DIEGO'S DEBUT

A daily earlier than today (i.e. the 27th) of February 1977 saw the debut for Argentina's international side of 16 year old Diego Maradona. Their opponents were Hungary who had been a leading national side in the past with an Olympic Gold in 1952, 1964, 1968 and a Silver in 1972.

The Magyars however, failed to qualify for the World Cup in 1974 and the Olympics and European Championships in 197, so were regarded as in decline.

Argentina on the other hand, were emerging from being in the Olympic Final in 1928 and the World Cup Final 1930. However they did own 12 Copa America Trophies.

In the Bombanera Stadium, Buenos Aries, over 60,000 watched the friendly match between Argentina and Hungary watching their home team go 4-0 up by half time. Bertoni with 3 and Luque 1 scored. The "jet lagged" Magyars had not reply.
In the second half Luque scored again and Samdor replied for Hungary.
After 62 minutes Ricardo Villa came off for Benitez and Luque for Maradona, the first of his 91 caps and World Cup Final glory in Mexico in 1986.
We remember that well.
At 58 years old he is manager of Mexican Second Division club Dorados de Sinaloa. Voted joint player of the 20th Century in FIFA along with Pele.
His World Cup record was:
1982 Matches 5 Goals 2 Yellow 1
1986 7/5/1
1990 7/0/2
1994 2/1/0
In mid January, he was recovering from an operation to deal with an internal bleed caused by a hernia.

FOWL-BUT NOT AT HILLSBOROUGH

On this day in  2011, a Colombian League match held at Popular Junior Barranquilla Club saw visitors and relegation rivals Deportivo Pereira abuse the home team mascot, an Owl.
The two teams were fighting off relegation at the bottom of the league and unfortunately for the owl it was hit by an aimless pass from Deportivo and stunned.
The ref acted quickly and stopped play but sadly Deportivo's Colombian footballer, Luis Moreno didn't stop, as he took a swipe at the poor creature and kicked it into touch. Luis apologised later for wounding the team mascot, which was taken to a local vet Zoosalud, and kept in a cardboard box, apparently with no fractures, although by all accounts it died later. Luis claimed he was just seeing if it was alive.

The League Association took a dim view of this act of provocation and banned him for two games and fined him $560. Others suggested that he should do some voluntary work with the local zoo.
Groups of spectators demonstrated for more justice outside the Nacional Soccer Building in Bogota, chanting "murderer" but there were no laws against cruelty to owls!
Deportivo lost 1-2.
http://tdifh.blogspot.com/2018/02/

Here's a few birds invading a pitch
https://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/when-the-seagulls-follow-the-trawler-flock-of-birds-invade-pitch-during-wellington-phoenix-v-melbourne/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-wYEAnzUB0
Don't forget Chick Brodie's fate! I have blogged about him before!

NOT SO FINE

February 26th 2010 saw Portsmouth FC announcing debts of £70m and became the first Premier League club to enter "administration" and thus suffered a 9 point deduction . The club played in the FA Cup Final later that season but by 2013 after several new owners and more point deductions due to financial issues, Pompey were relegated to League 2.

A serious point deduction took place in 1889/90 season when Notts County had a point deduction due to fielding an ineligible player.  (it was later over turned).
This was the second season of the new Football League, so the Management Committee imposed a penalty point for the first time in a league match against Aston Villa on November 9th 1889. County were "one player short" for the match, so they borrowed a player from Nottingham Forest, hence fielding an unregistered player. The two teams drew 1-1 at Trent Bridge. Notts County were docked ONE point and fined £5.

The player involved was Tinsley Lindley, who as a 16 year old played for Forest on February 17th 1882, scoring a hat trick in his debut and later scored 14 goals for England in 13 appearances. He also turned out for the Casuals, Corinthians and Cambridge University.

He made his debut for England, scoring against Ireland in a 6-1 win on March 13th 1886. In the 1890s England played two internationals on one day on three occasions; the first "double" was on March 15th 1890 when Lindley played against Wales at the Racecourse Ground and scored in a 3-1 win. "Another" England also played Wales and won 4-1.

The same happened on March 7th 1891 when Lindley played at Molineux against Ireland again scoring twice in a 6-1 victory, his last cap. The "other England" met Wales winning 4-1.

In 1892 on March 5th Ireland in Belfast and Wales in Wrexham were once again opposition. Both games were won by England 2-0.

A remarkable man, he only wore normal shoes when he played and was very fast over the ground, without the hindrance of boots and studs.
An amateur, he studied Law at Cambridge University and became a barrister. He took the County punishment to the appeal court and claimed that they had been punished twice. The Football League (in its "infancy") agreed and did not deduct the point but increased the fine to £25, a fair sum at that time!
Lindley also played county cricket for Nottinghamshire and was awarded the OBE for work towards the First World War. Money was raised in 2014 to give Tinsley a proper grave at the Wilford Hill Cemetery.

DEBUTANT RED DEVILS

Watching Manchester United battle against Liverpool and injury yesterday, brought to mind Marcus  Rashford's debut on 25th February 2016 when at 18 years old he scored twice against Danish side FC Midtjylland in a Europa League tie, won by his side 5-1. The reason why Rashford was blooded was an injury to Anthony Martial in the warm up.
He became the youngest United player to score in European competition, breaking George Best's 50 year old record.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, now his manager, managed a debut goal in six minutes against Blackburn Rovers in the PL 1996.

