Tuesday 30 April 2024

THE DARK GREY HORSE CUP FINAL AND MORE

TWO DAYS LATE sorry, but......On April 28th 1923, The "Dark Grey Horse" Cup Final was played out at the brand new Wembley Stadium.  The stadium was commissioned as part of a complex to house the 1924 British Empire Fair, promoting trade between signed on members. Building began in January 1922, obviously a boost for the nation, post the First World War and it took 300 days to complete. The FA, of course, were looking for a prestigious venue to hold internationals and the FA Cup Final (maybe to make money to help pay for all the FA outgoings?). An agreement between the British Empire  Exhibition Inc. and the FA realised the funds and the 1923 FA Cup was to be the "debut" game.

Constable George Scorey (a suitable name for a copper on his way to a football match!) had been trotting down Oxford Street on the 13 year old police horse "Billy", when he was ordered to head 8 miles up the Edgeware Road to sort out a crowd issue at the major football match of the season.

The FA made the decision not have an "all ticket" game, assuming that the new stadium would hold 127,000. Somewhere between 200,000 to a quarter of a million crowd apparently turned up, challenging the new turnstiles and their operators, who one way and another managed to let everyone in. By 3pm kick off time, the pitch was swarming with spectators and no way could the referee start the game. (the official total was 126,047).

The "Grey Horse Final", (I always thought it was called the "White Horse Final" but in truth Billy was "a grey"), was called to BECAUSE Billy appeared on the pitch and started in the centre-circle, working his way in ever-increasing circles, moving the crowd gently back behind the touchlines. The horse was actually dark grey, and on an overcast day, officially, the film was over exposed, enabling viewers to pick out Billy in photos. There were other horses on the job too! Kicking off 45 minutes late, the pitch was surrounded by a human wall, standing close to the touchline.

Throw-ins were only given if the ball bounced over the seated fans heads and if it bounced off their bodies, it was "play on"!!

Billy's well shod hooves (and the others) did mess up the pitch a bit and West Ham supporters used this as an excuse for their demise. They lost 2-0 to Bolton Wanderers, whose David Jack and J.R.Smith scored. Jack scored after 3 minutes, clearly the Hammers couldn't adjust to the  early conditions. The players stayed on the pitch at half time and Smith's goal was protested by West Ham, who claimed that a Wanderers' fan had used his "trotter" to pop the ball back into play before Ted Vizard crossed the ball for Smith to score.
West Ham asked for the game to be abandoned but the referee, D.H.Asson, denied their request. Since 1923, all Finals have been all ticket.
As of 2023, 44 clubs have won the FA Cup. The record for the most wins is held by Arsenal, with 14 victories.The cup has been won by the same team in two or more consecutive years on ten occasions, and four teams have won consecutive finals more than once: Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers, Spurs and Arsenal. The cup has been won by a non-English team once: Cardiff City in 1927. The current holders are Manchester City who won the Manchester Derby!

Monday 29 April 2024

GET NUMBERED


In the playground, on the cul-de-sac or in the park, young lads might still use "jumpers for goalposts", failing to have a convenient goal available. You might remember the eroded dip in the goal mouth where last weekend's matches dug a hole in the six yard box! 

Everyone wants to be a "number 9" of course. In 1933, there were no numbers on football shirts until Everton and Manchester City met in the FA Cup Final. The game was growing fast and as a spectator sport, more people wanted to know who was who. Were there match day programmes? Was there a display board showing who was who? The growing crowds wanted to know which shorts their heroes were wearing. 

Everton (shown above) featured numbers 1-11 with Sagar the keeper wearing 1 and City 12-22, with the keeper, Langford, donning 22. The Toffees won 3-0, as Dixie Dean (above, holding the cup) led the way scoring 2. Everton spent the week before the match in the spa town of Buxton, and travelled to Dorking on the eve of the match. Manchester City spent the week in Bushey.

It was another Wembley first in 1970, as Chelsea and Leeds United met for the first ever FA Cup final replay at Wembley. The first match, played on Saturday, 11th April, drew 2-2 after 90 minutes, and remained that after extra time. The scorers for Chelsea were Peter Houseman and Ian Hutchinson who both scored equalising goals, while Leeds United went 1–0 ahead from  Jack Charlton and 2–1 ahead when Mick Jones scored.

The replay was arranged at Old Trafford on April 29th, with Chelsea winning 2-1, after extra time. This result also made it the first FA Cup final to require a replay since 1912.  Mick Jones scored for Leeds after 35 minutes. Osgood (78') and Webb (104') secured the win.



Saturday 27 April 2024

SUTTON UNITED: GANDER GREEN LANE BACK TO THE NATIONAL LEAGUE

Today, Sutton United drew 4-4 with MK Dons once Wimbledon FC, historic rivals and as a result (or lack of one!) the Us are relegated back to the National League.
09 Aug 2022Milton Keynes Dons v Sutton UnitedL1-0League Cup
23 Sep 2023Sutton United v Milton Keynes DonsD1-1League Two
27 Apr 2024Milton Keynes Dons v Sutton UnitedD4-4League Two

Gander Green Lane, known for sponsorship reasons as the VBS Community Stadium, in south London, is the home ground of Sutton United. I did play there for a few seasons....a while ago! The record attendance for Gander Green Lane is 14,000 when Sutton United lost 0-6 to a fully "grouped", Leeds Utd in the fourth round of the 1969-70 FA Cup.

