HAFFEY HAS HASSLES

Having written about crazy goalkeepers recently, I was wandering through the BBC Sport archives and came across this lot of Scottish goalkeeping bloopers so I thought it would entertain you:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/scotland/41076733

My first recollection of howlers by Scottish goalkeepers was when watching England destroy the Scots at Wembley 9-3 in 1961. The match film is not great, the crowd scenes amusing, the goalkeeping on both sides is dubious! But poor Frank Haffey of Scotland got some hammer; "What's the time? Nine past Haffey!"......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFqrBatm8No

Frank Haffey of Celtic only played twice for his country but he did appear over 200 times between 1957-64 for Celtic. He then had a brief spell at Swindon Town until 1965, when he disappeared to Australia and became a cabaret singer! Don't drop that mic Frank......

Stanley Matthews had a bit to say about the 7-2 result in 1955 when the Scots, once again, were taken to the cleaners by England at Wembley. Once again the keepers have questionable games.
The film also shows several landmarks reached by players during this fixture, including Duncan Edwards' first cap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUxdNLEpNQE

ONCE UPON A TIME

The Vanarama National league had a full round of 12 fixtures last night. Many of the fixtures contained ex football league clubs (some teams under slightly different names and ownership).
The linked dates represent when the club was last in the FL.

Attendances at these game were ranging from 1,118 at Gateshead (1960) v FC Halifax (2002) to 2,544 at Maidenhead Utd v Leyton Orient (2017).

Maidstone Utd (1992)  played  Dagenham and Redbridge (2016).

Looking through the fixtures, Bromley v Sutton Utd and Dover v Ebbsfleet Utd include no other previous Football League club.

The other fixtures included:
AFC Fylde v Barrow (1972)
Boreham Wood v Wrexham (2008)
Chester (2009) v Macclesfield (2012)
Eastleigh v Aldershot (1992)
Guiseley v Hartlepool (2017)
Solihull Moors v Tranmere (2015)
Woking v Torquay (2014)

In the next divisions down-Vanarama national North has the following clubs previously in the FL:
Boston Utd, Kidderminster (2005), Bradford PA, Darlington, Southport, Stockport County, York City.
In the Southern section there are none!
This link is an interesting piece of Football League history!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_former_English_Football_League_clubs

YOU MUST BE MAD

Apologies for missing a day's blog but the annual Scholes CC (near Holmfirth) v Hepworth (we dont have a team)CC match was played at Scholes (obviously) because Hepworth doesn't have a ground. It was entertaining with good and bad cricket being played, there was quite a bit of abuse (in jest??), loads of lager breaks and children and locals whizzing around the compact West Yorkshire ground filling the club house bar coffers and shoving down loads of sandwiches, trifle and cake down their throats.

I umpired, being too embarrassed to dare air my cricketing skills in front of huge crowds, but I still played a part, enjoying the occasion. I partly shared square leg with my radio (TMS) and Matt Glennon, who lives in Hepworth. I remember him from previous encounters when he dived around the pitch stopping boundaries and on one occasion yesterday he nearly knocked me off my shooting stick as he made his way unsuccessfully towards a catch.

Matt is a local hero and does good things for local sport having played at the top level. He comments on local radio football programmes and works on behalf of Huddersfield Town. He must be like a pig in clover (is that the right phrase?) as Town top the Premier League. Matt would not be regarded as a "maverick" goalkeeper especially, but there are a few around and in the past many!
Matt was at Bolton Wanderers in 1997 as a starter, played for Town between 2006-10 playing over 100 times and has been with a good number of other clubs including Carlisle and Falkirk and St Johnstone in Scotland and lately at AFC Emley. His wife and he opened two Hair and Beauty salons called G27...his number on the roster.

William Fatty Foulkes would be historically the top maverick and you can read about his exploits in this link:
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3994718670252035536#editor/target=post;postID=1232242491551975623;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=1;src=postname

Bert Trautmann of Manchester City was a German national and prisoner of war, who stayed in England when peace finally brought war activities to an end. In 1955 he became the first german to play in an FA Cup Final; City lost to Newcastle. He then played through the 1956 FA Cup for Man City v Birmingham City with a "broken" neck helping a 3-1 victory. He played over 500 times for City. He became the first footballer in England to wear Adidas kit after his friendship with Adolf Dassler.

Rene Higuita would be described as exentric https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-flTPSSvCw...  it didn't always work for him.... and Jose Luis Chilavert (the Bull Dog) also stands high on the list
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nloCwfuRyjc. Both South Americans.

But then there are: Kahn (once sent off for punching a corner ball into the opposition goal with both hands), Barthez (allowing di Canio to score while he was doing a Saturday Night Disco Move), Lehmann (was sent off four times in his career a record for the Bundesliga) and Wobbly Grobbelar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2GyLdD1iwE

You have to be mad to be a goalie.

EMERGENCIES AND SUBSTITUTES

It's the anniversary of the first use of a substitute in association football somebody cried. Well yes, there is a well known anniversary which was on the 21st August 1965 when Keith Peacock of Charlton Athletic, playing in one of 532 appearances, was used as a sub in the Second Division of the football league, when he came on to replace his goalkeeper, Mike Rose after 11 minutes at Bolton.

On the same day, Bobby Knox scored the first goal as a substitute for Barrow against Wrexham; the Welsh club came bottom in Division 4. This was the year that the use of subs was confirmed by the Football League.

Of course football has many answers to the pub quiz question; "When were substitutes first used in a football match?"

At Eton College in the 1850s the word "emergencies" was used when a player took the place of another. This would normally be for an injury but.....

In the 1860s a "sub" described the replacement of a player who failed to turn up for a match.
In 1863 the Charterhouse School XI played a match against their Old Boys (the Old Carthusians) and it was reported that "in the consequence of the non-appearance of some of these who were expected, it was necessary to provide three substitutes."

On the 15th April 1889, John Trainer, a Welsh international goalkeeper, failed to turn up for a match against Scotland at Wrexham, so a local amateur Alf Pugh played for the first 20 minutes of the match until Sam Gillam (a proper replacement) arrived. Substitution apparently, fascinating.

