APRIL 20th CHATTY DATE

1895, April 20th @ The Crystal Palace: Aston Villa won the FA Cup for the second time, beating WBA 1-0 with what was at the time, the fastest goal in FA Cup Final history. Because the goal was so quick, there is some dispute about who actually scored it but the record books show that Bob Chatt was credited with the winning goal, though Villa’s players later claimed that John Devey actually got it! The Cup was taken back to Birmingham, to go on show in the shop window of the local "football outfitter", W.Shillock, a friend of William MacGregor, the founder of the Football League. But on the night of September 11th the "little tin idol" was stolen and never seen again. http://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-little-tin-idol.html

1955 Wales created a British Football record by playing two sets of brothers in their international contest v Ireland in Belfast. Ivor and Len Allchurch (Swansea City) and John and Mel Charles (Leeds United and Swansea City respectively) appeared for the Dragons in a 3-2 triumph over their Irish hosts. John Charles scored a hat trick.

1995 With goals from Jeff Kenna and Kevin Gallacher, in front of 20,000 at Ewood Park, Blackburn Rovers secured a vital 2-1 home win over Crystal Palace. Rovers eventually went on to lift the Premier League title for the one and only time in the club’s history. On the same date 10 years later, Rovers beat Palace in the Premier League 1-0 with a goal from Norwegian, Morten Gamst Pedersen. In the 1995 match another Norwegian, Hening Berg was part of the winning team.

On 20 April 2004, the FA credited Marc Burrows with scoring the fastest ever goal scored in English football history. Burrows etched his name into the annals of the game while playing with non-league side Cowes F.C. against Eastleigh F.C. Just before the referee got proceedings underway, Burrows noticed that the opposition goalkeeper was standing a decent distance off his line, and when the whistle was blown, the attacker launched an effort directly over the goalie’s head. A strong breeze helped, as the ball floated over the keeper’s head and into the net after merely 2.5 seconds. Burrows told the press: “The ball just sailed over their poor keeper. I was so stunned I didn’t really celebrate. I just put my hands in the air and burst out laughing.” To crown the day, Burrows scored twice more, helping Cowes to a 5-3 victory.

David Moyes' time at ​Manchester United started to come to an finale on this day in 2014 as the Red Devils were thumped 2-0 by Moyes' former side, ​Everton. The Scot was sacked two days later, having managed just ten months in the job - the third-shortest managerial spell in club history.

Liverpool stormed to a dominant 4-0 win over Everton in 2016, giving Jürgen Klopp a perfect first taste of the Merseyside derby. Divock Origi, Mamadou Sakho, Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho all got themselves on the score sheet, while Ramiro Funes Mori's red card pretty much summed up Everton's day.

Arsène Wenger's time with Arsenal began winding down on this day in 2018 after he confirmed his intention to leave the Emirates Stadium at the end of the season. Across his 22 years with Arsenal, Wenger led the team to three Premier League titles and lifted the FA Cup an incredible seven times​, making him the most successful manager in the history of the cup.