Ex-Arsenal midfielder George Eastham is the man who revolutionised football transfers when he went on strike – talkSPORT.com

What do you do when you cant get the move you want?

Raheem Sterling, Neymar even talkSPORTs Darren Bent have tried various tricks to get their way.

They have been heavily criticised as a result, but this kind of player power isnt unprecedented.

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Sixty years ago Newcastle midfielder George Eastham staged a strike to get away from the north east and in doing so, brought an archaic transfer system crashing down and bettered the lives of his fellow professionals.

It was 1959 when Easthams Newcastle contract expired. He wanted to go and earn more money elsewhere, but bound by the retain and transfer system, which allowed clubs to keep a players registration and refuse to pay them if they had requested a move, he was stuck.

Essentially, chairmen had their players by the balls and were not ready to let go.

Easthams career as a footballer was on hold and he took a job selling corks, which as a result of his situation actually earned him more money.

Everywhere I went was an open door, Eastham told author Jon Henderson in the book, When Footballers were Skint.

Nobody said they didnt want to see me because I was in the newspapers. So I sold a bit of cork and I was getting more money selling it than I was playing football.

He hadnt given the game up entirely and he maintained fitness by playing charity matches for celebrity XIs where team-mates included James Bond himself, Sean Connery. That career lasted for eight months before Newcastle relented and let him join Arsenal in October 1960.

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And despite being glad he was once again doing what he loved most, he wasnt finished with the bigwigs.

Players had tried to take a stand against their paymasters before. Wilf Mannion one of the most famous players of his era attempted to wrangle over his Middlesbrough contract in 1948 before backing down and returning to work to earn his money care for his ill wife.

Here, though, Eastham went one step further and embarked on the type of revenge mission that would make The Punisher proud, proving not all heroes wear capes.

Newcastle were probably hoping that after I eventually signed for Arsenal the dispute over the retain-and-transfer system would fall away, he continued.

But the PFA were looking to me to be the man to take the fight forward, to bring an end to the system.

They were coming to the end of their resources they werent a big PFA in those days, they were a small PFA, the money wasnt coming in like it does now but they offered to pay my expenses if I carried on.

And so began the gradual shift of power between club and player.

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I said, Yes, lets do it. Lets go the whole hog. I wasnt happy with the way things had gone with my transfer. So the case went to High Court and that broke the retain-and-transfer system.

Mr Justice Wilberforce, whose great, great grandfather, William Wilberforce, led the movement that resulted in the abolition of the Slave Trade Act of 1807, heard the case in 1963 and ruled the FAs retain-and-transfer system was an unreasonable restraint of trade.

Two years earlier, footballers saw the maximum wage of 20 abolished and the tide was slowly beginning to turn.

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For Arsenal, it was worth the wait and in six years he played 221 times and scored 41 goals, earning a place at no.41 on their list of 50 Greatest Gunners.

He scored twice on his debut against Bolton in December 1960 and, in response to Newcastle fans giving him a hard time on his return to the club, used his left foot to create two and score one on his return to his former club.

He was also among Englands non-playing 1966 World Cup winners who received a medal in 2007 following a rule change adopted by FIFA.

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Ex-Arsenal midfielder George Eastham is the man who revolutionised football transfers when he went on strike - talkSPORT.com