During the World Cup qualifications for the 1954 finals, on the 11th october 1953, Horst Eckel of Germany was used as a sub in a match against Saarland (a region in central Europe). (Germans quite handy with subs you know).
By 1965-6 one sub was used only for injury and in 1967-8 the law changed to one tactical sub. During the 1970 World Cup tournament subs were allowed in the finals.

1988 saw two subs used out of five on the bench, then in 1994 two subs and a goalie could be used. In 1995 three subs were used. Eventually, in 2008-9, 5-7 subs were named and three used and in 2017 a 4th sub could be used in EFL cup ties in extra time.

In the 2002 World Cup, Claudio Caniggia of Italy was red cared from the bench. And who was super sub? David Fairclough of Liverpool??
A worthwhile link to the anniversary...for Pocock read Peacock.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/when-saturday-comes-blog/2015/sep/18/fifty-years-substitutions-football-sport

WURST KIT COULD MAKE OPPOSITION PIG SICK.

If you think Norwich City has worn a fairly outrageous kit in their canary yellow and emerald green colours, have a look at this lot below.



Bedale AFC, a club from Sinderby, North Yorkshire, has been nominated as wearing possibly the WORST kit of the new season as they donned their Heck's Sausages sponsored orange and pink strip. 

Named as the "bangers and clash" kit, the Bedale's club is going to find this a bit wearing over the coming season as no doubt they will be the brunt of many sausage jokes. Having been sponsored by local businesses, Hall's Fish and Chips and R and R Ice Cream, in the past, they regard themselves lucky to have somebody who wants to advertise their product weekly. Playing in the local league, takes Heck's logo all over the local district and no doubt punters will be flocking to buy a pound of Heck's bangers.

The Heck sponsored players will have to be pretty thick skinned to put up with the inevitable mickey taking, so let's hope they don't get pig sick of the taunting.

WAXING AND WAYNEING

Well, thanks Wayne for your contribution to our national game and well done for achieving many records. 119 games, 53 goals, 11 headers, 37 right foot, 5 left, 7 goals at major tournaments (beaten only by Shearer and Lineker), 22 games as captain, debut April 2003, top England goalscorer la, la,la.

Who did he debut against? Australia at 17 years 111 days the youngest.
First goal against Macedonia at 17 yr 10m
Fastest goal v Andorra 3 min 31 sec
Last goal v Iceland 30 yr 8 months
His most common opponents? Wales, Slovenia, Switzerland, Croatia, Denmark, Montenegro, Portugal, San Marino and Slovakia.
Last match against Scotland at 31 years old.
Most goals scored against: San Marino, Croatia, Switzerland, Iceland, Kazakhstan
7 out of 7 pens scored + 2 direct free kicks ("unchallenged") but I guess you have to score!
NOTICE THE TEAMS HE IS ACHIEVING HIS RECORDS AGAINST?

There are plenty of accolades such as HeRoo, EuRoo2004, Wazza (like Gazza), a Pub in Devon now called "The Half Roon", maternity units were swamped with Waynes.
Don't mention the 12 yellow and red cards, the "call girl", the hair transplant and shouting down the TV camera lens moment.

So he has done great for us but there have been a few dodgy moments too. My view is that since that lovely documentary that he and his family starred in recently, I have softened! and you can't knock his historical record. This is a full documentary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpPagbM5dhE

BIG AGGREGATES

Thank heavens Celtic scored 5 in their UEFA Champions' League qualifying round first leg, eventually thumping the Kazakhstan representatives Astana 8-4 on aggregate. The 5-0 win at Celtic Park helped the "Scots" when they visited central Europe yesterday. A 4-3 defeat away is acceptable having had a 5 goal advantage.
This clip of the game is GOOD! Some terrible defending....a dare I say it, goalkeeping.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=FC+Astana&oq=FC+Astana&gs_l=psy-ab.3...8071.12745.0.13287.17.14.0.0.0.0.618.1055.4-1j1.2.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..15.2.1053.0..35i39k1j0i131k1j0i20k1._oc0jPDBmEE#sh=0

So quite a big aggregate score then but here are bigger ones in the European Cup, as it was, and the now known as UEFA Champions' League (since 1992-3):



Benfica v Stade Dudelange (Lux) 18-0 (8-0, 10-0) Prelim Round 1965-6
HJK Helsinki v Bangor 13-0 (3-0, 10-0) Prelim Round 2011-2
Shaktar Donetsk v Bate Borisov 12-0 (7-0, 5-0) Group game 2014-5
Bayern Munich v Sporting CP (5-0, 7-1) Last 16 2008-9
Real Madrid v Sevilla 10-2 (8-0, 2-2) Quarter-Final 1957-8
Bayern Munich v Kaiserslauten 6-0 (2-0, 4-0) in Quarter-final 1998-9
Eintracht Frankfurt v Rangers 12-4 (6-1, 6-3) Semi-final 1959-60 (Eintracht lost 7-3 to Real Madrid at Hampden Park in the Final watched by a 127,621)
Bayern Munich v Barcelona 7-0 (4-0, 3-0) Semi-final 2012-3

Just the ticket.

WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND

Carabao Cup ties tonight. Yorkshire teams include Leeds v Newport County, Doncaster Rovers v Hull City, Sheffield United v Leicester City; unfortunately not attractive enough to get me out of the house. But there are attractive ties for Newport County and the Blades as well as other nice ties dotted around the country; Milton Keynes Dons v Swansea, Watford v Bristol City. In Round 2 do you think the richer clubs will take the liberty or will they out out proper teams?
http://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/carabao.html
http://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/the-carabao-cup-boosts-in-different-ways.html

So the big tie is where an old colleague is heading because he is a Baggie fan. It is at Accrington Stanley. I thought I might turn up, but I have done the Wham Stadium before, when I was on a pilgrimage to the original Football League clubs from 1888. It was the League's 125th Anniversary and I also went to Accrington because they were founder members. They were called just Accrington in those days. Having acquired Stanley from another local club, they have an historic opposition today, West Bromwich Albion, another founder member. (name the other 10 founder members?).

In 1893 Accrington dropped out of the League and re-emerged in 1921-2 when the FL was expanded in include Divisions 3, North and South.

