REMEMBERING RECORDS

Jerry, for ever a stats man, challenged us today with tasks like "Who scored the most Premier League goals in a season?" la, la, la. A can of Amstel outside a Cretan bar at lunchtime was never enough to wreck our memory, so we did get close to some of his questions. Terry Bly got a mention but it wasn't necessarily an answer he was looking for.

On April 29th 1961, Terry scored 52 goals in one season when leading the line with Peterborough United and on April 1961 a hat trick against Barrow at London Road, created a post-war best for the Football League, This being a Division 4 game, Barrow were bottom of the division and The Posh, as Peterborough were known, reached 134 goals in the season earning them promotion to Division Three in top position. Over 15,000 watched the game. Terry began his career at Bury Town, played for Norwich City 29 apps/4 goals, then went to the Posh 88 times and scored 81 goals. At Coventry 32 apps 25 goals, Notts County 29/4 and Grantham 199/125,not a bad investment!
Terry Bly, a proper centre-forward.

On the same day in 1992, Gary Lineker scored his 48th goal for England against The CIS in Moscow. With 6 more internationals in his locker, he scored no more goals for his country, including missing a penalty against Brazil in a 1-1 draw at Wembley. This left him one short of Bobby Charlton's England record of 49 goals in 106 appearances. Wayne Rooney has since passed Charlton's record

On the 30th April 1988, Peter Shilton overtook Terry Paine's record of Football League appearances by notching his 825th match when he played in a 1-1 at Vicarage Road against Watford for Derby. Shilton went on to appear 1005 times.

In 1960 (30th April) Tom Finney played his last game for his beloved Preston North End against Luton Town in a Division One (top) match, helping his team to a 2-0 win. He made 433 appearances for North End and turned out once more in September 1963 for the Irish club, Distillery when they took on Portuguese stars, Benfica in a European Cup tie. At home the Irish lads got a brilliant 3-3 draw. They lost 0-5 away.

FOOTBALL IN CRETE

 I have been trying to find a game to watch this week, finding myself lounging with a few chums on the Greek island of Crete; mountains covered in snow, warm Mediterranean seas and sharing a pleasant "let" somewhere near Rethymno. You know where that is?

But getting here at the end of one weekend (Easter to the Greeks) and leaving on a another weekend is not going to help. No sign of midweek football here.

Two teams stand out on the island: OFI (Omilos Filathlon Irakleiou)-badge above- founded in 1925 as part of a gymnastic club and Ergotelis founded in 1929. These two clubs dominate Cretan football and OFI have recently ventured in to the Greek Super League and Ergotelis in the Football League. Two other Cretan sides, AO Chania and Plantanias play in the Football League.

The first meeting between OFI and Ergotelis was on 18th August 1929 when Ergotelis won 1-0. The most recent meeting was on January 24th 2019 when in the Greek Cup Round 16 they drew 1-1 and Ergotelis won 3-4 on pens.

OFI have had most wins between the two in the Greek Derby. It is fair to say that the two clubs have had their issues, for one,  trying to get involved in the Greek National league. The Hellenic Football Federation set out a "stall" that said that regional teams outside of the mainland had to jump through many "hoops" before getting involved in top national competitions.

The Second World War didn't help,  as Crete was a pivotal point in the Mediterranean conflict and isolated and more recently, the Greek Military Junta in 1966-7 put a spanner in the works, when there was a dictum that "one club only from a regional city could play in the Greek League". Imagine Manchester or Liverpool being put under such regulation. Clubs therefore were forceably moved from the top division in the Greek League to Division Two.

Despite this the clubs battled on and OFI became the only club Cretan club to win the National Cup in 1987. OFI have won 25 of the meetings between the two rivals and drawn 11. Erogtelis have managed only 7.
OFI in 1954

Ergotelis in1966-7

CHARLTONS FROM ASHINGTON, WHITE HORSE, SOUTH SHIELDS.

Bobby Charlton and brother Jackie both had landmarks on April 28th, when Bobby played his last game (606th) for Manchester United (he did go on to Preston NE briefly), losing to Chelsea 0-1 at Stamford Bridge. United were left just above the relegation zone.
Jackie retired from professional football outright, having spent all his time at Leeds Utd. His last game was played at the Dell v Southampton.
28th April 1923 was the first Wembley FA Cup Final which became known as the "White Horse Final". The new national stadium at Wembley had been long waited for and an official crowd of 126,047 was recorded and since it was not "all ticket", estimates suggested that more than 200,000 crammed into the stadium. Clearly there was a danger so the police got to work clearing the pitch and the famous police horse had to be employed to push the crowd back behind the touch lines. The match started 45 minutes late and Bolton Wanderers won 2-0.

On their way to final, in Round 1 Wanderers beat Norwich away 0-2, Leeds 3-1 at home, then met holders Huddersfield Town whom they eventually defeated 1-0 after a 1-1 draw in Huddersfield. The Trotters then dispatched Charlton away 0-1 and in the semi-final Sheffield United 1-0 at Old Trafford.

West Ham United beat Hull away 2-3 in Rd 1, Brighton and Hove Albion 1-0 at home in Rd 2 after a 1-1 draw away, Plymouth 2-0 at home in Rd 3, Southampton away 1-0 at the neutral Villa Park after two 1-1 draws in Rd 4 and a resounding 5-2 defeat of Derby at Stamford Bridge in the semi-final.

South Shields made great progress in the cup beating Halifax Town 3-1 in Rd 1, Blackburn Rovers 0-1 away after a 0-0 home draw in Rd 2 and finally giving in to QPR 3-0 in Rd 3. QPR then lost to Sheffield United.

LAW NOT ABANDONED ENTIRELY

On this day in 1974, Denis Law completed a back heel for his team, Manchester City against derby rivals United, which scored a vital goal after 85 minutes, completing the relegation of the club to Division 2. (actually he found out that United would have gone down anyway) Law was substituted as the crowd invaded the pitch. In the next season, under Tony Book's new managership, Law played in a Texaco Cup game, when he scored a goal against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane and then had a final appearance at Maine Road against Oldham Athletic; he retired.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8HQhV3ujyg
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2135817/Manchester-derby-Goal-haunts-Denis-Law--38-years-on.html
Hearing this week, that Bolton Wanderers were struggling to survive and that the players were not being paid, this is nothing new.

