HONEYMOON, HAT TRICK, HE SCORED?

It's the 31st, I know, so for a spooky moment, here's a Blog from a day ago! 

A player who perhaps shouldn't have got away with the statement, 'I'm off to the match this afternoon, darling' was Southport's Billy Holmes. Bill was married in the morning of Saturday 30th October 1954 and honeymooned in the afternoon by playing for Southport against Carlisle United in a Division 3 North fixture - AND he scored a hat-trick in Southport's 4-1 victory and hopefully carried that luck into the marital home, following a shower and a couple of bevvies with the lads!

Same date in October 2002: When the Football Association replaced Graham Kelly with Adam Crozier, then 35 years old, as chief executive in January 2000, they hoped that the skills that had seen him become CEO of the advertising giant Saatchi and Saatchi, would help bring the FA into the 21st Century. He had no previous skills in football, on or off the pitch!

To be fair despite having no experience in football - and being Scottish! - he oversaw some major changes and achievements in the organisation running a considerable slice of English football. 

During his tenure, The FA moved their HQ from Lancaster Gate to Soho Square,  England controversially employed their first foreign manager (Sven-Goran Eriksson), the management structure was dramatically streamlined (from 55 staff to 32), with the FA becoming more commercially aware, the Wembley Stadium rebuild project went from a dream to reality....and England won 5-1 in Germany! He had his critics, but he achieved a lot in 2 years, including reducing the average age of the FA from 55 to 32! and reduced the numbers of the "Ruling Body" from 91 to 12! (The end of "jobs for the boys").As a result he occasionally was criticsed for acting without consultation! He was replaced by Mark Palios.

While at the FA, Crozier reportedly identified some members of the England national team as the "Golden Generation". Remember than lot? Didn't last long!

October 2002, in newspaper articles, Ken Bates said that Crozier was 'hopelessly out of control' and had 'exceeded his authority' and several days later - on October 31st 2002 - Adam Crozier resigned his £613,000 FA job. He later became CEO at Royal Mail and ITV and was replaced at the FA by Mark Palios.

In 2007, on the same date......have a look at the payslip, below, for Liverpool's John Arne Riise. This monthly pay slip became visible for anyone with an internet connection. A copy of one his monthly payslips mysteriously appeared on the net and proved interesting reading. 

A monthly basic of £120,000, plus £4,000 appearance money, £250 points bonus and £15,384.62 for the Champions League making a total of £139,634.62. 

Deductions totalled £57,220.95 - tax £55,508.28, NIC £1,611.67 and meals and tickets £101 leaving take-home of £82,413.67....for the month.

30th October 2012 ten years later, Arsenal were 4-0 down after just 37 minutes of a Capital One (League Cup) tie at Reading FC but the Arsenal fans weren't despondent and sang:                           'We're going to win 5-4'. But they were wrong - Arsenal won 7-5!! Well I am publishing this on the 31st...SPOOKY eh?

DIEG0, WHO GHOSTED THROUGH, ON THE PITCH AND OFF IT!

Spooky stuff this week and let's see what the spirit was like on October 30th in 1960. Rising from the shanty towns of Argentina, particularly, Villa Fiorito Diegio Maradona was born and from the "heavens" he eventually lifted the World Cup towards the heavens as one of the greatest players of all time. He "bowed out" as we would expect, leading Boca Juniors to a 2-1 victory over their bitter rivals, River Plate. 

Diego was rarely out of the news, suffering many "health scares" and "holing up" with Fidel Castro (remember him?) as Diego attempted to beat his drug habit! Below...1986 in his prime. He died on 25th November 2020 (aged 60)

Maradona was the first player to set the World record transfer fee twice: in 1982 when he transferred to Barcelona for £5 million, and in 1984 when he moved to Napoli for a fee of £6.9 million. He played for Aregntino Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla and Newell'sOld Boys during his club career. His most famous for his time at Napoli where he won numerous accolades and led the club to their first Serie A title win only to do it all over again one year later. Maradona also had a troubled off-field life and his time with Napoli ended after he was banned for taking cocaine.

Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1976–1981	Argentinos Juniors	166	(116)
1981–1982	Boca Juniors	40	(28)
1982–1984	Barcelona	36	(22)
1984–1991	Napoli	188	(81)
1992–1993	Sevilla	26	(5)
1993–1994	Newell's Old Boys	5	(0)
1995–1997	Boca Juniors	30	(7)
Total		491	(259)
International career
1977–1979	Argentina U20	15	(8)
1977–1994	Argentina	91	(34)

Pele scored more goals. Lionel Messi has won more trophies. Both have lived more stable lives than the overweight former cocaine addict who tops this list, whose relationship with football became increasingly strained the longer his career continued. If you've seen Diego Maradona with a football at his feet, you'll understand.  Andrew Murray on Maradona topping FOURFOURTWO magazine's "100 Greatest Footballers Ever" list, July 2017.

 Guillem Balague writing for the BBC in 2020 on 'the magician, the cheat, the god, the flawed genius'. 

 

Maradona (right) and Lionel Messi in The Sisteine Chael of Football painting, on a ceiling of a sports club in Barracas, Buenos Aires.

PUSKAS UNDER FIRE

October 23rd 1956 Hungarian footballers staked a claim in World Football. On October 28th "rebel" radio reported that Ferenc Puskas, regarded as one of the great players, had been killed in an "uprising". The front page of the Manchester Guardian noted "with infinite sadness, yet with a strange sense of pride and thankfulness in the heart" that Puskas had died "as most sportsmen would like to think, they would have the courage to die-manning the barricades in the fight for freedom against tyranny".

Happily!!! 24 hours later, the country's state radio stated that the superstar had not been killed and Puskas was in fact alive and well. "All the players are safe and sound, preparing for their future work as a team, at a training camp outside the capital." However, given the state of "history" at that time, the Team was far from safe! When Hoved, a club that included many Hungarian internationals, heard the news, its players quickly returned to Budapest. 

Gyula Grosics later described how the players who lived on the Buda side of the river-Puskas, Kocsis and Hidegkuti-had particularly "scary" journeys home, especially crossing bridges where troops were seeking access and firing guns!" Grosics told The Spectator in 1996, "On the Friday, I ventured out and walked into a hail of gunfire. Grosics said he was standing in a city 'square' with a statue of a Hungarian Saint in the centre, so I threw myself to the ground behind it, using it as shelter and prayed like mad! The Saint obliged and the rifle fire stopped...I ran."

By the time the Soviets invaded, in early November, most of Honved's players had made it to Spain and were preparing for the European Cup match against Atletico Bilbao in the European Cup. Puskas defected, never to play for Honved or Hungary again. (Hungary Team with Piuskas at front centre).

THE OLDEST CLUB IN WALES

Wrexham Association Football Club (Clwb Pêl-droed Wrecsam!!) was founded in October 1864, which means it is the oldest club in Wales and the THIRD oldest professional club in the World. The club competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of professional football in the FL.

When the National Library of Wales digitised its Newspaper Archive in 2012, new evidence was discovered that proved Wrexham AFC was formed in 1864, rather than 1872, which was previously accepted as the foundation date. Founded by members of Wrexham Cricket Club. The oldest football Club in Wales of any code. Also known as... The Reds, The Red Dragons, The Robins, The Town, Y Dreigiau ('the Dragons')

Domestically, the club has won the Welsh FA Cup a record twenty-three times, the short-lived FAW Premier Cup a record five times, the Football League Trophy in 2005 and the FA Trophy in 2013. Recently, following five unsuccessful play-off campaigns in the National League, Wrexham achieved three promotions in three seasons, from 2022 to 2025, through: winning the 2022–23 National League and finishing runners-up in the 2023–24 EFL League Two and in the 2024–25 EFL League One. Thus, securing a spot in the EFL Championship, and becoming the first ever team to be promoted three consecutive times in the EFL.

Internationally, Wrexham competed in the European Cup Winners' Cup / UEFA Cup Winners' Cup on multiple occasions through success in the Welsh Cup –– reaching the quarter-finals once in 1976, as well as beating FC Porto and drawing with teams such as Real Zaragoza and Anderlecht during their time in the competition. However, following changes made to the Welsh Cup competition in 1995, Welsh clubs playing in the English Football system (such as Wrexham) were no longer permitted to enter and therefore, had to qualify for European competition exclusively via the English system. In 2012, UEFA reiterated that Welsh clubs playing in the EFL could not qualify for European competitions via the Welsh Cup, after Wrexham (alongside Merthyr Town and Newport County) rejoined for one season in 2011-12.