Accrington is a pleasant Lancashire town, in which the hardest, densest building bricks in the world are produced, Accrington Nori (Iron). These have been taken world wide and have been used in the Empire State Building and foundations for the neighbouring Blackpool Tower.

The town is a little run down through the shopping precinct but the neat and tidy ground is just out of town, away from the original Peel Park. The Wham, capacity of just over 5,000, is named after the investor What More UK Ltd, Plastic Box Company. Even supporter Bumble is excited by the sponsorship!

Accrington Stanley went out of the League in 1962, replaced by Oxford United and the club eventually collapsed in 1966. It was reformed in 1968, playing at the Crown Ground, named after the Crown Pub, owned by the club. Stanley has stuck together and gradually worked its way through the Lancashire Combination, North West Counties,Conference and back into the Football League replacing in 2005-6 Oxford United.

SHAME-AMATEURISM

The Corinthian Casuals are the highest placed of the truly amateur football clubs. They reside in the Bostick (formerly Ryman) League and narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier Division last season.
In the days when quite a few amateur footballers played alongside "professionals" in quite successful but "smaller" clubs like Horsham, Lewes or Sutton United, there were murmurings about cheating as some clubs paid whilst others did not.

In 1974 the FA finally declared that clubs could pay players or not; paying players to play was no longer illegal! Whilst the fairy tales of "amateur" clubs succeeding in various cup ties no longer exists, we still look forward to the First Round Proper draw for the FA Cup, when non-league teams might be drawn against the "professionals", however there is often not much to choose between the two  these days-they all pay something or the other.

Money has come into all areas of the game and even at my local level, there is a claim that some players have been enticed to play for a village team by having a few £s in their pockets. Non-league football has improved, coaching is better, facilities modern and the sponsors and paying crowd well entertained. Sometimes the sponsor lets a club down and indeed I was party to this at Horsham many years ago when the club suddenly became sponsored by a local business man who put pool tables into Spanish resorts. He invested in the club, we had new kit, overnights for the longer journeys away, more money in the professionals pay packets (not mine) until we failed to get promotion. He withdrew his support immediately and left the club with a huge "brewery" bill which he had failed to settle having paid the players etc with bar takings!

Micky Stewart, Surrey and England cricketer (father of Alec) was a fine Corinthian Casual who was flown home from a cricket commitment abroad to play for the Casuals in the 1956 Amateur Cup Final replay at Middlesbrough, after a 1-1 draw at Wembley against Bishop Auckland. The plane was late and he missed the game. Who paid for the flight? Apparently a local businessman who made it a gift to the club. Was that professionalism? The clip below shows the final at Wembley, in which Stewart did not play.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCSejXJZSww

Later Stewart was picked for the GB Amateur XI at the Melbourne Olympics. Sir Stanley Rous, the FA secretary contacted Stewart to say that because he had been paid to play cricket for Surrey CCC, he was not eligible to play football in an Amateur competition, which the Olympics was in those days. Several players in the squad were undoubtedly receiving "boot money" to play, b ut of oucrse this was never declared!

Mickey got the "ump", turned pro with Charlton, but didn't quite make it, eventually settling at Guildford City, never to play for the Casuals again. He did however turn up to various "friendly" matches between the Casuals Schools XI that toured the schools of southern England (mainly) acting as ambassadors for the great game.

Rumours have it that if Stewart had accepted an offer and played for Wimbledon he would have been given a match fee and a job, which would have been worth £80 a week-about £1600 in today's money. Full timers at the time were getting a maximum wage of £20 a week!

Mickey Stewart is President of the Corinthian Casuals. But do they pay?

MOOY, HOYLE AND BOOTH

It was an Australian who was awarded Man of the Match after the Terriers' first home Premier League victory over Newcastle United. Aaron Mooy proved his worth in the midfield last season and today he was quite rightly voted MOM by the Sky team having scored the only and winning goal for his team. It was a wonderful strike by the Sydney born Oz international and he contributed to the team's success in many other ways.

Watching this success was the Club Chairman, investor and owner, Dean Hoyle, also a West Yorkshire born man and like Andy Booth, he is a hero among Huddersfield Town fans, especially the older generation, who have shared tough times with him.

Dean Hoyle was born in Heckmondwike, yes you read it correctly....near Town, in 1967 and he made his money through the Card Factory business. He is reputed to be worth £365 million...mind you that does not go far at today's prices (footballers not cards).

Andy Booth scored exactly 150 goals for Huddersfield Town between 1992-2009 (393 apps) although he had time off at Sheffield Wednesday (133 apps 1999-2001) and on loan to Spurs. Spurs are playing very soon at Wembley, so a little link there.

Booth is a cult figure at the club and is very much part of their community programme acting as an ambassador and pubic liaison.

He recently arranged for four of "my" new Nike footballs to be signed by the Premier League squad so that we might auction them to raise money for Hepworth United Junior FC.

Town arranged for a testimonial for him against Real Sociedad in 2009, curiously drawn 0-0. On April 25th 2009 he scored his 149th goal against Brighton at the Galpharm (now John Smith's stadium) in a 2-2 draw and in his final match, the following week, he scored his 150th goal against Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road and both supporters were raptuous in their applause!

Well done Aaron, well done Dean and well done Andy!!! And Town sit above Spurs in PL table......

LITHERLAND IN LA-LA LAND

Penistone Church are stepping into history as they make further progress in the increasingly exciting FA Cup competition. They have played in the Emirates FA Cup before but they won their first ever "tie" against Charnock Richard from Chorley, Lancashire, 4-3 in the Qualifying round.

Today the club prepared itself for the visit of Litherland REMYCA from Seaforth in Merseyside. Both these clubs made their DEBUT in the Cup this year. Both clubs have now been beaten by Penistone Church.

REMYCA club only formed in 1959 as St Thomas FC, playing in the Church of England League (no Sunday fixtures I guess?) The name derives from the joining of the REM Social Club (don't know what REM stands for) and the Bootle YMCA (do know this!) in 1967. The club moved its way through the I Zingari (wanderers??) Alliance and as they demanded Premier League status they had to upgrade their facilities, which they did, ending up at the Litherland Sports Park, a community facility in Merseyside, This set up was sufficient to satisfy the North West Counties League, Step 6 on the pyramid. So up they went.

