MORE GOALS-CARAOBO CUP

I told you that the Caraboa Cup would raise a few big scores and if you have been vigilant you will have seen the scores from yesterday's ties.
The draw for the quarter-finals has pitted Aston Villa and Liverpool, Everton and Leicester City and more importantly:
Oxford United v Manchester City and Manchester United v Coventry City.

Oxford United have played City 14 times winning 5 and losing 7 with 2 draws. The first meeting after Oxford United eventually had joined the Football League and reached a decent division, was in the FA Cup in January 1974 3rd Round, when City stood no nonsense and won 5-2 at the Kassam.

The two clubs met in Division 2 in 1984-5-yes City have slummed it in the past. They then met in Division One when Oxford had rising through the divisions but then in 1988 the two were back in the depths of Div 2. In 1996 they rose again to Div 1 and in 25th September 2018 they met in the League Cup 3rd Rd losing 0-3.

Coventry and Man United: They met in 1912 in the FA Cup Coventry losing 1-5 and met again in 1913 with a 1-1 draw and 1-2 win for United in the replay.
Between 1922 and 1937 the two were sharing games in Division 2 but not until 1963 did they meet again in the cup United winning 3-1. United won the Cup beating Leicester City 3-1.

Next they met in October 25th 1967 in the League Div 1 and once the Premier League was formed they played against one another from 1992 to 2001.

1986-7 was a momentous season for Coventry because they won the FA Cup beating Spurs 3-2! Their first scalp was Manchester United on January 1st 1987 at Old Trafford in Round 4 winning 0-1. It was Alex Ferguson's first defeat in the FA Cup as manager of United.
Coventry beat Bolton in Rd 3, Stoke, Sheffield Wed and Leeds en route. It was the club's first major success since founding in 1883.
Keith Houchen's diving headed goal!
There was no European Cup Winners Cup tournament for English teams that following season, so Coventry arranged a double header against the Scottish Cup Winners, St Mirren. The first leg was drawn 1-1 at Highfield Road with a crowd of around 5,000. The clubs decided to withdraw from the competition!

In 2000 Steve Ogrizovic, the Coventry goalkeeper, retired-the last man standing from that Final. Gary Mabbutt was the last Spurs player from the final to retire in 1998. Clive Allen scored his 49th goal  of that season in the final...and also scored an OG at Wembley!

Chas and Dave wrote and recorded Hot Shot Tottenham as a Cup Final song which reached 18th in the charts. The Coventry song was "Go For It" which came 61st!

FIGHTING BACK

https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/carabao.html
https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2018/02/its-english-league-cup.html

On October 30th 2012 in the Capital One Cup 4th Round, at The Madjeski, Reading,  Arsenal found themselves 0-3 down after 37 minutes and the Reading fans were giving it large, singing appropriate songs towards the Arsenal loyalty. Final score 7-5 to The Gunners. This was the first time that 12 goals had been scored in a League Cup game. 24,000 watched! Walcott got a hat trick and Arsenal received 6 yellow cards, Reading 2.
Goals scored like this:
Reading 12, 18 (og), 20, 37,                         116
Arsenal                            43, 64, 89, 90, 103,    120, 120 (added time in extra time).

In the Premier League on February 5th 2011, Newcastle Utd, at home, were 0-3 down after 10 minutes and then 0-4 down at half time to Arsenal but fought back to 4-4 with Joey Barton scoring after 68 minutes and he also notched a penalty at 83 minutes. Tiote's stunning volley at 87 minutes sealed the come back. This was the first time in PL history that a 0-4 deficit was recovered. 51,000 were at St James' Park.

On February 4th 2004 Spurs were 3-0 up against Man City at WHL by half time. King, Keane and Ziegle scored.
Joey Barton, for City, unsurprisingly was sent off, probably because he was losing.

Despite no Joey, City fought back to win 3-4. Distin, Bosvelt, Wright-Phillips and Maden scored. In the City side also were Richard Dunne, Trevor Sinclair, Anelka and Fowler!

29th September 2001, Spurs were at home and 3-0 up against Manchester United. United did something at half time and came back to win 3-5. I remember watching the game on telly and sighing as Cole, Blanc,Van Nistelrooy, Veron and Beckham replied!

NEVER A DULL MOMENT

On 26th October 2019 Burnley lost 2-4, at home, to Chelsea having been 0-4 down until the 86th minute. Not a great way to celebrate your 200th Premier League game.

A few years ago Burnley were in less exotic company playing Grimsby Town at Blundell Park in Division One. On the 29th October 2002, Grimsby won 6-5 and 8 players scored goals in this match.
The score went (with Grimsby first) as follows:
1-0, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 3-2, 4-2, 4-3, 4-4, 5-4, 6-4, 6-5 Final whistle!

During the 2002-3 season Burnley had some exciting defeats:
2-5 v Reading, 2-6 v Rotherham, 4-7 v Watford, 2-7 v Sheffield Wednesday.

Burnley's season finale was as follows:
HOME W 10 D 4 L 9   Goals F 35 A 44
AWAY  W 5   D 6 L 12           F 30 A 45   Points 55 16th in Division.