On December 29th 1894 Walsall Town Swifts were on the brink of relegation and their players were not being paid. On the 29th, the players went on strike and said "no pay, no play". Just before kick off the players agreed to a settlement and before a 2000 crowd they played against Newcastle United and by half time were 3-0 down. In the second half the Swifts pulled two goals back but soon it was the weather that took over with rain, sleet and gales along with fading light at that time of the year, the referee decided to call it a day. After 78 minutes the ref abandoned the game, Walsall sacked five players and persuaded the rest to play for expenses. The Swifts conceded twelve goals in the next two matches.

On the 9th March 1895 the Swifts played Newton Heath, you know who??,  and lost the Division Two match, 14-0. The Swifts complained about the state of the pitch, which at that time of year was just sand and mud. The League agreed and the match was declared void and replayed on April 3rd, when Newton Heath won 9-0. Newton Heath eventually came 3rd in the division, Swifts 14th out of 16.  The next season saw Newton Heath remain in mediocrity in Division Two and there was no representative from Walsall. The Walsall club rejoined the league in 1896.

In Division Two that season were Manchester City, Woolwich Arsenal and Newcastle United. Other clubs included Burton Wanderers, Burton Swifts, Leicester Fosse (now City), Darwen and Burslem Port Vale.

LEYTON'S LISBEI LINKS TO THE VASE AND TROPHY

 Where is Brackley? Northamptonshire! The club is based at St James' Park, Brackley and the Saints are holders of the Buildbase FA Trophy, the Trophy designed in 1969 for Non-League clubs playing between Tier 5-8. (Tier 4 being Football League Division 2).

Last season Brackley won the FA Trophy beating Bromley 5-4 on penalties at Wembley after a thrilling 1-1.

The final was played on the same day as the Buildbase FA Vase Final, also a Non-League competition for clubs below Tier 8, a competition founded in 1974.

These two competitions took the place of the FA Amateur Cup when the national game went "professional" for all. The standard of entry is decided by which level of the Pyramid clubs are in after the previous season.

Last season's FA Vase Final saw Thatcham Town, the Kingfishers, from Berskshire beat Stockton Town 1-0 from the North-east, also at Wembley, on Non-League Day.

On May 19th this year at Wembley, Leyton Orient take on AFC Fylde with a winner's pride of £20,000.

FA Trophy winners get £60,000 and runners up £30,000. Semi-final winners get £20,000.
FA Vase winners earn £30,000 and Losers £20,000 whilst semi-final winners earn £5500 and losers £1750.

This season's Trophy final will be between Leyton Orient and AFC Fylde. Orient beat AFC Telford Utd 3-1 over the two leg semi-final and are coached by Kevin Lisbei-see below- who played 111 times for the Orient and ten times for Jamaica.
Fylde beat Stockport County 3-2.

The Vase Final will be between:
Cray Valley Paper Mills from Eltham near Greenwich, play in the Southern Counties East Premier, and have beaten St Austell FC in the South-west, Irlam in the North-west, West Auckland in the North-east and back to Northwich Victoria amongst their nine conquests. Lisbei played briefly for "Paper Mills" at the end of his playing career.

Chertsey Town, 

The "Curfews" (named after a local church bell that rang out as night fell-hence the curfew) from Surrey play in the Combined Counties League. Town have not travelled quite so far but have beaten NINE clubs including St Panteleimon, Baffin Milton Rovers and Canterbury City.

APRIL SHOW-ERS

I have a few days to cover because there are such a number of what I regard as interesting moments in late April.
On the 20th April 1955 Ivor and Len Allchurch (left) and John and Mel Charles (right) played for Wales in a Home Country international against Northern Ireland at Windsor Park. John Charles, a formidable giant of a man, scored a hat trick in his country's 3-2 victory.


On the 21st April 1909 Nottingham Forest beat Leicester Fosse (now City) 12-0 in a First Division relegation battle. Fosse had just arrived in the First Division having been promoted in 1908. A internal club inquiry revealed that team mate in the Fosse camp, Turner, had a wedding two days before the match which lasted through the early hours of the morning before the match. Fosse were 9 points adrift at the end of the season coming an easy 20th. Forest were 9th.

22nd April 1964 Forfar 5 East Fife 4.

On 23rd April 1927 the FA Cup left England for the first and only time when Cardiff City beat Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley, the first time that "Community Singing" was introduced to the pre-match celebrations. The first conductor was T.P.Ratcliffe who wore white trousers and shirt and became known as the "Man in White". The band of the Grenadier Guards played the music. After the war, he was followed by Arthur Caiger. a London School headmaster. Later Frank Rea took over and stood on his raised dais until the 1970s when modern tastes changed (apparently). Songs sung included "Pack up your troubles", "Its a long way to Tipperary" and of course "Abide with Me". So a Welsh team won what was then known as the English FA Cup and their goal was scored by Hughie Ferguson, a Scot.

23rd April 1948 saw Stanley Matthews of Blackpool awarded the first ever "Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year" award. The next day Blackpool played Manchester United in the FA Cup Final at Wembley but Matthews couldn't manage a winners' medal also, his team lost 2-4 from a 2-1 lead, with 21 minutes to go.
Stanley and Stanley Junior

A QUICKIE FROM FLOOKBURGH

Shane Long scored a rapid Premier League goal yesterday, its all in the news) and Tottenham's Christian Eriksen scored a last minute winner well in over time, a goal to maintain Spurs' quest for the top four in the Premier League!

Two rapid goals recorded in football history have their origins in the North-west of England, the best by Colin Cowperthwaite, who scored for Barrow directly (3.5 secs) from the kick off against Kettering in 1979. Born in Flookburgh, Lancashire, in April 1959, his debut for Barrow was in the Northern Premier League and he was a one club man, playing from 1977-1992. Colin's career spanned 704 apps and scored 282 goals, being regarded as Barrow's all time greatest player. In 1990 he netted in the FA Trophy Final at Wembley helping his team to a 3-0 victory over Leek Town. Later in his career he played locally for Cartmel, a village in Cumbria, where he played alongside Jason Walker.

