 years, but if I had to choose one player it would have to be Mark Stein. He is the type of small, nippy striker we’re lacking right now, someone with a proven track record, a good work ethic, and who was simply adored by the Stoke fans during his two-odd years at the club. He signed from Oxford in 1991 when we were in the old Third Division and went on to score over 50 goals in fewer than 90 appearances – including a corker against Manchester United in the League Cup – and helped us get promoted. He also did well at Chelsea after joining them in 1993 but seemed to miss a sitter every time he played against us, which only made our fans love him more. Richard Murphy

SUNDERLAND

Kevin Phillips

Goalscoring hasn’t been a problem since Martin O’Neill took over at the Stadium of Light, but in the barren latter stages of Steve Bruce’s stagnant regime, Sunderland were crying out for a goal-poacher with the positional sense of Super Kev in his prime … or even his current 38-year-old sub-prime. The former forklift truck driver remains the only Englishman to win the European Golden Boot and has scored seven goals in 23 appearances for Blackpool this season, proving he still remembers where the goal is, even in his most senior moments. Barry Glendenning

SWANSEA

James Thomas

Swansea’s current squad is vastly superior to that at any point since the early 1980s, but if I had to pick one former player to come back it would be James Thomas. He was a versatile, hard-working forward who joined us from Blackburn in 2002 looking to relaunch his career. He was a local boy who clearly loved playing and scoring for his hometown club and will forever be remembered for his final day of the season hat-trick at the Vetch Field against Hull, which saved the club from the Conference and possible extinction. Tragically, injuries forced him to retire soon after but no individual has played a bigger part in Swansea’s recent ascendancy than him. If it were possible, I’d have him back tomorrow. Ben Szwediuk

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

David Ginola

The silken-haired footballer-cum-model is possibly the best £2.5m Tottenham have ever spent – and the ebullient Frenchman was definitely “worth it”. In just three seasons he became a living legend at White Hart Lane. Who can forget his amazing dribble and goal in the FA Cup against Barnsley in 1999 or the swerving long-range strike against Manchester United en route to the League Cup trophy the same year? Bring him on as a late sub for a tiring Rafael van der Vaart and let him loose – what a thought. Ian Tasker

WOLVES

Steve Bull

It’s a straightforward choice between two iconic figures, from different eras, forever associated with Molineux. The first was a rangy striker, trademark sideburns and moustache and a propensity for the unexpected. But, would Derek Dougan ensure Premier League survival? Sadly not. Anyway, we’ve got Steven Fletcher who with his angular, elongated frame bears something of a resemblance to the Doog. No, it has to be Steve Bull. Fast, strong, brave, direct, 306 goals in 561 games; Jarvis’s crosses and Fletcher’s knockdowns would have him starring on Match of the Day week after week. And, it would correct a historical aberration – the great man never started a game in the top division. Paul Johnson

WEST BROM

Richard Sneekes

I’d bring back the long-haired Dutchman Richard Sneekes, who had some golden years at The Hawthorns from 1996-2001. The entertaining midfielder was certainly not shot-shy but also not always accurate as his scoring record of 34 goals in 251 appearances will attest. The former Ajax player quickly became a fans’ favourite after scoring this bullet for the Baggies against Leicester in 1996. A potential revenue stream could be reopened by dusting off the club shop’s unsold blond wigs which were popular among Albion fans in the late 90s, which should please Jeremy Peace. Sneekes is currently first-team coach at Hereford so he only lives an hour’s drive down the road and he’s only 43. Ranjit Dhaliwal

WIGAN

Any defender

Well, where do you start? Any of the classy centre-halves we’ve let go over the years from Colin Methven to Peter Atherton would be more reliable facing Premier League strikers than the current lot, though Methven ran a card shop on Blackpool prom last I heard, so might not be match fit. But seriously, who’d have thought that we could buy centre-halves – Gohouri, Alcaraz, López and Captain Calamity Gary Caldwell – that would be error-prone enough to make us pine for the return of Titus Bramble? Right now, Roberto needs to reinstate the reliable Emmerson Boyce to steady the ship, and then recall the class and professionalism of his old lower-league muckers Arjan de Zeeuw, Jason de Vos or the superb Matt Jackson. Martin Horsfield