It was the third worst record in the entire Football League.

Their first four games of the season were lost and then there was a 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace on August 31st, Goals For 1 and Against 10.
The club's record following that draw was between September 7th and October 26th: DWWWDDWWWWD including two wins in the League Cup. Then came Grimsby!!

Following that they beat Spurs in the League Cup Rd 3 on November 6th 2-1.
Burnley met Grimsby again in the FA Cup Rd 3 and after a 2-2 draw they progressed 4-0, rolling on two more rounds to Rd 6, eventually falling to Watford on March 9th 0-2.

Exhausted by their exploits in the Cup, Burnley then went from March 12 to May 4th in the league as follows: LLLDLLWLLWLLL  W2 D1 L11,

IN-SPIRING CHICHESTER CITY

The Lilywhites of Chichester City FC have made big history in the FA Cup and have just been given a BYE into the next round of the FA Cup at the expense of once Football League club, Bury FC, who have withdrawn from the cup and league for "financial reasons". The Chichester club has made the news this week by offering part of their FA Cup money reward for getting into the 2nd Round Proper-£36,000. The club has earned £46,390 before the £36,000 windfall for getting an uncontested bye. They themselves have been close to financial collapse recently.

Chichester is a town in West Sussex, which has a wonderful Cathedral, whose tower has experienced a number of collapses due to subsidence, lightning strikes and poor construction. Christopher Wren had a hand in its construction but does not admit to the occasional "telescoping". George Gilbert Scott has also been part of the cathedral's construction.
The Joseph Gilbert landscape from 1833 shows the spire in its best form!

The club was founded in October 1873 as Chichester Football Club the City being added in 1948. The club played in the first ever Sussex County FA Cup Final in 1882, losing 0-5 to Storrington (a village in West Sussex). The club was a member of the West Sussex League in 1896 and later became founder members of the Sussex County League.

In 1960 the Lilywhites shared the RUR Sussex Senior Cup with Brighton and Hove Albion having drawn 2-2, with no penalties to decide the tie. They made the 1st Round proper of the FA Cup, losing to Bristol City away 0-11 on November 5th 1960. I might remind that not long ago I was mentioning John Ayteo of Bristol City.....did you read it? He might have played.

Chichester City FC now plays in the BetVictor Isthmian League South-East division and had merged with nearby Portfield FC,  in 2000, creating Chichester City United FC. They then reverted to Chichester City FC in 2009. They played in the Sussex County League and joined the Southern Combination Premier in 2018-19. Their Ladies team plays in the FA Women's National League South.
Below is their ground with no sign of a goal??? (I mean the structure!!)


En Route to this point in history Chichester has beaten:
Erith Town h 3-1, in the EXTRA Prelim Rd.
Then Bridon Ropes 7-2 a Prelim Rd
Chalfont St Peter 2-0 h First Qual Rd
Hartley Wintney 0-0 a replay 1-0 h in 2nd Qual Rd
Enfield Town  1-0 h 3rd QR
Bowers and Pitsea 2-1 a 4th QR
First Rd Proper BYE

This weekend they drew 0-0 away at Hythe Town in Kent , in the league, in front of 160 supporters.

PREMIER LEAGUE GOAL TALLIES

Manchester United are one Premier League goal short of 2000. Arsenal have scored 1858, Liverpool 1795, Chelsea 1793, Tottenham H 1562 and Manchester City 1406.

Matches won; Man U 650, Arsenal 569, Chelsea 564, Liverpool 537, Spurs 449
Top goalscorers: Shearer 260, Rooney 208, Andrew Cole 187, Lampard 177
Appearances: Gareth Barry 653, Giggs 632, Lampard 609, David James 597
Assists: Giggs 162, Fabregas 111, Rooney 103, Lampard 102

The 9-0 win by Leicester at Southampton is the joint worst defeat along with Manchester Utd's thumping of Ipswich in 1995. It was the worst on "home soil" in the top flight.
The match between Spurs and Reading on December 29th 2007 ended 6-4 and each team scored one goal in the first half.

Spurs also reached the record books on 22/11/2009 when they beat Wigan Athletic 9-1, with only one goal by Crouch after 9 minutes scored in the first half. Wigan scored after 57 minutes to make it 3-1.
Portsmouth beat Reading 7-4 in the Premier League on 29th September 2007.


28th November 2011 Man U v Arsenal 8-2.
29th November 2012 Arsenal v Newcastle 7-3.
19th May 2013 WBA 5 v 5 Man U with three Baggie goals scored after the 81st minute.

Worst defeats in other "top flights":
1892 West Bromwich Albion beat Darwin 12-0 in 1892 in Division One.
1892 Aston Villa beat Accrington 12-2 Div 1.
1964 Tottenham beat Everton 10-4 on Bill Nicholson's first game as manager in Div 1.

