ZOFF TAKES OFF

On 28 February 1942, Juventus keeper and Italian national team captain Dino Zoff was born in the northeastern Italian town of Mariano del Friuli. In a poll conducted by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics, Zoff was voted the third best goalkeeper of the 20th Century, behind the Soviet Union's Lev Yashin and England's Gordon Banks. 

Date of birth	28 February 1942 (age 82)
Place of birth	Mariano del Friuli, Italy
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)

After a tough start to his career in 1961 with his first club, Udinese, Zoff spent time with Mantova (1963-67) and Napoli (1967-72) before finally landing at Juventus, where he would establish himself as Italy's greatest goalkeeper. With Zoff in goal, the Bianconeri won six Scudettos between 1973 and 1982, as well as two Coppa Italia trophies (1979, 1983) and the UEFA Cup (1977). His greatest achievement, however, came with the Italian national team. He received his first cap in 1968 while he was still with Napoli, but while the team won that year's European Championship, Zoff was not selected for the 1970 World Cup. 

After his move to Juve, he established himself as an Azzurri stalwart. After a disappointing first-round exit in 1974, Italy finished in fourth place for the 1978 World Cup, followed by another fourth-place finish in the 1980 European Championship. Zoff captained Italy for the 1982 World Cup, guiding them to their third title with a 3-1 win over West Germany in the Final. Along the way, they had to pass through the second-round "group of death" with Argentina and Brazil, but the Azzurri won both of those matches to eliminate the South American powers. He retired from playing in 1983, then joined Juventus as a coach. In 1988, he took the reins as manager, but was unsuccessful, getting sacked by his old club in 1990. After several brief spells at Lazio (1990-94, 1996-97, 2001), and one with the Azzurri (1998-2000), he made his last stop as manager of Fiorentina (2005), before retiring from the sport for good.

Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1961–1963	Udinese	38	(0)
1963–1967	Mantova	131	(0)
1967–1972	Napoli	143	(0)
1972–1983	Juventus	330	(0)
Total		642	(0)
International career
1968–1983	Italy	112	(0)
Managerial career
1988–1990	Juventus
1990–1994	Lazio
1996–1997	Lazio
1998–2000	Italy
2001	Lazio
2005	Fiorentina

HERE IS A "STORY"!! On 28 November 2015, it was reported Zoff was hospitalised for three weeks with a viral neurological infection, which made it difficult for him to walk.On 23 December 2015, it was reported Zoff had been recovering well, however stating, "For the first time in my life, I was actually afraid... When I say scared, I wasn't afraid for myself, but for those around me. My wife, my son, my grandchildren. My tribe, basically. I would've really hurt them by leaving." He also revealed, "One night I saw two figures at the end of my bed. They had the faces of Gaetano Scirea [one of his former, deceased teammates] and Enzo Bearzot [one of his former, deceased coaches]. They were both smiling. I wasn't asleep, it wasn't a dream. I told them: 'Not yet, not now.' And I am still here."

560 DOLLARS FOR A "HOWLER" AND AN OWLER

 

27 February 2011 - His Explanation Didn't Fly Either

On 27 February 2011, a Colombian League match between two struggling teams drew global attention after one player kicked an owl. Popular Junior FC hosted the top flight match against Deportivo Pereira with both teams situated firmly at the bottom of the table. At one point, an owl that served as an unofficial mascot for Junior wandered onto the pitch, where it was soon struck by the ball when a Deportivo player attempted a low clearance. The referee stopped play a few seconds later, at which point Deportivo's Luis Moreno walked over to the injured owl and kicked it off the pitch.
Afterward, Moreno apologized to Junior and their supporters, saying that he was not trying to hurt the owl, but wanted only to see whether it could still fly. The league later determined that Moreno's action was a deliberate provocation of the home fans and suspended him for two games. They also fined him $560.
The owl was sent to a local vet, but died from its injuries. https://tdifh.blogspot.com/2018/02/

AND MORE ON OWLS.....