Penistone Church FC, as a Step 5 club in the North-East Counties Premier, we all know, has a very tidy facility at the Memorial Ground and today's match was played on a breezy afternoon and PCFC deserved their 2-0 win with a goal in each half. They move on to the draw which they will wait in anticipation. Each round means more money and more satisfaction for the club's many helpers, coaches, players and of course their crowd!

I met a "groundhopper" from Aylesbury this afternoon and stood next to a local architect who knew another architect, a friend of mine (who has done work for me) whose practice is in Sheffield. I taught his children, too. Cost £3 conc ession for an old man and £1.50 for a programme. Worth every penny.

So far, Penistone's 1st XI have earned £1500 and £1925 competition fees from their two victories as well as gate receipts and bar takings, food, (raffle, time of goal etc etc). 737 clubs started the competition. The next round is September 2nd when the First Qualifying Round takes place with 116 clubs surviving the early rounds, INCLUDING PCFC.

JAMIE v BRIAN

Well actually its Nigel v Harry but you get the drift if you think of Father/Son combinations.

Burton Albion are meeting Birmingham City at the Pirelli Stadium, Burton tonight. The Brewers, Football League members only since 2009, have lost their first three fixtures this season, they have various banned players on their books, but may have some good news with, Stephen Warnock, available after injury. The odds are against them.

They have recently won promotion to the Championship under Nigel Clough in 2016 as runners up from Division One. Clough previously was manager between 1998-2009 and took over the reins again in 2015.
Neil Warnock was manager of the Brewers between 1981-6.

Burton have had only two shots on target in their three league games so far this season. Obviously this is the worst in the Championship and they lie 24th out of 24 whilst Birmingham are 12th, with a record of:
played 1  won 1  drawn 1  lost 1 g.d 0

Birmingham City (below) founded in 1875 is regarded as the 28th most successful club in the League based on trophies won.

Their most recent success was beating Arsenal in the League Cup final at Wembley in 2011 and then qualifying for the Europa League. How many of you have forgotten that upset?
Last season it took managers Rowett, Zola to try to revitalise the club and eventually Redknapp to keep the Blues in the Championship. Harry was their saviour at the "death".

Tonight they have captain, Michael Morrison, probably playing with a face mask after damaging his cheek and nose against Bolton. They need all the help they can get.

Burton beat Brum twice last season, the only two competitive matches ever between the two Midland clubs in history, losing twice 0-2.

COMING OUT

Hugo Scheckter was a boy at Charterhouse, an independent school in the heart of the Surrey countryside. His father was Jodie the successful racing driver. So Hugo came from privileged stock and he made the most of his time at one of the great independent schools.
Charterhouse was there in 1863 at the start of the FA and in the 21st century has employed a truly professional footballer, David Howells, as their Director of Soccer, "Soccer" a term that must be used by Charterhouse boys, their parents and school staff because it was an Old Carthusian, Charles Wreford Brown, who first used the term "Soccer". Wreford Brown later sat on the FA Committee and played for his country in the days of the gentleman amateur.

Hugo was not a great footballer, although he ended up organising his boarding house teams, running bis own "disabled football match" and after taking his FA Level 1 Coaching Award, he went to university in the USA (George Washington), where he also took over organising a social team and now he has an ideal job as Player and Team Liaison Officer at Southampton FC, a job he loves.

In October 2016, Hugo "Came Out" on National Coming Out Day and having been given great support from his hardened professional colleagues at the Hampshire Club, Hugo has stated that his job "gets better and he couldn't be happier". It was a brave move.

Football is notorious for "gay bashing", ask the Brighton and Hove Albion fans, or any other gay footballer who has been put through the homophobic rinser; Justin Fashanu for example.

In 2013 former FA Executive Chris Gibbons came out and most recently so has the man who refereed a drab 0-0 drawn between Eastbourne Borough v Welling United in the National League South. Ryan Atkin was that referee and he created history by being the first arbiter who is openly gay as a professional football ref.

Eastbourne's match announcer warned the crowd about the racist and homophobic abuse from a previous home game and thankfully there were no such moments in the Welling match. Apart from the odd "Twitter Troll" Ryan has positive responses, although 72 countries still regard homosexuality as an illegal act and of course Donald Trump lurks! and the World Cup heads for Russia.

We hope that soccer will follow rugger's example.

GYMNASTIC VILLAGERS

Liverpool struggled a little against the South-western German Bundesliga club "Turn und-Sportgemeinschaft 1899" more likely known as TSG1899-Hoffenheim E.V. for short. The Bundesliga club plays at the Wirsol Rhein-Neckar Arena which holds just over 30,100 crowd.  As it happens a stunning free kick by debutant right back Trent Alexander-Arnold . The German side had not lost at home all through last season.

The club started in August 1899 as a gymnastics' club with 20 young men who met in two pubs the "Zum Engel" (at the angel) and the "Zum Rossee" (at the sea??). As the winter kicked in (so to speak) the lads chose to run around a bit more outside and hence the introduction of a football!  The Fusballverein formed in 1921 and by 1945 the gym club, Turnverein Hoffenheim merged with the footballers. In the 1990s the club was in the 8th division playing as an amateur.

Hoffenheim is described as a "village" in Baden Wurttemberg (state capital is Stuttgart) and hosted a club in the 5th Division of the German league in 2000. With an investment from financial wizard and software entrepreneur, Dietmat Hopp, the club has risen through the German ranks to the Bundesliga by 2008. In 2016-17 they came 4th in the division and thereby qualify to play against Liverpool.
http://www.achtzehn99.de/tsg-en-us/history/

Following an injury strewn career with Munchen and Augsburg,  TSG's manager Julian Nagelsmann, took charge of TSG after reading a Business degree and then a Sports' Science degree at university. He has been described as a "Mini Mourinho" and at 28 years old he is the youngest manager in the Bundesliga. His career record at that level is Played 50 Won 24 and Drawn 16. He was German Manager of the Year in 2017.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PREMIER LEAGUE

It is the 25th Anniversary of the Premier League. 49 clubs have played in this top division, originally with no major sponsor for the league. Carling came in quickly in 1993.