Other Reds Devils to score on debut include: Nistelrooy in the Charity Shield against Liverpool in  the 2001 defeat 1-2.
Rooney scored against Fenerbahce in 2004, a hat trick at 18 years old.
Van Persie v Fulham 2001
Diouf v Burnley 2010
Ibrahimovic v Southampton 2016
Lukaku v Real Madrid 2017
Other Man U debutant scorers include Martial 2015, Welbeck 2008, Scholes 1994, Rossi 2005, Eagles 2007, Saha 2004, Heinze 2004, Macheda v Aston Villa 2009, Wilson 2014 twice v Hull (see below), Powell 2012 and Buttner 2012.

https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-adk-adk_sbnt&hsimp=yhs-adk_sbnt&hspart=adk&p=Manchester+United+debut+goal+scorers#id=2&vid=436a98b851e2b409aafaecc80151dc3c&action=click

YOU CAN'T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN

I wasn't thinking about Mark McGhee this morning when I bought my Non League Paper, but I had a gentle link with him when I was teaching and helping run Independent Schools' Football in my "prime". Mark's went to Bradfield College, a very impressive independent school near Reading and one that played football (soccer) as its major winter sport.
Mark's son played for their 1st XI and had representative honours for the "Association".

So why Mark? Well his face looked out at me this morning from the N-L Paper and he lives in Hove, a friend tells me. Sussex was my home county and he is taking over management at Eastbourne Borough from the National League South, a club I know well.

Is this important? Well, yes, because Mark has a considerable pedigree, having played for Scotland 4 times scoring twice and been assistant manager for Scotland, working along side Gordon Strachan.

His honours include a European Cup Winners' Cup, a European Super Cup, four Scottish Premier titles, five Scottish Cups and three promotions with three different clubs as a manager.
This last week he has been preparing to take on Wealdstone in a Non-League game.

McGhee, now 61, played for Greenock Morton, Newcastle United, was under Alex Ferguson at Aberdeen, Hamburg under Gunther Netzer, then Celtic, IK Brage in Sweden and Reading.
He played 489 games scored 172.

He then managed Reading (hence his son's choice of secondary school!), Leicester City, Wolves, Millwall, Brighton, Motherwell (twice), Aberdeen, Bristol Rovers, Barnet and now Eastbourne Borough . With around 970 games under is belt, he has much experience to offer.

McGhee has a few signings to make and a bit of a battle in front of him. best of luck lad!

ALF PLANTING THE SEEDS IN SPRING

Just before the 1966 World Cup in England, the English national team took on West Germany at Wembley in a friendly under the control of Alf Ramsey. It was February 23rd.
With players like Keith Newton and Norman Hunter in his side, it was Nobby Stiles who scored the only goal of the game, as the home team won by the one and only goal. It was the ONLY GOAL Nobby scored for England in 28 appearances. Alf brought Nobby in to "do a job"!
The team: Banks, Cohen, Newton (Wilson), Moore, Charlton J and R, Hunter, Ball, Hunt, Stiles, Hurst.
75,000 saw the win.
Another warm up game was at Goodison Park against Poland which was drawn 1-1 with Bobby Moore scoring the goal. George Eastham and Joe Baker were also used.

From April, England played Scotland at Hampden Park winning 4-3 and in May, on tour, they met Yugoslavia 2-0, Finland 3-0, Norway 6-1, Denmark 2-0, and Poland again 1-0.

Jimmy Greaves scored 4 against Norway and this was his sixth 3 or more tally in one match for England. He played 57 times for his country and scored 44 goals.
He never made the World Cup campaign's final three teams, however, having drawn blanks in the three qualifying matches against Uruguay 0-0, Mexico 2-0 and France 2-0.

From the World Cup quarter-final, Ramsey picked the same 11 players in six consecutive matches and Jimmy just didn't fit into the jig-saw puzzle.

FOSSE FOXES TO CITY CHAMPS

The team above is Leicester City in 1892, then named Leicester Fosse, a name given to the original club formed in a "shed" behind a house on Fosse Road, where Wyggeston School was located, the founders of the original club in 1884 attended Bible classes nearby. See house below! They played in the local Victoria Park and played Syston Fosse on November 1st.

Fosse means a long ditch or trench through excavation, usually in a fortification.
The club joined the FA in 1890 and moved to Filbert Street in 1891. They played in the Midland League originally, joining the Football League Division 2 in 1894 through to 1908, when there was a promotion to Division One for one year. The club stayed in Div 2 until the war and in 1925 was promoted to the First. From then the club "yo-yoed" until its famous Premier League win!

The club included the famous "Fox" on their club badge in 1948 and became known as "The Foxes" in the 1980s.

Kit from 1894.
All went well until the First World War interrupted progress as the club ceased to function through "financial difficulties". In 1919 the club adopted the "City" name at the time as the "town" of Leicester gained City status.
https://www.lcfc.com/galleries/471171/leicester-city-through-the-years-18841900
More history here.

SANTOS CIRCUS

21st February 1972 saw 3rd Division Aston Villa entertain Santos from Brazil at Villa Park. Pele and team mates turned up along with nearly 54,500 in the crowd to witness a remarkable evening on which Villa triumphed and Edu scored the Santos goal...not Pele.
The dazzling skills of Pele and team mates, on a far from perfect pitch, lit up the stadium which occasionally was "bathed in darkness" as the floodlights spluttered.
Goalkeeper Cejas refused to start the game until the lights were returned to normal!
To get into the Holte End would have cost you 70p and the club took £35,000 on the night. It cost £18,000 to stage the match , which saw Pat McMahon score after 5 minutes. Edu equalised after 60 mins and when Bruce Rioch was fouled in the penalty area, Ray Graydon slotted the penalty home.

The Villa team included: Cumbes, Wright, Aitken, Curtis, Turnbull, Graydon, McMahon, Lochead, Hamilton, Martin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD1rGkbHHI0  there is no sound!
The Santos tour was a money making scheme, using Pele in his later years as a "circus attraction".
Two days later the tour went to Sheffield Wednesday where Santos lost 0-2. There were no floodlight problems this time as they played at 2.30pm due to "restrictions" caused by the miners' strike. Tommy Craig followed Pele round the midfield for the last ten minutes of the match so that he could get the great man's shirt off his back!
Other tours in Britain and Europe were treated like a money making circus for both teams and Pele reaped rewards.
"The bird that laid the "Golden Egg" was about to fly the coop!" He became a footballing busker.