Sheffield is home to the world’s oldest football club, Sheffield FC, which was formed in 1857. The main teams NOW are Sheffield United ‘The Blades’ and Sheffield Wednesday ‘The Owls’. While ‘The Blades’ name is easily attributed to Sheffield’s main historic IRON/STEEL/CUTLERY industry, most people don’t know why Sheffield Wednesday are known as ‘The Owls’.

People would be forgiven in thinking the team once had a pet owl as the mascot, or some other strigine link. In fact, the reason Sheffield Wednesday are known as ‘The Owls’ is nothing to do with birds, but is everything to do with trees, in particular the Common Alder tree, Alnus glutinosa.

Sheffield Wednesday football club turned professional in April 1887 . It was called ‘Wednesday’ as the players were mainly traders who were only free to play on Wednesdays. In 1898, Sheffield Wednesday moved grounds from their central Olive Grove site, to the suburb of Owlerton, and they took residence at what was then called the Owlerton Stadium. From this point, Wednesday became known as ‘The Owls’; however, ‘the Owls’ of Owlerton have nothing to do with birds. ‘Owls’ or ‘Owler’ is an old Yorkshire dialect word for an Alder tree. The Alder or Owler tree is found in many Sheffield place names, which testifies to the fact that the city was well wooded during its early history, and also that the Alder formed a key tree species of the area. Local place names referring to the Alder include Owler Bar (meaning ‘Alders on the wooded hill’), Owler Car (meaning ‘wet swampy Alder woodland’), and Owlerton (meaning ‘farm in the Alder wood’).

Unaware of the true meaning of the name Owler, the football fans at the new stadium in the district of Owlerton gave Wednesday the nickname of ‘The Owls’, and not ‘The Alders’. This also led to the design of the club’s badge which is dominated by an owl.

In 2016/17 the club revealed a new crest. It is a version of the original club logo and shows a shield with a traditionally drawn owl perched on a branch. It’s possible the original artist was aware of the meaning of Owler and so included a tree branch in the logo – or maybe not. Alder is easily identified by the crimson male catkins and the female cones, none of which are obviously apparent on the club crest and logo. Perhaps in the future, new logo designs could include the addition of some catkins on the branch, which would indicate the Owl is perched on an Alder branch. This would be a nice nod to the arboreal heritage of the club grounds.

The writer Henry Thoreau wrote about the Alder: “If you are sick and despairing, go forth in winter and see the red alder catkins dangling at the extremity of the twigs all in the wintry air, like long, hard mulberries, promising a new spring and the fulfillment of all our hopes.”

Sheffield based AWA Tree Consultants are experts in tree surveys (if not football!),  so we would obviously be pleased to see the Alder tree officially recognised. But most long-suffering football fans of any team will appreciate feeling ‘sick and despairing’ at some point during the long winter season. If the Alder catkins do indeed promise the “fulfilment of all our hopes”, it could only be a good thing to include some on the next Sheffield Wednesday crest!

THE CARABAO CUP 2024-KLOPP'S FINAL "TOUR"

It is, of course, now called the Carabao Cup, an energy drink company, that sponsors the competition. Some top flight clubs did not take the competition seriously in its early years but now it is important and Liverpudlians will agree today. Manager Jergen Klopp "goes out with a bang" and with a bunch of footballers from the "squad", some of which we have not heard of before...15 Academy players used en route for example. The club's 10th win of this trophy.

Today we witnessed Chelsea's sixth Domestic Cup Final loss!!

Early sponsors were The Milk Marketing Board! hence the Milk Cup then; Littlewoods; Rumbelows, Coca Cola, Worthingtons, Molson Coors/Carlsberg, Captal One.It was not necessarily played for by all clubs! It was regarded in its early days and an unecessary competition.
The Trophy shown above is the original, which was put in a cupboard when sponsors liked to have their own designed award! These days players received medals...they used to get tankards!

