ACADEMICS BETWEEN THE POSTS?

Ederson Santana de Moraes has signed for Manchester City from Benfica for £35 million. You know this is a record for a goalkeeper (he topped Buffon) but no where near the top price for an outfield player. Why is that?

Only one goalkeeper has won the Ballon d'Or since it was first awarded in 1956, that was Lev Yashin, the Russian. I saw him managing Moscow Dynamo in Greece against Olympiakos whilst on holiday in 1971.

Manuel Neuer, a greatest keeper?? was short listed for d'Or in 2014, the first for 3 decades, but that was that.

Ederson follows in valued footsteps, Bravo, Hart? Where will it go next? Ederson played for Sao Paulo in 2008, joined Benfica Youth as a 16 year old in 2009, then went to Ribeiro 2011, Rio Ave 2012-5 and joined Benfica, playing in their B side, then the first team, until being signed by Pep.
He has played 149 games at the senior level.

The goalkeeper is there as a "prevention of negative consequences" and is seriously only noticed for his mistakes or brilliant saves, but rarely does he get credit for the the basics, which he does with rare error all match. It is the same for wicket keepers!

Since the back pass rule was changed 25 years ago, the keeper's role has expanded and he has become multi-dimensional, such is their importance. But of the 100 most expensive footballers' transfers, only one is a goalkeeper. Does this make sense?

Much has changed since Peter Shilton first set foot in his goal area in May 1966 for Leicester v Everton. He made 1005 appearances with a multitude of clubs, ending his career at Leyton Orient at 47 years old, the 5th oldest player in the FL and PL. He won 125 international caps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lpIgLYETPI

Other goalkeepers who were a little more philosophical about their role in the game of football are:
Albert Camus, author, who played in nets for Racing Universitaire Algerios JT. he said that "all that I know most surely about morality and obligations, I owe to football". Professional footballers appeared in his writings.

Pope John Paul II known as Karol Jozef Wojtyla played goalie in games between Jews and Catholics at school.

Vladimir Nabokov, another author and entomologist, donned the GK jersey at Trinity College, Cambridge, while Niels Bohr, the quantum physicist narrowed the angles for the Danish, Akademisk Bold Club and also played for his country in the Olympic games 1908.

ITS THE POINT THAT COUNTS

There is a hang over in the Kirklees region today and tonight the Terriers's open top bus will ride through Town. Our U13 coaches were due to meet for dinner and drinks tonight but one of the coaches (a dad) is taking his lad to watch the team roll past with the Play Off trophy, the passport to the Premier League. Let's hope they dont drop it.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/21/real-madrid-player-drops-cup-under-bus

So Huddersfield won through in the end even with a negative goal difference. They didn't win either of the play off matches and relied on penalties-thanks to the Germans in the squad.

In 1923-4 Huddersfield won the First division by goal average over Cardiff City. They had the same points, Cardiff had scored more goals in the season and goal difference was the same, but goal average was the mathematical decider. Only five players in the Huddersfield team scored their goals!


In the English Premier League if goal difference is the same, then goals scored count and after that a "play off" takes place. Prior to 1976-7 season Goal Average was used and the maths decided who would be placed higher if points were tied.

In 1997-8 Arsenal pipped Man United by one point for the PL and the following season United got their revenge. Arsenal had conceded only 17 goals all season (20 fewer than United) BUT the sides had equal goal difference with two games to go. In the penultimate matches, Arsenal lost to Leeds 0-1, when Jimmy Floyd scored in the 87th minute. United nicked a point against Blackburn going a point ahead. United then beat Spurs in the last game and Arsenal's final win 1-0 over Villa was worth nothing.

1994-5 Blackburn won over United by one point, when United failed to beat West Ham at Upton Park despite Rovers losing at Liverpool. It was Blackburn's first silverware since 1913.

1976-7 Liverpool won the First Division over Manchester City by one point and five points separated the bottom 10 clubs in the division. Tottenham were relegated.

1971-2 Derby win by a point over Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester City. Clough and Co had finished their season with a defeat of City before the last games were played and they had 58 points one point ahead of Leeds and two from Liverpool. In the final games Leeds lost to Wolves 1-2 and Liverpool could only draw 0-0 with Arsenal. Clough and lads were on holiday when they heard.

1964-5 Geroge Best and United beat Leeds by goal average. Leeds also lost the Cup Final that year. This season saw the first showing of Match of the Day and Stanley Matthews played his final competitive match after 35 years of  a professional career.

there are others....
1949-50 Portsmouth beat Wolves goal average.
1952-3  Arsenal beat PNE goal average 0.0999 of a goal.
1988-9 Arsenal over Liverpool by a goal scored by "Its really up for grabs now.....THOMAS" in the final minute making the score 2-0 at Anfield.
2011-12 City beat United  on goal difference.

Here is another complication:
In the Sydenham Wessex League Premier this season, Moneyfields are still waiting to know if they are champions. It all relies on the special League meeting deciding whether the club should be docked points for playing a suspended player. If their appeal fails Portland United will get the title.

SEND THE ROYALS A CARD OF CONDOLENCE.

If you wanted to burgle anywhere in Huddersfield then today was the day. The people of the town and its surroundings migrated to Wembley to watch the Terriers ((Town) beat the Royals (Reading) in the £200 million game. The winners go to the Premier League next season. Heaven. The game ended up in a "lottery" with penalties, the traditional way of deciding a NO result even after extra time. Talksport has listeners phoning in debating the more fair way of deciding a no result game.....blah.

It's good news for Huddersfield who are owned by a genuinely nice man, Dean Hoyle, and managed by a genuinely nice German coach, David Wagner. Hoyle is the previous owner of "Card Factory". Founded in 1997, he sold it in 2010 to Venture Captalist Charterhouse for £350 million estimated. He has recently been awarded a Football Business Award,

Hoyle has given the club a "soft loan" and hopefully the next season in the Premier League will pay him back. Hoyle cycled to Wembley from Kirkless for charity and the tension of the play off final clearly took its toll on him. But there you are, he is an honest investor with a fairy tale finish to the year. Mind you with that amount of dosh behind me, I could be a decent chap.

Wagner, a mate of Klopp, seems to have got the tactics about right and all credit to him and his staff who have renovated a moderate Championship club. What will happen next year who knows but live the dream for a year?

Huddersfield Town was only founded in 1908, wrestling youngsters away from the more traditional game of rugby league, joining the Football League in 1910. After the First World War, the club had to raise money from public subscriptions to save the club by selling £1 shares. Had they failed they would have merged with Leeds!

The 1920s proved a very successful period for the club (Herbert Chapman and all that), justifying that financial input, and the club lifted itself into the First Division until 1952. It was up and down the divisions from then with a final appearance in the top tier in 1970-2.  A low point was their relegation to Division 4 between 1975-80. Then there was a steady climb towards Division One and now a deserved heaven.

There will be a lot of happy punters making their way back to West Yorkshire sometime in the next 24 hours!