Not a quickie but a coincidence.....Jason Walker (below) in York City kit. Jason was also born in Flookburgh, near Barrow-in-Furness, in Cumbria  and he also played in the FA Trophy Final but this time in 2010. He also notched a 25 yarder, in a 2-1 win in extra time for Barrow against Stevenage Borough.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fastest_goals_in_association_football
At the other end of the country, here is Marc Burrows who played for Cowes Sports FC on the Isle of Wight. He was aged 25 when he managed a goal in 2.5 seconds against Eastleigh Reserves and went on to score 3 in a 5-3 win. Sadly Marc died prematurely aged 30. Yes, we have to rely on the ref's time piece!

Guinness Book of Records?

AND STAYING IN THE NORTH WEST
Today, I heard that Workington Town FC are losing Borough Park as their home ground since 1937. Yesterday's attendance of 689 was the last as Town lost an 8th successive NPremier League match. They will ground share with Workington Rugby League club, until the new Allerdale Community Centre is complete where they will continue to groundshare.

Founded in 1860s when around 1500 migrant workers travelled from Dronfield in Derbyshire to work at the Cammel Steel works. By 1888 the newcomers established a formal club that joined the Football League in 1921 as Workington AFC and left it in 1977, replaced by Wimbledon.

The old "Mob" game still exists when Uppies and Downies compete in a ferocious game recorded from at least 1775.
This is a ball that has to be moved from one part of town , the Downies home territory, mainly the docks),to the smarter part for the Uppies at Workington Hall Parklands.
Bill Shankly managed the club from January 1954 to November 1955.

POLY AND THE BUCK HOUSE PITCH

Jamie Cureton played his 1000th game of football yesterday and NO he wasn't around when the second oldest football league was formed in 1889. The first football league, of course, was THE Football League founded in 1888, a year later the, now named,  Ebac Northern Football League, took shape. It is now a league for semi-professional and amateur players, sponsored by Ebac, a local dehumidifier manufacturer!

There are two divisions in this 9th Tier of the pyramid, covering an area from Durham, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Northern Cumbria and the Northern half of North Yorkshire.
Promotion is to the  Northern Premier League Division One East or West.

In the East are clubs such as AFC Mansfield, my local Stocksbridge Park Steels and the historic Sheffield FC.
In the west are Clitheroe, Glossop NE and Colwyn Bay.
Middlesbrough Ironopolis-three times league winners in the 1890s.
Present holders are Marske United.

In 1885, when the FA sanctioned professionalism, the Football League absorbed clubs from the North and Midlands, where paying men to play was common place.
In the south, Woolwich Arsenal went professional in 1891, very much out of line with the local teams, south of Birmingham. An attempt to form The Southern League failed but instead,
The Southern Alliance, remaining amateur, was formed in 1892, to "oppose" what was going on "north of Watford".
Seven clubs joined in, only to see the Alliance dissolve a year later.
The seven teams involved (with their league position after the first season) were:
the Old St Stephens (also known as Shepherd's Bush FC), who won the league,
Erith (in Surrey-no longer exists) 2nd,
Tottenham Hotspur 3rd,

Polytechnic 4th (originally Hanover United FC from Chiswick) the first club to use United in their name and presently member of the AFA. The club was formed from the Royal Polythechnic Institution, now the University of Westminster.
 On October 7th 2013, the Polytechnic was invited to play their Southern Amateur League match at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the 150th year of the Football Association.
On October 7th 2013 The Polytechnic Club was invited by HRH Prince Edward to play their Southern Amateur League match v The Civil Service. Poly won 2-1.
https://polytechnicfc.wordpress.com/poly-history/

Slough Town 5th (now in National League South),
Windsor and Eton 6th (once dissolved due to debts and now reformed as Windsor FC) and
Upton Park 7th (one of the original amateur successes, now dissolved).

It has to be said that not every team played everyone else so the division final tally was a bit random. Tottenham played 12 games and so did winners St Stephens.

ONE GAME LEFT-UPS AND DOWNS

Despite the distraction of a phone call from Chesterfield FC supporter Jerry, whose team shared the better side of 5 goals against Boreham Wood today, I managed almost full concentration on BT Sport's coverage of the Vanarama National League (VNL) and its "end of term" ups and downs, to and from Step 5 on the pyramid.

There are of course other crucial games being played throughout the pyramid, Derby 2 v 0 QPR for example, and Leeds losing to Brentford as I write!

The National League with one set of fixtures to go, includes the rise of Leyton Orient (whose badge shows Wyvern, (rather than an appropriate Phoenix) Today, the Os scrambled a 0-0 draw at Solihull Moors' Damson Park, to hold 1st place in the VNL with 88 points from 45 games.
Solihull 3rd, have 85 pts but record a worse goal difference (30) than
Salford City who are second in the table.

(p.s. The badge includes the Wyvern which is half dragon donating the City of London and half serpent representing the Orient Shipping Company).

PLAY OFFS: Clubs coming 2nd and 3rd in the VNL enter the semi-final play off.
Clubs coming 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th play "quarter-final" ties winners having a prize of a semi-final berth and who knows promotion as well.
Yeovil and Notts County are in peril of falling out from FL2

Salford City possibly could upset the apple cart, so we were on tenterhooks until they lost 0-1 to local rivals, AFC Fylde (a classic Easter Monday derby by the way) and also have 85 points and a goal difference of 33.
Fylde come 4th with 81 points and a goal difference of 33, 15 better than next in the table, 5th placed Wrexham also with 81 pts.

Down below is Maidstone United, who with one game left are bottom of the table, six points a drift with a goal difference of -43.
Braintree Town (g.d. -30) are second from bottom with the same number of points as Havant and Waterlooville (g.d.-20) but a g.d. 10 goals worse.
The last team in the "bottom four" is relegated Aldershot Town 41 points, ten points adrift of Maidenhead United 51 points, who are safe!

Last season:
Salford City were promoted to the VNL as champions (1st) of National League North, now are 2nd.
Harrogate were runners up in NL North and promoted via the play-offs. Now residing a comfortable 6th in the VNL.

