30th September 2006 Manchester City bad-boy Joey Barton was in the headlines again when he bared his backside to Everton fans after a 1-1 Premier League draw at Goodison Park. He later received a warning from the PL and a £2000 fine.
Same date....1998
As the 1990's progressed there was a growing feeling that Arsenal had outgrown their historic Highbury home. In 1997 the Gunners had made a controversial - and unsuccessful - bid to BUY Wembley Stadium and make it their new home but when they started their first Champions' League campaign in 1998/99, Wembley did become their temporary home.
With UEFA reducing the capacity of Highbury to around 35,000 for the competition - one of the lowest of clubs in the Champions League - Arsenal agreed a move to Wembley for their home fixtures in the Champions League for 1998/99 and later did the same for 1999/2000. The first of those was against Panathinaikos on 30th September 1998. Despite a 25 minute delay to kick off due to traffic problems delaying fans getting to the ground a new record Arsenal 'home' crowd of 73,455 witnessed a 2-1 victory over the Greek side. All the six group matches Arsenal played at Wembley over those two seasons attracted 70,000+ crowds with the Panathinaikos record being bettered two months later with 73,707 attending the match against Lens. But while the crowds were good, the results weren't and over the two seasons Arsenal's record at Wembley was won 2, drawn 1 and lost 3. They didn't qualify for the knock-out stages in either season. Wembley then closed for a rebuild and Arsenal announced a move to a new home at Ashburton Grove. Other results from this fixture:
| 16 Sep 1981 | Panathinaikos v Arsenal | W | 0-2 | UEFA Cup |
| 30 Sep 1981 | Arsenal v Panathinaikos | W | 1-0 | UEFA Cup |
| 30 Sep 1998 | Arsenal v Panathinaikos | W | 2-1 | UEFA Champions League |
| 09 Dec 1998 | Panathinaikos v Arsenal | W | 1-3 | UEFA Champions League |
| 26 Sep 2001 | Panathinaikos v Arsenal | L | 1-0 | UEFA Champions League |
| 16 Oct 2001 | Arsenal v Panathinaikos | W | 2-1 | UEFA Champions League |
| 20 Oct 2004 | Panathinaikos v Arsenal | D | 2-2 | UEFA Champions League |
| 02 Nov 2004 | Arsenal v Panathinaikos | D | 1-1 | UEFA Champions League |
There was a more innocent time when the most popular gamble in the country was the Football Pools and the winners often became media personalities. Most famous of those was Viv Nicholson who on September 30th 1961 with her husband won £152,319 18s 8d for a five bob (25p) bet. That was a win of over £3.5m in today's money. But she couldn't escape the media attention and within 5 years her husband had been been killed in a car crash and she was nearly skint. Years later both a book and a West End musical about her life had the same title - Spend, Spend, Spend.
September 30th apparently is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. AND so National Days on xploring worldwide events, festivals, funnies... It’s International Thunderbirds' Day, International Rabbit Day, International Translation Day, Orange Shirt Day, National Pet Tricks' Day, National Ghost Hunting Day, National Chewing Gum Day… and much more!
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