GREASEY 'UNS v TANGERINES

It is Rogation Sunday and I was tempted out into the country side to "ask" his Lordship for help with the local harvests and animal births and to thank him for what is being given to us. In fact I went on a walk with the Church, sort of "beat the bounds", sang a few hymns, had a prayer and a reading and finished of with  a bit of refreshment in the St Anne's church.

I then rushed home to catch up with another "religious" ceremony, that of the Division two play off final between Blackpool and Exeter City at the "Cathedral", Wembley. After yesterday's brilliant cup final, could we be given anymore excitement?

Well the match went well, Blackpool went ahead, Exeter drew level and Blackpool nipped in with a winner before extra time etc. My sympathies were with Exeter but I was really pleased to see the "Seasiders" (sometimes known as the Tangerines) victorious after all the issues their fans have had to put up with over the past few years. Blackpool was also my favourite club when I was a youngster because Stanley Matthews played for them 9work that out!). I soon grew up and followed Spurs, because they were GOOD!

Both teams emerged from the Play Off semi-finals having survived home and away ties each worth 11 goals in total, so we were expecting a goal bonanza. There was plenty of action.

Exeter of course has had quite enough excitement this rugby season as the Chiefs have confounded all the odds, so did they deserve any more.

Exeter manager, Paul Tisdale is the second longest serving boss in the Football League (after Wenger). Having joined up with the Grecians in 2006, he had made his managerial name with Team Bath-a university side that had a bit of luck in the FA Cup. He is regarded as a snappy dresser and has the backing of Football Director, Steve Perryman MBE, who has brought his wealth of knowledge to the Grecians after being shunned at Spurs. That's another story.

Why the Grecians? Well since I am in classical mood (did you spot the "rogare"link? It means to ask) So that is why I was having a Rogation day.

Exeter may have been named from the Welsh for the settlement, "Caerwysg" meaning fort on the Exe (the river). The Cornish equivalent is "Karesk", so a west country link there. This was often translated as "Caer Iscuns" which apparently sounds like "Grecians".......hmmmm.

The other explanation for Grecians might be from some local scallywags known as "Greasey 'Uns", who lived in the St Sidwell's district of Exeter near the ground, St Jame's Park. Rivalries between the groups of city boys often took place when the St Sidwell's boys were "beating the bounds". That happens on Rogation Sunday. YES-LINK!!

I could go into the "Illiad" as Greek forces laid siege to the city of Troy, but I will spare you that..

Blackpool's "philology" (the study of placenames) is less confused; not much to explain is there? Black water from a local stream into the Irish sea sourced from peat bogs disgorging dark water, as with Dubn Linn (Dublin) in Irish which means the same). You never stop learning.

Manager Gary Bowyer only took over in the summer 2016 and has dragged the club up the league to financial promotion. All credit to him and maybe credit in the bank?
He is the son of ex-Nottingham Forest player Ian Bowyer. Gary as a young lad once took on Brian Clough at Forest asking him why he wasn't picking his Dad! Not clear what the response was.

Well the Blackpool club has put some of its worries behind it and let us hope they get some rich rewards in Division One. KIt might dig them out of the mess linked below.
http://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/blackpools-day-of-judgement.html

MONEY AT THE DOUBLE

All being well for Chelsea this afternoon, the Pensioners will be crowned FA Cup winners and therefore will also "Do the Double". I'm not bothered but it must be better than Arsenal getting it.
The last time this happened was Chelsea 2009-10.
Prior, Arsenal had done it in 2001-2, 1997-8 and 1970-1.
Manchester United did it in 1998-9 1995-6, 1993-4.
Liverpool won both trophies in 1985-6.
Tottenham Hotspur were the first club to win the Double in the 20th Century in 1960-1.
In the 19th century Aston Villa "Doubled" in 1896-7.

The first team to conquer all was Preston North End, the Invincibles in the first year of the Football League 1888-9. When the FL started, on 8th september, league positions were judged by games won only. This was soon to be questioned as "draws" got no recognition. During the season wins were eventually given 2 points and 1 point for a draw. The season ended on January 5th.

Preston went unbeaten in 22 games (there were 12 teams in the one and only division) and they had a record of:-
P22, W18, D4, Goals scored for 47 against 15 with a "Goal Average" of 4.9 (which was a way of deciding between teams should they have equal points. Today this is done by goal difference).
Main scorers were: Englishman, John Goodall scored 21 in 21 games; Scot, James Ross 18 and Fred Dewhurst (Eng) 12.
In the Cup PNE beat Wolves in the final at the Oval on March 30th, 1889, 3-0. 149 clubs started the competition and Preston beat Bootle, Grimsby, Birmingham St Georges and WBA. Dewhurst, Ross and Thompson scored.
The squad had 8 players from England, 7 Scots (remember that professionalism encouraged Scots to cross the border and they also may have originally worked in the mills of Lancashire to supplement their wages). 2 came from Wales and 1 from Northern Ireland.

William Sudell, born in Preston, was "manager" of the local cotton mill and chairman of the club. He was responsible for getting paid footballers recognised (ending "shamateurism") which changed the game.

In 1895 he was convicted of fraud moving money from his mill to the club and was imprisoned for 3 years. He later migrated to South Africa where he had much to do in promoting sport and died there in 1911. He is with PNE here third from the left back row of the INVINCIBLES.

THEY WILL NOT BE DANCING IN THE STREETS OF HARTLEPOOL TONIGHT.

Its been a bit of a roundabout over the past few weeks with managers, coaches and players chopping and changing, as teams succeed or decline.

Jeff Stelling, the Hartlepool's President made a plea over the television for poor old Dave Jones to resign as Hartlepool's manager. Having been in charge since January 2017, Jones had not made much difference to the Monkey Hangers' performance and they eventually were relegated from the Football league for the first time since 1921.
They beat Doncaster in their final League 2 game, so that Donny lost the chance of being champions and despite this the Pools saw rivals Newport County score in the 91st minute of their final league game to condemn the Pools to the National League for the first time in 96 years.
https://www.joe.co.uk/sport/watch-as-jeff-stelling-reacts-to-the-heartbreaking-late-goal-that-sent-his-beloved-hartlepool-down-124476

Inevitably there is a clear out at the club. Jones goes along with legend Billy Paynter, coach and captain. There have been several players chopped from the roster too but Carl Magnay stays, so do Rhys Oates and Brad Walker.

I mention Carl because he was the reason for me travelling along with Jerry (a chum, who is sort of related to the young full back) to Grimsby one evening and then to Wembley to watch him play for the Mariners. I feel relieved that Carl's recent transfer to the Pool has not proved to be to bad a move. Although he is stuck in the NL now! he is in employment.

In Jones' place comes Gatehead born, Craig Harrison-remember him? Once of Middlesbrough and Crystal Palace, he has had an amazing run with The New Saints, from the Welsh Premier League. TNS were founded as recently as 1959. I have mentioned them before.
http://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/tns-win-scrubs-out-ajaxs-record.html

I hear you say, isn't that just like expecting a Celtic coach to be a miracle worker? Well yes, the opposition is not startling but Harrison has kept his team winning and it is some achievement who ever it is against. They beat Ajax's winning record this season by producing straight victories for 44 games. The Saints won the League therefore, the League Cup and have had fun in Europe.