Havant and Waterlooville were promoted  as champions (1st) in National League South but relegated this season from 21st place in the VNL.
Braintree Town were promoted from 6th place in the N.L.South via play-offs and now relegated in 23rd place.

Chesterfield were relegated  to the NL coming 24th in Football League Division 2. This season the Spireites are 12/24.
Barnet who came 23rd in FL2 last season were also relegated; now 15/24.

Taking their places were Macclesfield FC (as champions) now 22nd in FL2  and Tranmere Rovers (through the play offs) now 6th in FL2 who made the leap from the VNL.

Name the clubs in the VNL who were once Football League clubs......might be 11.
and this season keep an eye on Torquay Utd  as NL South Champions (10 points ahead of Woking) and in the North, Chorley or Stockport County.

EASTER KEGS

Here is the start of the game of fotbale recorded by Kelly in 1844 where the "feast" or "Easter Ball Play" was held on Easter Tuesday, a game derived for "a great meeting for a trial of skill at football". Certainly any game would not be allowed to be played on the Sabbath!

John Henry Browne, the vicar, in 1792 stated that "no bodey must play at fotbale nor mabels (marbles), no other game of that kind on Sundae." The game declined around the time of the Napoleanic war and seemed to disappear.

There are many other local games of "mob" football held at "religious" times in the UK; Atherstone in Warwickshire, at Hallaton in Leicestershire and the Royal Shrovetide game at Ashbourne, which is recorded as a celebration following a victory over the Romans in Derbyshire.

The Hallaton "bottle kicking" affair takes place on Easter Monday when the poor are given hare pie, bread and ale from the church. There is a match between Hallaton and neighbouring Medbourne where the "mobs" of each village attempt to move three  " bottles" (actually two kegs of beer and an empty one made from wood, painted red and white and shaped like a ball) over two streams over a mile apart. There are three games played, so best of 3.

A local parson once tried to ban the event which he deemed to be "Pagan". Graffiti was scrawled on the church wall "No Pie No Parson", so he stood down and the game continued. Some claim that a local boy took the idea of playing the game with the rugby shaped keg to his university and hence the formation of the game rugby! Hmmm.

Medbourne FC presently play modern football in the Northampton Combination, a 7th Pyramid Level League. Hallaton with a population of 523 (latest census) does not have a team!

Origins of other mob games vary but there is evidence of Anglo-Saxon influences in Kingston Surrey and Chester where a severed Danish warrior head was used as a ball.There is pre-Norman evidence of games being played in Celtic regions, where a pig's bladder might have been used as the ball.

There is a suggestion that the French were playing the game before "us" and that it may have been brought over the Channel during invasions, but we are not spending too much time researching that.

Edward II declared that he was banning mob football because he saw the game "killing" young men of his country at a time when he was raising an army. His men should have been practising archery rather than kicking a bladder. Edward III also saw a similar problem when raising an army in 1363 and so banned the sport. Edward IV also followed the example and in 1409, fines of 20 shillings and/or imprisonment for 6 days, was recorded for anyone playing the game.
These days Easter is a busy time for football clubs, a period that often decides where clubs will end up next season. It's Manchester United who are wishing there could be a ban on football in England at the moment. They have just had a shocker.

COCKS v BLADES

The original Crystal Palace, April 20th 1901, saw a World record crowd (110,820) meet to watch the might of Sheffield United playing in the Football League, meet Tottenham Hotspur, a Southern League club, in the FA Cup Final. Spurs won after a 2-2 draw which was replayed at Burden Park, Bolton 3-1 (20,470).

Spurs became the first Southern club to win the cup since the Old Etonians in 1882. In 1883 Blackburn Olympic beat the OEs 2-1 in the final and after that Northern and Midland clubs held the cup until the new century. Spurs, playing in the Southern League at the time, remain the only non-league club to win the cup since the formation of the Football League in 1888.

Football had split the country with the "aristocratic" southerners not getting much success against the professional northerners (and Midlanders) stretching southwards to Lincoln, Loughborough and the like.
The Southern League was set up in 1894 to match the Football League but it remained a junior partner with only southern, Woolwich Arsenal, competing in the Football League and they were stuck in Division Two when the two divisions expanded into 16 in Division One and 15 in Division Two.
Luton joined in in 1898. Bristol City appeared in 1904 in Div 2 and Clapton Orient in 1904. Tottenham eventually were elected into Division Two in 1908 and quickly were promoted to Div One.
By the start of the War (1914-15) Bristol City, Fulham, Arsenal, Clapton Orient were in Division Two  (20 teams) and Tottenham and Chelsea in Division One (20 teams).

In the Cup Final, United with nine internationals were lucky to draw. The equalising goal by United was controversial as the referee and linesman were not connecting. Spurs goalie, George Clawley, (good name for a goalkeeper) dropped the ball after saving a shot and then pushed the ball round the post when challenged by the Blades' Walter Bennett. The lineman signaled a corner, the referee Arthur Kingscott arrived on the scene and pointed to the centre spot assuming that the ball had crossed the goal line when dropped. United managed a replay in Bolton, another curious choice since both teams favoured Villa Park. Spurs' manager, secretary and player was John Cameron, an elegant man who in true Spurs' tradition always needed players who had "exceptional qualities of a personal character". Not much change there then.
He had played for Queen's Park in Scotland and Everton and was the first secretary of the Professional Football Players' Union.

Spurs' player Alexander "Sandy" Brown scored in every round.
Spurs celebrated for three days after their win including a night out in Luton where the hotel manager asked the players to "Honour Wine and Women" which they were recorded by the Tottenham Weekly Herald to have "scored heavily in this department".

THERE'S ALWAYS STEVE MORROW

It was Maundy Thursday yesterday, the 18th of April. In  1993, the 18th April was a day when Arsenal beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 in the Coca Cola Cup Final (the League Cup) held at Wembley. Arsenal beat Wednesday with a rare goal from Steve Morrow, his first for the club, who at the end of the game was lifted high by captain Tony Adams, who couldn't hold the gymnastic lift and dropped poor Steve head first on to the sacred turf. Steve broke an arm and missed the presentation up the steps! Thanks Tony!

