BOSMAN AND DRAKE

December 14th was the date of a special Court Case in Luxembourg, when influencing the game of football. On this day in 1995, Jean-Marc Bosman, below, won a landmark court case in the European Court of Justice, that forever changed the "murky" world of football transfers. 

Bosman had grown frustated that he could not leave his club RFC Liege in 1990 when his contract had expired. He took his club to the Court and a precedent was set granting players freedom of movement when their contracts had expired. The first team to be affected by this Bosman Ruling were the reigning European Cup champions, Ajax, who saw their young team ripped losing the likes of Clarence Seedorf, Kanu, Patrick Kluivert and Edgar Davids. 

Same date, back in 1935, Ted Drake (you may not know of him!) was doing his transfer value no harm when he bagged all seven goals for his "new" club Arsenal, when the Gunners beat Aston Villa 7-1 at Villa Park. Edward Joseph Drake (16 August 1912 – 30 May 1995) was an English footballer and manager. As a player, he first played for Southampton but made his name playing for Arsenal in the 1930s, winning two League titles and an FA Cup victory, as well as five caps for England. Drake is Arsenal's joint fifth highest goalscorer of all time. A fearless forward for George Allison's Arsenal in his first full Highbury season of 1934-35, he netted 42 league goals in 41 matches.

He also holds the record for the most goals scored in a top flight game in English football, scoring all 7 goals against Aston Villa in December 1935. A former centre forward, Drake has been described as a "classic number 9" and as a "strong, powerful, brave and almost entirely unthinking" player who "typified the English view." Here's Ted in his Arsenal kit-he looks as though he means business!!

After retiring from playing football, Drake became a manager, most notably of Chelsea. In 1955, he led the club to their first League Title. This made him the first person to win the English top-flight as both a player and a manager. He was also a cricketer, but only ever played sparingly for Hampshire.