The link is that Jeff Stelling has used the phrase "they will be dancing in the streets of Total Network Solutions", the original name of the club and of course no place. The club name has since been adjusted to The New Saints.
The most recent squad has had 13 English players on their books and of course Craig.....who has since moved to Hartlepool!

Do you know why "monkey"??

WATCH THE VIDEO; FIND OUT ABOUT THE TEETH

Yes, I watched it on TV in black and white; the 1967 European Cup Final (now known as the UEFA Champions League Final) a competition for the Premier league winners of each affiliated UEFA nation.

Celtic beat Inter Milan 2-1 on May 25th at the Estadio Nacional, Lisbon. The Italians had developed to a fine art, the "catenaccio" defence, utterly negative, a tight as a drum with a "sliding bolt" sweeper who shut the bolt across the Milanese back line and ensured no entry! The Scots managed by Jock Stein breached it and won. He got his tactics spot on.
https://www.sportskeeda.com/football/the-beauty-of-catenaccio-style-of-football
Celtic became the first British team to bring home the trophy.
This season at every home game at Celtic Park, the mobile phones shine after 67 minutes of every match. Looking at Celtic's record this season perhaps the crowd should be moving on  to celebrate success, but of course the hoops are playing against "Micky McMouse" teams and the records don't really count!! Do they?

A green and white Hillman Imp has driven to Lisbon arriving today outside the stadium where the gates will be opened at 3pm. Some fans who have cycled from Scotland, are allowed into the ground for a lap of honour. Fans are arriving by coach and their may be 3,000 or more on their pilgrimage, lets hope they behave.

The Celtic players all came from within 30  miles of the ground. Bobby Lennox was the only one living outside the ten mile radius!

Back home there was recently a Civic Reception at the City Chambers for the team members.
Sadly a number of the winning team were not be able to share the moment as the following have passed on:
Ronnie Simpson GK, Tommy Gemmell LB (scored the first goal), Bobby Murdoch RH, Jinking Jimmy Johnstone OR, AND
Steve Chalmers is too frail to get to events and Willie Wallace CF lives in Sydney.
Jim Craig RB, John Clark CH, Bertie Auld LH, Stevie Chalmers CF (who scored the winner late on by diverting Murdoch's long range shot), Bobby Lennox LW are still alive.
Rod Stewart, Alex Ferguson and the Bay City rollers are invited too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7ON3mMMFSs

The Italians won a penalty early on for a powder puff tackle by Craig on striker Cappellini 1-0. It looked as though they might win their fourth Cup in five years. Prior to this the cup had been kept in the "Mediterranean triangle" and after 1967 the cup did not left the north of Europe for 17 out of the next 18 years.

A month later Celtic beat Real Madrid in Alfredo di Stefano's testimonial. No fluke.

YOUTH, YOUTH, YOUTH.

Ryan Giggs is writing in his D Telegraph column, about the upcoming Europa League Cup Final. He is comparing the mentality of the Manchester United players tonight with other teams that have had to play an important match soon after a notable national disaster.

Inevitably he mentions one of the great "come backs",  the first match played by the newly formed Busby Babes after the Munich Air Disaster in 1958. The Busby Babes had been in five consecutive FA Youth Cup Finals in the 1950s and Giggs realised how important the Youth Cup was to the development of a club. Some how the Busby Bbes maintained a high standard.

These days with free flowing cash and huge transfer fees often not an obstacle, home grown players and successful youth teams are less important to club's success. Giggs, as a United Youth team player, got to know Busby Babes such as Bobby Charlton and of course was inspired by Matt Busby. Giggs was eager to play in a successful Manchester United Youth (U18) team in the FA Youth Cup. Nobby Stiles was the Youth team coach and Giggs played along side teenagers who would soon become legends. The FA Youth Cup has been contested since 1951 and United have won it 20 times and runners up 4 times. His year group had some success.

Giggs had already been in the United first team and was put back into the Youth team in 1992 to "strengthen" the team. He replaced Robby Savage! Having been on losing sides in the semi-finals for the previous two seasons, United wanted success in what was Giggs' last "youth" year.

In 1993, I was coaching the Charterhouse School U18 team and we had won through to the Independent Schools' Cup Final that March. Although we lost to Forest School at Craven Cottage on penalties (coincidentally future United footballer, South African, Quinton Fortune was playing for Forest), we were treated by one of the school's parents to hospitality at a Premier League game at Selhurst Park.

The parent knew a bit about football, he was Ron Noades and he invited the squad (15 boys) and coaching staff to watch what was to prove a crucial match for both clubs. Palace really had to win to stave off relegation from what the first ever Premier League season and the visitors (Manchester United) needed to win to be champions. Palace lost 0-2, Hughes and Ince scored and United were 10 points clear, Palace were relegated.
(United squad: Schmeichel, Parker, Bruce, Pallister, Irwin, Ince, Cantona, McClair, Kanchelskis, Hughes, Giggs, Robson.)

On April 21st we went to Selhurst Park and after the game we retired to the hospitality lounge only to bump into a number of the "Class of '92", the Manchester United Youth team including Giggs, Beckham, Scholes, Butt and probably Savage (if he wasn't sulking), who had been at the match as a treat also. They lost the Youth Cup to Leeds that year 1-4. In 1991-2 Man U had won the Cup 6-3 beating Crystal Palace!

Giggs played in some serious European matches the following year with visits to the challenging Galatasaray and a defeat to Gothenburg. He was quickly developing into a seriously good professional and perhaps youth success breeds success.

Tonight, with Manchester United going into what Jose describes as the "most important game", youth players including Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard are in for a night they will never forget, especially after recent events in the home city. Like Giggs, they have had a good start in life and much to prove.

Ajax also have a young side (on average four years younger than United) and it is a club that has always referred to their youth scheme to support their success in Holland and in Europe. So will Ajax's Kasper Dolberg at 19 years old be a winner or will United in their 64th game of the season conquer all? They will be doing it for Manchester.

CRACKING OWN GOAL FIYAKO.

The England U17s were doing very nicely in their recent tournament but lost the final on penalties to Spain at the weekend.

In South Korea's FIFA biennial 21st U20s World Cup, what about our lads' performance? It included this own goal by Fiyako Tomori, a Chelsea defender on loan to Brighton. In their second group game England drew 1-1 with Guinea, not a very flattering result. Young Lion goalkeeper, Dean Henderson was completely floored!
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/may/23/fikayo-tomori-england-u20-world-cup-own-goal-guinea
Fiyako was responsible for an own goal when the Albion lost to Brighton in this season's FA Cup.

Bournemouth's Lewis Cook scored England's first goal and despite the draw, the Young Lions top their group having beaten Argentina 3-0 on Saturday.