Steve had to be patient to get this medal awarded properly so he waited for another Wembley occasion when Arsenal met Sheffield Wednesday again, on May 15th, the FA Cup Final. Morrow received his medal before the game but unfortunately for him and his mates, the match was only drawn 1-1. So Morrow had to wait until the replay took place on May 20th to celebrate fully. Wednesday lost 1-2 aet with a winning Arsenal goal scored by Andy Linighan, following a corner from Paul Merson.
The goal also saved the indignity of the first penalty shoot out in an FA Cup Final Wembley, another precious moment.

Below are Linighan's medals...two official cup medals, the third medal struck to commemorate the unique "Cup Double".
Arsenal won the Football League Cup and the FA Cup in one season-a collector's item.

Leading up to the FA Cup Final, two "derbys" were played in the semi-finals; Sheffield Wednesday beat Sheffield United 2-1 aet and Arsenal beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0. There were bigger crowds at Wembley for both these games than for both finals. The replayed FA Cup Final attracted only 62,267.

Morrow spent the rest of his career at Reading, Watford, Barnet, QPR, Peterborough Utd and in the USA. He payed for Northern Ireland between 1990-99, 39 times. He is presently Head of youth coaching at Arsenal.

MARCHING ON TOGETHER

Not many of you will identify with some childhood memories that I have today-I know my brother will and maybe a few others?

Pulborough Village Hall Dances! You may have spent a similar few hours on a Saturday night in your local dance hall? Local "rock" band plays from about 8pm through to just before midnight, somebody keeps an eye on the village street to see when the older lads are chucked out of the Red Lion and then within a few minutes your dance partner, a young lady you have been nurturing all evening (even given her the box of chocolates you won in the raffle) is whisked away by some "Mod" from Crawley, who has more mirrors on his Lambretta than anything you have ever dreamed of and one of the Storrington "Rockers" , fuelled by Watneys' Red Barrel, takes offence at some other cosy pairing on the dance floor, the first chair is thrown! Take cover.

The local bobby might just make it to the hall in his "Panda"! from the village police station, if somebody with 4 pennies had made it to the phone box by the Post Office, pressed button A and given him a ring.

Meanwhile, the majority in the hall were enjoying some of Les Reed's creations, "It's not unusual", "Tell me when", remember the Applejacks?, "Glad all Over", Dave Clark Five. Les has died at 83 years old, he was a genius. Why mention him on a football blog?...well he co-authored (with Barry Mason) the Leeds United anthem "Marching on Together" also known as "Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!" the "B" side to the 1972 club record "Leeds United". It spent 3 months in the charts reaching 10th place.
Of course it is still sung today having its origin at the time that Leeds were in the FA Cup Final.

This is Les and the lads (name them?).
The song is still used by the Rhinos, the Leeds Ultimate Frisbee team and of course gave its name to the Official Leeds Magazine, no longer produced.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXVt_jy8QjI
I hope Brian Souter, an old colleague and serious Leeds man, appreciates the gesture!

JOURNEYMAN CURETON

Jamie Cureton has played 999 football matches at the age of 44. Born on 28th August 1975, he has had a sparkling career beginning with a Bristol birth and a debut club of Norwich in 1993. He scored coming on as sub in his first game after 13 seconds, in a 3-0 win over Chelsea in the P.L.

He had two spells with the Canaries totalling 108 games and 24 goals.
He had a spell at Bournemouth (6/0) and settled at Bristol Rovers for 198 (79). He then went to Reading 127/55, Busan Icons in S.K 21/4, and came home to QPR 46/7, Swindon 32/7, Colchester 56/31, Barnsley 8/2, Shrewsbury 12/0, Exeter in two spells 96/42, Leyton Orient 23/1, Cheltenham 36/11, Dagenham and Redbridge 93/29, Farnborough three spells 48/28, Eastleigh 7/1, St Albans 17/5 and Bishops Stortford 64/32....999/358. With a couple of apps for England U18.

When with Reading he helped the club to a F.L. Div 2 Runners Up in 2001-2
With QPR he won a FL Div 2 championship 2003-4
and was in the PFA Team of the Year 2012-3 League Two.

In 2014 he became the oldest Football League players over Ryan Giggs, Kevin Phillips and Ian Goodison, a Jamaican footballer with Tranmere Rovers.
He works as an assistant coach with Arsenal U16s and helped with dual management with Bishop Stortford club owner Steve Smith.

Prolific in front of goal, Cureton has scored 19 goals so far this season and holds the record of scoring in all * top tiers in English Football, he is aiming for 400 as soon as possible.

He has played in 582 league games with 269 goals. 29 FA Cup ties/9 goals. 16 League Cup apps with 7 goals and 17/7 goals. They might add up?

OLD? Neil McBain turned out for New Brighton in the Football League Div 3 North in 1947 aged 57. His club left the league in 1951 being last in their division.
Stanley Matthews for Stoke City was over 50 years and 5 days old when he made his finale at his first and last club.
Teddy Sherringham played for Colchester in 2007-8 aged 42.
John Burridge, the goalie, played for Blyth Spartans in 1997 aged 43 (ok not F.L. though)

English F.L. players with 1000+ aps:
Callaghan, Lampard, Ball, Tony Ford......the rest are goalkeepers....James, Seaman, Jennings, Clemence and Shilton.
Any others?

ARPIL'S FOOLS AND FANTASTICS

It's a busy time of the year for footy and over the past few decades in the "teens of April" football has thrown up many Easter Eggs.

On the 13th April, 1936, Joe Payne (centre-forward) scored 10 (ten) goals for Luton Town who beat Bristol Rovers in a Division 3 South match. The Hatters won 12-0. Joe scored 83 goals in 72 appearances for Luton, 21 goals in 36 for Chelsea and 6 in 10 matches for West ham. He won one England cap v Finland on tour in May 1937 and scored twice.

On the 15th April 1961 Jimmy Greaves scored a hat trick for England at Wembley against Scotland for whom Frank Haffey had a nightmare. It was 9-3 to England in the end. Haffey only played twice for his country but did appear over 140 times for Celtic. He ended up playing in Australia and became a cabaret singer! here's Jimmy sticking one past Frank.