In the Football League;
Newcastle beat Newport 13-0 in Div 2 1946 Newcastle came 5th in the Division scoring 95 goals and Newport came bottom conceding 133 goals.
Stockport 13-0 v Halifax in Div 3 North 1934 (Stockport came 3rd  scored 115 goals that season and Halifax came 9th conceding 91.
In that Division Barrow came 8th scoring 116 and conceding 94...interesting goal "average".
Other clubs goals for/against:
Darlington 16th For 70 Against 101, Gateshead 76/110, Accrington 65/101, Rochdale 53/103.
In the Div South Bournemouth 60/102 and Cardiff 57/105

OCTOBER 26th

This football programme centre-spread from Highbury on October 26th 1938, is a bit hazy but then I have enlarged it so that you can get a reasonable view on the names involved in this celebratory game. The occasion was the 75th anniversary of the Football Association. Their clubs are less visible so I will list them from goalie GK to left wing LW as follows:
GK Chelsea, RB Tottenham, LB Arsenal, RH Huddersfield, CH Wolves, LH Arsenal, RW Blackpool, IR Tottenham, CF Everton, IL West Ham, OL Everton.
The game was between England and the Rest of Europe with England wearing white shirts and black "knickers". Seriously that's what they were called.

In 1938 the England FA had still not entered the World Cup, but when they beat the Rest of Europe, many thought they should have by then! They had beaten a side with 5 Italians in it, Italy having just won the World Cup earlier in the year. The FA were so "snobby" that they did not trust the World Cup to be a good enough challenge!
The team read: Woodley, Sproston, Hapgood (capt), Willingham, Cullis, Copping, Matthews, Hall, Lawton, Goulden, Boyes.

Willie Hall had scored 5 against Ireland at Old Trafford, including a hat trick in the 34th, 36th and 38th minutes (actually in 3.5 minutes).
Stanley Matthews you should know, Stan Cullis went on to manage Wolves, Tommy Lawton, an amazing centre-forward with Everton and captain Eddie Hapgood (Arsenal) were formidable footballers.


To celebrate Wembley's new floodlights on this day in 1955, A London XI played A Frankfurt XI, at Wembley, kicking off at 7.45, because they could! On November 30th, the first international at the "national stadium" was between England and Spain, ending 4-1 to the home team.

John Atyeo (Bristol City) x 1 pictured below, Bill Perry (Blackpool) x 2 and Tom Finney (Preston) x 1 scored.
Ayteo worked part time and was a quantity surveyor and then a schoolmaster, who taught Maths in Warminster. A prolific goalscorer, possibly as a part-time footballer he was not considered an international footballer only playing 6 times.
His club record was played 645 games scoring 351 goals, which at any level meant something, but not to the FA!

FIRST LAWS

The first football clubs were recorded from around 1841 and in those days some were called "The Body-Guards" and "The Fear-Noughts" both from Rochdale.
In 1848, "The Early Risers" from Newcastle upon Tyne recorded their first matches and a year later Surrey FC was formed and by 1857, Sheffield FC made itself famous at its inaugural meeting on October 24th at Parkfield House in the Highfield District of  Sheffield.

It wasn't a working class club, however, with some dignified  chaps at the helm.
Various clubs sprung up in England and by October 26th 1863, it was advertised in the sporting press that there would be a :-

"FOOTBALL: A MEETING will be HELD at the Freemasons' Tavern, Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn on Monday 26th instant at 7 o'clock for the purpose of promoting the adoption of a general code of rules for football, when the captains of all clubs are requested to attend."

Having read various letters in the national press about the way the "new game" was developing, the meeting was enthusiastically chaired by Ebeneezer Cobb Morley, captain of Barnes FC in London. He is shown below.

The following clubs attended:
Barnes FC, Blackheath, Blackheath Proprietary School, Civil Service (War Office) FC, Crusaders (London), Crystal Palace (1861 , Kensington School, Forest School (Leytonstone). NN Kilburn, Perceval House (Blackheath) and Surbiton FC.

Arthur Pember of the NN (No Names) was made president of the new Football Association and Morley, Secretary.
11 members attending agreed to join the Association, paying a pound and a shilling (one guinea) per annum, however Charterhouse School and Bucks FC from High Wycombe declined to join.

Hartshorne representing Charterhouse did not join because not enough Public Schools were represented (I don't think the money was a problem!). Letters were sent out to the prominent schools but only Uppingham agreed to join.
Morley and Pember were not public school educated, suggesting an element of rivalry on the committee.
Before the end of 1863, Sheffield FC and the Royal Engineers agreed to join up, however Blackheath and Crusaders quickly resigned when they saw the final laws published. They objected to the clash between rugby and the association football laws. which clearly posed an issue. The laws had been adjusted slightly to accommodate the new arrivals.
A copy of the origin laws:

INVINCIBLES

https://www.footballsite.co.uk/Statistics/Articles/SOS-Arsenal's49.htm
Nottingham Forest under that man Clough managed to set a record between November 1977 and 1978 of 42 League matches unbeaten. On 24th October 2004 Manchester Utd beat Arsenal 2-0 at Old Trafford in the Premier League, Arsenal's first defeat since May 2003, with 49 games unbeaten including the 2003-4 season.  The link above shows that period of dominance.
Much I love the other team in North London, the link will show you how successful the Gunners were in that period. It is worth having a look at what Arsene achieved with his squad and maybe take time to compare the Invincibles with the present lot! COYS!!!!