England play the hosts South Korea on Friday and should be safe. The England squad includes 2 from Newcastle, 5 Everton, 1 Bournemouth, 3 Chelsea, 2 Spurs, 1 Arsenal, 1 BRENTFORD, 1 United, 2 Middlesbrough, 2 Liverpool, 1 Reading.

The World Cup features six groups of 4 with the most "remote" team being Vanuatu, who along with New Zealand qualify through the Oceania group.

England based players appear in other squads;
3 in New Zealand (1 with Sunderland, 1 at Blackpool and 1 in the Nike Academy), 3 in USA (they are on Spurs, Arsenal and Fulham's books)

England got there as one of the European group winners and Serbia the holders from 2015 failed to qualify. South Korea are hosts of course.

WALKING (BACK) TO HAPPINESS

Most of the lads at the tournament would know about that song and who sang it*. She was a Spurs supporter and we were all over 65.
I reckon there were at least three Spurs supporters at the tournament this morning. Penistone Church has two, I know, and a met another, a goalkeeper, during the day's action. We met a lot of new folk.

Come to the Etihad they said, Penistone Church FC Walking Football "squad" are expected at a Tournament on Monday 22nd 11am. See below! £50 to cover costs and we paid our dues of £5 ph.
http://www.walkingfootballunited.co.uk/festivals

So we turn up at the Blue Gate in the shadow of the stadium and tennis centre. The squad, a few lads from "South Penistone", one lad from the Leicestershire supporters' branch and the rest from the Church. Hallelujah! 12 teams in three groups; ours included Stoke City, Manchester City and Retro Rovers (to all accounts, Doncaster Rovers).
We concede to the Potters within seconds of our first game.....just off the bus! BUT we fight back and score 4. Shock? Nah....quality.

Roll on next- Manchester City "Old School", all the kit, a coach, whiteboards and liniment. Sorry lads 3-1 to the Church. Then a defeat to the Retros 1-2. Nothing to say about that.

Into the Quarters v Grimsby Ancient Mariners B....cast aside 5-0.
Semis against Huddersfield Town! Home from home? 5-0 WIN again and so to the final v Retros again who sneaked round as our group winners. BOOM.....we thumped them.

Mike Summerbee, a legend, gave away the trophies and medals and Alex Williams MBE backed him up. Well done City for bringing us all together and for the astonishing result of our victory. 6 games, one shandy and a hot bath.

ps Who was she?*

NO SURPRISE, THEY MAKE THE PIES

Local boy, Liam Davis, has made football history today when he played for Cleethorpes Town in the Buildbase FA Vase at Wembley. I have spotlighted the Owls before and this is one of the several links from past blogs;
http://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/eric-idle-v-longitude-0-in-vase-final.html

It's been a magnificent day at the "home of football" where Buildbase Non-League Day took place. The Buildbase FA Vase was the first game of the day and Liam as an openly gay footballer, is the first to nail his colours to the mast overtly (so to speak), especially at Wembley. The Lincolnshire side played South Shields, a team stacked with ex Newcastle United players, who won the final easily 4-0.

The Cleethorpes Town club is only 20 years old and they gave their best on the country's biggest "stage". Davis joined the "Owls" last October and has been a regular scorer for them. He also made a name for himself when he openly supported Thomas Hitzlsperger, the ex Aston Villa and Germany footballer, when he "came out".

The South Shields team, the Mariners, founded only in 1974, ran riot in the final, and this was no surprise with Julio Arca in their side. The Argentine who gained U20 caps, has played in England since 2000 and has spent his entire time in the North-East with Sunderland for six years and then Middlesbrough until 2013.

Once out of the league he played for the Willow Pond FC, a pub side, until he eventually got sorted out with South Shields, who are now FA Vase holders. He is joined with several lads out of  local Football League academies, clearly he has added the necessary class to the team.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/match-reports/south-shields-4-0-cleethorpes-13068090

13000 north-easterners have travelled south to support their team and the Vase win completed a quadCUPplet of trophies including the Northern League Div One title,  the NL Challenge Cup and the Durham Challenge Cup. A good year then.

PLAY OFFS

Well thank goodness we won't be seeing Stuart McCall falling off a car after over celebrating a memorable Bradford City victory. He claimed that he got his foot caught in the windscreen wiper. YeH! Look at his eyes! Good job he wasn't on the transit.Have a look......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EI4SDBKY38

Today, the 20th, Millwall (6th in the division after 46 games) are off to the Championship having sneaked a 1-0 win over McCall's Bradford City (5th in the division after 46 games) in the Division One play off final. I saw Millwall play at the OLD Den when I was very young and it was drab match ending 0-0. As the referee blew his whistle, there was a pitch invasion as the home crowd ran from behind the goal towards the referee. They knocked the ball out of his hands, ran the ball down the pitch and smashed it into the opponents' goal! All good natured, but maybe the start of something more sinister.

Scunthorpe and Fleetwood failed in their semi-finals despite being 3rd and 4th in the league table respectively. Where's the justice? Beaten by teams who ended lower than them in the table

So the Championship has the Millwall Firm to look forward to and Oakwell will be preparing itself.

The previous play offs included the Division Two semi-finals  over two legs, which were truly exciting with 11 goals shared between Exeter City and Carlisle (3-3, 3-2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9oEeQ1iII8

and 11 shared between Luton and Blackpool (2-3, 3-3).
Blackpool (7th) and Exeter (5th) go through to play in the Final on the 28th at Wembley. We definitely we got our money's worth, but heart breaking to lose in such circumstances.
Have a look at the goal times in these play offs!
Exeter scored in the second leg after 90 + 5 minutes extra time to see them through after Carlisle had scored after the 90.
Blackpool scored in the second leg from an OG after 90 mins and 5 extras. The ball was poorly cleared and rebounded of the keeper's backside.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9oEeQ1iII8  you might just see the final goal!
Slight margins.

Yorkshire will have another chance to reach the next level when Huddersfield play Reading on the 29th at Wembley after Huddersfield (5th in division) beat Sheffield Wednesday (4th) on penalties and Reading (3rd) stole the march on Fulham (6th).

Lincoln City and Forest Green Rovers rise from the National League.

ROSENBORG AND CURTIS

On May 19th 1917 the Rosenborg Ballklub of Trondheim, Norway was founded a hundred years ago and they play in the Eliteserien, the top Norwegian division.

They are regarded as the most successful Norwegian club with 24 titles and 11 Cup wins and more UEFA competitions than any other club from the country.

Through to 1928 the club played friendly football along with other athletic pursuits and then joined the amateur league. In 1937 they were elevated to the national league, suffered odd disasters over their history but have generally been a top team. The first venture in Europe was in the UEFA Cup Winners Cup in 1960 and by 1967 they were in the nation's top division winning three titles in four seasons. Between 1991-2004 they won consecutive titles and played in the Champions League 11 times. 1996-7 was probably their most memorable campaign beating Milan, qualifying for the quarter-finals and eventually losing to Juventus.

He played inside forward/wing half for Arsenal around the Second World War period, then Southampton as his major club over 170 times between 1947-52, where he was known as "Twinkletoes"! Not a slogger then!