On April 16th 1975, another top goalscorer, Malcolm MacDonald, popped in 5 for England as they demolished the powerful Cyprus 5-0 in a Euro qualifier.

On the 14th April 1984, a crowd of 20,000 came to watch Plymouth Argyle take on Watford in the FA Cup semi-final at Villa Park. It wasn't going to be their day, though, Argyle lost, but only just, 0-1. Watford and Elton John went on to lose 0-2 to Everton at Wembley.

The Argyle did it the hard way:

Round 1- Southend 0-0, 2-0, Rd 2 Barking 2-1, Rd 3 Notts County 2-2, 0-1, Rd 4 Darlington 2-1, 

Rd 5 WBA 0-1, Rd 6 Derby 0-0, 0-1.

Of course, on 15th April 1989, the Hillsborough disaster occurred and the game was stopped at 3.06 pm. Liverpool and Nottingham Forest played again later and Liverpool went on to meet Everton in the "Requiem Final"

On April 13th in 1996, Alex Ferguson was unhappy with his United who were 0-3 down to Southampton at the Dell and he blamed the grey away kit they were wearing. He quickly remedied that by changing into a BLUE in the second half and they only lost 1-3. 

GULLS FLOCK TO TORQUAY; MIND YOUR ICE CREAM

The Gulls were flying this weekend, having won their first League title in HISTORY, led ably by manager Gary Johnson. The Gulls have three games to spare having tucked away another seaside resort, Eastbourne Borough 2-0, in the National League South. Close rivals Woking lost at Chelmsford, so that was that. They step up to the National League next season, meeting up with some past Football League teams, Wrexham, Gateshead, Barrow, Hartlepool, FC Halifax, Chesterfield, Barnet, Dagenham and Redbridge.
 Their final HOME league game, at Plainmoor, is against Hungerford on Monday 22nd April.


Joining together, football clubs from Ellacombe, Babbacombe and Torquay Town in 1921, helped form the club that join the Western League and eventually the Football League in 1927, HERE IS THAT TEAM.

They came bottom of the Division 3 South in 1930 including a hammering by Millwall 9-1.
In 1959-60 The Gulls came third in the rearranged Division 4,  winning promotion to Div 3 only to be relegated in 1961-2 (Accrington Stanley resigned from the FL this season).
Promotion occurred again in 1965-6 and relegation in 1971-2.
In 1984-5 and 1985-6 they came bottom of Div 4 and second root in 1986-7.
During this end of season, automatic relegation to the GM Vauxhall Conference was in place from Div 4.
Torquay's final game was against Crewe (with David Platt on their teamsheet) and Torquay were third from bottom, with 47 points. Below them were BURNLEY 46 pts and Tranmere 47 pts with an inferior goal difference. Lincoln had 48 pts. At half time Crewe were 2-0 up and eventually Torquay scored from a free kick 2-1. Then pichside police dog, Bryn, with seven minutes to go, despite a leash, invaded the pitch thinking a Crewe player was coming to attack its "master". Bryn sunk his teeth into cnere-half, Jim McNichol's leg, causing the game to stop and the ref to note "overtime". In those four minutes of extra time Torquay scored and gained the vital point needed for safety. Lincoln were condemned to the Conference.
1987-8 Cyril Knowles appeared on the scene as manager, getting the club to the Play Offs which didn't go well but the Gulls did earlier clip the wings of Tottenham in the FA Cup.
Lee Sharpe was introduced as a 16 year old debutant, soon to be transferred to Man U for a useful £185,000.
There have been many more ups and downs with Torquay.
In 1990-1 they made the play offs again winning on penalties, with one scored by David Howells' brother, Gareth, Torquay's goalkeeper. Just after that, Justin Fashanu, a first openly gay footballer was signed by the club .
Neil Warnock was knocking around as manager in 1993 and in 1995-6 the Gulls avoided relegation when Stevenage Borough's ground was deemed not fit for the Football League.
In 2006-7 they headed for the Conference and soon the club was in chaos with Leroy Rosenior being re-appointed  as manager and sacked and all in a day!
In 2009 Torquay played Cambridge United in the Conference Premier play off at Wembley and won 2-0.
Cambridge's Lee Phillips was recorded as the first to have played in the Non-League play off final three times, with 3 different clubs and lost 3 times!
2014-back to the Conference! 2018-further relegation to National League South.
NOW their first League Championship title since 1927.
As far as more UPS and DOWNS go, their manager list includes Frank O'Farrell 3 times, Bruce Rioch, David Webb, Cyril Knowles, Neil Warnock, Roy McFarland and Keith Curle.
Oh, by the way they did win the Torbay and District League Title in 1908!

THE AFA SENIOR CUP FINAL 2019

I missed entertaining you loyal supporters yesterday because I was on the M1 and connecting roads for about 9 hours and then I was seriously engaged with the AFA Senior Cup Final at the Bank of England Ground, Roehampton. The Bank has wisely invested our money into their leisure complex and they hire it out (at some expense no doubt) to wonderful organisations like the Amateur Football Alliance for their annual bean feast. The link below explains how the AFA came to be.
My blog from March covers the history of this competition and the AFA.
https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-amateur-football-alliance.html

The Cup Final pitch was in superb condition and the two teams playing for the cup did it and "amateur football" proud. Bear in mind this competition is for non-pyramid, non-league clubs. The Old Carthusians were in the first 1908 Final losing to The Casuals (read the history on the links below). They have been runners-up also in 1912 (lost to Oxford), in 2011 (lost to Salesians) and most recently in 2017 losing to Polytechnic. Their opponents, the Meadonians (see history), have featured in finals on several occasions.

At full time and after extra time, the Carthusians secured an historic 3-1 victory, adding a third trophy to their 2018-19 cabinet.

The OCs have been there before-see this blog from 2017.
https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2017/04/amateur-football-alliance-cup-final.html

The OC 1st team has comfortably won the 2018-19 Arthurian League Premier Division, the Old Boys' Cup 2018-19 and yesterday's success makes three.
In the Premier League, the Old Etonians  have come second, a long way behind the OCs.

Below is OC's Captain Anthony Beddows who receives the Old Boys trophy after the team's 4-1 win over the Old Parksonians on March 30th.