Which two clubs played in the first PL game ever?
Teddy Sheringham was leading goal scorer 22. Cantona came "way down" with 15, but he did score the first hat trick for Leeds v Spurs in August 1992..

What more can I say than read this link to the DTelegraph and reminisce;
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/08/15/25-years-premier-league-players-hold-all-time-record-shots-saves/

Relegated were Palace, Middlesbrough and Forest....nothing unusual then? Top three....United, Villa and Norwich! Lowest attendance Wimbledon v Everton under 4,000. Highest Liverpool v Everton 44,000+

Just click 1-25 and ENJOY! or disagree. e.g. best manager, best player.....

SUPER CUPS

The first leg of the Supercopa de Espana has been played with some controversy in front of nearly 90,000 at the Camp Nou. Spanish Cup winners, Barcelona lost 1-3 to League Champions, Real Madrid. Barca have been the most successful Supercopa club winning it 12 times and 9 times as runners-up.

This time, Real Madrid's Christian Ronaldo was sent off for taking his shirt off (1 yellow = 1 match ban) and pushing the referee (1 red = 4 matches) = 5 match ban! The next leg is on the 16th August at the Santiago Bernabeu. Barca must be favourites???
The Spanish Supercopa (the "final") was first played in 1982 and is a two legged affair.

This year, Barcelona qualify as holders of the Copa del Rey, His Majesty's the King's Cup, which was first played for in 1903. The winner of this trophy goes automatically to the Europa League. It is the club's 29th Cup victory and they have had 10 runners-up spots. Real Madrid have 19 wins and 20 r-u, Athletico Bilbao 23-14. It tends to be dominated by these three.

Teams from the Segunda B (second div) and Tercera (3rd) play in the First Round.  The next two rounds are for those early winners and the Segunda A clubs. The Round of 32 is when things hot up and introduces the La Liga clubs who contest through to the final.

Barca's opposition in the Supercopa are Real Madrid, the La Liga Champions. To win the title is a mere matter of playing all the other 19 La Liga clubs home and away through the season. Since 1929, Real Madrid have won the Championship 33 times and been runners up 23 times. Barca have won 24 times, including the first one ever, and come second 25.

In Italy, the Supercoppa Italiana, was first played for a recently as 1988 and is played between the Serie A Champions (league) and the Coppa Italiana (cup) winners.

The Serie A league champion tends to win this play off. This competition began in 1898 and was originally decided in a single day, contested by teams coming from the north-western region of the country where British and Swiss merchants and other business men had an historic influence on sporting clubs. Three teams from Turin and one from Genoa, played out the original tournament in a day. By 1909 nine teams formed a division and in 1929, two divisions were formed as more clubs joined in.

The Coppa Italiana was first played for in 1922 but then not contested again until 1935-36. Teams from the Serie D, Serie C (Lega Pro) contest the first round, then Serie B teams join in, then the "lower" Serie A teams. By the last 16, the top ranked Serie A teams get to play! So this would be like introducing Manchester City and co. in the 5th Round of the FA Cup without having played any previous rounds!
The holders may wear the "tricolore coccarda" to show their success: Yep seriously!

These "showcase" Supercup matches have been played in two USA cities, Tripoli, Beijing, Doha and at venues of the Serie A winners. Juventus (7 wins and 6 runners up) have dominated the "play off". Milan and Inter come relatively close!

Robbie Keane, during a brief stay in Italy, scored for Inter in their 4-3 defeat to Lazio in 2000. He is the only British player to have scored in this match.

It's only the same as the Community Shield!!

25 YEARS OF P.L. HAT TRICKS

You will agree that the new premier League season has started with a bang and if Lukaku had scored his third today, then he would have joined a very special "club" of players scoring hat tricks in the PL on their debuts.
I was listening to Radio 5 this afternoon as Lukaku failed in this task and the punters read out the list of players who had achieved this. I was driving so couldn't get them written down and my memory is poor;
I do remember Quinn (yep, remember him?), Ravanelli (the silver fox is shown below)..........

How many others have notched PL hat tricks on debut?

I bet you can find this out somehow?
To set you off here is the official "hat trick" record for the PL...
http://www.myfootballfacts.com/Premier_League_Hat-Tricks.html

To entertain you while your secretary does the research for you, why not have a look at this collection of silly facts celebrating the PL's 25th anniversary;

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-zed/25-great-premier-league-facts-7337052

TERRIERS UP THE MOUNTAIN

I have been up a mountain today and Huddersfield Town FC are climbing the Premier League "mountain" as I type. The West Yorkshire town has been cock-a-hoop since winning their promotional play off last season and much has been invested in the John Smith's Stadium over the past few months.

It is a long time since Town took three First Division championships in 1926, 1927 and 1928. Between 1922 and 1928 the club was not out of the top three positions in the highest English division.
Throw in an odd cup final or two this was their greatest period under the eye of the famous Hebert Chapman, who of course went on to greater things at Arsenal.

Huddersfield sunk to the lowly Division Four in 1975-6 and managed to get out of the mire in 1979-80. From 2001 there was a gentle climb through the tiers reaching League One in 2004-5 and gaining promotion to the Championship in 2012-13.

Managers have come and gone, including Shankly, MacDonald, Bruce, Macari, Grayson and Robins-to name a few. I daren't count the number of managers employed by the club in the past twenty years.

Promotion to the PL has now happened. So well done to the "Card Factory" man Dean Hoyle and his massive investment. What a nice chap. Congratulations also to David Wagner, an ex-USA international footballer, but German by birth, who took over from Chris Powell in 2015. Since then it has been unprecedented success for the Terriers. They have climbed the mountain and now they have to keep on the peak!

The elevated position has led to much expenditure by the club to meet required standards but of course there will be increased revenue now that the top teams in the country will be visiting the Kirklees town. And who knows maybe even European clubs will be joining in soon?

Whatever the club gains from the PL payments; TV facilities, possible parachute payments, there will be extra costs. Obviously the squad has to be improved ££££, grass lighting rigs are needed to help grass growth between matches (remember the Giants play rugby league there also). There are 32 pages of PL rules to be adhered to: eg goal line technology is sited, changing rooms must be a minimum of 30 sq.m., the pitch must be 108m x 68m, 14 media locations are needed, they have to include special rooms for drug tests, security, mix zones (press interviews etc), the British TV companies get 3 seats each in the stadium, foreign TV companies only 2! IT connectivity must be secured....need I go on?