In 1949-50 Southampton missed promotion to the old English Division One by 0.06 of a goal, based on the old goal difference equation.

Curtis managed Brighton and Hove Albion in 1961-3, having done his "badges" under Walter Winterbottom and also worked in the USA with San Diego Toros.

In 1969-70, he joined Rosenborg, where he managed the team against Southampton in an Inter Cities Fairs' Cup tie won by the Saints with goals scored by Terry Paine and Ron Davies.

He later managed the Norwegian national team between 1971-4 (not very successfully) after which he briefly went back to Rosenborg in 1976.

Curtis died in 2004, living on his own in a caravan in Chelmsford. Sad!

RONALDO v GREAVES v THE REST

Cristiano Ronaldo beat Jimmy Greaves' record of goals scored in Europe's top five leagues. Greaves' record stood for 46 games and Ronaldo has played in fewer matches than Jimmy did. Ronaldo took Celta Vigo apart at the weekend and after 10 minutes notched his 367th and then later his 368th goal in 68 fewer games than Greaves. It is remarkable that the record has stood for nearly 50 years.

Ronaldo's career began at Sporting Lisbon who played outside the top five leagues. But he began his quest at Manchester United from 2003 scoring 84 goals in 196 games.

He was then sold to Real Madrid for £80m in 2009 hitting the net in La Liga 284 times in 264 games.

Greaves began in 1957 at Chelsea 124 goals in 157, he then went briefly to AC Milan in 1961 with 12 games in 9 goals (one of a number of British footballers making the journey abroad and not really making much of it-can you name some others?).

Back to Spurs 220 goals in 321 games, then West Ham United 12 goals in 38.

Messi is on 346 since 2004 and of course still playing.
Ibrahimovic is the next closest "active" goalscorer on the list with 268 and has scored in England, Spain, Italy and France, making him the only player in the top 20 to have scored in 4 different country leagues. He lies 11th on the all time list.

Other top European league all time goalscorers include:-
Silvio Piola in Serie A 1929-49
Delio Onnis French league 1971-86 and
Gerd Muller Germany between 1964-79
Alan Shearer, Steve Bloomer and Dixie Dean and Gordon Hodgson of Liverpool (1925-36) (who??)

TWO BUBBLE CUTS

Jorge Horacio Cyterszpiler died at 58 years old on May 7th. He was the power behind Diego Maradonna as his agent and manager. Jorge grew up in the shadow of the Argentinos Junior Club. He contracted polio as a child and developed a limp and was adopted by the club as a mascot.

Juan his older brother played for the club but died of a blood haemorrhage having been kicked in the groin during a match. Jorge became depressed but recovered after hearing about the talents of a young footballer who had joined the local youth team, Los Cebollitas-the little onions!

Diego Maradonna was small but very talented and he used to appear on the pitch at half time to entertain the crowd with his skills. Jorge adopted Diego and recognised that they both needed some luck in life. Diego was rescued from the favelas and Jorge had a "project". Diego played truant from school but Jorge worked hard, got an Economics degree and worked at the club's office. Diego, known as the Golden Rascal, made his debut at 15 years old and Jorge became his agent despite his only training in this career being reading about Mark McCormack, who pioneered the job of sports' agents.

One of Cyterszpiler's early opportunities when Maradonna was a teenager, was a failed transfer to Sheffield United, but by Diego's 21st birthday Jorge had secured money and property for his client. One deal with Coca-Cola was boosted by Jorge spreading a rumour that Barcelona were making a bid for Diego. This was not true but it raised the stakes and eventually Maradonna did sign for the Catalan club in 1982 for £5 million.

Whilst in Spain, Maradonna fell out with the Barcelona staff and board as he developed bad habits. Argentinan international manager Cesar Menotti was appointed to Barcelona and he changed training to afternoons to accommodate Maradonna's hang overs and he also tried to arrange a friendly match against Monaco, knowing that Diego fancied Princess Caroline!

Money issues were not far away as a project to run a bingo hall in Paraguay became a bad investment and a failed film on Diego's life collapsed. Another move had to be negotiated to cover losses, so a move to Napoli was instigated for a World record fee of £6.9 million. With |the new signiing, they won the league, the first title from the south of Italy.
Favoured by the Agnelli family who owned Fiat and Juventus, Maradonna was given a rare Ferrari Testarossa. Needless to say the Neapolitan Mafia had a word with Jorge about financial dealings, as all copyright on Maradonna's merchandise was stopped, Diego split from his long term girlfriend and Jorge was fired. Jorge took that on the chin and continued to work in Argentinan football, organising tournaments and as a agent for players including Man City's Martin Demichelis.

Having been depressed again and splitting from his wife, he jumped from a 7th floor hotel window whilst his therapist was out of the room.

A SUCCESSFUL ENGLISH TEAM; A WELSH MANAGER

Steve Cooper is the coach to the England U17 squad, a team that is having remarkable success this season. Steve is WELSH and at 37 earned his trade at Wrexham, TNS, Rhyl, Bangor and Porthmadog. From 2005 he worked at the Wrexham academy, then joined Liverpool and eventually was taken into the bosom of the FA looking after the national Under 16 and now the U17s.

In recent friendly tournaments the team has been in Croatia, beating the home side 5-0, Greece 3-0 and Germany...wait for it 8-1.
In the Algarve tournament his team beat Portugal 1-0, Germany 3-2 and the Netherlands 1-0.

They have recently won 3/3 in the European Championship Qualifying Round (Austria 3-2, Azerbaijan 2-0 and against hosts Romania 3-0). This then took them to an Elite League where most recently the youngsters have beaten the Czech Republic 5-3, Slovenia 4-0 and hosts Bosnia 1-0.

This week they have been in Croatia, beating Norway 3-1, Ukraine 4-0 and the Netherlands 3-0 winning their group. They then met the Republic of Ireland in the 1/4s winning 1-0 and meet Turkey in the Semi today winnning 2-1. The game was on Eurosport2 and England were way ahead of the Turks at 2-0 but one thing and another slowed down their game, the Turks got better and got one back. But England stayed strong and have qualified for the Final against either Spain or Germany.

They are flying high and so is the stand out player Sancho (see left) from Manchester City.

Clubs represented in the squad are Man City 2, Tottenham 3, Chelsea 4, Wimbledon, Newcastle, Southampton, Man Utd, Everton, Liverpool, Reading and Arsenal.

England won this tournament in 2010 and 2014. Further success this season will help the squad qualify for the World Cup soon to be held  in India.

LAST TIME DOWN THE LANE

Yesterday Manchester United wanted to spoil the party at White Hart Lane by taking the last touch! Herrera had the last touch of the last game on the WHL pitch. The last goal was scored by Wayne Rooney after 71 minutes. The last thrown in was by Blind, the last foul and booking by Bailly and the last offside was Rashford's. But Eriksen took the last corner (sadly, I don't know who took the last free kick or goal kick or dropped ball.......). I guess I could look through the film footage but well let's just celebrate Tottenham's unbeaten run at home with 22 wins and 2 draws which ended last night.