Wrexham received major financial investment after its 2020 takeover by actors Rob McElhenny and Ryan Reynolds through Wrexham Holdings LLC, starting a new era of success. This acquisition, alongside the global publicity of the Welcome to Wrexham documentary series, had a significant impact on the club's visibility, resulting in an unprecedented new international fanbase for a team that were in the fifth division (at the time).

The club's home stadium, the Racecourse Ground, is the world's oldest international stadium that still continues to host international games. 

The record attendance at the ground was set in 1957 when the club hosted a match against Manchester United in front of 34,445 spectators. The club's main rivalries are with English clubs Chester, Shrewsbury Town, and Tranmere, with matches against Chester being known as the Cross-Border Derby. In addition, Wrexham have been referred to as cup "giant-killers", due to unexpected successes against top-flight opponents, such as upsetting the reigning League Champions Arsenal 2-1 in the 1992 FA Cup.

AND THE GAME WAS MADE!

During the later 19th Century, groups of "lads" played a variety of football games usually using their own local "rules" or at least those involving a piece of ground and a ball. Following on from October 26th 1863, the date when the Football Association was founded in Central London, a group of "clubs" that favoured round ball games and various ways of playing with it, met to bring some order by agreeing on "rules" or Laws,  as the Association prefers. Impromptu matches were played since the 1200s and these games were often dangerous and unruly. Around the 1820s, many groups liked the idea of setting down some rules. Approaches to this varied depending on where, who and what! Some groups liked catch and run, some running with the ball on the ground and there was, of course, some consideration to foul play! Rugby was not far away!! The Cambridge Rules of 1848 based on the University and the Sheffield Rules, set down 10 years later attempted to bring some order to the national game. Dribbling was well known but there was a need to forbid catching the ball and running with it in the hand. The game was close to Aussie Rules played now. Meanwhile the Blackheath Club and Rugby codes preferred a full on handling and hacking game.

Local schools such as Charterhouse, universities and local clubs across the  nation stuck to their form and of course their preference carried on in later life. At Uppingham School, a master, JC Thring drew up a "mish mash" of various rule books in 1862 and called it "The Simplest Game". It did not catch on but the concept of homogenisation did. In October 1863, representatives from the Kilburn Club, Barnes, The War Office, Crusaders, Preceval House, Crystal Palace, Blackheath Club, Kensington School, Surbiton and Blackheath, met in Central London to agree new rules and formed the Football Association. This did not solve everything and by December, Blackheath withdrew to prefer more handling in their "sport", eventually unifying their game into Rugby in 1871. The William Webb Ellis myth of picking up the ball during a football game at Rugby School in 1823 is just that, although the first official Rugby international was held in 1871, when the game was offically recognised.When catching was finally outlawed in "football" in 1866, the ball was literally and finally rolling!

Timeline of football history.

• 1000 BC: Mesoamerican ball games
• 3rd century BC: First forms of football in China "Tsu' Chu"
• 7th century AD: The Japanese ball game "Kemari"
• 12th century: Mob-, Folk- and Shrovetide Football - the origin of modern football 
• The emergence of modern football:
• 1848: Cambridge Rules
• 1858: The first English football club
• 1863: Founding of the first national football association
• 1871: Introduction of the FA Cup
• Football history in Germany
• 1860: Founding of the Lausanne Football and Cricket Club
• 1874: Grammar school teacher Robert Koch introduces football as a school sport
• 1888: Founding of the oldest still existing football club in Germany
• 1890s: Founding of numerous football clubs in Germany
• 1900: Founding of the German Football Association (DFB
• The international spread of football 
• 1904: Foundation of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)
• 1930: FIFA organizes the first Football World Cup in Uruguay
• 1954: European Football Association UEFA is founded in Basel
• 1991: First World Cup in women's football takes place in China

LORRA, LORRA, LAUGHS

Yes, it is Saturday and I am listening to the Footy on Talksport. Football has managed to upset a lot of people on a Saturday... late afternoon....you know as the results are gradually being revealed. Even Wars have been caused! 

Today in 2000, the "Beautiful Game" took on an opponent that it could not

 overcome..... Cilla Black! (God, Bless her!!) ITV had recently won the "rights" for the Premier League highlights! and started the season showing their version of "Match of The Day" at 7pm on Saturday evening, ousting Blind Date. BUT after only a couple of months, the ratings failed to match those of Cilla's and "our Graham", so the ITV "Bosses" shifted the football back to 10.30pm, as Cilla gave the Beautiful Game a pounding! Lorra Lorra Laughs!! 

