Thiago Silva spent three seasons at AC Milan before moving on to Paris Saint Germain on a contract worth €12m a year. After moving to Paris, Thiago posted a picture of him kissing the badge with the comment: “I will always have this club and the Milan fans in my heart.”
Martin Rowlands spent five seasons at Brentford before QPR signed him on a free transfer. The 5 mile move didn’t go down very well with the fans of his former club and when the two sides met he was on the receiving end of plenty of abuse.
When the two sides met in 2003, Rowlands preceded to repeatedly kiss the QPR badge. Throughout the game and at full-time, Rowlands and several other QPR players constantly goaded the away fans.
Rowlands currently plays for Leyton Orient and earlier this season provided the assist for the only goal in a win for his side against Brentford.
“I’ve got no regrets at all,” he said. “Brentford fans are entitled to their opinion. I don’t have any bitterness, and I don’t have any problem with them. They can boo me if they want, that’s football. I’m big enough and ugly enough, and have been in the game long enough to take it. I’ve moved on from it all, and in the end I was proved right. I went to a bigger and better club and my career took an upward turn. At the end of the day, I had 2,500 people booing me that day, you’re bound to react.”
Read more: The Evil That Men Do: Martin Rowlands
There are a number of players floating around the Premier League at the moment who have been linked with big money and high profile moves away from their clubs, which makes badge kissing seem a little counter productive.
If these players want to leave their clubs on good terms this summer then they should not consider a badge kiss, which is generally taken as a sign of commitment. Here are five to consider.
Lucas Podolski joined his local team, Cologne, when he was 10-years-old. He broke in to the first team when he was 18-years-old and after some good performances and becoming part of the German national team, Bayern Munich became interested.
After failing to make an impression with the German giants, Podolski returned to his boyhood team. He spent a further three years there.
“I still have two years left to run on my deal and my ambition is to see it out,” he said. “I have strong opinions on Wolfgang Overath. He lives and breathes the club, day and night. He is doing everything he can for this club and he is my idol.”
However, 10 months later he announced he had agreed to move to Arsenal. The press reported that the North London club had doubled his salary to €7 million per year.
Robbie Elliot joined his boyhood club Charlton Athletic when he was a teenager and made his début when he was 21-years-old.
He became #1 the following season and stayed there for the following three seasons. “I think the fans can relate to me,” he said after signing a contract extension. “I’m a local lad, a Charlton fan, and last year they could see I cared so much about the club. Being the keeper you often seem to have a special relationship with the fans as they’re so close to the goal. They’ve been brilliant, the atmosphere has been great and we just need to keep it going.”
On the opening day of the 2008-2009 season, Charlton won 3-0 and Elliot kissed the badge.
Then three weeks later, Elliot signed for Newcastle, with Charlton making allegations of him being tapped up.
Sidney Sam joined Hamburger SV when he was 16-years-old and spent six years at the club before being sold to Bayer Leverkusen…
When Wayne Rooney scored in the FA Youth Cup final in Everton’s 4-1 defeat, he revealed a t-shirt which said “once a blue, always a blue.” He had grown up an as an Everton fan, he had been a mascot at Goodison Park in the Merseyside derby and joined their youth set up when he was just 9-years-old.
Less than a year after scoring that goal he signed his first professional contract with Everton, despite lots of clubs being interested in luring him away.
“I never had any doubts during the talks,” Rooney revealed. “I never wanted to go to another club. Running out there at Goodison Park to Z-cars playing in the background is one of the best feelings of my life. It’s what I always wanted to do. Now my ambition is just to keep on playing for Everton.”
Fernando Torres was a hero at Liverpool after spending three and a half seasons at the club and scoring 81 goals. The fans sung his name every week and he was hailed as a legend. There was no badge kissing, apparently, just a bit of shirt biting.
“I really feel at home here,” he said in December 2009. “From the first day I came right up until today I have felt that Anfield is my home. I feel like I am from Liverpool. For me, Anfield is the best place in England. I hope to be here for a long time and if my daughter speaks English and Scouse, I will be proud.”
A year later he signed for Chelsea…
Ian Wright admitted one of the biggest mistakes of his career was kissing the Arsenal badge in front of Crystal Palace fans after they sung songs about him being a Judas. He kissed the badge on three separate occasions but the most painful came on the final day of the 1992-1993 season when his goal helped relegate them…
Alan Smith is a boyhood Leeds United fan and started his career with his local club. He scored against Liverpool on his debut as an 18-year-old and spent six seasons in their first team. When Leeds were relegated at the end of the 2003-2004 season, a tearful Smith was the last to leave the pitch, commiserating with the singing Leeds fans.
Leeds needed the money so he would be sold but where would he go? In an earlier interview he claimed there was only one club he would never play for: Manchester United…
Adriano went AWOL after a World Cup qualifier from Brazil, with Inter Milan having no idea where their badge kisser had gone. Rumours were rife that he was going to quit football, becoming too depressed to play in Italy, and his contract was cancelled. Then he showed up in Brazil…
Craig Gardner started his football career at Aston Villa when he was lad. He claimed Villa were the team he had always supported. Until he joined Birmingham…
After scoring the winning goal against Charlton in 2003, Damien Duff kissed the badge in front of his home fans. He joined Blackburn as a trainee and this was his 7th season at the club, but there had been plenty of speculation linking him with a big money move elsewhere…
Cesc Fabregas spent eight years at Arsenal, three of them as captain. The day after leaving the Gunners for his boyhood club he was pictured kissing the Barcelona badge for the cameras…
Sol Campbell began his youth career at Tottenham Hotspur before waiting for his contract to run down so he could leave on a free transfer to fierce rivals Arsenal…
Robbie Savage kissed the Blackburn badge in front of the fans of his former club, Birmingham, a few months after making the move. Savage spent three years in the Midlands before leaving them for Blackburn, claiming he wanted to be closer to his parents in Wrexham…