POYNTZ, PALACE AND JIM

February 20th 1922 Bill Poyntz of Leeds United got married in the morning and then scored a hat trick at Elland Road in a Second Division match against Leicester City in a 3-0 win. He was the fourth Leeds' player to achieve the hat trick in history.
Nine days earlier Bill became the first Leeds player to be sent off in a League fixture at Gigg Lane, Bury on 11th February 1922.
He had signed from the Welsh non-league in 1921, having been born in Tylerstown.in 1894.

On the same day, 4 years later (1926) Crystal Palace had a lively Saturday afternoon, scoring 4 goals in a 5th Rd FA Cup tie v Manchester City at Maine Road. Unfortunately City scored 11.
This was only their second FA Cup meeting, the first also a First Round on 8/1/21; Palace winning 2-0
Other cup ties include: a 3rd Round tie on 3/1/1981 City won 4-0
and a 4th Round tie on 28/1/2017 City won 3-0

Today is Jimmy Greaves' birthday (born 1940); this is an appreciation of Jimmy from a previous blog.
https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2018/02/happy-birthday-jim.html
He scored a 100 league goals by 20 years and 290 days-the youngest to reach that milestone.
132 goals in 169 apps for Chelsea
Scored in his 5 debuts-Chelsea, Spurs, England, West Ham, AC Milan.
6 hat tricks for England including two "fours".
44 goals in 57 games for England.
2 FA Cup wins and scored twice in 5-1 victory over European Cup Winners Cup Final v Athletico Madrid. He scored- the first British club to win a European competition.
Retired at 31.

GOALIE HAUNTED AND GHOST CUP WINNERS

It is a big day for Liverpool tonight, playing in what was once known as the European Cup.

On this day (19th February) 2008 Arsenal met AC Milan in the European Champions' League Quarter-Final. Goalkeeper Manuel Almunia prior to the game was allowed to "go home" after lunch to meet up with his wife,Ana, who was concerned that their new home in Leavesden, Herts was haunted by a ghost monk carrying a candle by their bedroom. Chains were rattling apparently.

The "luxury" home was built on the site of a former psychiatric hospital last used in 1990, so I guess anything is possible. Almunia, who started at Osasuna, eventually retired after a "heart issue" (or more commonly known as a apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) and his last club was Watford FC. He played over 100 games for Arsenal.
Manuel, is that an alien craft?
The next day, the Quarter-final match was played without Almunia and the Gunners drew 0-0 at the Emirates. Later, in the second "leg", with Almunia, Arsenal became the first English club to beat AC Milan, a comfortable 2-0, at their fortress, the San Siro.

To get to this stage, in the knock out match and then the group,  Arsenal beat Slavia Prague 7-0 at home and drew 0-0 away in a qualifer.
They then met Steau Bucharest in Group H winning 2-1 at home and 1-0 away; then
Sevilla 3-0 at home and 1-3 away in this group (Agg 4-3) and finally
Sparta Prague  2-0 a and 3-0 h.
Meeting Liverpool in the Semi-final, was a step too far and the Gunners lost 3-5 on aggregate.

During the 2007-8 season Arsenal lost a league game to Middlesbrough along with Man U and Chelsea in the PL, all away. They came 3rd in the Division.
Spurs beat them in the League Cup Semi-final and Man U beat them 0-4 in the FA Cup 5th Rd.

QUIZ.
Name three clubs that have won the Champions League (as it is now) who come from two (ghost) countries that no longer exist.

CHELSEA v MANCHESTER UNITED

No question; I shall be watching the Cup tie tonight, not bothered much about who wins but there is quite a legacy in this fixture which dates back to December 25th 1905! Yes, Christmas Day. This was the first of two Division Two fixtures that season which ended 0-0 and the return game was on April 13th 1906, ending 1-1.
The two met in 1925 in Division Two again, the only other time they played each other in the second tier.

The two have mainly met in Div One and most recently  in the Premier League since 1992. Of course there have been meetings in the FA Cup, Football League Cup, The Community Shield and the UEFA Champions League.
Chelsea who have won 54, Drawn 55 and Lost 77 times.

Their first Cup tie was in 1908, on the 2nd February, a 2nd Rd game which United won 1-0.
They then met in:
1950 Chelsea 1-0 QF; 1963 United 2-1 5th Rd; 1979 United 3-0 3rd Rd; 1988 United 3-0 4th Rd; 1994 United 4-0 Final;
1996 United 2-1 Semi-Final; 1998 United 3-5 3rd Rd; 1999 0-0 then United 0-2 QF*; 2007 Chelsea 1-0 Final Ole played; 2013 2-2 then Chelsea 1-0 6th Rd; 2017 Chelsea 1-0 QF; 2018 Chelsea 1-0 Final.
* Ole played and was on the bench.

The 2018 Final was refereed by Michael Oliver, who at 33 was the youngest referee in charge of the FA Cup Final since the 1914 Final, refereed by Herbert S. Bamlett who took charge of the Burnley v Liverpool Final tie, won by Burnley 1-0 played at the Crystal Palace. Clarets' captain Tommy Boyle received the cup from King George V, the first time this had happened.

The King sported a red rose as it was an all Lancashire occasion; the cup recorded the greatest number of 476 clubs entering the competition and three months later WAR was declared.
Bamlett went on to manage Manchester United between 1927-31.

The 2018 final also was the first time VAR was used. Neil Swarbrick being the VAR official!
The two clubs met in the 2018 FA Cup Final for the third time (before 1994, 2007).

Other clubs meeting three times in the final are: Arsenal v Newcastle Utd and Aston Villa v WBA.
Jackie Wilkins, wife of the deceased Ray, presented the cup.

QUAKING IN THEIR BOOTS

February 17th 2018 the western part of our country felt an 4.4 magnitude earthquake on a geological line from Liverpool to Devon, 15 miles from Port Talbot at Cwmllynfell around 2.30pm.