Meanwhile in 1989, on this date, Oldham striker, Frankie Bunn (not Vaughan!), had his day when he slotted six goals against Scarborough to set a League Cup individual scoring record! Cilla's on the left!

Another Bird!

Frankie is the U23 coach of League One club, Wigan Athletic and holds the Football League Cup record for the most goals (six) by a player in a single match, achieved in 1989. 

Born in Oldham, Bunn began his career with Manchester City and transferred to Huddersfield Town in 2014. He is now 62 years old and pictured below! As far as I know, he is not involved with Blind Date!!  I have seen Cilla kick a ball!! Bad Luck, Frankie!

1963 England v Rest of the World Football Match-a celebration

Apologies for being a day late BUT, Wembley Stadium played host to the best players in the World on Octobe 23rd in 1963, as Sir Alf Ramsey's England team met the Rest of World XI to celebrate             The 100th Anniversary of the Football Association. 

The bulk of Sir Alf Ramsey's 1966 World Cup winning team played against an Invitation Team, made up from the likes of Di Stefano, Puskas, Eusebio, Yashin and Denis Law. The attendance at our National Stadium was capacity. 100,000 and the lucky ones went home very happy as England won 2-1, with plenty of back slapping of the "Suits" other Football Association. The 100th anniversary of The Football Association (FA) was celebrated in 1963. This was celebrated with an Historic match played by England against a FIFA Rest of the World XI at Wembley Stadium. England won the match 2-1. with Jimmy Greaves scoring the winning goal in the final minutes.  

Other celebrations: 

The anniversary was also marked by other events, including a banquet and special postage stamps issued by Monaco.

 

The match: 

England faced a FIFA Rest of the World XI in a friendly match to mark the centenary of the FA. which 

England won 2-1, with Jimmy Greaves scoring the winning goal in the final minutes. 

 

Since this is the 24th October, Sheffield FC (not United or Wednesday) comes to mind as the oldest Club in the History of the game, having been established on this date in 1857. Nathaniel Creswick and William Prest founded the club that has been recognised by FIFA as the oldest club in the World, joining Real Madrid given the FIFA Order of Merit.

England	2–1	Rest of the World
Paine  66' Greaves  90'	(Report)	82' Law

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 87,000

Referee: Bob Davidson (Scotland)

BARCA BIRTHDAY! Rugby Crosby!!

Joan Gamper laid the foundation of FC Barcelona.

On 22 October 1899, Joan Gamper placed an advertisement in Los Deportes declaring his wish to form a football club; a positive response resulted in a meeting at the Gimnasio Solé on 29 November 1899. Eleven players attended: Walter Wild (the first director of the club), Luis de Osso, Bartomeu Terradas, Otto Kunzle, Otto Maeir, Enric Ducal, Pier Cabot, Josep Llobet, John Parsons and William Parsons (a family, of English origins, that settled in Barcelona in 1870, where Parsons was born on 14 April 1875). As a result, Football Club Barcelona was born. The blue and red colours of the shirt were first worn in a match against Hispania in 1900. The prevailing Catalonia theory, endorsed by the club, is that the colours were taken from the rugby team of Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby. The school was attended by brothers Arthur and Ernest Witty, two Anglo-Spanish players heavily involved in Barça's formative years. SEE HISTORY BELOW.

FC Barcelona quickly emerged as one of the leading clubs in Spain, competing in the Campeonat de Catalona and the Cope del Rey. In 1902, the club won its first trophy, the Cope Magaya in 1901-2, and also played in the first Cope del Rey Final, losing 2–1 to Bizcaya.

The more plausible link which is confirmed on the official Barcelona website is that Barcelona’s colours were adopted from Merchant Taylor’s School of Crosby. Both the Witty brothers had attended the school and it was where they had got their love of sport from. As the team needed a football strip to play, it became quite obvious to Arthur Witty to look back home and to the playing fields of Merchant Taylors. As he still had contacts with his old alumni, Arthur Witty was able to persuade his old school to donate some old rugby kits, plus goals, and balls to help set up the fledging club. The colours of Merchant Taylor’s shirts were blue and maroon half’s later to become stripes for Barcelona. It was these distinct colours that made Barcelona famous and links the Catalan giants to a public school in Crosby. It is something that has been accepted by the historians of FC Barcelona. For the Witty brothers and Hans Gamper, the colours of their new fledgling team would have been inconsequently. The main issue was to get enough shirts for the team and if a job lot from Witty’s former school Merchant Taylor’s was available then it would do splendidly. As the years go by and history is made, it is not unreasonable to assume that the colours of your club become part of your identity. Hence the reason for finding the link as to why Barcelona play in the Blaugrana. It also shows the influence that British public schools had in introducing the game as we know to the world.

