5) The ‘Space Ban’ clause:
Former Sweden international, Stefan Schwarz had signed for Sunderland back in 1999 in a deal which was worth just under £4 million. A Yuri Gagarin admirer, the then 30-year-old Swedish midfielder was touted to be an important acquisition for the Black Cats.
So much so, that the Swede, also nicknamed ‘The Spaceman’ had to give in to a clause which stated that Schwarz wasn’t allowed to go to space until the termination of his contract at the Stadium of Light.
More so, because Sunderland’s new acquisition was actually considering to sign up for one of the first commercial flights to space.
The then Sunderland chief executive, John Fickling had given an interview to the BBC where he said, “One of Schwarz's advisers has, indeed, got one of the places on the commercial flights.”
“And we were worried that he may wish to take Stefan along with him. So we thought we'd better get things tied up now rather than at the time of the flight.”
