THE AFRICAN CUP OF NATIONS

The African Cup of Nations is happening now, at the Round of 16 stage. South Africa yesterday beat Morocco 2-0 and Mali beat Burkina Faso 2-1. 14 years ago the Egypt squad was excited.  On 31 January 2010 - A Multi-Record Setting Goal:Egypt won the Africa Cup of Nations with a record nineteenth consecutive, unbeaten match in the tournament, a streak that dates back to 2004.Egypt won their fifth and sixth trophies overall. This run of unbeaten games began in February 2004.They played out a scoreless draw with Cameroon in the last group stage match. This was also Eqypt's last match of the tournament from which they failed to advance. Thiscontinued through the 2006 and 2008 tournaments, In 2010, they remained unbeaten to reach the final, where they faced Ghana. Played before a crowd of 50,000 at the Estádio 11 de Novembro, in the Angolan capital of Luanda, the match remained scoreless until the 85th minute, when substitute midfielder Mohamed "Gedo" Nagy scored to put Egypt up 0-1. They held on to that margin to claim their record third consecutive Cup of Nations and seventh title overall.

In addition to being their nineteenth unbeaten match, it was also their record ninth consecutive win. Both streaks remain active as Egypt failed to qualify for the 2012 and 2013 tournaments. See below:

The Asian Cup is at the Round of 16 stage also. Iran play Syria today and Bahrain play Japan.

30th JANUARY 1937 AND RAICH CARTER

On 30 January 1937, home sides either won or drew all 35 FA Cup ties and Football League matches.

Of the 16 FA Cup matches that day, only one involved two top-ten First Division clubs, as 6th place Derby County rolled to a comfortable 3-0 win over 3rd place Brentford in the FA Cup. 

Other First Division match-ups in the Cup included 15th place Preston North End hammering 14th place Stoke City 5-1, 10th place Everton beating 19th place Sheffield Wednesday 3-0, and 1st place Arsenal crushing 22nd place Manchester United, 5-0. Both Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester United would end the season in the two relegation spots.

Arsenal's margin of victory was the largest in the Cup that day, but was both matched and exceeded in Division Two, where Blackburn beat Newcastle 6-1 and, in the day's most lopsided result, Blackpool rode over Bradford Park Avenue, 6-0.

Meanwhile, Luton Town provided the Cup's shock of the day, as the Third Division South side held reigning League champions, Sunderland to a 2-2 draw. Two other Third Division South teams provided upsets, as Millwall defeated First Division Chelsea 3-0 and Exeter City beat Second Division Leicester City 3-1. Exeter's victory looked even more impressive at the end of the season, as Leicester won the Second Division, while Exeter finished 21st in the Third Division South.

Four Cup matches went to replays, including York City's scoreless draw at Swansea. It was part of a pattern for York, who had earned home replays in the two previous rounds. But the pattern broke with Swansea, who won at York, 1-3. In fact, the visiting teams won three of the four replays for that round, with the only exception being Sunderland's 3-1 victory over Luton. 

Sunderland (pictured above) went on to win the FA Cup that year, beating Preston North End 3-1, in the Final. A 93,495 crowd watched this. Sunderland captain...Horatio Stratton Carter lifted the Cup , presented to him by The Queen (Elizabeth 2's mother). In this Coronation Year. Raich had married fiancee, Rosie, on the last day of April in 1937 and then "honeymooned" with his team in the Final, a few hours later! 

Sunderland had won the First Division title (top one at the time) the season before, so Carter had a League Winner's Medal, an FA Cup Winner's Medal, a place in the England team, was captain of his home town team and lovely wife...all at 23 years old.

Tommy Lawton, the England centre forward at the time, of some ability!! said that Raich shot as if he hated both the ball and the goalkeeper. His team were a goal down at half time but scored three in the second half to secure victory, one through Carter himself.

The War interfered with his history in football!

*Raich also played cricket briefly for Derbyshire in 1946.

Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1931–1939	Sunderland*	245	(118)
1945–1948	Derby County	63	(34)
1948–1952	Hull City	136	(57)
1953	Cork Athletic	9	(3)
International career
1934–1947	England	13	(7)
Managerial career
1948–1951	Hull City
1953	Cork Athletic
1953–1958	Leeds United
1960–1963	Mansfield Town
1963–1966	Middlesbrough

BANK OF ENGLAND BROKEN-1949 and YEOVIL THE HUISH-1971

With the Fifth Round draw of the FA Cup now published, why not reflect on a giant killing in 1949 when Yeovil, then a Southern League (amateur? semi-pro?) club, had a moment against Sunderland, the club then very much a full time, First Division (top) club. This time, yes 2024, Non-League Maidstone are drawn away, to either Sheffield Wednesday or Coventry, and it is worth noting that Wrexham might beat Blackburn Rovers and then would host Newcastle Utd. 