ArsenalAston VillaBlackburn RoversBolton WanderersChelseaEvertonFulhamLiverpoolManchester CityManchester UnitedNewcastle UnitedNorwich CityQPRStoke CitySunderlandSwansea CityTottenham HotspurWigan AthleticWolverhampton WanderersWayne RooneyAlan ShearerWest BromToby MosesIan MalinBarry GlendenningMichael HannChris TaylorMark ReddingPaul JohnsonGregg RoughleySimon HattenstoneMartin RoseJeremy AlexanderIan TaskerRanjit Dhaliwalguardian.co.uk

On the 10th anniversary of his death, Gregg Roughley argues that Liverpool’s second European Cup-winning manager should be more widely appreciated

It’s 10 years to the day since the former Liverpool manager Joe Fagan died aged 80. And while the brief but brilliant contribution of winning the League Cup, the league title and the European Cup in his first of only two seasons might be forgotten outside Merseyside, on the Kop it is cherished, affording him the hallowed status of the club’s more famous fathers.

When Bob Paisley retired in 1983 the then Liverpool chairman, John Smith, had enough confidence in the burgeoning bootroom ethos to give Fagan the job. Despite having absorbed the managerial genius of Paisley, to whom he was assistant manager and Bill Shankly, whom he worked with as a coach in almost 30 years at the club, Fagan’s only previous experience as a manager was long behind him at non-league Nelson in the 1950s.

That Fagan accepted the job is something for which Liverpool fans should be eternally grateful. The straightforward 59-year-old Scouser may have appeared to be the natural successor, but he was a reluctant one, saying of the Anfield job: “It’s lonely up there.” At only two years Paisley’s junior, he was hardly a long-term option and admitted to feeling more at home enjoying the banter with players in training at Melwood than the rigours of succeeding a manager who had just won six league titles and three European Cups in only nine years, a record not even Sir Alex Ferguson has matched.

A 31-year-old Kenny Dalglish may have had the innate ability to cope with managing Liverpool but, in 1983, he was still busy terrorising defences with Ian Rush. Whether Smith ever considered the possibility of recruiting an outsider is not known, but that Fagan understood it was his duty to “wearily climb the steps”, as Dalglish once said of Fagan’s promotion, is. His remarkable success in his first season (1983-84) would do more than justify Smith’s faith, it would also play a huge role in validating what has since become known as the Liverpool Way.

To his detractors Fagan was nothing more than a glorified co-pilot keeping an unstoppable machine pointed in the right direction. But that does the man a disservice. Liverpool’s dressing-room was a strong one, with the experience of Graeme Souness, Phil Neal and Dalglish accompanied by some old-headed younger players such as Alan Hansen, Steve Nicol and Ronnie Whelan. Fagan was not merely brought in as a cheerleader, he was appointed because he was respected by a group of players of whom many had been used to getting what they wanted on and off the field for the best part of a decade. To walk into such a situation and have the strength of character to make telling decisions was not easy. The league campaign was a fiercely contested one. Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, Southampton and QPR ran Fagan’s side close.

An embarrassing 4-0 defeat to Coventry City in the first half of the season could have sewn the seeds of doubt in Fagan’s mind that he was a nothing more than a No2 and not up to the task, but by the turn of the year Liverpool were top by two points and heading towards a 15th league title. Using the much-maligned Michael Robinson as a third attacker was a shrewd move too, keeping the formation fresh and giving the young striker the experience he would need to deputise for Dalglish who missed nine weeks of the run-in with a shattered cheekbone caused by the elbow of Manchester United’s Kevin Moran.

Fagan also dropped Dalglish in his two-year spell. Perhaps it is this painful memory that prompts the Scot more than any other Liverpool player or manager to recite the old adage that no player is bigger than the club, another vital component of the Liverpool Way. Liverpool’s remarkable run in the European Cup, in which they did the rarest of things at the time and tore apart the Portuguese champions Benfica at the Stadium of Light, winning 4-1, culminated in a final against Roma at their home ground, the Stadio Olimpico .

A baying atmosphere made it feel like an away match for Liverpool, but they were 1-0 up after only 13 minutes when Phil Neal pounced on a fumbled cross by Franco Tancredi. Roberto Pruzzo’s equaliser before half-time led to a cagey second-half and extra time, finally culminating in penalties. Despite 70,000 hostile Romans willing Liverpool to miss every kick, it was the ‘home’ side who suffered. Fagan’s quiet word with Bruce Grobbelaar, instructing him to do what he could to put off Roma’s penalty-takers, worked a treat. The eccentric goalkeeper’s spaghetti legs routine gave Francesco Graziani the wobbles, forcing him to shank Roma’s fourth penalty hurtling over the bar to secure Liverpool a fourth European Cup.