In recent times the pitch has played host to England C international and FA Sunday Cup matches. From 2015 the surface was a FIFA 2-Star quality 3G pitch, FIFA's highest rating for 3G Artificial pitch, but after winning promotion in 2021 Football League playing surface regulations obliged Sutton to replace the 3G surface with grass. During the 2021–22 pre-season the club installed a hybrid grass "PowerGrass" pitch.

During the 19th century, the Gander Green Lane site was used as allotments and open fields. The ground was originally developed during the Edwardian period. A 1913 map shows the ground designated as a "Football Ground" with a small pavilion on the northern side of the pitch and a turnstile entrance in the north-western corner via the Collingwood Recreation Ground. The ground was bounded by trees on three sides with a large residential building, Strawberry Lodge (formerly Strawberry House), to the west. To the north and east is the recreation ground and to the south was a field and pit described as a "Brick Field", which was used as a local brickworks. By 1937, Strawberry Lodge had been demolished and replaced by terraced houses, the brick field replaced by the railway line through West Dutton, a second pavilion added to the northern side of the pitch and a further pavilion erected in the south-eastern corner. None of the original pavilions survive today.

Sutton United's first match at Gander Green Lane (then known as the Adult School Sports Ground) was in 1912 against Guards Depot F.C. in the FA Cup. The first league match was against Surrey's Redhill and was won 1–0 in front of a crowd of over 800. Sutton left the ground at the end of the 1912-13 season as the ground became unavailable due to Sutton Adult School forming their own team. United returned to Gander Green Lane in August 1919.

The Main Stand (or Grandstand) was built in 1951, although it has been altered throughout the years. The stand's red and blue seats, which do not reflect the club's colours, were donated by Chelsea.

In the 1980s, two small wooden stands were replaced by a covered standing terrace, known as the "Rec Terrace" because it is on the Collingwood Recreation Ground side of the pitch, on top of which is a covered television filming box used by SUFCtv. A small remnant of one of the original wooden stands remained for nearly 40 years, next to the Rec Terrace, and was known by Sutton supporters as the "Shoebox". Behind this there is a small food hut called "Rose's Tea Hut", named after a lady called Rose who ran the hut for over four decades.

On 7 January 1989, the Lane hosted an FA Cup tie against top division Coventry City, which Sutton won to create one of the biggest upsets in FA Cup history, in front of a sell-out crowd of approximately 8,000 supporters.

In 1997, the Gander Green Lane end of the stadium was levelled off and new terracing was installed.

On 10 July 2002, the ground played host to AFC Wimbledon's first match following the Dons relocation to Milton Keynes. In a pre-season friendly, Sutton defeated the reformed Dons 4–0 in front of a notably large crowd of 4,657.

In addition to football, the ground was used in the past for athletics. To fix the effects of the terraces being further away from the pitch than usual, in 2014 the ground was refurbished: the athletics track was removed and new dugouts and player tunnels were built; to move some of the stands closer to the pitch, new covered standing terraces were built behind each goal on the eastern and western sides of the pitch. The oval curvature of the two open standing terraces which sweep around the western side of the pitch allude to the ground's former use for athletics.

On 22 April 2015, Sutton United announced that Sutton Common Rovers would be ground sharing Gander Green Lane from the start of the 2015–16 season. In the summer of 2015 a new artificial pitch was installed, and was officially opened on 14 July 2015 by Alan Pardew, former manager of Crystal Palace.

A mural to commemorate Craig Dunda's 400th appearance for the club in a 2–0 home win over Dartford on 23 January 2016 can be seen on the side of a terrace next to Rose's Tea Hut. It shows Dundas celebrating a goal with the number "400" in bold black letters.

Gander Green Lane was officially renamed the Knights Community Stadium in 2017 after the club agreed a 3-year sponsorship deal with the Knights Foundation, who in return ran Sutton United's academy until 2020. In 2020 the name reverted to the Borough Sports Ground. As of Saturday 7 August 2021, The Borough Sports Ground will be formally known as the ‘VBS Community Stadium’. This 4-season deal takes the sponsorship through to 31 July 2025. 

Following Sutton United's promotion to the English Football League, a number of large scale changes had to take place to bring the ground up to EFL ground grading. The artificial pitch was torn up and replaced by grass, the Shoebox was demolished, a new stand was constructed in the away end, and new floodlights and turnstiles were installed. benefiting from these developments, maybe the Us will regroup and get promotion out of the National League?