Yes, Britain does suffer occasionally from quakes when our ancient rocks have a bit of a "grumble" and fault lines slip  or rocks settle. So The earthquake had its "epicentre" in South Wales and the referee of the Port Talbot v Taffs Wells FC game stopped play for a few minutes to let the ground and the confused footballers settle.  PT eventually won the Welsh League game 2-1 after it was resumed.

You should know where Port Talbot is, but Taff's Wells is less well known and is a settlement in North Cardiff, known as the "Gates of the Valleys". Their football club was founded in 1946, play in the Welsh Football League Division 1 and won the South Wales FA Senior Cup in 2017.

If you haven't been in an earthquake, I have and this was in Christchurch in 1984. It was memorable, midnight and like being on a water bed, not that I have had an experience of a water bed! The house that we lived in during a year in New Zealand was destroyed by the latest event in the city. See the reamins below.

https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2018/02/football-in-christchurch-not-rugger-not.html
This is a car park for the school now but was the house where we lived for a year at 19 Gloucester Street!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghAvIJ76WVo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GActX268xHE  It's true.....

Malcolm Bailey's Football Blog: FRANKLY UNFIT

Malcolm Bailey's Football Blog: FRANKLY UNFIT: Not entirely sure why I should be writing about Frank Worthington today, but I was chatting to a couple of Hepworth United Seniors' sup...

FRANKLY ENTERTAINING

I am editing a past blog, using it as a base to remind you "followers" about one of the footballing "Mavericks", Frank Worthington, especially today, because he has passed away and gone to that great penalty area in the sky! Frank was a local lad (to West Yorkshire) and he was loved by those spectators who wanted to be entertained for their entrance fee. Frank wouldn't let them down.

In 1972 (on this day 16/Feb)) Frank was due to transfer from Huddersfield Town to Liverpool, a big move.
Frank failed the first Medical having shown symptoms of "high blood pressure"  apparently "due to excessive sexual activity" the report read! Bill Shankly reluctantly sent Frank away for a week to sort this out and the place of recuperation chosen by Bill was Majorca; not a good idea Shanks! When Frank returned he failed again and the move to Liverpool was called off, unsurprisingly!

Franks eventually got signed on by Leicester City and his career took him over 11 clubs and 8 appearances for England.
Here is a "Worthington" blog from the past! I had been to watch some junior football at SHELF FC which inspired me to include Frank!!
https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2016/11/maverick-on-shelf_20.html

at Huddersfield Town    

Signing for Liverpool, does Shankly look a little apprehensive?

The Play Boy at Leicester City  

Honestly-it's what the well dressed footballer was wearing. at the time. Frank was associated with 25 assorted clubs with various appearances (828) scoring 260 goals. At one end he was capped by England and played mostly with Huddersfield and Leicester, then had fleeting appearances with Galway Utd, Chorley and Cemaes Bay in North Wales.

 

SUPERSTITIONS

Paul Ince would put his shirt on went he entered the pitch and had to be last out of the tunnel.

John Terry had to use the same urinal before every match (home matches??) and if someone was using it he would have to wait his turn. He would sit in the same bus seat for away matches and listen to the same CD en route to the stadium. He always tied a band three times on his socks!

David James, as well as being a "painter", would spit on the toilet wall in the (home) dressing room and presumably would tip the cleaner? Modern Art?

Laurent Blanc would kiss team mate goalkeeper Fabian Bartez on his bald head before the kick off.

Bobby Moore had to be last putting his shorts on before leaving the changing room. Martin Peters would drop his once Moore had thought he was safe!

Johan Cruyff at Ajax would slap goalkeeper Gert Bals in the stomach and then spit his chewing gum into the opposition's half before the kick off. Well I suppose it might have kept him from choking?

Gary Lineker would never shoot into the goal during the warm up, for fear of "using up his goals".

Neil Warnock on a winning run would stop at every traffic light on the way home, even it was on green!

Gennaro Gattuso before each World Cup game in 2006 sat on the lavatory and read Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It explores the human psychology in 19th Century Russia. It did the trick, Italy won!

THE OLD FOE; NO LOVE LOST (WITH POLAND EITHER)

Valentine's Day 1973; there was no love lost between England and Scotland in a friendly international at Hampden Park, in front of 49,000. It was Bobby Moore's 100th cap and he had a gentle game leading England to trounce the Old Foe 5-0.
Alan Clarke snatched 2, Channon and Chivers one each and there was an own goal.
Rest of the team: Shilton, Storey, Hughes, Bell, Madeley, Ball, Peters. No wonder England won..... 

Willie Ormond was the Scot's manager, having played in the 1954 World Cup for Scotland and he was in charge of the national side for the first time. Welcome Willie! in his Hibernian shirt.
 
Scotland won through to the 1974 World Cup Finals with games against Zaire w 2-0, Brazil d 0-0 and Yugoslavia d 1-1-coming 3rd in the group. They didn't lose a game and were eliminated on goal difference.

Later that season on May 19th they met again and England sneaked a Peters' goal to entertain the crowd of 95,950 with a 1-0 victory.

Of course by October 17th 1973 at Wembley, it was Norman Hunter's mistake that led to Poland taking the lead in the World Cup 1974 qualifier. Clarke replied but it was not enough for England to go on. 
It didn't help that Norman Hunter was sent off.
In goal for Poland? YES Tomaszewski-the Clown (according to Cloughie).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi9vZCo215w  

note the keeper error and the old law that he could drop the ball and pick it up again, note his shorts. Note Hunter's error....la, la, la
Remember (some of you) that England lost their qualifier away in Chorzow, Poland 0-2.
Other results in England's group;
England v Wales away win 1-0, England v Wales home draw 1-1.
Wales v Poland 2-0, Poland v Wales 3-0
YES THERE WERE ONLY THREE TEAMS IN GROUP 5.
1. Poland  P4 W2 D1 L1 F6 A3 Pts 5
2. England P4 W1 D2 L1 F3 A4 Pts 4
3. Wales P4 W1 D1 L2 F3 A5 Pts 3

At the Finals in Munich, Poland went on to win their group beating Argentina, Italy and Haiti. They then went into another group of 4, coming second to West Germany who then beat Holland in the Final. 
Poland beat Brazil in the 3rd play off 1-0.