By coincidence on May 14th 1981, Spurs beat Manchester City 3-2 in the FA Cup Final replay with Villa scoring 2 and Crooks 1.

Tottenham Hotspur have played at White Hart Lane for 118 years and two sets of famous singers made the last game yesterday to celebrate, Chas and Dave and Hoddle and Waddle. There were many other greats on show including Charterhouse Football professional, David Howells.

David very kindly helped my school colleague Bob Noble arrange a leaving "party" for my retirement which was held at the Lane and on pitch.
School players, Old Carthusians and parents and friends who fancied it, played on the pitch over two halves. We were allowed to use the facilities, home and away changing rooms and afterwards had a reception in the Pat Jennings' hospitalty suite behind the "right hand goal" as you come out of the tunnel.

My earliest memories of White Hart Lane were from the 1960s when I was taken to see Spurs play on a couple of occasions in the club's "Double Year".

I was hooked having supported Blackpool as a nipper because of Stanley Matthews. My brother supported Preston because of Tom Finney. I saw Blackpool play when they came to Fratton Park although Matthews alledgedly never played south of London!

Spurs became my team and it was fitting to end my working career at the Lane. I scored the winning penalty in the final minutes, the penalty given away by my son who was playing for the opposition.
This game ended 4-4 after Spurs had been 4-1 up. Ray Pointer, the Burnley centre-forward, did the damage.

ARCHERS v BANGORS

I was in Scotland, Cardiff  Metropolitan University FC is in Wales. Yet another link!
Yesterday (Saturday) was a big day for the "student team", the Archers, who are playing Bangor City (a team run by Gary Taylor-Fletcher with Daniel Nardiello in tow) in the Dafabet Welsh Premier League play off, a team that has already represented its country in European competitions 15 times. Bangor sits 16 points above the students in the division.

At present, the student team sits 4th in the BUCS (British University and Colleges' Sport) 2016-17 league, though this is unlikely to be the premier squad.

The students have had three promotions from the Welsh Division Three and coming seventh in the Premier they beat Carmarthen Town in the play off semi-final. The team is made up from students of various ages, some of whom stay on for Masters degrees and therefore extend their career with the club. Staff member, Dr Christian Edwards, who played for Swansea City, Nottingham Forest and Wales as a defender runs the side. His last football league game was for Bristol Rovers in 2006 and his swan song was for Aberystwyth Town, and later he gained a degree, a Master's and a PhD. It is no coincidence that he has been responsible for the rapid progress of the student team.

The students pay £150 a season to play and of course have academic work to do, but they represent their university and this latest sequence of success has led them to the brink of Europe.

Other university teams may wish to pursue a "career" outside BUCS, but Team Bath tried it in 2009 and things did not work out in their favour. So watch it.
Cardiff runs 5th mens' and two women's teams in BUCS leagues. Despite a valiant effort by the Archers, THEY LOST 0-1. SEE LINK BELOW

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/cardiff-met-university-miss-out-13031529

NEVER ON A SUNDAY

I am on the Isle of Cumbrae in the middle of the Clyde estuary. As you may have guessed there was not internet yesterday but the 21st century arrived this morning and I can now tell you about Jimmy Allan. Jimmy was born in 1953 and played as a goalkeeper with Brora Rangers in the Scottish Highland League. he was signed by Swindon Town in 1971 and then became more of a regular first team choice.
If you remember Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddle refused to run on a Sunday and this didn't help him win gold in the Olympics. There was no way he would catch them up on Monday.

Jimmy was a devout Christian and he refused to play in a Sunday match in January 1974, the first professional footballer to do so. Manager of Swindon Town, Les Allen, stated that he respected Jimmy's beliefs and then didn't give him a first team place until 1976-7. Perhaps he just wasn't good enough?

Playing at swindon Town between 1971-84, he made 371 appearances, so he must have been quite good. As a goalkeeper all went well until he shattered his elbow in a collsion with Rochdale's Steve Johnson and he never recovered. He completed 186 clean sheets in his goal at Swindon and was given a testamonial against Chelsea as a farewell.

He retired from the game to Devon and did a few good things with local Torrington FC where he played in goal occasionally, albeit with one arm!

HAIR GROOMING

On May 11th 1927, the England team played Belgium in a friendly in Brussells and won 9-1. Dixie Dean of Everton scored a hat trick and during that season he scored 12 goals in 7 matches against foreign opposition.
His total record for England was played 16 games and 18 goals, his career curtailed by War and curious international selection.
Dixie hated that name and preferred to known as Bill. After an horrific motorbike accident in 1926, he recovered to return to football after three months. His club total was 379 goals in 473 league games. On one occasion he sent the Liverpool goalkeeper a bottle of aspirins before derby games, wishing him a good night's sleep-I'll keep you awake tomorrow, Dean quipped.

England's international matches were first played in 1872 but only against "home" countries until the England team first played abroad in 1908. There were friendly matches on tours to Austria, Hungary, Bohemia but only until 1909.

European matches ceased during the First World War, resuming in 1921 when another match was played against Belgium on May 21st. One England player, Benjamin Howard Baker, a goalkeeper born in Liverpool, was an Olympic high jumper, triple jumper, a pentathlete, a Wimbledon tennis player, club cricketer, water polo player and an accomplished swimmer. He had previously played for Liverpool, Everton and the Corinthians, finally turning out for Chelsea. A full back, he became a goalkeeper after suffering an ankle injury from a naval mine during the war.

In those days the talented amateur would often find himself picked for international teams. CB Fry and Max Woosnam were other well known all rounders.

England tours continued through the 1920 and 1930s to Belgium and France until the outbreak of World War 2. During May 1939 matches were played in Italy, Yugoslavia and Romania and then foreign fixtures ceased until a Victory International was played against France at Wembley on May 26th 1945.

MATTRESS HAIR

The Madrid Derby takes place tonight and it is not a La Liga game, it's the Champions League semi-final. The White part of the city are ahead from the first leg (0-3) and the red and white stripes, Los Colchoneros, the mattress men are not taking this lying down.
https://plus.google.com/110199128759345607414/posts/8CCmzXWA49k

In La Liga, Real Madrid are placed 2nd with 84 points and Atletico 3rd with 74. In 51 derby games, Real have won 36 and drawn 11. The whites must be favourites.

The Atletico's present stadium, known as the Estadio Vincente Calderon holds 55,000 and this will be the final European match played in the stadium. Manager Diego Simeone takes strength from the final La Liga match in the stadium when Eibar were beaten 1-0. He is hoping for the stadium to erupt like a volcano and blast his team into the UEFA Champions League Final. Chances?

Javier Irueta remembers the "European Cup Final" in 1974 when in the semi-final the club had to beat Celtic. They drew with them in Scotland, 0-0 in a synical match when they had three players sent off. In the return match Atletico won 2-0 at home. In the final they lost to Bayern Munich.

The club moves from near the city centre, where a motorway goes under one of the stands, to the Estadio La Peineta, in Spanish a decorative hair comb.