Liverpool have won the League Cup 8 times and been runners up 4 times. Man Utd 5/4 times.
Aston Villa 5/3 winning the first cup competition in 1960-1, a final held over two legs. Villa beat Rotherham Utd!! These days there is not even a replay-time is limited.

Early days saw some less prestigious clubs winning the cup; Swindon Town and Don Rogers (1968-9) comes to mind on a Wembley pitch ruined by the Horse of the Year Show! Don't ask. Rogers was spectacular on a "hoofed" surface.

Other regular finalists include:-
Chelsea 5/3 Spurs 4/4 Nottingham Forest 4/2 Leicester 3/2 Arsenal 2/6 Norwich 2/2 Birmingham 2-1 and Wolves 2/0, amongst losing teams such as Swansea, Blackburn Rovers, Oxford Utd, Sheffield Wednesday, Luton, Stoke City, Leeds Utd, QPR, Middlesbrough and WBA

Man of the Match, the Alan Hardaker Trophy (Hardaker was FL secretary), sponsored by Prostate Cancer Charity this time was: Phil Foden, not necessarily regarded as a first team regular but he will be and he's a LOCAL lad!

When Aston Villa won the first trophy in 1960-1, a two-legged affair, the next three finals saw winners who had never won a serious trophy before hand. Norwich, Brum and Leicester.
Norwich's opponents in the final that day was Rochdale ( a third tier side). Norwich, had, at the time,  never played in the First Division. Two legged finals lasted until 1966.

The EFL Cup (historically and colloquially referred to as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual ko competition in EFL men's domestic football. It is open to any club within the top four levels of the EFL system—92 clubs in total—comprising the top-level Premier League, and the three divisions of the English Football League's own league competition; Championship, FL1 and FL2.

First held in 1960-1 as the Football League Cup, it is one of the three top-tier domestic football competitions in England alongside the Premier League and FA Cup. It concludes in February, long before the other two, which end in May. It was introduced by the league as a response to the increasing popularity of European football, and to also exert power over the FA. It also took advantage of the roll-out of floodlights, allowing the fixtures to be played as midweek evening games. With the renaming of the Football League as the English Football League in 2016, the tournament was rebranded as the EFL Cup from the 2016-17 onwards.

The tournament is played over seven rounds, with single-leg ties throughout, except for the semi-finals. The final is held at Wembley Stadium, which is the only leg in the competition played at a neutral venue and on a weekend (Sunday). The first two rounds are split into North and South sections, and a system of byes based on league level ensures higher ranked teams enter in later rounds and defers the entry of teams still involved in Europe. Winners not only receive the EFL Cup, of which there have been three designs, the current one also being the original but also qualify for European football: from 1966–67 until 1971–72 the winners received a place in the Inter-cities Cup from 1972–1973 until the 2019–20 season in the UEFA European Cup (formerly the UEFA Cup) and starting with the 2020–21 season in the UEFA European Conference League. Should the winner also qualify for Europe through other means at the end of the season, this place is transferred to the highest-placed Premier League team that has not already qualified for European competition. The current holders are Liverpool, who defeated Chelsea 1–0 in the 2024 Final, to win their tenth League Cup.

As of 2024:

• Most tournament wins (team): 10 – Liverpool
• Most consecutive tournament wins (team): 4 – Liverpool (1981–1984) and Manchester City (2018–2021)
• Most final appearances (team): 13 – Liverpool
• Most tournament wins (individual): 6
  • Sergi Aquero and Fernandinho for Manchester City (2014, 2016, 2018–2021)
• Most final appearances: (individual): 6
  • IIan Rush for Liverpool (1981–1984, 1987, 1995)
  • Emile Heskey for Leicester City (1997, 1999, 2000), Liverpool (2001, 2003) and Aston Villa (2010)
  • Fernandinho for Manchester City (2014, 2016, 2018–2021)
• Most goals scored (individual, career): 49 – Ian Rush
• Most goals scored (individual, season): 12 – Andu Ritchie, Oldham Athletic (1989–90)
• Most goals scored (individual, match): 6 – Frankie Bunn (Oldham Athletic vs Scarborough, 25 October 1989)
• Biggest win: West Ham Utd v Burt 10-0, second round, second leg, 25 October 1983
  • Liverpool v Fulham 10-0 second round first leg, 23 September 1986
• Biggest aggregate win in a semi-final: Manchester City 10–0, Burton Albion (9–0 home, 1–0 away), 23 January 2019
• Biggest win in a final: Swansea City 5–0 Bradford City, 24 February 2013
• Highest scoring game: 12 goals
• Reading 5–7 (aet) v Arsenal, fourth round, 30 October 2012
• Dagenham and Redbridge 6–6 (a.e.t.) v Brentford, first round, 12 August 2014
• Most penalties scored in a penalty shoot-out: 27 Liverpool 14–13 Middlesbrough (23 September 2014) and Derby County 14–13 Carlisle Utd (23 August 2016)

• Most penalties attempted in a penalty shoot-out: 32 – Derby Cty vs Carlisle Utd (23 August 2016)
• Lowest league tier of a League Cup winner: tier 3
  • QPR (1966-7; FL Third Division— overall rank 45th)
  • Swindin Town (1968-9; FL Third Div — overall rank 46th)
• Lowest league tier of a League Cup runner-up: tier 4
  • Rochdale FC(1961-2; FL Fourth Div— overall rank 80th)
  • Bradford City (2012-3; FL Two Div — overall rank 75th)
  • 
    
    
    

VALE OF LEVEN-ONCE FAMED!

Vale of Leven?? Heard of the club? Located in the small Dumbartonshire town of Alexandria, the club was a founder member of the Scottish Football League, when it was formed in 1890. They won three Scottish Cups in a row in 1877 to 1879; three other clubs have done this; Queen's Park, Aberdeen and Glasgow Rangers.

In the early days of Scottish football, Vale of Leven and their neighbours Renton, were real powers in the land, thanks to significant backing from local factories; Vale was backed by Archibald Orr-Ewing's dye works, which meant that Vale could recruit players as factory workers but allow them the time and facilities to play football.

One early controversy over this veiled professionalism came in the 1874-5 Scottish Cup. The club was drawn against Clydesdale FC. in the first round; the Glaswegian club protested the presence in the Vale side of John Ferguson, who, as a former professional athlete, was barred from playing in the competition at the time, even though Ferguson was described as an amateur who "usually wrought in the Vale of Leven from year to year, and no objection was made to him in the international match"; the tie was played under protest, and, after a goalless draw, Vale withdrew rather than re-play.

Luck plays a role, of course and in 1877, the Final ended in a 1-1 draw and a pitch invasion. Rangers had scored an extra-time goal, not spotted by the referee! There were no goal nets in those days and the ball entering the goal, hit a spectator behind the goal line and bounced back to the safe hands of the Vale of Leven keeper, who of course admitted to the save (not the goal). In the replay, Vale won 3-2.

The rule was changed for the next season and Vale promptly reached the semi-final, and then won the Cup three times in succession (1877, 1878 and 1879). After retaining the cup, in 1878, beating Third Lanark, they were awarded the cup again in 1879, after a 1-1 draw with Rangers who had a perfectly good goal ruled out for off side. Disappointed, Rangers refused to contest a replay remembering what had happened to them two years earlier!

In 1878, Vale travelled down to England and beat the English FA Cup winners,The Wanderers, 3–1 at Kennington Oval. The Wanderers had the advantage that the game was played under the English throw-in rule, but the Vale's Scottish Passing Game, proved superior to the English game of individual dribbling. Two different styles of playing at the time. 