KANU CAN'T, DEIN DID

On this day (a Saturday) in 1999 the FA Cup 5th Round match between Arsenal (the holders) and Sheffield United at Highbury was going along nicely when just before Arsenal's winner Blades goalie Alan Kelly had kicked the ball out of play to allow an injured player treatment. Quick thinking Ray Parlour, took the throw in, the idea that a Sheffield player should get the ball but no,  Kanu got it, who centred the ball for Marc Overmars to score, making it 2-1! No law had been broken but in the manor of "fair play" there had been a "breach"of etiquette, which Kanu was unaware of. As a result Arsenal requested a rematch and quite rightly the Gunners won 2-1!
David Dein and Arsene Wenger behaved as true gentlemen and arranged the "replay" at Highbury attracting over 37,000 spectators.
In the next round Arsenal scraped a 1-0 defeat of Derby and then met Manchester United in the Semi-final, losing on a replay 2-1 after 0-0.
United won the Final beating Newcastle Utd 2-0.

Prior to their 5th Round tie, Arsenal had  Wolves 2-1 away in the 4th Rd and PNE 4-2 also away in the 3rd Rd.

IN THE BANKS

Well seniority has grabbed another of the 1966 World Cup squad, Gordon Banks who has died at the age of 81. With 73 caps under his belt, he should have won more had it not been for the eye injury he sustained in that car accident. It didn't stop him from playing!
He played at Chesterfield (1958-9 23 apps)), Leicester City (1959-67 293 apps), Stoke City (1967-73 194 apps)), Cleveland Stokers, Hellenic (S.Africa), Fort Lauderdale and St Patrick's Dublin.

As a 15 years old he played locally in South Yorkshire with Rawmarsh Welfare and work as a bag carrier at the local coal merchant's. He a game against Stocksbridge Works (a few miles from me now! and the home club of Jamie Vardy) in the Yorkshire League; After a 12-2 and 3-1 defeat, Gordon was "released". He became a hod carrier. His career then restarted at the Spireites in 1953 on £3 a week.

Goalies of that era were all around the same size 5'11" on the main, not the hunks of today. Gordon Banks had amazing anticipation and was not only a brilliant goalkeeper but also a team comic. He entertained his squads including of course, the 1966 World Cup winners. In the tournament Banks had not conceded from open play until the Final but let in one by Eusebio from the penalty spot.

Whilst at The Hendon Hall Hotel, Gordon kept the troops amused with his party pieces, such as impersonating  a comedian of the day, Freddie Frinton, whose catch song was "Sugar in the Morning", which led to Gordon being known as "Sugar".

This video is not entirely about Banks but may cheer you up after hearing the sad news of Gordon's death. He would have found it funny.
https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2018/01/happy-birthday-banksy.html
This is a Blog from 2018...on his birthday.

Banks claims that the save he made against West Ham and Geoff Hurst in the League Cup semi-final was his greatest. if Hurst had scored then surely the Potters would have been out of the Cup. Stoke went through and won the League Cup beating Chelsea.
In the 1963 League Cup Semi-final Banks, then at Leicester City had faced 34 shots from Liverpool and did not concede. Leicester had one and scored!
He managed Telford Utd briefly in 1979-80.

His international career started in 1963 and ended on 27th May 1972 v Scotland at Hampden Pk, a 1-0 win.
He had 35 international clean sheets and 9 losses.
Here's THE SAVE

YOUTHFUL CAPS

On February 11th 1998, Michael Owen at 18 years and 59 days old became the youngest England international footballers in the 20th Century. He played against Chile at Wembley and England lost 2-0! England have played Chile six times, winning twice, drawing twice and losing twice. England did win a World Cup qualifier against them on June 25th 1950, so there. In our six games we have managed 3 goals and conceded 6. Not impressive and quite frankly it leave me "cold".

Eventually Owen had success; remember v West Germany 5-1 on the 1st September 2001? (where were you when that happened?) and of course he appeared 89 times and scored 40 goals.
His last appearance for England was v France on March 26th 2008 coming on as a sub for Wayne Rooney in Paris. In that game David Beckham became the 5th England player to achieve 100 England caps; and the others were.....

BW, BM, BC, PS......know them?

btw have a look at tomorrow's historic event!
and this link will take you to James Prinsep and Old Carthusian and Tot Tostron! both young record makers.
https://www.11v11.com/teams/england/tab/stats/option/youngest/

MINNOWS WOMBLING FREE

February 10th was a big day for Wimbledon FC in 1975 when the Southern League club met Leeds United in the FA Cup Round 4 at Selhurst Park, attracting a crowd of over 45,000.
This replay against the League Champions of England ended in a 0-1 defeat, a deflected goal.
The first tie was a 0-0 draw at Elland Road.

Prior to this, the Wombles had started their campaign thus:
Bracknell Town in the First Qualifying Rd away win 1-3
Maidenhead Utd in QRd2 at home win 4-0
Wokingham Town in QRd3 at home win 2-0
Guildford and Dorking Utd in QRd4 away win 0-3
Bath City 1-0 win at home on November 23rd in the 1st Rd Proper.
Kettering Town 2-0 win at home on December 14th in the 2nd Rd. 
Burnley away 0-1 win in the 3rd Round on January 4th.

Leeds United went on to beat Derby County 1-0 away in Rd 5

and then met Ipswich Town in Rd6; it went like this:-
at Portman Rd 0-0, replay at Elland Rd 1-1 aet.
then at a neutral ground 0-0 aet
and finally at a neutral ground 2-3 to Ipswich aet.
Ipswich lost 1-2 to West Ham in the semi-final replay after a 0-0 draw,
West Ham won the final beating Fulham 2-0 at Wembley.