It has been a promising start at Selhurst Park where the Town has taken Crystal Palace to the cleaners beating them 3-0. So they must be top of the PL tonight.

FROM THE PALACE TO THE EMIRATES

Once again, let us remind ourselves about Prostate Cancer and what ever sex you are, the odds are that any male that you are or know has a 1 in 8 chance of being affected by it. If your male happens to be "black", then the odds shorten considerably.

Robbie Lyle is a presenter of Arsenal Fan TV and he is walking 37 miles over three days from the 9th August, finishing today, visiting the major football grounds in London.
He started at The London Stadium (West ham Utd) to Selhurst Park, walking to Stamford Bridge, then to Wembley (aka White Hart Lane), finishing at the Emirates in time for the PL kick off v Leicester City at 7.45pm.

At each ground he has been received with enthusiasm and he is on the Prostate Cancer giving website, so click and help him build a sizeable pile of money for this good cause.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5-Yw8HZcMM

14% of Black males are not aware of this illness, so Robbie hopes to raise their awareness, as all these charitable events set out to do.

FELIX THE HUDDERSFIELD STATION CAT SUPPORTS UNDERDOGS

It is the silly season and as the Premier League begins, promoted clubs are buying and selling, restructuring their stadia and most of all, preparing their chaps for the greatest nine months (or so) of their lives.  Huddersfield may be considered underdogs in this season's PL but it is a cat that may be their hero (heroine) and is taking some of the limelight.

Felix was named a male but later inspection showed it to be female. The cat has been brought into the station to lighten everyone's lives and Felix has helped autistic children, had a book written about her, been the subject of many Facebook entries and lately has predicted the first three Town matches of the new PL season.
https://www.facebook.com/FelixHuddersfieldStationCat/

Three identical bowls of food with win badges, and a draw note attached were put in front of Felix and she has chosen three victories. So all is well with the Huddersfield club, the Terriers, so long as nobody lets them (or the club mascots) loose in the station area. Felix has her own hi-viz jacket and even a station hat.

http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/watch-felix-huddersfield-station-cat-13451990

Felix has brought much happiness to the station staff and given everyone on the town's platforms a spring in their step. Just imagine how many pints of local bitter will be downed in the two pubs that are sited on the station platform.

Puurrfect.

THE MAGNIFICENT "FIVE"?

I suspect there will be another pair of cowboys to write about but I haven't time to wait for two to turn up. So I am going with FIVE.

One: Glen Campbell, the Rhinestone Cowboy, has passed on, after a life of ups and downs and I bet a few of you will be nipping out to the latest Charity Shop to see if there is an old CD of his best songs going for a song. What joy he still brings.

Two: down the track, another cowboy has bit the dust, Ty Hardin, a cowboy, "blond beef-cake" who cheered us up on BBC TV between 1958-1962 in his series about the wild west, "Bronco".
(apparently a popular parody went "Bronco, Bronco, tearing across the dotted line" with reference to the shiny, abrasive lavatory paper that could be found in all "public" conveniences).
Anyone remotely famous at the time called Layne adopted the nickname "Bronco". Ty Hardin was actually a college footballer, but of the American style. Three-Five:

So the link is with David "Bronco" Layne who played at Rotherham (11 apps/4 goals), Swindon town (41/28), Bradford City (65/44) nearly 74 odd games for Sheffield Wednesday in his prime scoring 52 goals.
He was involved in a huge match fixing scandal in 1964. Layne is now 78 years old and his club partners in crime were Tony Kay and Peter Swan.

All three were approached by Jimmy Gauld, a Scottish youth international, who knocked around with lower league clubs and in 1962 he approached old team mate from Swindon Town, Bronco Layne.

On 1st December 1962 the three Wednesday players were to throw their league match against Ipswich Town, but actually Ipswich were too good and Ray Crawford, the Tractor Boys prolific centre-forward scored in a 2-0 win. Tony Kay was given Man of the Match at the time.
In the previous season Ipswich had won the First Division championship under Sir Alf Ramsey, in 1962-3 they came 17th! Did anyone investigate that?

Gauld fixed other games on the same day; Lincoln City v Brentford (1-3) and Oldham v York (3-2) and he is recorded to have benefited by £7,000 from the bets and his personal exposure about the crime to the Sunday People, the amount equivalent to £128,000 today.

On April 12th ten players from various fixed matches were on trial at Nottingham Assizes, where taped evidence was first used. Gauld got 4 years, Layne and co 4 months. 33 people were eventually prosecuted.

Swan having been at Wednesday from 1953 and an established England international, was banned in 1964 for 8 years. He continued playing in 1972, helping Bury FC (1972-4) to promotion into Division 3 and then took Matlock Town (1974-6) to the FA Trophy in 1975, beating Scarborough 4-0. He brushed with Worksop Town and Buxton and needless to say he ended up running a pub in Chesterfield-NO it does not have swing doors and a buffalo's head nailed to the wall.

Tony Kay (below), once the most expensive footballer in the country when Everton bought him in 1962 for £60,000, was banned in 1964 and had his ban lifted in 1973. He went to Spain to avoid prosecution from selling a counterfeit diamonds and was last known to be a groundsman in South-East London.

In 1997 a BBC film "The Fix" told the story.

THE CARABAO CUP BOOSTS IN DIFFERENT WAYS

Big cup games tonight with the UEFA Super "Doopa" Cup being played in Skopje, Macedonia, as Jose pits his wits against Real Madrid, with Gareth Bale between two stools. The Super Cup idea has been in existence since 1971 when Dutchman, Anton Witkamp, a journalist, thought it would be good to see which club was really the greatest in Europe, at a time when Dutch clubs, especially Ajax, were dominating competitions. Ajax (Champion League winners) met Rangers (yes Glasgow! Cup Winners Cup winners) in 1972. Rangers were actually banned from playing in European competitions due to their fans' behaviour, but the game went ahead and Ajax won 6-3 over two legs. The tie was played over two legs originally to maximise revenue.