PLEAT CREASES FRONT PAGE

Football managers have become public property and like anyone in a position of "power", the tablods are quick to pounce on any slip in behaviour. The Sun of course seems to get the scoop more often than not and it was David Pleat who made the headlines on October 23rd 1987.
 Having been previously cautioned for "curious behaviour", Pleat joined well known footballers such as Tommy Docherty and John Bond who could not escape the press' eye. The Pleat expose in June 1987 when the Sun led with a story about new Tottenham manager being cautioned by police while managing Luton Town. The Spurs' management took a dim view of this of course but it was related to his previous club. However a similar accusation was made 4 months later and Pleat was on his way.
The Sun devoted the entire front page to this and ran an exclusive on their back page  speculating that Terry Venables would be taking over the reins at White Hart Lane. All this before Pleat resigned and before Venables had been approached.
Pleat had joined Spurs in May 1986 from Luton and lasted 18 months.
He had been manager at Luton Town from 1978-86 successfully
1986-87 at Spurs
1987-91 Leicester City
1991-95 Luton again
1995-97 Sheffield Wednesday
and then between 1998 2004 he filled a gap at Spurs as caretaker manager while they fiddled about.
Since then he has been respected enough to work in media, on television and amongst the papers. .
From 2006 he had an advisory and scouting role at Nottingham Forest.

In 2008 he worked for UD Marbella taking an advisory role and was well known for dealing with some of the best young English players having achieved a great reputation from his time at Spurs when he produced some of the best attacking players in the Football League including the great feat by Clive Allen who scored 49 goals in a season in 1986-7. In the end he attended 980 games with a win ratio of 36% but a ratio of over 50% with Spurs!

Pleat had been an England Schoolboys international and played at Nottingham Forest, Luton Town, Shrewsbury, Exeter City, and Peterborough Utd for around 180 apps between 1962-71. He is with Al Jazeera Sport at the moment.

FIRE AND HASHTAG UNITEDS

 Fire United FC, the Barzilian Samba Boys, founded in 2012 play at the Terence MacMillan Stadium, Plaistow and was the idea of Gustavo Ferreira, a Brazilian, who has attracted many of his home country men from his local community in London. The club started life in the Middlesex League and after some success moved into the Eastern Counties League  Div 1 South. The finished 19/19 last season but hope for a better future. The club is owned by the Yehoshua  and powerMinistries and has a Christian foundation. Their motto which is on the badge says:
Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory, honour and power. 

Another "unusual club" is Hashtag United FC and these two play along side old favourites such as Harwich and Parkestone FC, May and Baker and Coggleshall United amongst others.
 This club plays in the same league as Fire and was founded in 2016 following YouTube publications, of their friendly matches, through Spencer Owen against "Celebrity XIs". Such was the number of hits that the club gathered useful players and played against lads such as Ray Parlour, Graeme Le Saux and Paul Dickov.

In 2019-20 season the club reached the 2nd Qualifying Round of the FA Vase. They also run a Sunday League team and an "e sports-Team". Their 7 aside Academy team plays in the "Next Level" Football League

MORE ABOUT CONSERVES AND DRAWS

I am not losing my marbles but just to keep you on your toes, below are two blogs involving marmalade and jam. I think they are amusing, informative and terrific party conversation should you be invited to one. I was at a party at the Hepworth United Club house on Saturday and could barely hear anyone chatting because the acoustics are so bad; I may be going a bit "Mutt and Jeff"  of course. Good party though and well done birthday boy Jonathan who reached the ripe old age of 50. My next landmark is 70, God willing.
https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2019/09/jams-in-histon-and-impington.html
https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2017/05/they-make-great-marmalade.html

So why have I led you up the marmelada, marmelade, marmelo trail? It's not Histon FC and Impington FC I'm writing about, but  Maldon and Tiptree FC in Essex. Have a look at your conserve jars and see if the contents come from there.
If you find that the source is Manchester or Dundee, don't get upset, they are port towns where oranges arrive from warmer climes from time to time. Yes, the jam/marmalade industry has been spread around.....

It's the draw for the First Round Proper of the Emirates FA Cup tonight at 7pm and Essex club Tiptree will be waiting for a plum tie. In the FA Cup they have waded through the qualifying rounds:

Preliminary Rd involving 160 clubs: beat Saffron Walden a 1-2 (crowd 271) winners.... worth £2890
1st Q Rd (116 clubs) : beat Histon 3-0 away £4500
2nd Q Rd (80 clubs) : beat Wingate and Finchley h 4-2 £6750
3rd Q Rd (40): beat Chertsey Town 6-1 at home  £11250
4th Q Rd (32): beat Royston Town 3-1 away. (crowd 1152) £18750
FIRST ROUND PROPER: worth £36,000

The Jammers are also still in the FA Trophy having beaten Cray Valley PM (Paper Mills) at home 5-2 and await Cray Wanderers on Saturday.
Welcome to Maldon and Tiptree FC, founded in 1946. The club is in Essex, lurking on the Blackwater Estuary. The industry has given the local football club their nickname "The Jammers", who play in the Isthmian Division One North. Wilkins and Sons sited their conserve factory in 1885, relying on local suppliers and then imports.
With rapidly improving transport links and proximity to London , the industry grew and is now enjoying an annual turnover of over £25m. and of course is a major employer locally.