In 1884, Vale of Leven's luck ran out having reached another final against Queen's Park. Vale announced that they couldn't contest the match following several injuries to their "squad". On top of this another player from their team had suffered a "family bereavement" and politely asked for the match to be rearranged. It could not!

Instead the Scottish FA arranged another game between Queen's Park, the other finalists and Third Lanark. Before the match, Queen's Park were awarded the trophy by default!! Vale of Leven threw a wobbly and refused to play a scheduled mathc the following week against Partick Thistle; Joseph Halley, Thistle's president, sat on the Scottish FA committee that denied Vale's cup final request!!

Vale lost the following season's Cup Final against neighbours Renton, 1-3 and lost to Queen's Park in the 1890 Final, the end of the club's "love affair" with the Scottish Cup. Vale were founder members of the Scottish League in 1890 but left it two seasons later after failing to won a match in the 1891-2 season. Celtic won the Scottish Cup that season and the "big boys" started to take over!

ARSENAL MIGRATE FROM SOUTH TO NORTH

In 1886, munitions' workers at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich (South London) founded the football club known as Dial Square. In 1913 the club crossed the city to the Arsenal Stadium in Highbury.

On 22 February 1913, Arsenal publicly revealed their decision to relocate from South London to North London. 

Arsenal was the first club from the South of England to join the Football League in 1893.

Established in 1886, Arsenal spent the majority of their early years at the Manor Ground in Plumstead, southeast London. But after the turn of the century, attendances started to decline, placing the club into a difficult financial position. Majority shareholder Henry Norris (pictured) led the search for a new ground, eventually choosing the Highbury neighbourhood in the North London district of Islington and publicizing the decision in the newspapers.

In 1910, Norris and William Hall each bought 240 shares (18.75%) of the ailing Woolwich Arsenal (after the club had gone into voluntary liquidation, while still retaining their positions on the Fulham board; Norris became club chairman two years later. With Arsenal's low attendances and poor financial performance, Norris tried to create a London superclub by merging the two clubs, but this was blocked by the Football League. Undeterred, he turned his attention to moving Arsenal to a new stadium; he eventually settled on a site in Highbury, north London, on the site of the recreation ground of St John's College of Divinity; his close relationship with Archbishop, Ranfdall Davidson, helped, and the archbishop personally signed the ground's title deeds.The Arsenal Stadium opened in 1913, and the club dropped the Woolwich from its name the following year.

Despite objections from Highbury residents and the club's own supporters, Arsenal completed the move over the summer of 1913, moving into the new Arsenal Stadium that had been designed by Archibald Leitch and built at a cost of £125,000. In their first season there, their average attendance was 23,000 per match, more than doubling the average of 11,000 from the previous season. The move also created the North London Derby, Arsenal's rivalry with Tottenham Hotspur, who were there when the Gunners arrived. Below dates for Highbury:

Opened	6 September 1913
Renovated	1932–1936, 1992–1993
Closed	7 May 2006
Demolished	2006; redeveloped as housing

The club remains in Islington, but moved a short distance to Holloway in 2006 for the new Emirates Stadium.

Further south, on February 22nd, in 1956, the first floodlit match was played at Fratton Park, Portsmouth. A problem with the fuses meant that kick off was delayed for 30 minutes, but the game eventually got underway with the home team playing out a 2-0 victory over Newcastle United and the "national game" lodged itself further into the mainstream of popular entertainment.

And finally...

DIAL SQUARE REBORN Dial Square Football Club was reborn on 7th January 2020 by avid Arsenal fan, Stuart Morgan.

Despite Morgan's ambitious plans for the club to gain entry into the Combined Counties Football League Division One, it was vetoed by the League's officials. Instead, the club opted to join the the Guildford & Woking Alliance League (level 14/step 10), and played their home matches on the third generation (3G) pitch at Abbey Rangers in Addlestone, Surrey, for the 2021/22 season.