The main "club's" hall, currently known as the Times Square Lounge, is home to the Boom Boom Club music venue!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ARCHIBALD LEITCH

Born in Glasgow, on this day IN 1865, Archibald Leitch's early work was on designing tea factories in Deltota, in the former Kandyan Kingdom of Ceylon, as well as factories in his home city and in Lanarkshire, the sole surviving example of which being the Category A Listed Sentinel Works, at Jessie Street, Polmadie, south of Glasgow city centre. In 1896 he became a member of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders and later of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. He moved into stadium design when he was commissioned to build Ibrox Park, the new home ground of his boyhood heroes Glasgow Rangers, in 1899.

Leitch's stadiums were initially considered functional rather than aesthetically elegant, and were clearly influenced by his early work on industrial buildings. Typically, his stands had two tiers, with criss-crossed steel balustrades at the front of the upper tier, and were covered by a series of pitched roofs, built so that their ends faced onto the playing field; the central roof span would be distinctly larger, and would incorporate a distinctive atmospheric, pediment.

His first project in England was the design and building of the John Street Stand at Bramall Lane, which provided 3,000 seats and terracing for 6,000 and was dominated by a large mock-Tudor press box.

The double-decker 1926 Bullens Road Stand at Goodison Park home of Everton FC.
The Johnny Haynes stand at Craven Cottage home of Fulham FC
The concrete Midland Road stand for Bradford City Football Club nearing completion in 1908[4]
The Bill Struth Main Stand at Ibrox, home of Rangers Football Club

Leitch's reputation as an architect was damaged as a result of the Ibrox Disaster of 1902, when 25 people were killed when a bank of wooden terracing collapsed due to substandard pine being used in the terraces. Leitch, in attendance at the disaster, convinced Rangers to hire him to build the replacement stand. Leitch patented a new form of strengthening terraces for the Ibrox rebuild. Over the next four decades he became Britain's foremost football architect. In total he was commissioned to design part or all of more than 20 stadiums in the UK and Ireland between 1899 and 1939, including:

Many of his works have since been demolished for redevelopment, especially in wake of the Taylor Report and the move to all-seater stadium. For instance, the Trinity Road Stand at Villa Park, considered his masterpiece, was demolished in 2000. The main stand and pavilion at Craven Cottage, the facade of the main stand at Ibrox (although the stand itself has been remodelled) and the Bullens Road and Gwladys Street stands at Goodison Park survive; they are now listed buildings, as was the Leitch-designed main stand at Heart of Midlothian's Tynecastle Park; however, in 2016 permission was granted for that structure to be demolished and replaced.

Wednesday 24 April 2024

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY SCOTTISH FA CUP.

The 2023–24 Scottish Cup (now known as the Scottish Gas Men's Scottish Cup for sponsorship reasons) is the 139th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The 2023–24 edition marks the 150th anniversary of the tournament which was established in 1873-4. The winners qualify for the 2024-5 Europa League Play Off Round.

Final appearances by club (Clubs in italics are defunct)
ClubWinsLast final wonRunners-upLast final lostTotal final appearances
Celtic41202318200260
Rangers34202218201653
Queen's Park1018932190012
Heart of Midlothian820129202217
Aberdeen719909201716
Hibernian3201612202115
Kilmarnock31997519608
Vale of Leven31879418907
St Mirren31987319626
Clyde31958319496
Dundee United220108201410
Motherwell21991620188
Third Lanark21905419366
Falkirk21957320155
Dunfermline Athletic21968320075
Renton21888318955
St Johnstone220212
Dumbarton11883518976
Dundee11910420035
Airdrieonians (1878)11924319954
East Fife11938219503
Greenock Morton11922119482
Partick Thistle11921119302
Inverness Caledonian Thistle12015120232
St Bernard's118951
Hamilton Academical219352
Ross County120101
Queen of the South120081
Gretna120061
Albion Rovers119201
Raith Rovers119131
Cambuslang118881
Thornliebank118801
Clydesdale118741

Celtic (surprisingly) are the defending champions after defeating Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the 2023 Cup Final. Although it is the second oldest competition in association football history, after the English FA Cup (1872), the Scottish Cup trophy is the oldest in association football and is also the oldest national trophy in the world. It was first presented to Queen's Park who won the final match of the inaugural tournament in March 1874. The current holders are Celtic, who won the tournament for the 41st time by defeating Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3–1 in the 2023 Final.

Following an increase in the number of entries, an additional preliminary round was added to the competition format. Replays were also removed entirely from the tournament, having been restricted to just the Preliminary Round in the previous season.

RoundOriginal dateNumber of fixturesClubsNew EntriesLeagues entering at this round
Prelim Rd 112 August 20233131 → 12877 qualifiers
Prelim Rd 22 September 202326128 → 1024848 licensed clubs
First Round23 September 202330102 → 723418 Highland League teams
16 Lowland League teams
Seconnd Round28 October 20232072 → 521010 League Two teams
Third Round25 November 20232052 → 322010 Championship teams
10 League One teams
Fourth Round20 January 20241632 → 161212 Premiership teams
Fifth Round10 February 2024816 → 8None
Q-Finals9 March 202448 → 4None
S-Final20 & 21 April 202424 → 2None
FINAL25 May 2024
3pm
CELTIC v RANGERS
at Hampden Pk