Watch out for the  Maldon Crystal Sea Salt Company founded in 1882 and the town is known for the FIRST ever self-service Tescos, opened in 1956, no doubt selling local produce.
Alastair Cook played for the local cricket club before his fame led him away.

NORTH WEST DERBY

The north west derby has finished with the spoils of "war" shared. Up to today Manchester United had won 89 of the meetings and drawn 66, Liverpool had won 76. Ollie salvaged a valuable point from this game and nearly claimed all three. We shall not enter into any conversation about VAR or referees. Ask Mr Klopp!
Liverpool, 1892-3 during its first season.
Their first meeting was in April 1894 at what was known as a "Test Match". Liverpool, top of Division Two by 8 points, played at homev  Newton Heath (the original name for Man U) who were bottom of Division One by 5 pts and won 2-0. Liverpool took United's place in the Division.

In October 1895 they met formally in Division Two. There was an FA Cup tie meeting in 1898 (two in fact), won eventually by Liverpool after a 0-0 draw and then another cup tie in 1903 won by the newly named Manchester United.

League football started between the two in 1904 in Division Two and from 1906-1915 in Division One- then the top division.
 United 1905-6
During the First World War the two met in the "Lancashire Section-Principle Tournament" and occasionally in the "Subsidiary Tournament" from 1915-1919. Explained below!
https://www.footballandthefirstworldwar.org/lancashire-section-principal-tournament/

When peace prevailed they met again in the First Division between 1919 and 1939.

 During the Second World War they were assigned to the West Region War League (Lancashire), then the North Region War League and met in the Lancashire Cup twice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartime_League

Between 1946 and 1992 they were both in the First Division of the Football League, undisturbed with promotion to the Premier League in 1992 until today.

There have been been 5 Charity Shield encounters, 17 FA Cup ties, 5 League Cup meets with two finals in 1983 (Liverpool 2-1) and 2003 (L'pool 2-0), 2 UEFA Europa League meetings in 2016.
Two FA Cup Finals in 1996 and 1977 both won by United.

DIVING HEADERS

Seeking a football match to watch this afternoon (buoyed by the great Rugby win this morning), I tried the local Hepworth United and found that the game had been postponed. Hade Edge FC played not more than a kilometer away on a slightly mucky pitch....so I went to Penistone Church expecting to watch their Reserves but that was cancelled..... HOWEVER I was treated to an FA County Youth match between Sheffield and Hallamshire FA and Cumbria FA. A national competition that will run through the season. The home team won.....

Chatting to a couple of club "officials", the Spurs result at the time was 0-1 v Watford after 6 minutes. We discussed great Spurs' teams and Bobby Smith (below) and Jimmy Greaves got a mention, of course.

On 19th October 1960 as Spurs were on the way to their record making Double Year, Smith and Greaves were picked for England, away against Luxembourg, in a World Cup qualifier. England won 9-0 with Greaves scoring 3 and Smith 2. Bobby Charlton got 3 also and Johnny Haynes 1. 9,000 watched this drubbing. In the return fixture it was 4-1 on September 28th 1961.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2oFv3yUCAk
The number 9 was Ray Pointer of Burnley, whom I saw score against Spurs on December 8th 1960 in a 4-4 draw at WHLane. Over 58,000 watched the game. Spurs were 4-1 up!
The side that day:
Springett, Armfield (c), McNeil, Bobby Robson, Swan, Flowers, Douglas, Fantham, Pointer (1), Viollet (1), Charlton (2).
Some of you will have no idea about these players...Johnny Fantham,,,who he?

Over 33,000 in the crowd  at Highbury.
England had to play Portugal in their qualifying group drawing in Lisbon 1-1 and winning at Wembley 2-0.
In the World Cup REAL quarter-final in Chile, England eventually lost to Brazil 1-3 in the quarter-final:
Springett, Armfield, Wilson, Moore, Norman, Flowers, Douglas, Greaves, Hitchens, Haynes, Charlton R.

STANLEY AND STOKE

Nope didn't get to see a match here, but I did walk my 10,000 steps daily around some wonderful arenas, the Cathedral, the Alcazar, film sets when "Game of Thrones" was filmed, places where peoples' heads were chopped off and the blood stains still in the marble floor....the Spanish are so dramatic!
The shirt of course is Seville FC's, a team smarting from being thumped by Barcelona recently. I did get to the club shop in town, but didn't spend a Euro.

The stripey shirt reminds me of Stoke City, no cathedrals of note here but quite a bit of pottery and in footballing history, a club that gave a debut to one of our greatest footballers and who took him back at the age of 50, allowing Stanley Matthews to play a few more years until 1965 and who helped the Potters have a bit of success when they were waning.
He was born in 1915 played for Stoke from 1932.