Fagan did not allow Liverpool’s players to celebrate for long. “Here are the Championship medals. If you qualified for one, take one,” he told his squad after their short summer break. “The trophies we won last season, the European Cup, League Championship and League Cup are gone. In the past. We start again. We’re European champions. We have to defend our title.”

He quietly replaced Graeme Souness with Jan Molby, arguably the finest passer of a football to wear a red shirt (Xabi Alonso included). It was a signing that would benefit Dalglish as manager more than Fagan, but showed that he had a keen eye for a footballer and was more than just a coach.

Perhaps it was because Fagan, who never actually played for the club, was so steeped in the Liverpool Way that he resigned in May 1985. “Second is nowhere”, was Shankly’s motto. That’s where Liverpool finished in the league following his treble-winning season. His decision was taken in the days leading up to the horrors of Heysel, in which 39 Juventus fans died after Liverpool fans caused a wall to collapse during fighting before the match. Liverpool lost the final in Brussels 1-0. Not that it mattered after what had gone before.

While the red half of the city was paralysed by guilt, Fagan showed his strength of character, It was he who spoke for the football club at a memorial service at Liverpool’s catholic cathedral when others could not. “We pray for their families and friends who have suffered through bereavement,” he said in his warm Liverpudlian lilt. “We pray that the sporting spirit, so treasured on Merseyside, may never be lost to violence or bitterness.” Perhaps it is because Dalglish learned from Fagan that the responsibility of

being a football manager sometimes goes beyond making football decisions that he was able to hold the club together so bravely in the aftermath of Hillsborough.

That Fagan’s glorious cameo should end on such a sombre note is a crying shame. But his work at Liverpool was done. His success emboldened the board to once again recruit from within: a decision that is still benefiting the club to this day.

LiverpoolGregg Roughleyguardian.co.uk

• Steve Bruce ready to sell for £20m
• 20-year-old keen on Anfield move

Jordan Henderson may become a Liverpool player before he departs for the European Under-21 Championship providing the club raise their offer for the Sunderland midfielder towards £20m.

Sunderland and Liverpool officials opened talks last week and there is acceptance at the Stadium of Light that the 20-year-old will leave if the £20m valuation Steve Bruce, the manager, has placed on the midfielder is met.

Liverpool are understood to have increased their initial offer of £13m to around £16m over the weekend. Sunderland rejected both bids but, with Henderson keen to have his future resolved before the Under-21 tournament in Denmark, another improved offer from Liverpool may secure Kenny Dalglish the first of several major transfers expected at Anfield this summer.

Sunderland are not under pressure to sell a home-grown player who committed to a new five-year contract at the club in April 2010. However, with Henderson receptive to a move to Anfield, Liverpool’s owner, Fenway Sports Group, edging closer to Sunderland’s asking price and talks continuing between the clubs, a resolution may arrive before the midfielder teams up with Stuart Pearce’s England squad on Wednesday.

Manchester United were linked with Henderson when his fine start to the season earned a call-up to the senior England side and their friendly against France in November. But Liverpool have made the more concerted effort to clinch his signature, even though the midfielder’s form dipped as Sunderland dropped down the table in the second half of the campaign and he was booed by the club’s supporters at one point.

Dalglish envisages a central midfield role for Henderson at Anfield, despite appearing to be well stocked in that department with Steven Gerrard, Lucas Leiva, Raul Meireles and the emergence of Jay Spearing. The Sunderland player has also operated on the right of midfield since establishing himself in Bruce’s team but prefers to play in the middle, as the Liverpool manager has noted.

There is a desire from Liverpool’s director of football, Damien Comolli, to sign young talent although, should the club pay £20m for Henderson, it would reflect a willingness to spend heavily in the interests of Champions League qualification rather than securing emerging players at a more cost-effective stage. Ashley Young, another Anfield target, appeared to tilt the contest for his signature towards Manchester United following England’s draw with Switzerland on Saturday when he expressed his wish to play in the Champions League.

Bruce is keen to address Sunderland’s alarming slide since January by acquiring “eight or nine” players this summer. The Sunderland manager still has available the initial £18m received from Aston Villa for Darren Bent, and £20m for Henderson – a player he has heralded as one of the finest prospects in the country – would help his rebuilding plans.

Liverpool are also continuing efforts to sign Henderson’s England Under-21 colleague Connor Wickham from Ipswich Town. The 18-year-old is attracting interest from several Premier League clubs but Liverpool’s offer for the striker is believed to be around £2m short of Ipswich’s £10m valuation.

LiverpoolSunderlandTransfer windowAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk