PAULO-SEIG-HEILED!

When promoted to Serie A in 2004, Livorno had reached the top flight of Italian football since 1949. There may be trouble! The Livorno fans regarded themselves as the most left wing in the country, often displaying banners and flags of Che Guevara and sometimes Joseph Stalin, inevitably this would cause friction with the right-wing faction. Few would appreciate that the most voluble (new word??) opposition to this political stance would come from the pitch!

In retrospect, of course, that Lazio Striker, Paolo di Canio would become chief adversary of the Livorno support, is not so much of a surprise. Di Canio was a member of Lazio's neo-Nazi ultras as a youngster. he had a tatoo on his arm, reading DVX (Latin for Il Duce) and in his autobiography he advanced the argument that Mussolini (remember him?) was a "top chap" because he made the trains run on time! 

After Lazio played host to Livorno in April 2005, a snarling Canio presented the travelling fans with an unambiguous single finger. He was caught on camera making the gesture to the club's far-right "Curva Nord" supporters on multiple occasions. Then, the season after, in the wake of a 2-1 defeat at Livorno, he antagonised them again with a palm-down, straight-arm salute to his own fans!! Imagine??!! "I am not a fascist", was di Canio's explanation. "The Roman salute is aimed at my people. The salute is from a comrade to his comrades and was meant for my people". "I expect a robust defence, otherwise I'm going to be pissed off!" The phrase "Sieg Heil" is a German Nazi-era slogan meaning "Hail Victory". 

Happily, Lazio did not agree, releasing a statement which distanced the club from "any kind of rascism or politicisation of football." Paolo Di Canio was known for his fascist sympathies and for giving the controversial salute to fans during his career. Having twice before seig-heiled, the salute, at a Serie A match against Roma and Juventus, this marked the tipping point and di Canio was forced to promise, never to salute again.  

He received a one-game ban and a fine from the Italian Football Federation for the salute. 

10th of the Twelth

10th December 1892. In Division 2 Sheffield United won 10-0 away to Burslem Port Vale – the only time an away club has hit double figures in Football League history. Port Vale must have been dreading their next match when the following week the clubs played the return match at Bramall Lane. Sheffield United only won that one 4-0! Port Vale Football Club is based in Burslem, Stoke on Trent. England, which compete in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal. They have never played top-flight football, and hold the record for the most seasons in the English Football League (113) without reaching the first tier!! 

After playing at the Athletic Ground in Cobridge and the Old Recreation Ground in Hanley, the club returned to Burslem when Vale Park was opened in 1950. After becoming one of the more prominent football clubs in Staffordshire, Burslem Port Vale were invited to become founder members of the Football League Second Division in 1892. They spent 13 non-consecutive seasons in the division, punctuated by two seasons in the Midland League before they resigned due to financial difficulties and entered liquidation in 1907. The name of Port Vale continued in the North Staffordshire Federation League, and this new club was successful enough to be reinstated into the Football League in 1919. 

On December 10th 1955. Although Derby County had slipped to the Third Division for the first time in 1955/56 they were expected to beat Midland League Boston United at home in the Second Round of the FA Cup. To be fair though it was almost like a home game for the non-leaguers with six of their side being ex-Derby players - Reg Harrison (an FA Cup winner with Derby in 1946), Geoff Hazledene, Don Hazledene, Ray Wilkins, Dave Miller and Ray Middleton. A 23,757 Baesball Ground crowd watched in amazement as Boston won 6-1 to equal the record win by a non-league side away to a League club in the FA Cup. When the clubs next met in the FA Cup in 1973/74 the scoreline was reversed with Derby winning 6-1 at Boston United's York Street ground in a Third Round replay. 

On the same day in 1960, a St James’ Park crowd of just 20,106 saw nine different players score goals in Newcastle’s 5-5 draw with West Ham United in League Division One. Newcastle scored 86 League goals in 1960/61 but conceded a club record number of goals, 109 and suffered relegation from the First Division!

10 Dec 1960

Newcastle United v West Ham United

D

5-5

League Division One

Goalscorers:

NUFC Bell, McGuigan, White Len, Mitchell v  WHFC Bond, Dick, Musgrove, Dunmore, OG 

Ever heard of Peter Brabrook? Born 8th Nov 1937 Died 10 Dec 2016. England Career from June 1958-May 1960.

BEST OF THE YEAR! (well one of the them)

Apologies for a few misses, but I've been away with my Missus! So let's have a quick catch up on the "Awards" and to start with, here's quite a good effort! 

The winner of the 2024-25 EFL Goal of the Season award was for his exceptional volley while playing for Notts County against Accrington Stanley, awarded to George Abbott. Abbott's goal was a first-time volley from a tight angle that flew into the far corner of the net after a corner kick on January 16, 2025. The stunning strike, which also won the Sky Bet Goal of the Month for January, was named the best goal in the English Football League at the annual EFL Awards ceremony in April 2025. 

https://www.efl.com/news/2025/april/27/live--efl-awards-2025/ here's another link just in case.....    https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2500450663626451

Full name	George Benedict Abbott
Date of birth	17 August 2005 (age 20)
Place of birth	Islington, England
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Wycombe Wanderers (on loan from Spurs)
Number	30
Youth career
2012–2023	Tottenham Hotspur
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2023–	Tottenham Hotspur	1	(0)
2024–2025	→ Notts County (loan)	40	(5)
2025–	→ Wycombe Wanderers (loan)	8	(1)
International career‡
2023–	England U18	3	(0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 21 September 2025 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 19:24, 28 May 2023 (UTC)

Here's a Christmas Cracker quiz question!!

Kenny Samson appeared in a PFA Team of the Year on 11 occasions, which is more than any other player. What happened to him? Worth getting on WWW. to read his later history....entertaining to say the least. 

Full name	Kenneth Graham Sansom
Date of birth	26 September 1958 (age 67)
Place of birth	Camberwell, London.
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position	LBack

THE ROOT OF SUCCESS

I have been distracted over the past few days and this was my last offering writen a few days ago...the rest (below) is recent history; it was looking good at one point. But I might miss some "episodes" over the next few days...family  commitments. We'll see...I know you will miss me!! Ha! Ha!

https://www.skysports.com/cricket/news/12040/13479251/the-ashes-englands-joe-root-scores-first-test-hundred-in-australia-as-mitchell-starc-takes-six-wickets-in-pink-ball-game 

Bit unusual, but why not celebrate England's Captain.... no, not the Footballer, who ever he is, but our Cricket Captain, Joe Root!!! who is in Australia for England's Test Series. Bless him. Root was born in Sheffield on December 30, 1990 and as a Steel City native, he has remained loyal to his, er, roots. The former England skipper is a fully paid-up Sheffield United fan and will often take to social media to express his support for the Blades. Joe Root, today, came in to improve England's score against our closest rivals....all with a pink ball too!

Getting back to SOCCER! Do referees give penalties against Manchester United at Old Trafford (well at their home ground!!) In 1993 Norwich's Ruel Fox scored from the spot and that was the last one to be scored against MU in Liverpool's 0-1 victory in April 2004 which ended years of dodgy tackles, dives and ref's "bottling" decisions under the duress of influencial home players such as Roy Keane and his mates!! Obviously we have moved on! Bless him!

JIMMY GREAVES-BIT OF A HERO!

Football On This Day - On December 3rd 1960, Jimmy Greaves played for Chelsea in front of nearly 19,600 at Stamford Bridge in a League game, scoring 5 goals in a 7-1 victory over West Bromich Albion. His 41 goals in 40 games that season, the club top scorer, contributed to Chelsea's 98, scored in League games, which was sensationally beaten by the 105 goals Chelsea conceded!! 

Personal information
Full name	James Peter Greaves
Date of birth	20 February 1940
Place of birth	Manor Park, Essex, England
Date of death	19 September 2021 (aged 81)
Place of death	Danbury, Essex.
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Position	Striker

Chelsea won 15 games in the season, lost 20 and drew 7, given them a place 12th in First Division. Chelsea's progress in the FA Cup lasted to the 3rd Round only, losing to Crewe Alexander at home 1-2 and in the League Cup, they went a step further, losing to Portsmouth in the 4th Rd. Having scored 124 goals in 157 apps, Greaves soon moved to AC Milan in 1961 (12 apps 9 goals) which despite this ratio, did not go well and he returned home, joining Spurs in 1961 (321 apps/220 goals). Then in 1971 he moved to West Ham (38apps/13goals) and then down the Thames, out to grass, at Chelmsford. Overall Greaves played 566 games and scored 386 goals. HERE IS JIM IN 1964...61 years ago! Bless him. I met him in his retirement...such a nice bloke.

Youth career
1955–1957	Chelsea
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1957–1961	Chelsea	157	(124)
1961	AC Milan	10	(9)
1961–1970	Tottenham Hotspur	321	(220)
1970–1971	West Ham United	38	(13)
1975–1976	Brentwood
1976–1977	Chelmsford City	25	(13)
1977–1979	Barnet	51	(16)
1979–1980	Woodford Town
Total		604	(395)
International career
1957–1962	England U23	12	(13)
1959–1967	England	57	(44)
1965	United Kingdom	1	(1)

First Division goals in England
Player	Goals	Matches	Goals/matches
Jimmy Greaves	357	516	0.69
Steve Bloomer	314	535	0.59
Dixie Dean	310	362	0.86
Gordon Hodgson	288	455	0.63
Alan Shearer	283	559	0.51

MULTIPLE 2nd of DECEMBERS

2nd December 1907: The Players' Union – officially the Association of Football Players’ and Trainers’ Union – was founded on this day in 1907 at a meeting in Manchester’s Imperial Hotel. The main issue of the day was the introduction of a maximum wage of £4 per week for players. Now known as the Professional Footballers’ Association, it is the oldest professional sports trade union in the world. OF COURSE IT IS!

And on 2nd December 1948: Alf Ramsey made his debut for the national team. The Southampton full-back played for England in a 6-0 win against Switzerland at Highbury. The Swiss were playing their first international in England but were beaten 6-0 at Highbury. 