Leeds had beaten Cardiff City 4-1 in Rd3

Giant killers? Well Walsall had beaten Manchester Utd 3-2 aet at home after drawing 0-0 at Old Trafford in Rd 3.
Carlisle Utd reached Rd6 losing to Fulham 0-1
York City took Arsenal to a replay in Rd3 having drawn at Highbury and
Leatherhead were knocking big boys over too (Brighton), eventually losing to Leicester City

A MILLION POUNDS

Trevor Francis became the first £1 million pound football transfer player on February 9th 1979. His move from Birmingham City to Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest was actually publicised at £999,999, so that "the lad wouldn't get too big headed"!... Old "Big Head" told the press.
With add ons the total fee was £1.15m beating the previous most expensive transfer in British football, David Mills from Middlesbrough to West Bromwich Albion. read this link about transfers.
It's a ling time since Alf Common cost £1,000 involving Middlesbrough back in the day.
http://www.myfootballfacts.com/BritishFootballPlayerTransferRecords1904-2009.html

Alf was born in Sunderland, played for them, went to Sheffield United for £325 and won an FA Cup medal with the Blades in 1902 after helping Sunderland AFC to a runners-up place in the First Division. After that he scored 58 goals in 168 apps for Middlesbrough, had a spell at Woolwich Arsenal and helped Preston to a Second Division promotion in 1913. With all his clubs he averaged 1 goal in 3 games. With 3 England caps and two goals, his career came to halt with the Great War but he lived on until 1946, running pubs in the north-east and that sort of thing!

David Mills, who cost £516,000, came from Whitby Town and had played for England Schoolboys as a forward. He joined Middlesbrough in 1968 and stayed there for 11 years, making nearly 300 appearances. He scored 76 goals before moving on to the Baggies under Ron Atkinson.

From there he moved to Sheffield Wednesday, Newcastle United, back to Middlesbrough in 1985 and finished off at Darlington and then home to Whitby Town.

Trevor Francis, born in Plymouth, was more prominent as a footballer and manager spending time at Birmingham City (280 apps with 119 goals) so no wonder Brian wanted him. Francis had a spell at Detroit Express, Nottingham Forest (70 with 28 goals), Manchester City, Sampdoria, Atalanta (USA), Rangers, Wollongong City in Australia, QPR and Sheffield Wednesday, two clubs he managed, along with Birmingham City and Crystal Palace.
He suffered a heart attack in April 2012.

SUPER SACKINGS AND SIGNINGS

 February 8th 2000 was a busy day; a day that this head line hits the press when Inverness Caledonian Thistle beat  mighty Celtic 3-1 in the Scottish Cup tie. The headline clearly taken from Mary Poppins "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" dum diddly dum diddly dum dum dum!
John Barnes was sacked as manager of Celtic and Kenny Dalglish stepped in.
On the same day 2012 Fabio Capello resigned as England's manager over an incident involving John Terry and Anton Ferdinand.
Also in 2012, Southwark Crown Court cleared Harry Redknapp of tax evasion involving apparent secret tax bonuses paid to him while managing at Portsmouth. I think the idea was to put Harry in Fabio's place but it didn't quite work out like that!
In 2015, same day,  Steve Harmison, a successful Test and Durham County cricketer was appointed boss of home, Ashington Town FC playing in the Northern League. He had played for them in younger years and was a fully committed Newcastle United fan. But his tenure didn't last long at Ashington-two years approximately.

BEST AND OLE TOFFEE

On January 7th 1970 George Best was in his prime and he went to Northampton Town's County Ground for an FA Cup fifth round tie against the Cobblers helping United to an 8-2 victory. Best scored 6 and Town's Kim Book said "not even the Berlin Wall would have stopped him...."
Ray Fairfax found that the "closest he got to Best was when they shook hands at the end". Mind you the goalie had a bit of nightmare...goals 2, 3 and 6.
https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-adk-adk_sbnt&hsimp=yhs-adk_sbnt&hspart=adk&p=gEORGE+BEST+V+nORTHAMPTON+tOWN#id=1&vid=f79c8e2c4dfb1fd2183a221ba2cc4bfe&action=click

On the 6th February 1999 Manchester United, top of the Premier League visited Nottingham Forest, bottom of the League, at the City Ground and came away with a thumping 8-1 win. It was the 41st Anniversary of the Munich Air Crash and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made a mark by scoring 4 goals in 10 minutes, having come on for Roy Keane after 72 minutes. By then United were already 4 up and Forest were "cut down". Yorke and Cole had scored a brace each by the time the baby faced assassin turned up. here's Ole (bit younger) and his missus, Silsje.


Here's one for you, not date related...
Everton got to the FA Cup Final without conceding a goal in 1966:
the Toffees beat Sunderland 3rd Round 3-0, Bedford Town 3-0 4th Rd, Coventry City 3-0 5th Rd, Man City 0-0, 0-0, 2-0 6th Rd and Man Utd 1-0 SF. and what happened in the final? (Sheffield Wednesday lost 0-2!)
The Radio Times 14th May 1966!

HARRY GREGG'S NEPHEW

On this day in 2017 I wrote a blog to commemorate the "Munich Air Crash" which any football fan will know about. If you don't or need a reminder then here is a link:
https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2017/02/munich-remembered.html

The reason why I am recognising the anniversary again is that Steve Lomas was interviewed on radio today and his uncle was the Manchester United goalkeeper Harry Gregg.

Lomas was born in January 1974 in Germany where his family were stationed with the Overseas Services. He qualified for Northern Ireland however, earning 45 caps and scoring 3 goals.
He featured in Manchester City's side from 1991 until 2005. His mark was scoring an own goal in the 1995-6 end of season game against Liverpool at home when the Blues drew 2-2 and as a result were relegated from the PL on goal difference.
After City he went to West Ham, QPR, Gillingham and St Neot's by 2008, playing in over 235 games. He took over managing the side St Neot's after coaching at Norwich and swiftly moved on to St Johnstone, taking them to their highest ever Scottish PL position, 3rd, in 2012-13, qualifying for the Europa Cup. In May 2013 his management at Millwall lasted 7 months.