On October 19th 1961, Stoke City paid £3,500 to Blackpool, a club they sold him to in 1947 for £11,500. Matthews had played 259 games (51 goals) before being sold and then stayed for 379 games at the seaside, only scoring 17 goals
Stoke were a 2nd Division club in 1961 and Matthews was 46! He played 59 times for them.

Crowds at Stoke were knocking on around 8,500 before he joined and nearly 36,000 after he signed.

Matthews was awarded the CBE for his services to football and knighted while still playing; something not done before or since. Matthews won 54 caps for England and scored 11 goals.

He was voted best footballer in Europe, the first time this award was given (1956) and the first English Football Writers award (1947-8). A right winger, he was the wizard of dribble who made many goals for club and country. Playing for Blackpool he won the 1953 FA Cup Final for them having lost in two previous finals in 1951 and 1948. This cup win won the hearts of all fans, thrilling them as Matthews weaved his magic from 3-1 down to 4-3 up.

He was the inaugural member of the English Footballers' Hall of Fame in 2002.

I was lucky enough to meet him on two occasions and by then he had retired! But he was an ambassador for football, taking the game into South Africa especially and was globally acclaimed as one of the greatest.

LEEDS FROM CITY TO UNITED

The plight of Bury and Bolton is not new, we all know what happened to Accrington Stanley and there have been other clubs fallen by the wayside. It's a miracle to follow the fortunes of  AFC Wimbledon and its original club, Wimbledon FC.
Its hard to imagine that Leeds United will have had a dodgy past but it did and having been founded in 1904, playing in the West Yorkshire League, it has not been a smoothe ride for the Elland Road club.

It was the largest city in the country not to have a football club but of course it did support the rugby league code, which encouraged the Football League to welcome Leeds City into the league with "open arms". They beat Chelsea to the election in 1905/6 and the Blues had to wait a year before they joined the "elite".
With some success on the field, it was off it where problems arose. Results grew less encouraging and finances were scarce.

The club owed £15782 and had £7084 only in its coffers. Herbert Chapman, later to be famous and buoyant at Huddersfield Town and Arsenal took hold of the club as secretary and manager, having previously been successful at Northampton Town.

His transfer dealings seemed to work as the club rose up the Second Division, but three players were earning more than the maximum wage of £4 per week (imagine!), a limit well in place at the time. This didn't go down well with the Football League who fined the club £125 with costs and the players had to refund excess payments.
The First World War came along, Chapman took on the managership of the local munitions factory, the club kept on playing, but he had little control over the finances and there were illegal payments made, even to "guest" players, who turned out in wartime competitions; this was a serious breach of the rules. Chapman avoided being punished for this claiming that he was busy helping with the war effort but the club took the punishment.
This is Charlie Copeland in 1919, who did get more than he should have done but who shopped the club to the FA because he wasn't given what he wanted; £6 a week and all that. The Football League asked to see Leeds' books, the club refused and they were chucked out of the Football League in early October.

Port Vale FC, having just missed election previously, was elected to the FL after Leeds City dissolved and played matches from October 18th, their first game v South Shields, away, which they lost 0-2. Their second game was v Tottenham Hotspur, a game they just lost 0-1! Port Vale ended up 13th in Div 2.

Leeds' club assets were auctioned off on October 17th 1919 and 30 league clubs joined in the sale at the Metropole Hotel in Leeds, where everything from boots to goal nets were bid for. The Yorkshire Post described the event as a "melancholy spectacle", like a cattle market, as players went for sums between £1250 for Billy McLeod and Francis Chipperfield, a £100 to Lincoln City. A total of £10,000 was raised to pay off debts.

Not to give in too easily, Leeds United was formed and took over the Leeds City Reserves place in the Midlands League in the 1919/20 season. They were immediately elected into the Football league and ironically played Port Vale in the first fixture on 28th August 1920.

There is a Leeds City club presently playing rather well in the West Yorkshire League Div 2.

SEVILLA; an ap peel ing city

Yes they make great marmalade. Some facts may be repeated in the link. 
I'm having a city break in Seville and apart from flying over the stadium this morning, it is unlikely that I shall see any live football. (or any on telly either!) It's in Andalusia and recorded as Spain's oldest sporting club, founded January 25th 1890.

Just to warm you up, here is a blog from May 2017 involving Sevilla Futbol Club, Los Nervionenses......nothing to do with their disposition, name taken from the part of the city they grew from.
https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2017/05/they-make-great-marmalade.html
There are a lot of religious buildings and artifacts in the city centre, hence the image on the club badge, which probably has nothing to do with the club founder, a Scot, Edward Farquharson Johnstone. Don't ask but keep the marmalade thing in your head.....Edward from Elgin, was a senior representative for MacAndrews and Co who took oranges to Dundee and was British vice-consul in the city.
On March 17 1890, the formation of the football club, involving British and local lads, including Hugh Maccoll, a marine engineer, was reported in the Dundee Couriers' Edition. Hugh was their first captain. Their first game, a friendly was against Huelva recreation on March 8th 1890, the first official match ever played in Spain. Sevilla won 2-0 and Isaias Ritson scored the first goal. He lived at 41, Calle Bailen in Seville.
From 1907 various other clubs were formed, creating a chance to play competitive matches

QUICK 50 INTERNATIONAL GOALS

Following England's 6-0 win last night, this day's fascinating knowledge turns to goal scoring but for the individual achievement, once I had heard that good old Cristian Ronaldo (UEFA) had notched his 700th career goal. Some achievement in this era of serious defending; mind you who has he played against?? OH yes the best in the world....fair enough.