Also known as the Wanda Metropolitano, it has a 68,000 capacity, and is sited in the north-east, conveniently near Madrid Airport, at an old athletics' stadium.
The old stadium is destined to become the Manzanares River Water park!
http://www.estadiosdeespana.com/posts/madrid-estadio-la-peineta-nuevo-estadio-del-club-atletico-de-madrid/

The Champions League Final will be held at Cardiff.

PULIS IN UNION

Ronald Reagan, Winston Churchill. Mother Theresa, Lloyd George and a few hundred important characters in history have spoken at the prestigious Oxford Union, founded in 1823. Speaking to the students and their "teachers" in a atmospheric lecture hall may daunt many but not Tony Pulis, who spoke to the assembled members on May Day, in a question and answer evening, hosted by President Ian Dennis. he spoke at 8pm following Nick Cave who had the 5pm shift.

Matthew Roller, an Arsenal supporter, described the evening events and said that Pulis would have been invited by the student President of the Union, few decline the opportunity.

Pulis spoke about his career which had a humble start in South Wales and took him through various clubs with his first taste of management being second string to Harry Redknapp at Bournemouth. Harry has been there, here's a clip:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJYTNRiyqkQ&list=PLOAFgXcJkZ2zDla-IUaRPtlLOq3YmbvlQ

His said his greatest signing during his career, was Ricardo Fuller at Stoke City and he thought Diego Maradona, a former speaker at the Union, was his choice as the best footballer he had known and that Lionel Messi would "cut it" on a daunting winter's evening at Stoke's ground.

Pulis also had much to say about Napolean, a character he studied when out of work and during the evening he came over as an intelligent and articulate speaker.

Other footballers to have been invited to speak at the Union this Term include Roy Hodgson, who will not start his speech with the immortal words, "I don't know what I am doing here" (bless him) and Guy Poyet. Gary Neville and Chris Coleman have been there in the past, along with John Terry, Geoff Hurst and Sol Campbell who have recently graced the Union's stage.

HE'S A RIGHT CHARLIE

Charlie George was in the Arsenal Youth team when I was lucky enough to visit Highbury with my Dad and Uncle Stan who was a keen Gunners' supporter. I was Spurs!

I was at Highbury over the 1968-9 Christmas break with the intention of playing a game in the club's Metropolitan League team as a sort of trial. There was snow at Arsenal's training ground, the game was postponed, so instead we were given a tour of the stadium (Herbert Chapman, heating changing room floors, boot room etc) and met the youth team training behind the stand in an uncover area. Charlie was part of that squad. The next time I saw him he was scoring a screaming at Wembley. He became one of the "mavericks" (only earned one England cap) and never quite fulfilled his potential (did he? did I?).

On May the 8th 1971, Bertie Mee's Arsenal won the League by beating Tottenham at White Hart Lane on the Monday before the Cup Final and then did the Double, beating Bill Shankly's Liverpool at Wembley, with three goals coming in the extra time.

It was 0-0 after 90, 2-1 to the Gunners after a further 30. Steve Heighway scored for Liverpool (92'), Eddie Kelly (101') equalised with a deflection and George scored the winner (111'), lying on his back to celebrate, Gascoigne style.

After Arsenal he made a reasonable number of appearances for Derby and then Southampton but generally messed around in America. His later career continued running a pub in New Milton, Hampshire, in a local garage business and of course the inevitable old boys' hospitality at the Emirates.

Norman Burtenshaw reffed the game and the "Double" went back to North London, Spurs having done it in 1961. Which other club(s) have done the Double?

THEY WON'T BE DANCING IN THE STREETS OF PORT VALE.

So much going on this weekend as clubs fall by the wayside and others survive, We saw Mallorcan joy yesterday in the last minute of the game as the home side grabbed three vital points. Salvation? Possibly not, as their next match is against Real Valladolid who are 8th in the division. Elche who slipped nearer the relegation places by losing yesterday, play bottom and already OUT club Mirandes at home next so probably all will be well for them.

I  was distressed also to hear that OC Andy Brewer, a resident in Palma was at the game yesterday and got in FREE having been given tickets by locals treated by the club to ensure a decent turn out. Aaarggh. Had he read my previous blog stating that I was in Mallorca, did he use social media warning me that there were free tickets? Come on Andy where's the old boy hospitality!! The next time you are near Barnsley........

And to sum up the ups and downs of yesterday:
Tranmere get through to the National Play Off Final beating Aldershot on aggregate 5-2. Forest Green Rovers and Dagenham and Redbridge stand at 1-1 and play today. The winner will meet Tranmere, who hope to get back into the  Football League after two years.

York City fall again this time from the National League along with Braintree, Southport and North Ferriby United.

Newport County some how survive in the Sky Bet League Two as Hartlepool and Leyton Orient don't. The Welshmen score in the 89th minute to beat Notts County and survive. Hartlepool beat already promoted Doncaster 2-1 but cannot avoid the drop. Here's a poem to celebrate County's success.

Out of League One are Port Vale (the only club in the EFL not in a place. Work that out? and what's the link with Raith Rovers), Swindon, Coventry and Chesterfield. Wigan and Rotherham are out of the Championship and Sunderland doomed.

Finally Pompey leap from third to first in League Two thumping Cheltenham 6-1. They won seven of their last eight matches. Close rivals Plymouth get promoted, but only drew with Grimsby, along with Doncaster.

VALUE FOR MONEY, DOWN BUT NOT OUT.

Today, me, my daughter's father in law and bro in law went off to Palma to watch Mallorca RDC play Elche from the mainland in a Segunda Division match of the Spanish League. Neither team are lying in a particularly comfortable place in the division so points mean survival.

Mallorca are 21st (out of 22) in the division lying 6 points , with 30pts behind Elche, who have 42 points in 18th place. 4 clubs get relegated and the other three in the mire are Gimnastic, Alcorcon and Mirandes. I would look these up, you may widen your knowledge of Spanish football.

We drove from Port Soller for 34 kms to Palma and found a parking space near the Iberostar Estadi, under a tree within 3 minutes of the ticket office. Earlier the club's Twitter feed had said the game was sold out, so with heavy hearts we found a ticket office. Indeed all the notices said SOLD OUT. We queued with desperate others including two eager ladies from the UK in front of us.

They heard the only price of ticket's left and said "stuff that". We heard the price, looked each other in the eye and said "we have come a long way, we will buy!" 75 Euros each! The tickets said PALCO VIP; previously the box must have been hired by a company who weren't MAN enough to invite guests to hospitality and to watch Mallorca go down. We took their place.

By the time we got to the stadium's 5th level, on some very slow escalators and found the BOX we had hired for the match, the game was nearly kicked off. Actually we shared the box with three other punters who had spent the same amount of money as us. Were they ripped off too? I found a few bottles of water from the complimentary fridge to benefit from our expenditure. Nothing else BUT......on a positive note;

the view from the stadium to the distant hills was gorgeous, the view from the box of the pitch was spectacular and the view of the third empty stadium even more wonderous to behold. Had we been conned into buying 75 Euro tickets? YES.