BOBBY ROBBY-TEMP!!

As The England F.A. searched for a new England manager (head coach?) in 2000 to replace ex-Magpies' boss, Kevin Keegan (remember him?) who had resigned, and the EFA committee was finding a genuine lack of candidates. 

FA Chief Executive, Adam Crozier, decided to "buy a little time", so he called on a "temp" in the form of an 67 year old ex-manager, who had trouble remembering players' names! So Crozier made an approach to Newcastle United's owners to employ Bobby Robson on this day in 2000. The FA asked Newcastle club chairman, Freddy Shepherd, to permit Robson to take over in a part-time caretaker capacity, but the request was refused. Fat Freddy Shepherd refused to play ball and let Bobby return to the national team. Robson guided Newcastle from bottom of the Premier League to a fourth-place finish in the 2001-2 season.

Bobby Robson's record as England manager from 1982–1990 was 95 matches, 47 wins, 21 draws, 27 losses in 95 games, for a win percentage of approximately 49.5%. During his tenure, he led England to two World Cups, reaching the quarter-finals in 1986 and the semi-finals in 1990. 

After 1991, Robson was repeatedly diagnosed with cancer. He had several operations and in 2006 was operated on for a brain tumour. This, on occasion, affected his work; while at Porto, for example, Robson had malignant melanoma, which resulted in his missing the first few months of the 1995–96 season. On 17 October 2006, it was revealed that Robson had been given the all-clear and was set to see out his contract as consultant to the Irish team. Robson revealed on 7 May 2007 he had been diagnosed with cancer for the fifth time. On 17 May 2008, Robson was the guest of honour at the 2008 FA Cup FInal at Wembley Stadium when Portsmouth defeated Cardiff City 1–0. He presented the trophy to the victorious captain, Sol Campbell. 

Full name	Robert William Robson
Date of birth	18 February 1933
Place of birth	Sacriston, County Durham, England
Date of death	31 July 2009 (aged 76)
Place of death	Beamish, County Durham, England
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position	Inside forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1950–1956	Fulham	152	(68)
1956–1962	WBA	239	(56)
1962–1967	Fulham	192	(9)
1967–1968	Vancouver Royals Canadians	0	(0)
Total		583	(133)
International career
1957–1962	England	20	(4)
Managerial career
1967	Vancouver Royal Canadians
1968	Fulham
1969–1982	Ipswich Town
1982–1990	England
1990–1992	PSV Eindhoven
1992–1994	Sporting CP
1994–1996	Porto
1996–1997	Barcelona
1998–1999	PSV Eindhoven
1999–2004	Newcastle United
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

He also acted as a pundit for ITV during the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2024.

Robson was known for his man-management skills, his composed and demanding yet caring style as a coach, and for his ability to motivate his players and build positive relationships with them, making him a well-liked figure among fans and players alike. His profile on the website of the "National Football Museum Hall of Fame" describes him as "a tough taskmaster," who was "fiercely loyal to those who gave their all, and never failed to get the very best out of his players."  Gary Lineker opined that Robson "wasn't the greatest tactician of world football," but that "he had a good understanding of the game," describing him with the following words: "He was fiercely loyal to the players who served him well, he understood the game and he had this magnetic enthusiasm, not just for football, but for everything in life. You just wanted to go out there and run yourself into the ground for him and the team."  Mourinho, who initially served as an interpreter and later as an assistant coach under Robson at Barcelona, praised him for his leadership and for his methodology in the attacking phase of the game.

Bobby's statue at Portman Road, Ipswich. While at Cambridge University, I played for the Blues against an Ipswich XI. at our home pitch, as part of our run up to the Varsity Match. Robson came along to watch the game, Football meant that much to him and he respected all those who played the game. He stayed after and chatted to the students; he really was a manger of the people!