Next week is the Arthur Dunn Cup Final when the Old Boys of Charterhouse meet the Old Boys of Eton College! A posh final at Merchant Taylors' School! Not one to miss.

NOT A HONEYMOON FOR NEIL

April 12th 1987 saw Coventry City beat Leeds United aet in the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough. It was Coventry's first time into the semi-final and then the final. Neil Aspin of Leeds was surprised to get that far, so had to postpone his wedding, planned for that Sunday and had to rearrange it for two weeks late.

Coventry, founded in 1883, began their 104th year with no major honours. They then went on to beat Tottenham 3-2 in a gripping Final at Wembley. Dave Bennett and Keith Houchen's diving header from Bennett's cross caused the damage along with Gary Mabbutt's own goal. Clive Allen and Mabbutt replied for Spurs. Houchen's career started and ended at Hartlepool Utd, playing over a 100 games for them each time. With nearly 600 apps between 1978-96, he played for the following: Leyton Orient, York, Scunthorpe, Coventry (1986-9), Hibernian and Port Vale.

On their way to the final Coventry beat at home Bolton 3-0 in the 3rd Round, Manchester United away 0-1 in the 5th, Stoke away 0-1 in the 4th and in the 6th Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough 1-3.

Spurs beat Scunthorpe United 3-2 at home, Crystal Palace at home 4-0, Newcastle at home 1-0 and away to Wimbledon 0-2.

Caernarfon Town were one of the Welsh minnows who got through to the 3rd Round proper of this tournament, getting a draw 0-0 at home to Barnsley before losing away 1-0.
On their way to this event they beat York City 2-1 after a 0-0 in Round 2 Proper,
Stockport County 1-0 in Rd 1,
Chester-le-Street 2-3 away in QRd 4,
Eastwood Town away 0-4 in QRd 3,
Winsford Town away 1-3 in QRd2, and
Marine 2-0 at home in QRd1.

The Canaries, Caernarfon Town was founded in its present form in 1937 but had played as a club from 1876 and played at The Oval from 1888. Caernarfon Wanderers, as they were known then, entered the FA Cup in October 1886 as the first club from North-west Wales, meeting Stoke City at home and losing 10-1!

In that round the Old Carthusians (old boys of Charterhouse School) beat Reading 2-1, then beat the Crusaders 4-2 in Rd 2, got a walk over versus the London Caledonians in Rd 3, were awarded a BYE in Rd 4, then beat Leek away 0-2 and eventually lost at home to Preston NE 1-2 after extra-time.
Preston lost to WBA in the semi-final who lost to Aston Villa 2-0 in the Final.

In ROUND 4 for some reason?? there were 13 BYES  (including Rangers from Glasgow) and the following ties only were played:
Mitchell's St George's 0 v 1 WBA
Crewe Alexandra 0-1 v Leek 0-1
Swifts v Old Foresters 0-2

Clubs awarded BYES included , Horncastle, Darwen, Lincoln City, Lockwood Brothers, Marlow,  Notts County, Old Westminsters (of the school), Partick Thistle, PNE.

HIGHEST WORLD CUP SCORE

April 11th 2001, in their Oceania CF World Cup 2002 Qualifying Group, Australia overwhelmed America Samoa 31-0, a new record, beating their earlier defeat of Tonga 22-0. Aussie Archie Thompson plundered 13 goals against American Samoa creating a new international record previously held by German Gottfried Fuchs v Russia in 1908 and Dane Sofus Nielsen v France in 1912. Thompson only managed ONE goal in the 22 win over Tonga. Team mate John Aloisi scored 6.

The group matches were all played at Coffs Harbour, New South Wales between the 7th and 16th April.

Australia met another two nations in their group; Samoa (11-0) and Fiji, who gave them the best game (2-0). Australia had a goal difference of +66, Fiji +23, Tonga -23, Samoa -9 and American Samoa -57.
(at this point you should have a look into an atlas and see where these countries are).

The FIFA World Cup Group 2 was held in Auckland, New Zealand and the Kiwis topped their group. FIFA sorted a play off between the two antipodean nations and Australia won at home 4-1 and away 0-2. This allowed the Australians to meet the winners of CONMEBOL, Uruguay and they won the home tie 1-0 and lost away 0-3 to the South American champions.

Other notable matches on this day: Chelsea v Leeds Utd FA Cup Final at Wembley ending 2-2. Houseman and Hutchinson scored for the Blues and Jack Charlton and Mick Jones for Leeds. The replay was on April 29th, Chelsea won 2-1.

This was the first FA Cup Final replay since 1912.
In 1912, Barnsley drew with WBA on April 20th 0-0 at Crystal Palace. They went to Bramall Lane for the replay on April 24th, Barnsley winning 1-0 aet.
https://www.benmosleyart.com/barnsleys-1912-f-cup-win/  CLASSIC NEWSREEL AND MUSIC!

KEEPING THE CUP FINAL EVE CROWDS HAPPY AND ALF

On April 10th 1970 at Highbury, the two semi-final losers in the FA Cup played each other as an FA Cup Final curtain raiser, designed to occupy the fans visiting the capital and particularly Wembley. Venues for these show pieces were neutral for two years and then played at one of the two home grounds, going to the regions.

In 1970 Manchester United beat Watford 2-0 in front of just over 15,000. The authorities could argue that it was a waste of time, but Charlton, Best, Kidd, Stiles and most of the other of that era turned out, so it was something to cherish.

In May 1971 only 5,000 fans made the effort to watch Stoke City and Everton at Selhurst Park, battle out a 5 goal thriller, Stoke winning. By then the Football Association and Football League were beginning to think that enough was enough.

In 1971-2 season, the FA decided to try another formula, the match was played as a pre-season warm up, Birmingham City and Stoke (again) coming to blows at St Andrews in August, with 23,000 watching a 0-0 draw and a 4-3 pens win for the home side.
The first time an FA Cup match was decided by penalties!
Geoff Hurst made his debut for Stoke.

Arsenal and Wolves appeared in the next "play off" in August 1973, at Highbury, with a crowd of 21,000, Wolves winning 3-1. The main "on pitch" contest might well have been between Jeff Blockley v Derek Dougan, who scored 2 and two well known goalies stood out, Bob Wilson and Phil Parkes. The crowd would have enjoyed seeing their heroes getting warmed up for the new campaign.