Ronaldo has 95 international goals in 162 caps; that makes 605 goals for his "various" clubs = 700 overall. Money well spent, once that penalty went in against the Ukraine.
He now has to aim for Romario (Brazil) (CONMEBOL) with 772 and Igor Bican (Czech-Austria) with 805.
The Bomber, West German, Gerd Muller, has 735 and 45th in the table is Wayne Rooney with 53 in 120 caps.
Josef Bican (Czech Republic) scored 530 goals in 805 apps between 1931-55. Ranked number 1 with a ratio of 1.52!

More 50 goal internationals include:
Poul Nielsen of Denmark (below) became the first international 50 goal scorer in June 1925, with his 36th cap v Sweden in the Nordic Cup. His tally ended up 52 in 38 apps.

Ferenc Puskas, the Galloping Major, from Hungary (EUROPE) scored his 50th goal in July 1952  against Turkey in the Olympics semi-final and finished with a career total of 84 international goals and 746 in total.

Ali Daei of Iran (AFC) (below- hard to knojck off the ball??) scored his 85th goal in 2003 v Lebanon and finished with 109 in 149 matches (so far the only centurian)
.
Another Hungarian Sandor Kocsis (EUROPE) scored his 50th in September 1954 v Romania and ended with 75 goals in 65.
PELE was the first outside Europe (CONMEBOL) and the first from South America with his 50th in November 1965 against the Soviet Union and finished with 70 in 92.
In Africa, Kinnah Phiri of Malawi (CAF) scored his 50th v Sierra Leone in July 1978 and Godfrey Chitalu of Zambia 79/111 between 1968-80.
In North America, Stern John of Trinidad and Tobago (CONCACAF) scored his 50th against the Dominican Republic in June 2004. He ended with 70 in 115.
Kunishige Kamatota scored 80 in 84 for Japan (AFC) between 1964-77.

Scot, James McGrory who played for Celtic and Clydebank, scored 550 goals between 1922-37.

There are others......Eusebio, Deak, Seeler, Ibrahimovic.....

NON-LEAGUE WEEKEND

After exciting you with David Jack yesterday, today I read in this week's Non-League Paper that on Saturday, John Stead, aged 36, had come on as a sub for his new club Harrogate Town in the National League. Playing away against Yeovil Town, Harrogate snatched a 2-1 win and Stead came on with minutes to go, no doubt in an attempt to manage the game with his team 2-0 up. Yeovil managed to score their consolation goal after 90+3 mins, when Stead was on the pitch!! Fat lot if good that did then,  but 3pts are 3pts.

Stead, a bit of a local hero in West Yorkshire, has played at Huddersfield T, Blackburn R, Sunderland, Derby, Sheffield United, Ipswich T, Coventry C, Bristol City, Huddersfield again, Oldham A, Bradford C, Notts County and now Harrogate. He did feature in an odd England u21 international.

The Non-League Paper also featured photographer David Bauckham, who specialises in Non-League Football and his "website" is worth having a look at. The paper's centre-spread included some of his snaps particularly a familiar scene of football (OR soccer as it sometimes to referred to...an OC first used the abbreviation of Association Football to distinguish it from Rugby, or rugger!) being played at Charterhouse School. The photo below showed the school's main pitch, Big Ground, where football has been played since 1872.


 Big Ground 21st Century. Not the NLP photo!
If you happen to get the NLP, the photo was taken last year and used for the backdrop. The match shown was of last year's early round tie in the Arthur Dunn Cup, the old boys version of the FA Cup! which the OCs won. AND by the way, the OCs were not in blue! They wear pink, magenta and navy!
A view from Big Ground, OCs v The School. 1892.

The Old Carthusians won in the FA Cup in 1881 beating the Old Etonians at the Oval 3-0. The next year, Blackburn Rovers featured in the cup and this saw the arrival of the professionals in the competition and demise of the amateurs! The OCs and OEs eventually bowed out of the "professionals' cup" and joined the newly formed  FA Amateur Cup,  which the OCs won twice in the 1890s, a success the OEs never managed.

Bear in mind then, that both the Old Carthusians and the Old Etonians have been FA Cup winners, so the tradition goes on, they play each other still but at a much lower tier!!

DAVID JACK-INSIDE RIGHT

October 13th 1928, the inevitable £10,000 transfer fee happened just a day or two after the President of the FA, Sir Charles Clegg, warned the world that no player was worth £10,000!
The deal took place on a Saturday evening, when David Jack of Bolton Wanderers became an Arsenal player for that "princely sum".