Whatever, we are hardened "groundhoppers" so who cares; the game went ahead, and it was tense, lasting to the 92th minute, when Mallorca had a shot saved and the rebound stuck home. 1-0; Cue-celebration and much joy. Points gained.

After, we managed to navigate out of the exuberant fans, cars tooting horns with the joyous screeching of tyres.  What a good experience, led astray but despite the cost, another footy experience worth having.

AARON LENNON

It is a real shame that footballers are subject to such intense public scrutiny and of course my heart went out to dear Aaron Lennon, who was taken from a street in Salford yesterday, "for his own good" under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act.

Aaron, at only 30 years old, is clearly not himself and he has been given safety in one form or another as the world of football wraps itself around him.
Here is a link for you to hear a response to the news.
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/10863087/aaron-lennons-stress-related-illness-prompts-premier-league-response

At 14 years old Aaron from Chapeltown, Leeds, was the youngest footballer to be given a boot sponsorship deal and he signed on at Leeds United as their youngest professional at 16 years and 129 days in 2003.

He was sold by the club to Spurs for a measley £1 million in 2005, taking a pay cut to boot. he stayed there for 10 years nearly and played 266 times, winning a League Cup and getting into Europe. He was a nominee for Young Player of the Year in 2006, the year that Rooney won.

He also played for England under Sven and Fabio winning 21 caps.

At Spurs, Pochetinno did not see Aaron in his plans and was not given a squad number and had to train with the youth team. So he was sold to Everton after a loan spell. He was under Martinez originally, signed forms for £4.5 million in September 2015 and then was managed by Koeman. By now Everton were into 4-3-3, so no room for wingers, playing only a handful of minutes in the first two months of the season.

At 30 years old, a lack of game time caused issues with his fitness and so he started to fail. Stress kicked in and whilst there are plenty of back up schemes in the PFA, identifying such mental illness is not easy. There are plenty of professionals who will send their best wishes to him (you only have to read social media) and many who have been there.

We only have to think of Stan Collymore, Ray Wilkins (here's a link for you http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-zed/13-very-eccentric-ray-wilkins-10359828,) Paul Gascoigne, Clark Carlisle, Rio Ferdinand and it goes on. Let us hope Aaron gets back to full fitness.

"ERE VIGO. "ERE VIGO, "ERE VIGO.

I found a bar on the promenade that is advertising West Ham v Spurs at 9pm on Friday night. Exciting! Tonight I suspect Celta Vigo v Man U will also be the flavour of the evening in the bars of Port Soller.

Real Club Celta de Vigo was founded on August 23rd 1923 when local news writer Manual de Castro suggested politically, a Unitarian Movement by merging two local clubs, Real Vigo Sporting and Real Club Fortuna de Vigo to present a strong opposition "The Team of Galicia" to play against the Basque sides. Vigo therefore is a "united" club and of course so is Manchester.

Vigo, means "village" and when originally founded, Vigo was a small settlement in the North-west of Spain, just across the border from Portugal. It is now the country's 14th largest city, sited in one of the rainiest regions of Spain.

Its location favoured a port which served the country well but was prone to invasion. Indeed Francis Drake successfully brought ships into the port in 1585 and 1589. A Spanish fleet left Vigo to invade Scotland in 1719 in support of the Jacobites and consequently a British fleet occupied the port for 10 days. On a positive note it is the largest fishing port in the country, their fleet known as Pescanova.

The club badge is the Red Cross of St James and use of "Real" allowed by royal patronage.

To get to the semi-final, Vigo won over Ajax, Standard Liege and Panathinaikos in their league, then knocked out Shaktar, Krasnador and Genk.

SOLLER-TUDE

If you know Majorca (or Mallorca as we travelled hardened tourists spell it), you will think of stag parties and hen nights. It is not all like that! In fact I am sitting quietly on my own overlooking the Port of Soller with a glorious Mediterranean sun just starting to "beat" down on me. Needless to say I think of futbol (as we travelled hardened tourists call it in the vernacular).

Club de Futbol Soller is a small town club in the Tercera Division Group 11, Level 4 of the Spanish Football league. They have been up to the heady heights of Segunda Division B (3) in their recent past but that caused a nose-bleed and so they have nestled back into the bossom of a lower region.

There are plenty of "divisions" in Spain. At the top is La Liga with 22 clubs, another La Liga 2 with 22 clubs in, then the Segunda regionalised into four groups each with 20 clubs and then the Tercera (18 divisions) each with 20 and then out to the regions such as the Balaeric Islands. Mallorca of course has its own team in the Segunda and Soller sits way underneath that level, but they are happy.

Antoni Collom (Tuni) is a well known Sollerian (I made that up) who was playing at a decent level between 2001-11 and managed to turn out for Mallorca as well as venturing to Greece for a short period. Angel Pedraga, a Soller footballer between 1995-7, also played in the midfield or full back 229 times for Mallorca, as well as spending a short time at Barcelona. Unfortunately he died at the young age of 48.

I am hoping to catch a game this weekend, maybe Mallorca v Elche or Soller sadly not at the lovely little stadium above but somewhere away on the island.

THEY MAKE GREAT MARMALADE

As I was descending stairs towards the plane's parking bay at Manchester Airport, I noticed a sticker left randomly on the stair well that advertised the existence of Sevilla FC Firm. The lads have been in Manchester and left their mark, in more than one way I bet.

Since I was flying to Mallorca with Ryan Air, what better than to do a bit of research on the popular Spanish club en route. I discover that Seville FC was founded by British colonials (mainly Scots actually) living in the city and running various businesses. These ex-Pats at the end of the 19th century, got together around Burns' Night in a cafe where a "few small beers". were consumed, and in a moment of light headedness, decided to form an Athletic Association, as you do.

Hugh McColl was a marine engineer and designated captain, Isaias White Jnr was the son of the owner of the firm, Mr. Edward Farquharson Johnston from Elgin, was the club's first president. He was the British vice-consul and ran the MacAndrews and Co ship owners company responsible for bringing Seville oranges to our shops!

Sevilla Futbol Club was formed on 21st January 1890 and their first match was against  a local group called Recreativo de Huelva on the 8th March 1890, the first official football match in Spain, Sevilla winning 2-0.

By 1907 other clubs formed in the region making up a local competitive league, in 1928 they joined the National League and in 1935 were promoted to the First Division, by 1945-6 they were named champions for the first and only time.

The club joined the Andalusian league in 1945-6 and after that there has been much success, including 5 Spanish Cups, 5 x UEFA League Cups,a Spanish Super Cup, a UEFA Super Cup and many successes over local derby opposition Real Betis.

Teams from Seville take part in various sports such as alterofilia, petanca, basketball, rowing, rugby and of course the club has many junior teams and ladies football as well as futsal.

The crest portrays the, city coat of arms, three saints of the region, SFC, red and white stripes inspired by King Ferdinand III taking of Castile. There is a heart shape involved too.

That reminds me to get some oranges at the Spar.