The next year the FA tried a match after the Cup Final on May 9th with Burnley and Leicester managing one goal to Burnley scored by Hankin in front of 4,000. Not great! Leicester didn't want to do this at the end of a season, but the FA insisted.

The first time this pre-Cup Final bonanza was concocted was on April 30th 1954 when an England XI played a Young England XI. 43,000 were there to witness a thrilling 1-0 win for England. In 1955, two select teams from Old England and Young England met, the Old Boys winning 5-0.
There was no match in 1956 and from 1957 the annual contest remained England v Young England at London venues between Highbury and Stamford Bridge until 1969.
In 1963 an England XI played a Football League XI to celebrate the 100th year of the Football Association and the 75th year of the Football League.
Alf Ramsey, by then England manager, took the opportunity to look at potential players for his England team, preparing for the 1966 World Cup with foreign tours....it worked, although Leicester City and Manchester United didn't contribute players on the eve of their combat in the FA Cup Final.

BEING FRANK

https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2016/12/cyril-and-cybil-faulty.html
https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2018/08/boiler-man.html,

Today, in my paper was an article about Chris Sievey, aka Frank Sidebottom, cheered me up. I have done mascots before and above are two blogs...there are others! Frank is a bit different.
 "Being Frank", a film shown 5 years ago about Chris and his antics, is now given nationwide distribution. The release of this film about a man with a huge papier-mache head, has come at a time when football and its fans could do with a distraction, to cheer us up.

The Combi Man at West Brom, The Partick Thistle yellow scream and the diving Harry the Hornet have all got a place at stadia over the country (indeed over the World). Sievey is an ex "rock star" who invented the Frank character in 1983. Michael Fassbender plays Frank in the film that tells of the freedom given to a man who supported Altringham FC life long.
Dressed as Frank he would take the microphone, unusual for most mascots who don't speak, silent under their masks.  He sang ditties, drew raffle prizes and reading out half time scores. He became well known enough to have a TV programme and his own radio show. He released a string of football referenced records, like his earlier career, unlikely to trouble the charts; "Guess who's been on MOTD", "Three Shirts on My Line" and more,  all a gentle "take" on the modern game. He didn't make any money!
Sievey died from cancer in 2010 and his family had to create a crowdfunding website to help pay for the funeral. Sievey has a statue devoted to him in Timperley, South Manchester, his manor.

From behind the giant head Frank set a gentle and agreeable standard that perhaps helps football fans forget the absurdities of the modern, over professionalised, anti-racial..la di la...game that football has slid towards.
35 years after his prominence he is being recognised as a  the man under the huge head (later fibre-glass) and a role model to us all.

TOWERING ABOVE

At Saville Park, Halifax, yesterday the Hepworth United Junior (U15) team played St Columba's in a table top duel, that Hepworth won 4-2 in a tense game. Saville Park is well known for a "Ripper murder" and for creating a green lung midst the various historic woollen mills and factories of Halifax town.

The park had several games going on in the shadow of Wainhouse Tower, one of Britain's finest follies. Built by 1875, it was designed by architect Isaac Booth as a chimney to take away smoke from the local dye works to conform to the Smoke Abatement Act of 1870.  Wainhouse also was able to irritate his neighbour, Sir Henry Edwards, who claimed that he had the most "private estate in Yorkshire", which became clearly visible from the tower which stood at 275 feet, the tallest folly in the world (apparently). Having been restored at around £400,000, it is open at Bank Holidays and is regarded as one of the top architectural follies in the country.

The game was refereed by an appointed referee because there had been a bit of banter on social media about our previous home victory over the Halifax club, who believed that "our ref" had been biased. Booo!

So things went well, both teams played with great spirit and everyone was genuinely decent for the 80 minutes of the well contested match. Hepworth gave the opposition  two goals by miss judging the bounce on a well worn Somme like pitch but made up for those mistakes by scoring 4 good goals including a penalty, that was fair! Thanks ref.

BUT during the game, when we might have extended our lead the referee gave an indirect free kick for handball. He told our big lad Joe who has a kick like a mule that he had to take an indirect free kick and Joe was confused because I was telling him to put his laces through the ball and shoot directly. We all know that handball is a direct free kick offence. Joe chipped the ball over the wall but nothing came of it. We didn't have an indirect free kick plan!

Chasten somewhat by our victory, the missed "chance" to shoot directly from about 25 yards was not crucial. I had a chat with the ref after the game who said that the handball was not deliberate and so he only gave an indirect free kick. Somebody out there might explain this to me?

Until 1866, the FA in those early games of football allowed "a fair catch" when players were allowed to handle the ball by patting it down (as in hockey). Indeed in some regions, catching the ball and punting it as in Aussie Rules was allowed.

When the Sheffield and London Rules were eventually merged, in 1877, handling of any sort was not allowed, except by the designated goalkeeper. In 1881 the referee was empowered to award a penalty if the ball was handled by an outfield player to stop it going through the goal. This lasted one year because in those days refs were not necessarily close enough to the event to judge where the ball was going. From 1891, all handling offences were therefore considered indirect, with the exception of the penalty kick for handling in the penalty area.

From 1897 the Law stipulated that handling was only illegal when it was intentional (a direct kick awarded), a law that still stands today. So our ref should not have awarded the free kick at all if he thought the St Columbas' lad had not intentionally handled the ball. Making it indirect was a "get out".

From 1982 a deliberate handball denying a certain goal became a "sending off offence", presumably with a penalty kick to add to the punishment. What about a deliberate handball attempting to score a goal? Sending off? Maradona...had he been caught!

From 1912 goalkeepers were restricted to handling the ball inside the penalty area. Prior to that a goalkeeper could run out of his area and use his hands up to the half way line, bouncing the ball. Shooting at goal from the half way line was not uncommon.
This of course lead to some Aussie Rule like tackling, but not using hands if you get the drift. A goalie can, of course, throw the ball into his own net or with some power into the opponents too! Both of which will result in a goal, assuming the ball was "in play".