With Arsenal are already one cup up this season (Community Shield actually), the FA Cup has got going (albeit it in the lower reaches), and the EFL Cup  is ready on the blocks with the Carabao (meaning Red Buffalo) sponsored cup competition amusing a few lost souls from the lower divisions. If your remember last year this competition led to the more prestigious clubs fielding their youngsters, thereby dragging the competition into the mud, until it got to the exciting rounds.

Carabao are also sponsoring Flamengo in the Brasilian Serie A, as well as Reading FFC and Chelsea's training kit.

If you happen to support a team having a dodgy start to their season or maybe is on a roll, the League Cup, as we once  knew it, will either give your club a boost, an opportunity to play some new players or to maintain the roll.

Barnsley (defeated badly at Bristol City on Saturday) certainly needs a boost and are taking on Morecambe (who won at the weekend) at Oakwell.
Luton having scored 8 last weekend is on a roll and entertain Ipswich and as yet the team lists have not been published, so I can't predict how seriously the managers will take EFLCup.

There are a few "nice" fixtures-it looks regional but I'm not convinced: Newport County play at Southend,  Pompey travel abroad to Cardiff.

Mind you Aldershot are at Torquay this evening in the Vanarama. Who pays travel costs?

Forest Green Rovers and Lincoln make their debuts.

On the theme of Cup ties, it is good to read that Chapecoense are reviving their club's spirits as they visited Spain and played Barcelona on their home ground, for the Joan Damper trophy, a match that confirms the Spaniards link with South American players. Remember the Brasilian club lost almost all their first team players (all but 3) and officials in a plane crash on 28th November 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6KvRDqo5_Y

DOUG INSOLE

Doug Insole has died aged 91. Born in Middlesex, his family moved to Chingford and his boyhood was spent at school in Walthamstow when he played cricket for London and Essex schoolboys. After a spell in the army he went to St Catharines College, Cambridge where he won his Blue for cricket in 1946 and also played for Essex County. He captained the Light Blues in his final year.

It is as a footballer that he interests me so I want you to sit up and read. With an older brother who was excellent at football, captaining London Boys, and cricket, Doug would have learned a lot from him. As a teenager Doug played for Walthamstowe Avenue and enjoyed three years playing football for the university, captaining the Light Blues in 1948 and he was chosen as a reserve for an England Amateur trial. That year he was a founder member of the amazing Pegasus side, a team made up from Oxbridge footballers and Doug became their first captain. The club played friendlies but did enter the FA Amateur Cup, winning it in 1951 and 1953, though not with Insole! The club eventually was disbanded in 1963 as more formal amateur sides captured the better players coming out of the universities. Insole also turned out for Southend United and in 1956 playing for the Corinthian Casuals, in the FA Amateur Cup Final, he assisted a goal scored from his corner kick, against Bishop Auckland, very much the team of the era. The match ended in a draw and the Bishops won the replay.

I met Doug Insole at alumni events at St Catharines, and remember playing cricket against him in the early 1970s when he turned back the years playing against the College cricket XI. He was a vice-president of the MCC and president of Essex CCC, and was awarded the MBE in 1979.

THE SHIELD

Before I give you a short history of the FA Community Shield, here is a little light entertainment sent from Chris Hardstaff my Derbyshire agent:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HjpL-Ns6_A do see it through and you will realise how to make Donny sexy.

So the FA Community Shield has evolved from the original Sheriff of London Charity Shield which was arranged by Sir Thomas Dewar to be competed for by the best professional and best amateur clubs. Iin March 1898 the famous Corinthians took on Sheffield United. Dewar, a Scot, made his money in whisky and invested in a number of sports' competitions, including USA football (soccer). Here is the Shield with Aston Villa.

Proceeds from matches went to charities, this year to the Greenfell Tower project. The FA Charity Shield took its name in 1908 with the Southern League winner playing the Football League winner, QPR v Manchester Utd. United won after a replay, the only one in history.

In 1913 the Amateurs played the Professionals and in 1921 eventually the Football League winner played the FACup winner. In 1950 the England team was due to compete in the World Cup for the first time. To help their development the Charity Cup was between England and an FA XI. It didn't help much as England went out of the competition having been beaten by the amateurs, the USA.

In 1961, Spurs had done the first Double since the great Preston NE of the 1880s, so they needed an opposition which came from an FA XI. The 1971 tie was between Double winners Arsenal and Second division winners, Leicester City.

In 1967, Pat Jennings scored against United in a 3-3 draw directly from his own "punt" and when Brighton and Hove Albion, Southern League winners, won the trophy they became the first club to win the Charity Shield without ever winning the FA Cup or the League.

ITS THE FA CUP 1872-2017

The FACup was first played for in 1872 at a time when Germany was first created and Queen Victoria opened the Royal Albert Hall. After a couple of postponements during the war years, that was the only time the Cup has not gone through all its formalities of little clubs joining in early in the season with the big boys joining in around the new year. In 1907 non-league Crystal Palace beat unbeatened Newcastle Utd at St James' Park and second in their division. Maybe the first big giant kill?

Today was the Extra Preliminary round and 737 qualified clubs started the campaign this weekend hoping that something might enlighten their history like Lincoln City and Sutton Utd experienced in 2016-17.

This weekend Framingham Town played their first ever FA Cup tie and despite the excitement drew with Wadham Lodge 0-0. Penistone Church went away to Charnock Richard on Lancashire and won 4-3, their first ever win the FA Cup. It's priceless how much fun this competition can bring.

So I thought why not make a weekend of it and visit Staithes, with family, and nip off during Saturday afternoon to watch the nearest cup tie. That seem to go down quite well with my companions, so where did I end up? Guisborough Town FC (step 5) v Stockton Town FC (Step 5). The ties are regionalised to start with so these two knew each other. Both teams play in the Northern League Division One and I found them at the King George V playing field on the edge of a delightful town. It was a great game on a very well appointed ground. 1-0, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2,3-2, 4-2 yes a home team win.
Guisborough, founded only in 1973, playing in the Middlesbrough and District League. Since then the club has climbed through the pyramid and reached the FA Vase final in 1978-9 losing to Stamford 2-0 in front of 11,500.