Burgundy was adopted as the club's principal colour in reference to Arsenal’s (once known as Dial Square) original strip, while Dial's 2020 logo housed a sundial and oak leaves incorporated within a shield; drawing its sentiment from The Royal Oak pub in Woolwich, Greater London, where Arsenal was originally founded in 1886. Good Luck!

SECOND OF THE SECOND!

On February 2nd 1946, Arsenal's Kevin O'Flanagan played for the Northern Ireland international football team against Scotland at Lansdowne Road, Belfast, having earlier represented Ireland Rugby against France in Dublin seven days earlier. In 1947, he also played once in an official rugby international against Australia, having established a reputation with the University Club of Dublin and London Irish. A doctor, he was one of the last amateurs to play first-team football for Arsenal - he needed to remain an amateur sportsman to continue playing international rugby union. The 'Flying Doctor' made 14 League and 2 FA Cup appearances for Arsenal in 1946, scoring twice.

He was obviously a good all round athlete, appearing in the long jump, as well as being a successful sprinter, in various games and he played Gaelic Football, golf and tennis. 

He first played for Bohemians (Bohs) between 1936-45 making 145 appearances. He then spent two years at Arsenal until 1947 and appeared in over 50 games for the Corinthian Casuals, the famed amateur team, that only played in cup games and friendlies".

He dabbled with Barnet FC and Brentford FC post war, played with the Ireland FA XI v Scotland alongside well known Manchester United stars, Johnny Carey and Jimmy Dunne.

His brother Mick was also a fine all rounder and another brother Charlie played for the Bohs,

 

After playing, Kevin took up the medical job with the British Olympic team in 1948 at London,and was appointed to the International Olympic Committee from 1976 through to 1994.

Denis Compton (below), one of Arsenal's more famous amateur footballers, was better known for his cricket. He was hampered by injury and so stuck to cricket and played in 78 England Test matches and spent his whole career with Middlesex. He won an FA Cup winners' medal in 1950.

As a footballer, he played as a winger and spent most of his career at Arsenal.

Bernard Joy (below) who later made his name as a sports' writer, played for Arsenal as an amateur and was the last amateur to play for England's full international side. 

He won ten caps and was captain of the Great Britain football side at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where they played against China and Poland. 

8 August 1936

Poland	5–4	Great Britain
Gad  33' Wodarz  43', 48', 53' Piec  56'		Clements  26' Shearer  71' Joy  78', 80'

Berlin Poststadion

Attendance: 6,000

Referee: Rudolf Eklow (SWE)

 

In the last of the quarter-finals Poland, assisted by their forward, Hubert Gad, played out a nine-goal "party" to defeat the British side; at one time they were 5–1 to the better. The Casual's Bernard Joy scored two, as Britain fought back gamely, but they ran out of time.

Vivian Woodward of Tottenham and Chelsea in the beginning of the 20th Century, was also an accomplished amateur playing in the top flight. His history is on this link.....

https://spartacus-educational.com/SPURSwoodward.htm

ANNIVERSARIES, BULBS AND PIES

February 20th marks the 25th Anniversary of the founding of arguably the most influential Football League in the World – The English Premier League which was formed in 1992 by the First Division clubs resigning from the Football League en masse creating the new independent league. Throughout those 25 years we’ve seen 51 different clubs competing in Premier League history since its inception in 1992: 49 from England and two from Wales. Seven of them have won the title: Manchester Utd (13), Manchester City(7), Chelsea (5), Arsenal (3), Blackburn Rovers (1), Leicester City (1) and Liverpool (1); the two Manchester clubs hold the distinction of having won three titles in a row, while six clubs have avoided relegation: Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. 

Most appearances	Gareth Barry (653)
Top goalscorer	Alan Shearer (260)

Most championships	Manchester United (13 titles)

We watched first time winners Manchester United on a big and somewhat bulky box that had more back than screen, in this time lighting was similarly in its early stages of efficiency with many of us still accommodating the incandescent 40, 60 and 100 watt light bulb. Aside from the odd incandescent here and there, compact fluorescent bulbs were the main source of lighting.