Lomas qualified with his UEFA Pro Licence and the League Managers' Certificate of Applied Management at Warwick University.

Harry Gregg, as well as playing 25 times for Northern Ireland and being voted best goalkeeper in the 1958 World Cup finals (when NI reached the quarter-finals losing to Brazil), was the "Hero of Munich" when he risked his own life returning to the blazing plane, pulling colleagues out of the burning wreckage, including matt Busby and also saved a Yugoslav diplomat's wife and daughter. Bobby Charlton and Harry are the soul United survivors.

He ran a Hotel in Londonderry and was awarded the OBE in the 2019 Honours' List. He is 86 years old.

GROUNDS AND STADIA

Facebook is a dangerous thing and it often leads me up some garden paths. Nice ones usually, I might add. I happen to receive announcements from a group called "Football Stadia & Grounds", which is largely a series of pictures of  football pitches/stadia sent in by "anoraks", who may have actually been to a ground (hoppers), but often have snatched an aerial view from some website.

So I ignore a lot of stuff, however today one "colleague" has posted a "colourised" photograph of Jimmy McIlroy in Burnley kit v Blackburn Rovers on October 18th 1958, the season before Burnley won the First Division League title. Nearly 42,000 watched them draw 0-0 with their Lancashire rivals. Another commented that Ray Pointer was his mum's uncle!

That led me to have a look at Burnley websites and I came across this little beauty on behalf of Burnley FC.
http://www.clarets-mad.co.uk/feat/edx9/tottenham_hotspur_v_burnley__the_greatest_show_on_earth_605515/index.shtml
http://10footballs.com/spurs-1960-61-double-winning-season/

It doesn't describe the Clarets/Rovers nil-nil score bore draw but does mention a game I saw on December 3rd 1960 when Spurs and Burnley (then Champions) served up an eight goal treat, a 4-4 draw at White Hart Lane. 58,000+ were in the ground.

It was cracking game that a 9 year old was lucky to witness. In those days kids were lifted down to the front of the terrace (I was behind a goal-the one that Burnley recovered in!) and watched perched on the nearest crash barrier, held in place by my dad and uncle Stan. I remember watching Ray Pointer's blonde mop carve out gaps in the Spurs' defence; Burnley recovered from 0-4 down. Spurs were of course on their way to the first Double of the century. Here's part of the match day programme...ruined by me writing in the scores. Why didn't somebody tell me not to mess the programme and stick it into a nice dry plastic bag for.........

The next ground published on the Grounds and Stadia Facebook was the New Bucks Head, where National League club, AFC Telford United play along with the Wolves U23s.

SHACKLETON, AN EXPLORER

In 2017 Arsene Wenger was given a 4 match ban for abusing a 4th official . One of these games was at Stamford Bridge against close rivals Chelsea and Arsene had to sit in the stands with the paying punters. He found himself sitting next to a chap who told him that he was his gardener; Arsene's get out clause was "I have a big garden".

Len Shackleton, one of the greats from the post war period, won't have met many football club directors but in his biography he devoted a chapter to them and it was titled "What the average football director knows about football". The chapter was blank.

Len was the subject of a transfer record on February 4th 1948 when he moved from Newcastle to Sunderland for £20,100, £50 more than the previous transfer. On his debut for the Magpies, he scored 6 in a 13-0 drubbing of Newport County.

One of the great "mavericks", Len only won 5 England caps because his "face didn't fit" with the FA stuffed shirts. He scored one goal against West Germany, the World Cup holders. He played in two FA Cup semi-finals and earned one third place in the Football League with Sunderland, so never won a trophy.

Starting with Bradford Park Avenue, he would often also turn out for Bradford City, sometimes on the same day. During the war he was a coal miner, a "Bevin Boy".

He was signed by Arsenal at 16 and joined the club ground staff only playing two reserve games in the Southern League. He was consider "too small", so was let go. Newcastle was his next port of call signed for £13,000 in 1946 and made his debut. Two years later he joined Sunderland. Beating Arsenal 2-1, he dribbled the ball into their penalty area, stopped stood on the ball, raised his hand to his forehead surveying the scene, "combing his hair"  and looking at his imaginary watch.
Facing Bert Trautmann with a penalty against Manchester City in 1951, he walked back and back so that he had a ridiculously long run up. He set off, got to the ball and deliberately swung his foot over the ball, missing it-bert dived and Shackleton spun round and rolled the ball into an unguarded net. (not legal today I might add).

Playing one-twos with corner flags and smashing the ball into a snow drift on the side of the pitch to waste time were some more of his tricks.
He played Minor County cricket for Northumberland and in club cricket for the Wearmouth Colliery.

When he retired he opened a barber's shop and was a journalist, living at Grange over Sands in Cumbria. He died in November 2008.

ALLEN'S AND ALLAN'S KEY

On February 2nd 2013 Hartlepool United beat Notts County in League One with goals from Peter Hartley and James Poole. Now that's what I call interesting; it's something you can take down the pub with you and win friends.

On February 3rd 1974, two weeks after the Football league gave permission for clubs to play on a Sunday, Swindon Town's goalkeeper, Jimmy Allan, refused to play on a Sunday, missing a game against Bolton Wanderers at Swindon in Division 2. Allan had been an ever present in 27 league matches for the Robins during 1973-4 and manager Les Allen (of Spurs' Double fame) said fair enough and appreciated the player's commitment as a committed Christian. After that Allan, (the one with an "A"), only played in two of the next 8 fixtures.
Below are the two Cup tie programmes from January 1960, one from Crewe Alexander at Gresty Road and the replay at White Hart Lane with Les Allen would have played in.
I have the original programme from the White Hart Lane cup tie, which recorded the match between Tottenham and Crewe Alexander. This game was an FA Cup 4th Round replay at Spurs', which was needed after Crewe held Spurs 2-2 in the first tie on January 30th 1960. Les Allen scored the Spurs' first goal and Cliff Jones the second.