David Bone Nightingale Jack was born in Bolton in 1898.

Capped four times by England, the nippy inside right (sort of number 10 in these days!) was one of the top players in the country at the time.

Born in Bolton, he was the son of a former Wolverhampton Wanderers left winger and Plymouth Argyle manager. He played for Argyle in 1919-20 45 apps and 10 goals.
he joined the Trotters in 1920 and went on to claim two FA Cup winners medals and had the distinction of scoring the first goal at Wembley in 1923 for Bolton in the first FA Cup Final held at the new stadium. Bolton won 2-0 over West Ham.
He then scored again in the 1926 Final for Bolton v Man City scoring in a 1-0 win.
He appeared 295 times and scored 144 goals.

The great Arsenal manager, Herbert Chapman decided to replace the legendary Charles Buchan (who had retired and soon took up editing his famous football annuals; a welcome Christmas present for us young lads).
Jack was sold to Arsenal for a "cheaper" price after Chapman met three Bolton FC representatives in a local hotel bar and managed to drink neat tonics while the Boltonians were supping many gin and tonics! The clubs were reluctant to advertise the price of the transfer but it ended up reaching £11,500, clearly a record!

The previously mentioned Clegg regarded buying your success as unsporting, but Chapman was a ruthless analyst and built his dynasty. Jack appeared in two Cup Finals and helped the Gunners to three league championships. (note Chapman had similar successes at Huddersfield Town)

Even greater honours waited for Jack at Highbury.
In 1930 he played for Arsenal v Huddersfield in the FA Cup Final but did not score in a 2-0 win.
In 1932 he played for Arsenal v Newcastle Utd, losing 1-2 in the Final.

He also gained five more England caps scoring 3 goals.
Retiring in 1934 he played just over 200 games for Arsenal, scoring 113 goals. he then managed at Southend Utd, Middlesbrough and Sherbourne in Ireland.

Jack died in 1958 and had won the FA Cup with two different clubs; Arsenal and Huddersfield.
He was one of three players to score 100+ goals in top flight football.....others???
Greaves and Shearer.

NON LEAGUE DAY:DOGS, FRAULEIN, ROLLS

TODAY is Non-League Day and I guess you are allowed to spread the celebration over the weekend just in case you have been fixtured on Sunday! My spell check tells me that "fixtured" isn't a word, but I like it.

This weekend, my local Non-League club, Hepworth United FC, from the Sheffield and Hallamshire League, play at Dodworth Miners Welfare, in what could be described as a local derby. This morning our "Wildcats" have been out on the training pitch despite some dreadful rain in recent days. Their light feet will not do much damage, but there's a chance that adult games may be postponed. We also have plenty of junior games going on tomorrow.

Keeping up with the spirit of the Non-League weekend, the actual Football League has games fixtured, with some local "derbys" to attract a maximum crowd:
Rochdale v Accrington, Southend Utd v AFC Wimbledon, Portsmouth v Gillingham, Peterborough v Lincoln City, Exeter v Forest Green, and a few others that make sense.

BUT the National League (which is the top end of the Non-League dynasty) is not really entering into the spirit of the weekend with long journeys;
AFC Fylde v Sutton Utd, Aldershot v Hartlepool, Barrow v Dover, FC Halifax v Boreham Wood, Yeovil v Harrogate Town, Notts County v Torquay.....get my drift? There are a few more local ties!

Seven 19 year olds took ownership of the failing Walton and Hersham FC in Surrey, a club that had once knocked out of the FA Cup Brian Clough's Brighton and Hove Albion (in 1974). Stanley Matthews was President in the 1980s and Martin Tyler the Sky commentator is a former player. I was lucky enough to play against W&H in the 1970s and found myself facing David Bassett, who later revved up with the "Crazy Gang" at Wimbledon FC. He was feisty!
The Walton committee only pay travel expenses to the squad.

Gary Sales 18 months ago was diagnosed with bladder cancer and founded a football club called "Real Haynes", after his local Bedfordshire village and his team helps promote the 10th most common cancer and raise money for its research. They play Blunham at 10.30 and expect a crowd of 500 including the inevitable "Groundhoppers".
https://www.facebook.com/RealHaynesBedfordshire/  spot Gary in the team photo......


https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p02nrsln
Above is the daily podcast for "Football Daily-BBC"

Aldershot v Eastleigh will have an Honesty Box instead of the fixed entry fee.
AFC Rushden and Diamonds are offering free entry to anyone turning up in Oktoberfest gear!
At King's Langley any one bringing their well behaved dog on a lead will get cheaper entry and at Thetford they are giving away sponsor's bread rolls as you walk through the turnstiles.

At Hepworth United FC we have been promoting Prostate Cancer and the Mental Health Charities...money was raised at this week's U18/17 practice for a "Keepy Up" challenge. Over £40 was gathered, including the "prize money" for the best pair, who kindly donated the winnings back.
My Walking Football club, Penistone Church host Bridlington Town in the FA Vase.

If you can make a game good, if not, donate.