Bristol City or Nottm Forest will host Manchester United and Plymouth if they beat Leeds could face Chelsea or Aston Villa...matches not yet finalised! There is a lot of excitement out there. The FA Cup never fails to "give" even if only for a day or so.

On January 29th 1949, Yeovil tickled "fancies" by beating Sunderland 2-1, bringing on a headline that reads "The Bank of England Broken". Sunderland, a First Division club, very much had a reputation for being the most ambitious club in the Football League. The club's "nickname" was "The Bank of England", spent much money in the transfer market including buying the much sought after inside forward, Len Shackleton, for £20,500, a record at that time!! 

Another boost was Yeovil's player-manager, Alex Stock's egg, sherry and glucose punch that the Yeovil lads would consume before a match!! Sunderland had a slow start to this cup tie and were 1-0 down (remember Yeovil at home) by half time, the goal scored by Stock. Sunderland woke up and peppered the home goal for the rest of the match, only to find goalkeeper Dickie Dyke in top form-he had only played for the club once before! Ex-England player, Jackie Robinson eventually found a goal for with 15 minutes to go. So, on to extra time! Yeovil stayed firm and by 104 minutes, with fog drifting in Ray Wright pounced on a bizarre overhead clearance by Shackleton (an error!) and fed Eric Bryant for the winning goal. This was regarded as the greatest upset in Cup history "ever". The fact that the victory came about as a result of an error by the game's most expensive player was not lost on many. This would not be the last indignity heaped on "The Bank", Eight years later, having won nothing despite their heavy spending on transfers, they were found guilty of making illegal payments to players! The season following they were relegated for the first time in the club's history, having joined the League in 1891.

Needless to say, this was not going to last as Yeovil were trounced 8-0 by Manchester United in the next round. 

On January 6th 1971,  I saw Yeovil Town at their "old ground", The Huish, cosy...play Arsenal in a Cup tie.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saVmmAoZaIo worth a look. 

On the other side, part time Yeovil Town (know where it is now? NO? look it up) had a weekly wage bill of about £100! Yeovil had one thing in their favour, a sloping pitch (an eight feet drop from touchline to touchline). Believe me it was remarkable; I saw Arsenal play there in a 1970-1 season (Jan 6th)  FA Cup Tie-R3! Score 0-3. 14,500 saw this. Arsenal squad: Goalscorers  = *

Bob WilsonGoalkeeper

Pat RiceDefender

Peter StoreyDefender

Frank McLintockDefender

Peter SimpsonMidfielder

Bob McNabLeft back

George ArmstrongMidfielder

Jon SammelsMidfielder

Ray Kennedy*Forward

George GrahamForward

John Radford**Forward

United went on to beat Hull City in the Sixth Round 0-1, then Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1 in the semi-final after a 1-1 draw and then beat Leicester City3-1 at Wembley

 

Luton Town v Manchester City an FA Cup tie.

On January 28th 1961, Luton Town FC played at home, Kenilworth Park, against Manchester City, in an FA Cup, Fourth Round tie. City were 2-6 ahead when the match was abandoned due to a waterlogged pitch. Ballon d'Or winner, Denis Law continued his form in the replay, scoring five days later, but Luton had the last laugh, winning 3-1, rendering Law's effort irrelevant! Ashworth with 2 and Fleming 1 scored.

Luton Town FC v Manchester City, over 15,000 in the ground. 

In the next Round 5, Luton lost at Barnsley 1-0, who then lost to Leicester City after 0-0 and 1-2.    

The Foxes went on to beat Sheffield Utd in the Semi-final 2-0 after a 0-0 draw and then lost to Spurs 0-2 in the Final in Spurs'  Double year

01 Jan 1898

Luton Town v Manchester City

W

3-0

in League Division Two

Record of meetings between the two:

Games won:	14
Games drawn:	15
Games lost:	21

Previous Result:

14 Apr 1999

Manchester City v Luton Town

L

2-0

in League Division 2

Latest result: 

10 Dec 2023

Luton Town v Manchester City

L

1-2

in the Premier League

Steve McManaman never scored six in a match but was a provider for his Liverpool team mates such as Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen. On this day, however, in 1999, Steve turned his back on Liverpool and agreed to join Real Madrid on a free transfer when his contract expired at the end of the season. Her was labelled a "Judas" by his Liverpool Kopites, but Steve was a bright lad and he made the most of his time in Spain, winning La Liga and the European Cup twice, with his new amigos!