Not quite the spotlight for any deserved champion, the compact fluorescent bulb, although far more energy efficient, took its time to get to full brightness and the vast majority of which were non-dimmable. Standard Lamps and Single Pendants or semi-flush ceiling lights often illuminated the stands which were our living rooms.

Back then we accommodated a television in our house, giving it its necessary corner space in a chosen room, nowadays we dedicate entire walls to the big screen!  By the time we saw new champions in Blackburn Rovers and Arsenal, not much had changed except for the design of our television sets and lighting. A slight increase in screen size and interior decor changes may have been the only major alterations. Though for a few of us during Blackburn Rovers’ victory we were still housing the dralon sofa and occasional fringe tassels! It wasn’t until we saw Chelsea lift the trophy that major differences were showing, interior decor had modernised and a sense of office style practicality had emerged.

20th February 2017
After non-leaguers Sutton United played Arsenal in the 5th Round of the season's FA Cup, amazingly the main talking point was about a photograph, taken on the day of the match,….of a bloke eating a pie! The gentleman in question, the 46-year-old, 23-stone Wayne Shaw, was probably no stranger to the eating of pies but the photograph was  while he sat on the subs bench – he was the Sutton substitute goalkeeper! The story soon became less humorous when it was claimed that it was a publicity stunt for a bookmaker and that bets had been made that he would be photographed eating a pie during the match. The FA launched an investigation, Shaw resigned from Sutton the day after the match and was offered a pie-tasting job as Morrison’s supermarket and Sutton United put up a good display in a 2-0 defeat with the Gunners going on to win the FA Cup for a record 13th time.

and who was born today back in history? Jimmy Greaves 1940, Peter Marinello 1950, Phil Neal 1951, Jari Litmanen 1971, Ciro Immobile 1990.

ROY HODGSON-NICE MAN

 

Roy Hodgson CBE has retired today as a football manager

Hodgson was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 20212 Birthday Honours for services to football. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Greenwich in 2019. Roy said: I owe Avery Hill an enormous debt... they taught me certain principles which have stayed with me throughout my football coaching life... It was Avery Hill that endorsed the teaching principles required to become a good coach, because what is a good coach really other than someone who has got a pretty good grip of teaching principles?

Hodgson in 2014
Personal information
Full name	Roy Hodgson
Date of birth	9 August 1947 (age 76)
Place of birth	Croydon, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Position(s)	Left-Back
Youth career
1963–1965	Crystal Palace
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1965–1966	Crystal Palace	0	(0)
1966–1969	Tonbridge Angels
1969–1971	Gravesend & Northfleet	59	(1)
1971–1972	Maidstone United
1972–1973	Ashford Town (Kent)
1973–1974	Berea Park
1974–1976	Carshalton Athletic
Managerial career
1976–1980	Halmstad
1980–1982	Bristol City (assistant)
1982	Bristol City
1982	Oddevold
1983–1984	Örebro
1985–1989	Malmö
1990–1992	Neuchâtel Xamax
1992–1995	Switzerland
1995–1997	Inter Milan
1997–1998	Blackburn Rovers
1999	Inter Milan (caretaker)
1999–2000	Grasshoppers
2000–2001	Copenhagen
2001	Udinese
2002–2004	United Arab Emirates
2004–2005	Viking
2006–2007	Finland
2007–2010	Fulham
2010–2011	Liverpool
2011–2012	West Bromwich Albion
2012–2016	England
2013England U21	(caretaker)
2017–2021	Crystal Palace
2022	Watford
2023–2024	Crystal Palace
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Tonight, Everton host Crystal Palace in The Premier League, a match that will carry a huge amount of passion for all those football fans who appreciate football legends. Thank you Roy!