Stockton FC also formed recently in 1979, but I know that the Old Carthusians met a Stockton team in the FA Amateur Cup in 1897! I took the assorted memorabilia with me to give to their club secretary, who seemed eager to get the historical document-an account of the FA Amateur Cup Final which The OCs won comfortably.

There have been a load of exciting ties today including local side Penistone Church winning their first FA Cup tie against Charnock Richard in Lancashire 4-3.

MAKING ENDS MEET-SOMEWHERE

£199,000,000 at least, plus add ons, such as a wage, his agent's fees (his dad's), etc etc. Neymar will have a French sword hanging over his head, as he seeks to transform PSG's fortunes. Paris Saint-Germain is the top team in the French Lique 1 and do pretty well in UEFA, so what do the board members of the Parisian club really want, World domination? Well, the sovereign state, Qatar, is funding all this, presumably on money gained from its gas reserves. In 2017, Qatar's Arab neighbours cut off diplomatic relations with the state, which is accused of funding terrorism and manipulating internal affairs of its neighbours. Money in, money out.

In France, PSG has dominated the Ligue 1 since 2011-12 until 2015-16, losing the championship to Monaco last season, 2016-17. A disaster for PSG and obviously a need for investment.
Lyon won 8 titles on the trot between 2002-2008, Marseille 2009-10, then Lille 2010-11.
Montpellier sneaked in with a win in 2011-12 and then came the PSG sequence.
PSG won the Coupe de France (Cup) from 2015 for three years in succession.
PSG won the Coupe de la Lique between 2014-17 and
the Trophee des Champions 2013-17; BUT NO EUROPEAN TITLES!

Let's forget the politics and trade boycotts associated with the PSG owners, Qatar. Barcelona used to wear a Charity symbol on their shirts but now it is Qatar Airways. Money talks and so does advertising, which along with PSG's success will lift Qatar's status to the stratosphere, ready for the FIFA World Cup in 2022.  But what about FFP? That may come into play TODAY? Heard the news?

Qatar already has Global presence at Goodwood, golf and tennis world wide. For a country with a population of 2.57 million, it certainly bats above its average; oh yes, there is cricket too £££££.

FA CUP SOON-PLAYERS DOING THE ROUNDS

The FA Cup extra preliminary round is coming up and it's barely August. So why not delve into the Non-League list to see what's what and who is playing where. I am heading to the Yorkshire coast at the weekend for a day or so and I have found a Cup tie which is only 20 minutes drive away from my planned destination. Dare I go to Guisborough to watch their tie against Stockton Town FC? Might be a possibility. There might be an old pro knocking around to brighten a tie.

I have written about Julio Arca doing his stuff for South Shields  in the FA Vase last season. Why not have a search on the blog to see what he achieved with them?
Jermaine Pennant has shacked up with Paul Konchesky and Jamie O'Hara at Billericay Town...I have done them too, but for today here is an overhead kick from O'Hara.....
https://talksport.com/football/video-jamie-ohara-scores-spectacular-bicycle-kick-billericay-town-170409234663

Luke Chadwick is at Soham Town, Darren Carter was at Forest Green Rovers and now Solihull Moors (probably wanted meat in his burger), Paul Merson spent time with Tamworth, Whitton Albion and Welshpool Town, before he retired to punditry and Jonathan Greening once of York City, Manchester United etc etc....found himself back at York City at the end of a 20 year career. He left the club by mutual consent having been sent off for elbowing an opponent against Portsmouth in November 2015 and is finishing off at Tadcaster Abion.
Greening isn't being paid and he is re-gifting his expenses to the club.

Lee Hendrie appeared on my list so I researched him and found out the issues that he and his family have had to cope with they he realised that he was on the slippery slope. From Aston Villa in 1995, when he was sent off on debut, he had over 250 appearances and then he played successfully with a number of prestigious clubs, winning a full international cap, but then the rot set in. He went through Daventry Town, Kidderminster Harriers, Chase, Redditch Utd, Tamworth, Corby Town, Highgate Utd and Basford Utd. He has had his problems as this clip will reveal.
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/watch-former-aston-villa-favourite-12891596

TWO SEMIS FOR THE WOMEN

I dream of a "Pointless" topic being football related so that I can at least a chance of getting a low score. I do struggle with 1980's Top Ten chart toppers. I would have more chance with the Television toppers, but not many of you lot will remember that dance troop?

Mark Sampson, a Welshman, England Women's manager, was dragged onto the stage by Alexander and Richard a while ago and despite keeping it a secret, the news was recently leaked and team moral was boosted when England kit man, Neil Jones, showed the girls a video of Mark's appearance.-he did not last long, going out at the first round. Sampson's national team are full of beans and earning points with every match in the present UEFA championships. They are soon due to play the Netherlands in front of their home crowd in the semi-final.

Sampson was told by his father that he would never make a player, so he started taking his coaching badges. He managed in the Welsh amateur leagues and he has inspired this team to great success following on from Hope Powell's long reign after the defeat in Euro 2013. Sampson had a clean out of the established older players, he introduced the overlooked Jodie Taylor who has done nothing but score goals for him and who leads the "Golden Boot" so far with 5 goals.

His coaching style varies depending on the opposition and the match against the old foe, France, showed a clever tactical performance, more like a classic Italian side.

Lord Ouseley, chairman of the "Kick it Out" campaign, was unhappy with a male appointment when Sampson got the nod, but the semi-final performance in the World Cup in Canada 2015 (beating Germany for third place) and this semi-final has changed minds. Sampson has introduced inspirational posters to the hotel, there is a cryotherapy chamber installed and loads of compression socks to help the girls recover from their latest match.

Sampson is an amateur footballer who played for the Cardiff Corinthians four years ago. He turned to coaching at Cardiff Metropolitan University and his first job was with Cardiff City's scholars, then then Swansea academy under Martinez, taking over Taff's Well FC in the Welsh division one. After that he went to Bristol City's women and had success with the team in two FA cup finals and runners up in the Women's Super league in 2013. In 49 games he has won 28 and drawn 7.

Two successive semi-finals is an achievement for an England manager, last experienced by Alf Ramsey in the 1960s....World Cup v Portugal 1966 2-1 and European Nations Cup v Yugoslavia 1968 in Florence 0-1.
Alan Mullery became the first England player to be sent off in a full international in this game on June 5th.