THE F.A. CUP 1923-4

 

Today we see the F.A. Cup Fourth Round played. In 1923-4 this equivalent weekend hosted the FA Cup First Rd proper. 

40 of the 44 clubs from the Football League First Division (the top one at the time) and the Second Division joined the 12 lower-league clubs who had come through the previous qualifying rounds. 

Four Second Division sides; Port Vale, Stockport County, Nelson and Coventry City, were entered at the fifth qualifying round, with the Third Division North and South teams. The Amateur side, Corinthian were given a free entry to the first round, following their status as the "founders of modern football!". To make the number of teams up to 64, nine Third Division South sides and only two Third Division North sides were given byes to this round. (don't know why there was a numerical difference??...Southern FA SNOBS??)

These were:

• Watford
• Brighton & Hove Albion
• Luton Town
• Swindon Town
• Queens Park Rangers
• Charlton Athletic
• Millwall
• Swansea Town
• Plymouth Argyle and from the North....
• Wolverhampton Wanderers
• Bradford Park Avenue

32 matches were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 12 January 1924. Seven matches were drawn and went to replays in the following midweek fixture, of which two went to another replay.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Date
1	Ashington	1–5	Aston Villa	12 January 1924
2	Blackpool	1–0	Sheffield United	12 January 1924
3	Burnley	3–2	South Shields	12 January 1924
4	Liverpool	2–1	Bradford City	12 January 1924
5	The Wednesday	4–1	Leicester City	12 January 1924
6	Wolverhampton Wanderers	3–1	Darlington	12 January 1924
7	Middlesbrough	0–1	Watford	12 January 1924
8	Derby County	2–1	Bury	12 January 1924
9	Everton	3–1	Preston North End	12 January 1924
10	Swindon Town	4–0	Bradford Park Avenue	12 January 1924
11	Manchester City	2–0	Nottingham Forest	12 January 1924
12	Queens Park Rangers	1–2	Notts County	12 January 1924
13	Fulham	2–0	Llanelli	12 January 1924
14	Accrington Stanley	0–0	Charlton Athletic	12 January 1924
Replay	Charlton Athletic	1–0	Accrington Stanley	17 January 1924
15	Barnsley	0–0	Brighton & Hove Albion	12 January 1924
Replay	Brighton & Hove Albion	1–0	Barnsley	16 January 1924
16	Northampton Town	1–1	Halifax Town	12 January 1924
Replay	Halifax Town	1–1	Northampton Town	16 January 1924
Replay	Halifax Town	4–2	Northampton Town	21 January 1924
17	Portsmouth	2–4	Newcastle United	12 January 1924
18	West Ham United	5–0	Aberdare Athletic	12 January 1924
19	Manchester United	1–0	Plymouth Argyle	12 January 1924
20	Norwich City	0–1	Bristol City	12 January 1924
21	Millwall	0–1	West Bromwich Albion	12 January 1924
22	Hull City	2–2	Bolton Wanderers	12 January 1924
Replay	Bolton Wanderers	4–0	Hull City	16 January 1924
23	Oldham Athletic	2–1	Sunderland	12 January 1924
24	Crystal Palace	2–0	Tottenham Hotspur	12 January 1924
25	Chelsea	1–1	Southampton	12 January 1924
Replay	Southampton	2–0	Chelsea	16 January 1924
26	Exeter City	1–0	Grimsby Town	12 January 1924
27	Huddersfield Town	1–0	Birmingham	12 January 1924
28	Cardiff City	0–0	Gillingham	12 January 1924
Replay	Gillingham	0–2	Cardiff City	16 January 1924
29	Swansea Town	1–1	Clapton Orient	12 January 1924
Replay	Clapton Orient	1–1	Swansea Town	16 January 1924
Replay	Swansea Town	2–1	Clapton Orient	21 January 1924
30	Arsenal	4–1	Luton Town	12 January 1924
31	Leeds United	1–0	Stoke	12 January 1924
32	Corinthian	1–0	Blackburn Rovers	12 January 1924

Newcastle Utd won the Final beating Aston Villa 2-0

as I write Luton Town have beaten Everton 1-2, in the 90' + 6 min...the other goal was an own goal by Mykolenko.