Same date but in 1990: The "Battle of Old Trafford" took place in a First Division match between Manchester United and Arsenal. A 21-player brawl erupted, leading to point deductions for both clubs for bringing the game into disrepute. 

On the same date 1994: The first World Cup final to be decided by a penalty shootout was held at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, USA. Brazil beat Italy 3-2 on penalties after the match ended 0-0 following extra time. 

and more on Dec 2nd 2008: Gretna FC. resigned from the Scottish League, marking the end of a dramatic rise and fall. The club went from the English Northern Premier League to the Scottish Premier League in just six years before financial problems led to their downfall. Do you know why the anvil?

2nd December 2010: England again missed out on staging the World Cup finals when FIFA announced the host nations for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments after a vote in Zurich. England were up against Russia and Belgium/Netherlands and Portugal/Spain joint bids in the battle for the 2018 finals. Sadly England received just 2 of the 22 votes in the first round of voting and were eliminated from the vote at that stage. Russia won the right to host the 2018 finals with Qatar getting the nod for the 2022 finals. So nothing controversial there then!

Finally, 2/12/2023: Hollywood actor Tom Hanks attended his first-ever soccer match at Villa Park, watching his favourite team, Aston Villa, play against Arsenal. Villa led twice before Arsenal scored two late goals to win 4-2. Tom discovered the club after hearing the name on the BBC and thinking it sounded like a "lovely vacation spot". I bet he lives in a villa and not a house! and takes his vacations elsewhere.....

THE TURRA COO

Turriff United Football Club is a senior football club currently playing in the Highland Football League, in Scotland. They play their matches at The Haughs, Aberdeenshire. Turriff is a town and civil parish in inland Aberdeenshire in Scotland, close to Fraserburg and Peterhead. It lies on the River Deveron, about 166 feet above sea level, and has a population of 5,708. In everyday speech it is often referred to by its Scots' name Turra, which is derived from the Scottish Gaelic pronunciation.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/HEfJdrg5c7mUcXnd6 for map

They joined the Highland League for the 2009-10 Season, having been accepted into the league on 25 February 2009. Prior to joining the Highland League, they were a Scottish Junior Football Association club, playing in the Scottish Junior Football North Premier League. Turriff finished in the top half of the table only onve in their first five seasons in the Highland League but their fortunes improved in the 2014-15 season.  The club recovered from early season setbacks (their heaviest defeat in the League losing 0-8 to the Champions, Brora Rangers), followed by a three point penalty for fielding an ineligible player in their opening match to beat their previous record of 16 wins in a season with 14 matches still to play. Turriff went on to compile a 23 match unbeaten run, during which they briefly led the league table following a 1-0 victory over Deveronvale 1-0 on 3rd January 2015 and again a 3-0 victory over Huntly four weeks later. On both occasions the second placed club, Brora Rangers had two games in hand. Turriff remained Brora's closest rival for the rest of the season, until Brora finally took the title with a 2-1 victory over Turriff at The Haughs on March 28th. A week later Turriff securhed second place when a draw between their closest rivals, Cove Rangers and Wick Academy left both clubs unable to close the gap!!

Full name	Turriff United Football Club
Nicknames	Turra, United
Founded	1954; 71 years ago
Ground	The Haughs, Turriff
Capacity	2,135 (135 seated)
Chairman	Gairn Ritchie
Manager	Warren Commings
League	Highland
2024–25	Highland League, 12th of 18

The club made its Scottish Cup debut in 2012, beating Burntisland Shipyard, Civil Service Strollers and Buckie Thistle to reach the fourth round, in which a 1–1 draw at home to Greenock Morton made them the last surviving Non-SFL/SPL side in the competition, before being knocked out in the replay.
In 2013-14, Turriff reached the third round, beating Selkirk and Wick Academy before going out to Stirling Albion. In 2014-15 they beat Lossiemouth in the first round, before losing to Clyde in the second. By virtue of finishing as runners up in the Highland League, they entered the 2015-16 competition in the second round, before losing to Fraserburgh.

Changes to the entry criteria of the Scottish Challenge Cup allowed Turriff to take part for the first time in 2016-17. They reached the third round, losing to Hibernian. The game set a new home attendance record for Turriff (1,791) and was their first match to be televised live (on BBC Alba).

Turriff's most consistent success as a senior club has been in the Aberdeenshire Shield competition, which they have won three times. During the 2013–14 competition, their semi-final match against Cover Rangers was declared void and ordered to be replayed after it emerged that both teams had fielded ineligible players (in Turriff's case, the player was an unused substitute). The decision was to Turriff's advantage, as they had lost the original match - but went on to win the replay and so reach the final for the second year running.
In 2015, they again beat Cove Rangers in the semi-final to become finalists three years in a row.

The club's official mascot is Moo the Coo, an anthropomorphised!!! male counterpart to the town's unofficial emblem, the Turra Cow. The Turra Coo (Doric for "the Turriff Cow") was a white Ayrshire-Shorthorn cross, dairy cow, which lived near the Aberdeenshire town of Turriff in north-east Scotland in the early twentieth century. The cow became famous following a dispute between her owner, supported by local people, against the government over taxes and compulsory national insurance.