Four days later on February 3rd, Tottenham got their own back, winning 13-2! Les Allen scored 5 goals, Bobby Smith 4, Cliff Jones 3, Tommy Harmer 1. Over 64,000 watched the replay.

The two clubs met again on 28 January 1961 in the FA Cup, Spurs won 5-1. On 8th October 1975 Spurs won at Crewe 0-2 in the League Cup and on 13th October 1999 Spurs won at home 3-1 also in the League Cup. The clubs have met 5 times with five wins to Spurs and a draw.

Here are the Spurs-Double winners!

COUNTY COUNTING COSTS

Clint is a local golf course man....maintaining it with dutiful care, so of course, he is more important than the posh blokes who run it! He is also a walking footballer and we meet on a Thursday for an hour. Clint wears his Notts County shirt with pride for County is the oldest football league club IN THE WORLD.

The club also sent in 1903, some black and white striped football shirts to a fledgling Italian club in Turin called Juventus, just to help them out.

I watched Notts County in 2013, in my pursuit of the Football League's 12 original clubs during the league's 125th anniversary season. The FL was founded in 1888 and at the end of the first season, Notts County came 11 out of 12. Stoke were root and Preston top, way ahead of Aston Villa. The Invincibles at Preston had played 22, won 18, drawn 4, scored 74 and conceded 15. County had won 5 and drawn 2 scoring 39 (13 more than Stoke) and let in more than any other club, 73. (22 more than Stoke).

In 2013 County beat Crewe Alexander 4-0 on the 5th October.

Today, in 2019, County are presently "root" by 6 points in Division Two, which means if they stay there, their Football League status will end with relegation to the National League. Today they play Lincoln City who are top of the division by 4 points. It looks grim!

The club's strange chant is "I had a wheelbarrow, the wheel fell off", which seems suitable considering the state of the club.
https://www.fanchants.com/football-songs/notts-county-chants/i-had-a-wheelbarrow/
In recent years County has declined drastically. The comparative success of neighbouring Forest (from Clough era) did not help, bad investments, a squad too numerous, manhy sacked managers, inner city redevelopment near by meaning the loss of local housing and therefore support and in 1992, the club's relegation from the old Division One to Two, just before the financial incentive of the Premier League became available. Not much has gone in the club's favour.

For a club that pre-dates the Football Association, The Magpies (see below) have a long history, including winning the FA Cup once in 1894, beating Bolton 4-1 at Goodison Park and thus were the first team to win the Cup from outside the top flight. Jimmy Logan scored a hat trick, the second person to do that. They had also been runners up in 1891 losing to Blackburn Rovers at the Oval. Some club alumni include Albert Iremonger (look him up), Tommy Lawton (famous), Jimmy Sirrel (legendary manager), John Stead (prolific goalscorer) and Neil Warnock (you know)! Below are the cup winners.

Previously playing at Trent Bridge, they moved to Meadow Lane in 1910.
Let's hope that the Magpies make a remarkable recovery in the League this season!!

An infamous Magpie supporter was Harold Shipman.
AS I WRITE NEARLY AT HALF TIME COUNTY ARE ONE UP!

SCORING RECORDS AND A WHITE HORSE

On January 2nd 1932, the Football League saw 209 goals scored in four divisions, 43 games.
Leicester City lost to Aston Villa 3-8 and Grimsby lost to Huddersfield 1-4 in Division One.
Bradford City put 9 past Barnsley (1) in Division 2,
Barrow scored 7 past visitors Walsall in Div 3 North and
in Division 3 South, Coventry and Fulham drew 5-5.

On February 1st 1936, with one more game (44) played; ie 11 in each of the four divisions, the League record total was equalled with 209 goals.
Chester beat York City 12-0 in Div 3 North.
WBA beat Liverpool 6-1 in Div 1,
and the following teams also registered 6 goals in their league games; Chesterfield beat Crewe 6-5 away, Coventry, Walsall, Watford, West Ham.
Everton beat Middlesbrough 5-2 in Div 1 and these clubs below also maxed out with 5 goals each;
Brentford over Wolves (in the First Div), Tottenham thumping Port Vale (Div2) Accrington (Div3N) v New Brighton, Bristol Rovers (Div3 S) and Lincoln City (Div 3N). In Div 3S Bournemouth drew 4-4 with Cardiff City.
8 other teams scored 4 goals.
12 teams managed NONE.
In Division 1 = 46 goals, Div 2= 46, Div 3N= 68, Div 3S= 49

April 28th 1923, 20 sides played in the Football League Div 1's 10 matches and there were only 10 goals scored in total.
There were no away goals.
Arsenal beat Sheffield United 2-0, Cardiff beat Oldham 2-0, Sunderland beat Aston Villa 2-0, Huddersfield beat Spurs 1-0, Birmingham won v Burnley 1-0, Everton v Preston 1-0, West Brom v Middlesbrough 1-0
Three matches drew 0-0.

The other two teams, on this day, were playing in FA Cup Final at Wembley, the first ever Cup Final played at the "National Stadium".
Bolton beat West Ham 2-0, in what was known as the White Horse Final, a match watched by over 200,000, clearly too many for the stadium. The famous mounted policeman tried to control the crowd that was pouring into the stadium with his trusty mount.



In 1925/6 the FA changed the OFFSIDE law which previously insisted on 3 players between the attacker and the goal to keep onside. By making it TWO players (usually a goalkeeper and one defender) the number of goals increased. before this only 4700 goals were scored in the season. After in 1925-6 6373 were scored. Here is the History of offside......
http://www.kenaston.org/download/KenAstonRefereeSociety/offside_history-JulianCarosi.pdf