ON THIS DAY

In 1919, on January 26th, a Yorkshireman, Bill Nicholson was born. 

Hopefully you know who he was?...At 16 years old he arrived at Tottenham Hotspur and save for a break due to World War Two, he served at the North London club as a player, coach and manager for nearly 40 years. Looking at the club's history, he oversaw a number of wins in tournaments, with the best being the 1960-1 Double, winning First Division title (then the top one) and the FA Cup, famously beating Leicester City at Wembley; this was the first Double of the 20th Century. Two seasons later he led Spurs to win the European Cup Winners Cup, making Spurs the first British Club to win a European trophy.

On the same day and year...Jose Mourinho was born in Portugal and he eventually became Sir Bobby Robson's translator at Barcelona before making his owwn success at POrto,winning the European Cup. Jose went on to Chelsea, delivering their first league title for 50 years, but failed to make a mark inm Europea with the London club.

Dubbed "The Special One" by the British media, Mourinho is one of the most decorated managers ever and is widely considered to be among the greatest managers of all time.

Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1980–1982	Rio Ave	0	(0)
1982–1983	Belenenses	0	(0)
1983–1985	Sesimbra	35	(1)
1985–1987	Comércio e Indústria	27	(8)
Total		94	(13)
Managerial career
2000	Benfica
2001–2002	União de Leiria
2002–2004	Porto
2004–2007	Chelsea
2008–2010	Inter Milan
2010–2013	Real Madrid
2013–2015	Chelsea
2016–2018	Manchester United
2019–2021	Tottenham Hotspur
2021–2024	Roma
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Mourinho was born in 1963 to a large middle-class family in Setubal (a city in the Lison area), the son of José Manuel Mourinho Félix and his wife, Maria Júlia Carrajola dos Santos. His father played football professionally for Belenenses and Vitoria du Setubal, earning one cap for his country, in the course of his career. His mother was a primary school teacher from an affluent background; her uncle funded the construction of the Vitória de Setúbal football stadium. If youare interested in Jose next "history", look him up-it does of course include Bobby Robson and eventually Jose's venture in England!

Jose with Roma in 2023. his latest club.

JANUARY 25th-an Overhead Kick and Sardines

This day in 1997, Trevor Sinclair produced a moment of brilliance which if any super star pulled this off, they would be chuffed. This was a 35 yard overhead kick for Queen's Park Rangers in an FA Cup tie art Loftus Road against.....you guessed it....Barnsley. The strike was good enough to be made Match of the Day's Goal of the season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MomkYgXPudw 

On the same day two years earlier, Eric Cantona produced another great kick when he launched feet first at Crystal Palace fan (near the edge of the pitch) Matthew Simmons, whom Cantona claimed had been racially abusing him! Cantona was banned for 9 months, stripped of his French national captaincy, and initially sentenced to two weeks in prison! This was later reduced to 120 hours community service, which we didn't see much of! Eric then came out with his "When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea"...!!!!  Any idea?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbwV5XX6phU  so below......

It was revealed to be the Frenchman’s assessment of the media pack following him around on the hunt for a story. According to Watkins - who was sat next to Cantona during the press conference - the Frenchman knew what he was going to say all along.

Maverick: Cantona took the Premier League by storm

'

The whole case had been so big I felt Eric had to say something,' said Watkins, at the time a United director and their legal advisor. 'We started to draft a speech on a piece of paper and he asked what the boat was that catches fish. Then he asked what the birds were that fly over the sea. "Eric went on writing then showed me what he wanted to say."  "Everyone thinks because of the expression on my face that I didn’t know what he was going to say. But I did and I often wonder what happened to that piece of paper." Cantona’s words brought some kind of closure to one of the most infamous chapters in football history. Sent off for a challenge on Palace defender Richard Shaw in January 1995, Cantona was making his way to the dressing rooms in the corner of Selhurst Park when he heard Simmons shout at him. Cantona launched himself at the supporter with a kung-fu kick, before following up with a couple of well-aimed punches.'

Sardines contain healthy nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins, calcium and minerals. But they’re also high in salt and calories and have uric acid that isn’t good for people with kidney problems or gout. Here's a hat trick....